Transactions 7/7-8/22 (Part 2)

Chicago Bulls

7/10       Signed Mike Dunleavy and waived Richard Hamilton

Signing Dunleavy is essentially a swap for Marco Belinelli.  Dunleavy can shoot and fit in well to pretty much any offense.  His downside is that he is already 33 and has had some injury issues (though none have been significant since 2010-11).  Given Dunleavy’s cheap price (two year and $6 million) and his savvy play, the risk is minimal and he should be a solid cog off the bench and as a sport starter.

Cleveland Cavaliers

7/12       Signed Jarret Jack and Earl Clark

7/19       Signed Andrew Bynum and waived Chris Quinn and Kevin James

The big question here is Bynum.  This is a cheap gamble, with potentially huge payoff if he can stay healthy.  Despite the fact that the cost is low and upside is significant, I am a bit pessimistic about the likely outcome.  Bynum is only 26 but he has had knee injuries for years and, without reviewing the medicals, this isn’t a good indicator in the future.  It is certainly possible that Bynum will put it together on a one-year deal but, even if he plays all 82 games this season, I would not feel really comfortable giving him the long-term deal he is seeking.

Turning to the bench signings, Jack at four years and $25 million is respectable for a slightly above average point guard.  At age 30, however, this is not the type of player the Cavs needed to lock in to backup Kyrie Irving or to be a quasi-two guard.   Jack on two or three years as bit more logical.  Still, he’ll be an asset in 2013-14 when they make clearly want to make a playoff run.

Earl Clark showed signs of ability last year but you do have to be careful of the D’Antoni Factor.  Mike D’Antoni, for some odd reason, has done a great job of getting solid play from fungible small forwards.  Check some of his other projects:

-Boris Diaw: pre-D’Antoni in 2004-05 he put up a 10.0 PER but jumped up to 17.3 his first year with the Suns.   His PER has settled into the 12-14 range since.

-James Jones:  Had put 10.5 PER in Indiana and jumped to 13.2 in 2005-06 in Phoenix.  He did put up as high a PER once later (Portland, 2007-08) but he is mostly had PER at or below 10 ever since.

-Bill Walker:  A deep bench warmer on Boston, Walker came to New York in mid-2009-10 and his PER jumped from 7.6 to 14.9.  He followed that up with an 11.3  but tanked to 8.2 in 2011-12 and was out of the NBA last season.

-Shawne Williams:  Walker had a miserable 7.5 PER in 2008-09 before falling out of the NBA with legal issues.  He came back to D’Antoni in 2010-11 and had a 12.2 PER.  The Nets signed him after the season, where he was awful (4.9 PER).  He did not play in the NBA last season.

All of this is not to say that Clark can’t continue to play well but there is a ton of evidence that 2012-13 was a fluke based upon being an athletic player in a system the generated Clark more shots than he might get in a conventional offense.

Dallas Mavericks

7/11       Signed Jose Calderon and Gal Mekel

7/19       Signed Samuel Dalembert

7/20       Waived Bernard James

7/23       Signed Monta Ellis

Everyone loves Calderon the offensive player but the defense is the key issue.  He has had serious issues on that half of the game by pretty much every metric.  Pairing him with the Ellis, who can’t defend and is only valuable in that he has the ability to generate large amounts of shots, does not sound promising.  The hope is that Dalembert will make up for the blow-bys on the perimeter.

Last year, the Mavs’ were slightly below average defensively (19th in defensive efficiency) but did block well.   Dalembert will come in for Elton Brand, a capable blocker and defender and Chris Kaman (a weaker blocker/defender).  In fact, Dalembert’s block rate was only slightly better than that of Brand last season (2.4 blocker per 36/min versus 2.1 for Brand).  In all, Dallas has a major downgrade defensively at the guard slots and, arguably, a slight upgrade at center.  Calderon/Ellis will have to play really offensively to offset the net defensive fall off here.

Denver Nuggets

7/10       Traded a 2018 second-round pick to Utah for Randy Foye

7/10       Golden State traded Brandon Rush, Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins, and first-round picks in 2014 and 2017 and second round picks to Utah and a 2018 second-round pick to Denver for Andre Iguodala from Denver and Kevin Murphy from Utah

7/11       Signed JJ Hickson

Denver appears to be in a great deal of flux here.  First, losing George Karl and Iguodala is not going to help them defensively.  On top of that, they have taken Hickson, who can score, but struggles defensively.  Kenneth Faried and has been muscled defensively already and pairing him with Hickson for long periods, seems to be untenable.

