Atlanta Hawks
3/10 Sign Jeremy Richardson for the remainder of the season
Outside of his first two games back in Atlanta, Richardson has mostly sat on the bench for the Hawks. He did show enough, however, to be the token last guy off the pine, which is actually a very valuable reward for a player of his ilk.
Boston Celtics
3/4 Sign Sam Cassell
Picking up Cassell for nothing is obviously a nice move for Boston. The question is only how good. So far, Cassell has not taken minutes away from Rajon Rondo and has only had some cameos off the bench, with one notable exception where he led a huge comeback in San Antonio. In addition, the fear of Boston fans, that Doc Rivers would lean on Cassell too much after Rajon Rondo has been so solid, has yet to be realized. Going forward in the playoffs, the hope is that Cassell will offer the outside shooting/clutch shooting if Rondo goes cold. Indeed, Rondo has pretty much abandoned the three-point shot (5-17 and .294% for the reason) but he’s getting in the pain and shooting well there (.489% from the field overall). Cassell, on the other hand, has struggled so far (.338% from the field as a Celt so far and 3-11 from three). Cassell was shooting .455% from the Clipps and is well-established a good shooter (.454% from the field for his career). So this move should pay dividends at some point.
Cleveland Cavaliers
3/3 Sign Kaniel Dickens and Billy Thomas to second 10-day contracts
3/13 Sign Lance Allred
3/26 Sign Lance Allred to a second 10-day contract
The Cavs have been messing around with their last few slots. First they gave a couple of retreads in Dickens and Thomas a try and now they are on Allred. I didn’t know too much about Allred but his back story will grab you. He is 80% deaf and had other adversity to deal with as well, from dealing with retrograde morons who attributed his hearing loss to pre-natal sins and a blood feud with coach Rick Majerus. He’s not a real prospect but it’s nice to see him get a cup of coffee in the pros.
Dallas Mavericks
3/4 Sign Tyronn Lue
Lue isn’t a bad backup but they just got Jason Kidd and you’d have to think that JKidd is looking at pretty much all the time at the points. The Mavs actually gave Lue some playing time early and he played well in a couple of blow outs early on. Lue is just an insurance policy of Kidd goes down (albeit not a high end one) and will be available for spot duty against the really fast points like Tony Parker, Jordan Farmar, or Chris Paul, who all really annoy Kidd.
Detroit Pistons
3/4 Sign Theo Ratliff
He’s no star but Ratliff can still be effective blocking shots and defending in short spurts. While the Pistons need him less than most team, Ratliff will help. Amir Johnson is better at this point but it can’t hurt to have another useful big man for the playoffs, particularly to wear down some of the frontcourt stars they will see in Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and, of course, LeBron James.
As a side note, don’t you figure that we’ve seen a record number of teams re-acquire guys they originally drafted 15 years ago. First, David Wesley and Keith Van Horn were briefly with the Nets, Chris Webber went back to Golden State. We also have Jason Kidd returning to the Mavs and we even have some less interesting returns (Jeremy Richardson with the Hawks and Billy Thomas with the Nets). Finally, we have Ratliff coming back to Detroit, where he shared time with Terry Mills and the immortal Don Reid at center so many years ago (actually 12 years ago). Not sure what this all means but I guess careers sometimes come full circle.
Golden State Warriors
3/11 Exercise 2008-09 team option on coach Don Nelson
3/26 Chris Webber announces retirement
If I told in 1995 that Nelson would be coaching successfully while Webber was basically long gone from the NBA, I think you’d be pretty surprised. Nevertheless, here we are. Nellie has essentially revitalized this team all by himself. Sure Chris Mullin got Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson & Co., but frankly none of these guys would hold much interest outside of Nellie crazy offensive system. As for Webber, He clearly didn’t seem like a good fit with this fast paced team. Still it was nice to see some closure on his time in Golden State.
Bill Simmons wrote a nice epitaph for Webber’s career over at ESPN.com. Simmons essentially wrote that as great as Webber was, his career is full of “What If” moments that prevented him from having as great a career as he could have. Certainly, it would have been quite fun to see if the Tim Hardaway, Latrell Sprewell, Webber core could’ve made a dent in the Western Conference in the 1990s. I see that as a fun team but not nearly good defensively to beat Utah, Houston, or Seattle of the mid-1990s. I also agree with John Hollinger that Webber is a Hall of Famer. He’s not an inner circle guy or anything but there weren’t many better powers compared against his peak in Sacramento (1998-2003). I agree, however, that there is an air of uncertainty to his career between the trades, injuries, and some disagreements with coaches that leaves all the people who followed him so closely since he was a high school star a little bit unfulfilled.
