NBA Free Agency

[jterrell]

Not trolling, but legit question - if Lebron/Melo want to win not only now, but in the near future, why would they sign with Dallas? While Dirk's numbers were similar to his all-NBA seasons, he looked like a shell of himself, especially in the playoffs. Unless James/Melo want to hit FA again in two years, what is appealing about Dallas? Not to mention, playing in the gauntlet of the West vs a virtually guaranteed ECF ticket in the East.

Fair question.
I think the answer is pretty simple.
Dallas has enough talent to take SA to 7 games and has a number of quality pieces without any superstar ego.
It is a ready-made team with a top 3 or 4 head coach.
Dirk is openly saying the keys to the city are here to be taken and that he'll play for a large discount to close his career with title runs.
The East might be imminently winnable but who cares about winning the East if you lose in 5 games in the NBA finals?
Ask Heat fan how rewarding that is.
Also note that with the Bullets and Raptors rapidly ascending, the East isn't going to stay dog meat.

As to the Dirk effect ask basically EVERY solid offensive player he's ever played with how much easier the game is.
In lieu of asking you could just look at the insane number of career years he has contributed to including Ellis last year.

Dallas is hardly ideal but again who has a better set up?
Chicago does is Rose is healthy and he is playing at his best but that's a true long shot.

Houston might be on paper but truly Harden has been terrible now two playoffs in a row and that team has zero efficiency so adding a volume gunner offensive player seems almost stupid.
Harden looks exactly like what he was in OKC, a 6th man extraordinaire who can be exposed when he tries to do too much.
If he ramped down the shots and up the defense that would be a totally different story.
You also have to ask yourself has McHale EVER coached a team that did anything but underachieve?

Lakers? They have room but that room comes with ball hogging Kobe and zero talent around him. Or they keep some talent but have far less room.

Heat? They have the MLE for whomever is the most attractive MLE option but that's about all they can squeeze out unless Bosh/Wade move on and even then the money isn't available until those guys sign or their rights are renounced.

Other quality playoff squads have no cap money.

 

[jterrell]

JT, do you know what the Max Contract for Aldridge would equate to? I heard it's something like 3 years for 55 mil but I don't know if that's entirely accurate. If so, that's only a little over 18 mil. I don't know if that would be enough?

I believe that 3 year total was just for early extension.

If he waits for true FA which he claims he will it would start at 18.5m and could rise to 22m by the end of a 4th year. Portland can beat that offer with a 5th year.
But the extra year only matters if the player were to be injured or lose value.
For guys in their prime it hasn't been the huge player it was expected to be.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

If you can't get James, Aldridge is a very nice consolation piece. 20 pt, 10 reb, 2 asst., 50% shooter who also shoots free throws. He would make a lot of teams a lot better.

 

[jterrell]

Ellis wasn't a top tier FA and there wasn't exactly a bidding war for him he could resign with the Bucks or come to Dallas those where pretty much his options for the kind of money he was askung. Dirk has always been a mav

Ellis had options at that price but Dallas was easily the best team he could have went to.
Lots of teams would have given him that deal.

There have been 3 or 4 premier free agents change teams in this era. It means nothing that Dallas hasn't landed one because so few people have.
Truth is Dallas has been in the conversation and on the short list for more of them than anyone else.

Dirk is an NBA Hall of Famer and resigning him certainly counts as tier 1. Same as Duncan in SA.
Easy to poo poo that but ask Cleveland if they would have counted keeping LeBron as a premier free agent?

 

[Ren]

Ellis turned down more money from the Bucks to try his luck on the open marked and ended up signing for less. If there where multiple teams bidding for him he would have easily been able to get what the Bucks offered from another team if not more

 

[jterrell]

Ellis turned down more money from the Bucks to try his luck on the open marked and ended up signing for less. If there where multiple teams bidding for him he would have easily been able to get what the Bucks offered from another team if not more

Ellis turned down a 2 year 25m extension.
He was not offered 12.5m a year by anyone or he would have taken it.
But he could have gotten the same deal he got from Dallas from a number of teams.
He chose the Dallas deal because of fit.

And it was a smart move because when he opts out next year someone will offer him big-time long term money.
His year in Dallas raised his value a good deal.
Leading the league in drives to the basket will do that.

Dallas is a historical power in a big market like the Knicks, Lakers or Bulls but right now they are a better basketball team than any of them and the past 10 years has seen Dallas rise to a top 5 team in wins AND market.

Ask Tyson Chandler how happy he is to be back....

 

[WoodysGirl]

 

[WoodysGirl]

 

[jterrell]

The Bucks and Kidd deserve each other.

Not sure what else to say there.

 

[Rockport]

The Bucks and Kidd deserve each other.

Not sure what else to say there.

Yea, what was that all about?

 

[jterrell]

Yea, what was that all about?

Kidd is a team builder and consensus builder type but he is also the first guy out of a sinking ship.
He did that to Dallas twice. --once in 3 Js era and once again after winning the title.