Foye isn’t much more than filler at this point.

Detroit Pistons

7/10       Signed Josh Smith

7/15       Signed Chauncey Billups and re-signed Will Bynum

7/31       Traded Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton and Viacheslav Kravtsov to Milwaukee for Brandon Jennings

Smith is Detroit’s first big signing since that traumatic summer when Joe Dumars bet the farm on Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva (yes, I am wincing about that even now).   Smith is a much better idea.  He is not that young and he has some weaknesses that we are all aware of but Smith is a superior athlete and is not that expensive either.  The rub will be fitting him with the best incumbent Pistons.  Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond definitely are set as the big men and Smith is not great at small forward (lack of outside shooting).  This is not an insurmountable problem but Detroit will have to be cognizant of shuffling the three players through the big positions.

As for Jennings, I am not a huge fan of his style of play.  Still, he creates shots and Detroit had no one who could really do that last year.  His presence, coupled with Smith and development form the youngsters could yield a playoff spot.  This team is no contender but could be respectable for the first time since 2008.

Golden State Warriors

7/10       Golden State traded Brandon Rush, Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins, and first-round picks in 2014 and 2017 and second round picks to Utah and a 2018 second-round pick to Denver for Andre Iguodala from Denver and Kevin Murphy from Utah

7/12       Signed Marreese Speights

7/18       Signed Toney Douglas

The Warriors are riding the wave of a very nice season.  By signing Iggy, Golden State hopes to solidify its contender status.  A.I. will replace Jarret Jack as a swing guard and will also take some of Harrison Barnes’ minutes.  Iguodala is also one of the great defenders in the NBA and will help in that regard.  For all Warriors talk of focusing on defensive improvement (and they did improve), they were still only 14th in the NBA.  A pessimist would note that Iggy actually had his worst season since 2005-06 (he had only a 15.2 PER last year) and that he is turning 30.  I believe that may undersell A.I.’s defensive value and he should help the Warriors maintain the gains they made last season.  The contract is a bit too long for an older player but the next two seasons he’ll be fine.

Houston Rockets

7/10       Traded Thomas Robinson to Portland for rights to Kostas Papanikolau, Marko Todorovic, and two second-round picks

7/13       Signed Dwight Howard and traded Royce White to Philadelphia for future draft considerations

7/16       Signed Omri Casspi

8/27       Signed Ronnie Brewer

What can you say?  Add Howard to a great offensive team with a mediocre defense and you should have a title contender.  While incumbent Omer Asik was a good big man defensively, his block rate was average.  Howard need only play at 2012-13 level and he should make a significant improvement for the team.  The Rockets aren’t prohibitive favorites in the West but they are in the conversation with San Antonio, the L.A. Clippers, Memphis, and Oklahoma City for the title (I think the Warriors are still below the top teams).  Should be fun to watch.

Indiana Pacers

7/10       Signed CJ Watson

7/14       Signed Chris Copeland

Indiana did a nice job of poaching some capable vets from the New York teams.  Watson looked solid in Brooklyn and his size makes him more versatile than incumbent backup D.J. Augustin.  As for Copeland, he’ll replace Tyler Hansbrough and brings an entirely different skillset.  Unlike Hansbrough’s bull-in-China-shop style, Copeland will provide more scoring (but less defense and rebounding).  The Pacers will hope to get the muscle from Luis Scola instead.

Los Angeles Clippers

7/10       Signed Darren Collison

7/10       Milwaukee re-signed JJ Redick and traded him to L.A. Clippers for a 2014 second-round pick from Phoenix and a second-round pick from L.A. Clippers, who traded Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler to Phoenix for Jared Dudley

8/28       Signed Antawn Jamison

Whether you like this deal for L.A. depends upon whether you Bledsoe is going improve quickly.  Nabbing a capable swingman in Dudley and Reddick for Bledsoe is not a bad return but Bledsoe showed some ability to indicate that he may be an emerging star.  Bledsoe is only 24 and he put a 17.5 PER and generated a ton of steals.  He is less necessary with Chris Paul but wouldn’t you think they could’ve gotten more than a solid pair of vets old on a long-term deal?  Dudley and Redick will help the team but I would’ve sat on Bledsoe and seen if a better deal materialized during the season.