Houston Rockets
3/8 Waive Gerald Green and sign Mike Harris to a 10-day contract
3/21 Sign Loren Woods to a 10-day contract
3/29 Sign Mike Harris for rest of season
4/1 Sign Loren Woods for rest of season
Nice to see Harris get a shot for the rest of the year. He has a couple of nice 12-point games under his belt so far. Harris was previously cut by the Rockets in training camp but he has impressed them enough to get another chance and looks like a keeper. As for Woods, he’s strictly insurance in case Dikembe Mutombo can’t go and the undersized offensive options like Carl Landry or Luis Scola don’t fit the match ups. Woods has been out of the NBA since 2005-06 but his still the same decent string bean he was for the Raptors and Heat, a decent back up center if he gets the chance.
Indiana Pacers
3/2 Sign Flip Murray
Like Ricky Davis, Flip Murray’s presence on a roster is not a good thing. Desperate for some scoring? Flip’s your guy. He will shoot too much and not well but man can he get the shots off. Here, the Pacers need some scoring and Flip is getting some shots. You’ll note that Flip never plays well on good teams because he occupies a special niche of high volume of shots on the cheap. In theory, he should be able to work off the bench for a good team. In practice, it hasn’t quite worked that way. Still, Murray can help a team in the pinch if they have a hole at the two. He’ll do this in Indiana and probably parlay this into a decent contract somewhere next year.
Los Angeles Clippers
3/1 Sign Andre Barrett
3/8 Sign Nick Fazekas to second 10-day contract
3/12 Sign Smush Parker
3/18 Sign Nick Fazekas for the remainder of the season
3/28 Sign Marcus Williams and waive Aaron Williams
The hidden find of the Jason Kidd trade so far is actually Fazekas, who has parlayed playing time with the Clipps since Dallas cut him to establish himself as a useful pro. Fazekas isn’t super skilled but he works very hard along the offensive glass, which leads to lots of boards, high shooting percentage and some scoring. He even blocks some shots and gets some steals. At this point, Fazekas looks like a solid back up forward with an outside shot of being a starter. He’s definitely worth watching.
The rest of the moves are less interesting. The Clipps gave Smush a shot after his play and extracurriculars pissed off Pat Riley. Unfortunately, Parker has been just as bad on the Clipps as he was on the Heat. He’ll have to pick it up to extend his NBA career.
Los Angeles Lakers
3/21 Sign Ira Newble to a 10-day contract
4/1 Sign Ira Newble to a second 10-day contract
Really? Newble is a good guy and a good defender but doesn’t offer much else. If the Lakers keep all season (and all signs point to that fact), Newble will occupy that Randy Brown memorial roster sport, as the fourth (or fifth) guard brought in solely to defend.
Miami Heat
3/10 Waive Smush Parker
3/12 Sign Bobby Jones to a 10-day contract
3/21 Sign Blake Ahearn to a 10-day contract
3/21 Sign Stephane Lasme to a 10-day contract
3/22 Sign Kasib Powell to a 10-day contract
3/31 Sign Blake Ahearn and Stephane Lasme to second 10-day contracts
The Pat Riley binge-purge cycle is now decidedly on purge. Cutting Parker was a cathartic moment for Riley, though it’s probably not a good idea to remind him gave the guy a two-year contract to begin with. Now, the Heat are committed to accruing ping pong balls (Derrick Rose?). Ahearn? Lasme? Powell? That’s NBDL territory. Ahearn is supposed to be a shooter but has really struggled so far (though he’s great from the line). Lasme is actually an interesting name. He a good defender, rebounder, and shot blocker but is really raw (tons of fouls, not so many points). Of the group, Lasme definitely can play for an NBA team.
Milwaukee Bucks
3/14 Waive David Noel
3/19 Relieved General Manager Larry Harris
While the Harris Era wasn’t a circus-type failure like some others, certainly the last five years have alternated from lackluster to poor. There are no huge failures or successes here. Harris definitely overpaid for some players (Bobby Simmons) but what sticks out here was the firing of Terry Porter and the subsequent coaching carousel. Porter started with Harris in 2003 and squeezed out a surprising playoff season. After a predictable but not terrible regression in 2004-05, Porter was canned and it was never really clear why. Harris then hired Terry Stotts, who had been pretty mediocre in Atlanta. Stotts followed the same pattern, a decent team in 2004-05 (40-42), only to be fired midway through 2006-07 as the team regressed to 28-54 (they were 23-41 when he was canned). Now Larry Krystkowiak is also in the same situation, only without the first .500 season that Porter and Stotts offered. This whirlwind of coaches seemed to underscore an inability to keep a stable core. Sitting here as an outsider, it’s hard to know if the itchy trigger finger belonged to Harris or owner Herb Kohl. So without allotting blame it’s safe to say that the environment was not conducive to winning.