The Bucks just were purchased by a friend of his and seeing the other no experience coaches come in making twice a year he did had to have some effect.
But reality is, he saw that Nets roster wasn't as good in reality as it seemed on paper so he was looking for the eject button.
The Bucks front office doesn't have much say when the owner is the one taking the calls and making the decisions.
It looks woefully unprofessional on all fronts.

 

[Rockport]

Kidd is a team builder and consensus builder type but he is also the first guy out of a sinking ship.
He did that to Dallas twice. --once in 3 Js era and once again after winning the title.

The Bucks just were purchased by a friend of his and seeing the other no experience coaches come in making twice a year he did had to have some effect.
But reality is, he saw that Nets roster wasn't as good in reality as it seemed on paper so he was looking for the eject button.
The Bucks front office doesn't have much say when the owner is the one taking the calls and making the decisions.
It looks woefully unprofessional on all fronts.

Sure does. Says a lot about ownership with the Bucs. He should've never gotten the HC gig with Nets to begin with IMO.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Apparently, you can add the Lakers to the list of teams Anthony will be visiting.

 

[bounce]

Just following the early twitter streams of FA rumblings, is there a single player that Dallas ISN'T interested in?

 

[WoodysGirl]

Houston GM pitched the Rox to Kyle Lowry last night....a guy they never should've traded in the first place. smh

 

[WoodysGirl]

 

[jterrell]

Houston GM pitched the Rox to Kyle Lowry last night....a guy they never should've traded in the first place. smh

Not to dogpile your team here WG but it really makes me shake my head as people go gaga over the Rox personnel moves.
I certainly see they've done great in BIG moves.
But how people see keeping Asik a year too long then trading him away for a future 1st as a good deal? or paying Jeremy Lin a fortune to be the same player as Harden minus some athleticism?
How is keeping McHale a good move?

The Rox could have gotten Shawn Marion from Dallas last year for Omer Asik (and possibly the 2nd round picks).
If so they likely win a playoff series for the first time in forever.
They'd also have Marion off he books right now and not be holding Lin's 7m.

That's not to say they can't land Carmelo and forget playing defense and just win 55 games with 120 a game but it seems to me the front office in Houston has a lot of issues.

 

[jterrell]

Just following the early twitter streams of FA rumblings, is there a single player that Dallas ISN'T interested in?

Dallas is definitely taking the Ole Miss approach to recruiting.
Ole Miss sends out about 1000 offers and takes two to three times as many commitments as they have schollies.

Dallas has told 30 guys agents they badly want them when really they'll land 2 or 3 of those guys max.

What may be smart about it tho is if it slows that agent down some and allows Dallas to get its truly desired deals and get out of the way first.

 

[Tabascocat]

Not to dogpile your team here WG but it really makes me shake my head as people go gaga over the Rox personnel moves.
I certainly see they've done great in BIG moves.
But how people see keeping Asik a year too long then trading him away for a future 1st as a good deal? or paying Jeremy Lin a fortune to be the same player as Harden minus some athleticism?
How is keeping McHale a good move?

The Rox could have gotten Shawn Marion from Dallas last year for Omer Asik (and possibly the 2nd round picks).
If so they likely win a playoff series for the first time in forever.
They'd also have Marion off he books right now and not be holding Lin's 7m.

That's not to say they can't land Carmelo and forget playing defense and just win 55 games with 120 a game but it seems to me the front office in Houston has a lot of issues.

Agree, I am a Rockets fan too but some of their moves puzzle me. Could have had Rondo(his defense alone might have been the difference in a 1st round win). Signing Lin was a mistake but at least they landed Howard. McHale should have been fired and now losing Asik might bite them in the rear if they don't land anyone.

My money is Carmelo going to Chicago, probably signing by Thursday at the latest.

 

[jterrell]

Agree, I am a Rockets fan too but some of their moves puzzle me. Could have had Rondo(his defense alone might have been the difference in a 1st round win). Signing Lin was a mistake but at least they landed Howard. McHale should have been fired and now losing Asik might bite them in the rear if they don't land anyone.

My money is Carmelo going to Chicago, probably signing by Thursday at the latest.

Yup, I see Carmelo landing there as well.

They had to move Asik as he was asking for a trade for well over a year.
The issue with Rondo is his contract would have remained but they had a ton of options for Asik who is a legit starting center they just gave away for a future first that has some protection.
It seems very much that instead of taking 80 cents on the dollar they held on and ended up taking 35 instead.

I think the Rockets off-season should look like this:
Fire McHale and hire Mark Jackson.
Ignore Carmelo and target cheaper guys that are far better defenders.
A combo of guys they've touched before: Ariza and Lowry (probably slightly cheaper than just Carmelo) would be great fits next to D12 and Harden.
Lin can move to a 6th man role playing a 1/2 tweener spot when Harden rests.
Bring back Parsons if you can get a reasonable deal and use him at both the 3 and the 4.

Lowry
Harden
Ariza
Parsons
Howard
is a heck of a starting line up that offers a decent 3-4 year window.