Los Angeles Lakers

7/11       Signed Nick Young and waived Metta World Peace

7/12       Signed Chris Kaman

7/15       Signed Wesley Johnson

When was the last time the Lakers failed to re-sign a big time free agent?  The answer is really never.  If you want to go really far back, the Lakers did technically lose Wilt Chamberlain.  Wilt wasn’t a free agent per se (the NBA still had a reserve clause that prevented this back then) but Wilt did retire after the 1972-73 season only to abruptly sign with the San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA as a player-coach.  Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke did not take kindly to this brought litigation to enjoin the Wilt from playing elsewhere.  Cooke was successful but could not prevent Wilt from coaching.

According to Terry Pluto’s seminal history of the ABA, “Loose Balls,” Wilt was paid $600,000 on a personal services contract and showed up to some games in shorts and sandals and missed other games totally (the team was ostensibly coached by assistant Stan Albeck).  Wilt didn’t even move to San Diego for the season, preferring to commute by helicopter from Los Angeles.   The team went 37-47 (though Wilt did draw some crowds) and San Diego folded after the season.  As of the late 1980s, San Diego owner Leonard Bloom was still paying Wilt under that same personal services contract.

Miami Heat

7/16       Waived Mike Miller

9/11       Signed Michael Beasley

Put aside the legal issues and terrible decision making, Beasley is a player who is going straight downhill.  He is just a low-efficiency gunner at this point and doesn’t even rebound.  The few chits in Miami’s favor on this signing are that the Heat did get two productive years out of him and Beasley is still only 25.  As a bench player, it is possible he could help a good team that needs some young athletes but there is too much bad history for me to think he’ll have an epiphany now.

Milwaukee Bucks

7/10       Re-signed JJ Redick and traded him to L.A. Clippers for a 2014 second-round pick from Phoenix and a second-round pick from L.A. Clippers, who traded Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler to Phoenix for Jared Dudley

7/11       Minnesota traded Like Ridnour and 2014 secondround pick to Milwaukee for Kevin Martin and cash from Oklahoma City, who traded cash to Milwaukee for the right to Szymon Szewczyk

7/12       Traded Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to Sacramento for two future second-round picks

7/13       Signed OJ Mayo

7/17       Signed Carlos Delfino and Zaza Pachulia

We all know that Herb Kohl’s directive is to seek to compete this season.  One of the oft statd axioms in NBA-land is that mediocrity is a really bad place to be.  Fans don’t want to watch a middling team and the team still misses out on draft picks needed to end the rebuilding cycle.   Perhaps this is why Milwaukee has assembled some of the more boring mediocre teams of the modern era.  Who could forget the legendary late 1980s/early 1990s Bucks that featured Fred Roberts, Frank Brickowski, Brad Lohaus, Larry Krystkowiak, and an older Jack Sikma?  It wasn’t exactly Showtime but they would make the playoffs and get summarily knocked out by better teams in the first round.  Well, now the Bucks have one interesting player (Larry Sanders) and a whole lot of filler.  Kohl’s plan is clearly doomed from the start but human nature and the refusal to capitulate are strong emotions, even if they are not rational.

Minnesota Timberwolves

7/11       Minnesota traded Like Ridnour and 2014 second round pick to Milwaukee for Kevin Martin and cash from Oklahoma City, who traded cash to Milwaukee for the right to Szymon Szewczyk

7/12       Signed Corey Brewer

7/18       Signed Ronny Turiaf

Grabbing Martin at four years and $28 million is a pretty fair price.  We all know Martin’s downsides: (a) he’s hitting 30 and has declined from his super-efficient Houston years and (b) he can’t guard anyone.  At this price, however, Martin’s scoring is still an asset.  In addition, Ricky Rubio is developing into a capable defender and Minny may be able to hide Martin on the less challenging guards.   Put it all together and Wolves have made a pretty nice move.

As for Brewer, three years and $15 million is a bit high for a bench player but he is young enough that he probably won’t end up being a total millstone.  As a general rule, it isn’t a good idea to overpay for replacement level swingmen.  In this case, Brewer is actually already needed more than they realized since the news just came down that Chase Budinger hurt his knee again.

New Orleans Pelicans

7/10       Signed Greg Steimsma

7/10       Traded Terrel Harris and Robin Lopez to Portland and Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento for Jeff Withey from Portland and guard Tyreke Evans from Sacramento

7/18       Signed Anthony Morrow

Feelings on Evans are notably mixed.  He is clearly a talented player but the stagnation after his rookie year is a concern.  The price isn’t ridiculous for a young player with some upside (four years and $45 million) but there are reasons to be concerned.  First, Lopez and Vasquez both appear to be bona fide NBA starters at worst.  There is a significant chance that Lopez will be a better player than Evans over the next four years (Lopez posted a 18.9 PER last season).   On top of that, the Hornets have large amounts of cash invested in a two guard in Eric Gordon all ready (not to mention that they gave up a high draft pick to get Jrue Holiday).