Did Harris have any hope to get out of this cycle? He drafted decently but his one shot at getting a star was to pass on Andre Bogut as the first pick in 2005 and take Chris Paul (or even Deron Williams). That move wasn’t a no-brainer and they were satisfied with their previous high pick in T.J. Ford. So, there was certainly a basis to draft Bogut, who has been a pretty solid center. In these last five years, however, that was Harris’ best shot at creating a playoff team. You can’t expect a GM to make that call but that how thin the margin is between being considered a good GM and fired.
New Orleans Hornets
Sign Chris Andersen
Andersen is an interesting wild card to throw into the mix. After missing two years on a drug suspension, it’s not clear what Andersen has to offer. He was a high energy shot blocker before and if he still has that skill set he could probably displace Hilton Armstrong in the rotation. At the very least, he’s a nice potential option for the playoffs. Here’s hoping he can stay on the straight and narrow from hereon out.
Phoenix Suns
3/4 Sign Gordan Giricek for remainder of the season and sign Linton Johnson to a second 10-day contract
I didn’t think there was much need or room for Giricek in Phoenix. Giricek has actually averaged almost 20 mpg since coming over. Part of this was because of injuries to Grant Hill but he really does add some extra shooting from the outside. I expect his time to wane as everybody gets healthy. This is also a nice opportunity to marvel about how great the Suns have been in the Steve Nash Era. Check the Suns yearly three point shooting from 2003-04 (the last season before Nash arrived) and the shooting ever since:
Year 3s/3PAs 3%
2003-04 412/1,202 .345%
2004-05 796/2,026 .393%
2005-06 837/2,097 .399%
2006-07 785/1,965 .399%
2007-08 646/1,646 .392% (thru 75 games)
In addition, Nash’s accuracy only goes up. Since 2003-04, his three-point percentages are .405%, .431%, .439%, .455%, and now .479% respectively (his .479% is also on a career-high 355 attempts). It’s a pretty amazing rate of return.
San Antonio Spurs
3/24 Sign Brent Barry
4/1 Sign Bobby Jones to a 10-day contract
Barry’s return is yet another one of those pump-and-dump deals coming full circle. Barry was used to acquire Kurt Thomas from Seattle, who cut him immediately. Barry was then cut and had a choice of several teams to sign with. Barry chose to re-sign with the Spurs but was only able to do so after the 30-day waiting period that the NBA imposes on teams before re-signing previously traded cut players. Teams have implied that the Barry deal was pre-arranged but absent a smoking gun (a la Jerry Stackhouse’s big mouth) the Spurs have played by the NBA’s rule. If the NBA dislikes this practice they should just ban players from re-signing with their original teams.
As for Barry, he’s actually still recovering from a torn calf muscle. It’s not clear he’ll be ready until the playoffs. Like so many other recent acquisitions, he’s just another guy that may be trotted for a specific playoff moment.
Seattle SuperSonics
3/11 Sign Mike Wilks to a second 10-day contract
3/24 Sign Eddie Gill to a 10-day contract
4/3 Sign Ronald Dupree to a 10-day contract
In Seattle, the Sonics are just scrolling though NBDL players on their way to the lottery.
Toronto Raptors
3/27 Sign Linton Johnson to a 10-day contract and waive Darrick Martin
For the Raptors, the need for a guy off the bench to defend small forwards and power forwards was more compelling than a third point, particularly where they are not sure what to do with Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford already. Apparently, Martin is calling it a career and will join the coaching staff. It’s pretty amazing that Martin squeezed 13 years out of a career as a fringe point guard. His career highlight will remain 1996-97, when he established himself as an NBA regular and led the Clippers to the playoffs (10.9 ppg, 4.1 apg in 22.2 mpg). He held that job for two more years before falling back to a fringer. His best single moment? Go back to December 30, 1996, when Martin led the Clipps over the eventual Western Conference Champ Jazz. Martin torched John Stockton for 38 points and 8 assists, and capping it off with 15-15 from the line in a 115-101 win.