The end result is a lineup of Holiday, Gordon, Evans, Ryan Anderson, and Anthony Davis.  This is not a bad team but it is a weak defensive team (Davis does not appear to be a true center defensively).  There are also questions as to whether Gordon and Evans, as high usage players, have the right synergy to maximize each other’s ability.  If not, the Pelicans are investing $25 million per year at shooting guard at getting much less value in aggregate (reminiscent of what they did at small forward a few years ago at small forward with Morris Peterson, Peja Stojakovic, and James Posey).  It does seem that the Pelicans would’ve been better off keeping Vasquez and Lopez and using the free agent money on a better fit with Gordon.

New York Knicks

7/10       Traded Quentin Richardson, Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, and second-round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2017 for Andrea Bargnani

7/16       Signed Metta World Peace

Is the difference between Bargnani and Novak enough to justify giving up three second-round picks and paying and extra $8-9 million over the next two years?  Let’s look at their number from the last few years.  Here are each player’s per/36 minutes numbers since 2010-11:

Novak: .448 FG%, .454 3FG%, 3.6 rebs, 0.6 asts, 0.6 stls, 0.3 blks, 14 pts, 13.4 PER

Bargnani: .434 FG%, .323 3FG%, 4.9 rebs, 1.7 asts, 0.6 stls, 0.6 blks, 18.6 pts, 15.6 PER

Not pictured in this analysis is that Novak average less than one free throw per 36 minutes while Bargnani had a robust 4.9 free throws over that span (though his number plummeted in 2012-13 in almost category).   So, yes, Bargnani is better player than Novak but he is not a better three-point shooter.  The argument could be made that Bargnani won’t provide the same benefit as a stretch power forward because he can’t hit threes consistently.    At the very least, spending draft picks and extra salary for the privilege of getting a mediocre forward is probably not a great idea.  But it’s the Knicks’ money and the second rounders are not so valuable as to really hurt.  Still, the decision making process here was suspect and that is more troubling than the actual decision itself.

Oklahoma City Thunder

7/11       Minnesota traded Like Ridnour and 2014 second round pick to Milwaukee for Kevin Martin and cash from Oklahoma City, who traded cash to Milwaukee for the right to Szymon Szewczyk

Szewczky is almost 31 (he was drafted back in 2003), so he’s just a conduit to help this sign-and-trade work.  Incidentally, my all-Polish born NBA team:

-PG, Empty

-SG,  Lee Knorek:  Not really Polish or a shooting guard.  Knorek played for the Knicks in the 1940s.  He was 6’7 center for the Knicks for three years before being traded to the Bullets in 1949.  He quit after one game, stating that he had been spoiled by the Knicks’ nicer amenities.  According to his Wikipedia page, Knorek was born in Ohio but his NBA records listed him as being born in Warsaw because his friend and teammate Paul Taylor thought it was more interesting.   Knorek, though of Polish decent, did not actually speak Polish.

-SF, Maciej Lampe:  Lampe was a hot international prospect in 2003 but ended plummeting in the draft to the second round.  The Knicks took him and he was decent in limited minutes as an 18-year old in 2003-04 (12.2 PER).  When Knicks GM Scott Layden was fired, new GM Isaiah Thomas almost immediately packaged him to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal.   Lampe was then went from Phoenix, to the Hornets, to Rockets over the next two years.  His PER fell and he was back to Europe by 2006, where he is still playing now.

-PF, Martin Gortat: The pride of Lodz, Poland has developed into the only viable Polish player in the NBA.

-C, Cezary Trybanski:  This guy made Lampe look like Magic Johngson.  Trybanski is 7’2 but couldn’t do much but block shots, putting up a -3.0 PER in 2002-03 and 2003-04.  He has been back in Europe ever since.

Orlando Magic

7/18       Signed Jason Maxiell

Gone are the days of Maxiell as a potential starter.  He is really just bench fodder at this point as an aggressive but undersized power forward who can’t shoot.  He still can help as the backup power but not much else.

Phoenix Suns

7/10       Milwaukee re-signed JJ Redick and traded him to L.A. Clippers for a 2014 second-round pick from Phoenix and a second-round pick from L.A. Clippers, who traded Eric Bledose and Caron Butler to Phoenix for Jared Dudley

9/3         Waived Michael Beasley

Bledsoe is a very nice haul for a decent forward like Dudley.  The Suns aren’t going to be good next year but they do seem to understand that they need to find a few young assets and to bolster the roster in the 2014 Draft.  The moderately useful veteran players like, Gortat and Goran Dragic, should be moved if they can get more young assets.

As for Beasley, that waiving was a long time coming.   Maybe the Heat can fix him but a rebuilding team like the Suns was definitely not going to work.

Philadelphia 76ers

7/13       Traded future draft considerations to Houston for Royce White

White is an unknown commodity at this point but a team like the Sixers is a perfect spot to experiment and see if he can develop.

Portland Trailblazers

7/10       Signed Dorell Wright and Allen Crabbe

7/10       New Orleans traded Terrel Harris and Robin Lopez to Portland and Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento for Jeff Withey from Portland and guard Tyreke Evans from Sacramento

7/11       Signed Earl Watson

This was an excellent summer for Portland so far.  Lopez is a developing center with much better defensive chops than J.J. Hickson and he was acquired for basically a project center.   Lopez’s 2.2 blocks per 36 minutes is a huge improvement over Hickson (a ridiculously 0.6 blocks per game).  With some improvement on defense, the Blazers could very well be a lower rung playoff team.

Sacramento Kings

7/10       New Orleans traded Terrel Harris and Robin Lopez to Portland and Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento for Jeff Withey from Portland and guard Tyreke Evans from Sacramento

7/12       Traded two future second-round picks to Milwaukee for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

7/15       Signed Carl Landry

Not paying Evans seems like the right move here.  That they were able to extract a useful point guard at the same time is also a good thing.  I like Landry as a player but am not sure how a 30-year old bench scorer fits into a rebuilding team for four years and $26.5 million.  He should hold his value enough to move to a contender if the Kings have to go that route.

San Antonio Spurs

7/11       Signed Marco Belinelli and Jeff Ayres

Pretty nice hole filling for the Spurs.  Belinelli will step in for Gary Neal and should be a fine replacement on a short-term deal.  Belinelli can shoot as well and should have tons of open shots in the Spurs offense.  Ayres (formerly named Jeff Pendergraph) also has been a competent center the last few years in limited minutes and has an outside of developing into a legit backup center.

Toronto Raptors

7/10       Traded Andrea Bargnani to New York for Quentin Richardson, Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, and second-round picks in 2014, 2016, and 2017

7/15       Signed Tyler Hansbrough

7/17       Waived Marcus Camby

Trading Bargnani needed to happen, regardless of the return.   Bargnani defined the the Colangelo Era and the definition was not exactly success.  It’s not that Bargnani was a total bust (a la Michael Olowokandi) but a number one overall pick is expected to be more and Bargs never quite got to more than a little above average.  Perhaps dumping him for some picks can let Toronto fans emotionally start over.

But how bad was Bargnani compared to number overall picks?   Obviously he is not a success.  He falls in that tier below big busts (Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi) but with the guys who were serviceable but disappointing given where they were drafted (Pervis Ellison, Joe Smith, Kenyon Martin).  Despite all this, Bargnani wasn’t the craziest pick because the 2006 Draft just wasn’t that good.  Sure, LaMarcus Aldridge would’ve been a much better pick but he wouldn’t have transformed Toronto into a contender either (the next best players after Aldridge ended up being Rajon Rondo and Rudy Gay).  It was Colangelo’s bad luck that he won a weak draft, though he didn’t exactly make great decisions thereafter.

Utah Jazz

7/10       Traded Randy Foye o Denver for a 2018 second-round pick

7/10       Golden State traded Brandon Rush, Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins, and first-round picks in 2014 and 2017 and second round picks to Utah and a 2018 second-round pick to Denver for Andre Iguodala from Denver and Kevin Murphy from Utah

Speaking of tanking….the Jazz aren’t exactly tanking but they are using their cap space to take Golden State’s bad contracts for picks.  I’m not sure that the late picks will do much for Utah but they are something and Utah might also be able to use the expiring deals to get higher picks during the season from a team desperate to unload an onerous contract.

Washington Wizards

7/10       Signed Eric Maynor

A defense-first backup point guard.  Shaping into a young Kevin Ollie.

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