Free agency starts / reported signings (merged)

[footey]

Milwaukee's bench coming together

G:
G: Malik Beasley
F: Jae Crowder
F: Bobby Portis
C: Robin Lopez

Lot of size in that frontcourt.

Yes and they, to me, are the favorites in the East

I don't know about favorites but definitely 1A/1B with Boston. Crowder was cooked last year couldn't even find the court.  And Middleton isn't the player he once was.

I do like what they are doing with their bench though. Signing actual NBA veterans who can contribute. instead Brad is signing G-leaguers who will be in Maine

The Celts will be great if they can play a nine man rotation all year and nobody gets injured and the players all take leaps in their conditioning so that they're no exhausted by playoff time and Hauser and Pritchard are playable in the playoffs.

If we have to rely on the bottom 6 guys, though, we're absolutely screwed.

Timelord / Horford
KP
Tatum / Hauser
Brown / Brogdon
White / Pritchard

That's our amazing depth that no other team has.

What team isn't screwed if they have to rely on their bottom 6 guys?  Bottom 6 are just to burn some minutes during the regular season.

Meaning rely on anybody in our bottom six.  They're trash.  We're not a "deep" team, when our 8th and 9th best player are Hauser and Pritchard.

I guess we'll see how much of a non-issue it is, when Brogdon / KP / Horford / Timelord all miss time with injury and we have scrubs to back them up.

Who cares as long as our top 8 guys are healthy come playoffs?  Celtics' home playoff record suggests that regular season should be to develop chemistry and depth and that seeding is secondary concern at best.

You don't think that Joe will overplay his NBA-quality guys over the scrubs?

Fair concern.  I hope not.  If he does, I may join your "Fire Joe" club.

[Who]

We couldn't get Torey Craig to sign here over Chicago to fill that potential void?

Quote above is from another thread. I missed this one. This is a bummer. T Craig and Josh Richardson both off the table. Only two-way wing left is Terrence Davis. Is that correct? They were my three guys at the start of this.

I like Anthony Lamb as well but we just signed two SFs in Brisset and Banton and drafted another one in Jordan Walsh. I like Lamb better than any of those guys but ... it is a lot of SFs.

I wonder if J Walsh be used as a two-way to make roster space for further signings. Kept in the G-League instead of being given an opportunity to play in order to fit in Brisset and Banton.


Anyway, Chicago should start T Craig instead of Pat Williams. Williams has struggled to justify his starting spot and frankly only has it because he was a high draft pick. Not because of performance. He should be a 15mpg bench guy. T Craig is better.

Although, if I were to guess, Chicago will instead use T Craig as their backup PF behind DeRozan. Not a good use of T Craig. He is a SF. Not a PF. Makes Chicago extremely small at forward now as well.

F - Patrick Williams, Javonte Green
F - DeMar DeRozan, Torrey Craig

They are not big in the backcourt either. Zach Lavine their only true SG and he has average height but with below average muscle. The rest are combo guards. Good sized PGs but small SGs.

G - Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter
G - Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Coby White

So smallish at guard and very small at forward.

C - Vucevic, Drummond

Got legit size at center but not much defense or mobility. They cannot cover for all the holes defensively that are going to be caused by their lack of size & defense at forward.

Chicago need to pursue a real power forward preferably with Patrick Williams and maybe one of those combo guards leaving in such a trade.

Bulls look like a 30-35 win team to me.

[JBcat]

We couldn't get Torey Craig to sign here over Chicago to fill that potential void?

Quote above is from another thread. I missed this one. This is a bummer. T Craig and Josh Richardson both off the table. Only two-way wing left is Terrence Davis. Is that correct? They were my three guys at the start of this.

I like Anthony Lamb as well but we just signed two SFs in Brisset and Banton and drafted another one in Jordan Walsh. I like Lamb better than any of those guys but ... it is a lot of SFs.

I wonder if J Walsh be used as a two-way to make roster space for further signings. Kept in the G-League instead of being given an opportunity to play in order to fit in Brisset and Banton.


Anyway, Chicago should start T Craig instead of Pat Williams. Williams has struggled to justify his starting spot and frankly only has it because he was a high draft pick. Not because of performance. He should be a 15mpg bench guy. T Craig is better.

Although, if I were to guess, Chicago will instead use T Craig as their backup PF behind DeRozan. Not a good use of T Craig. He is a SF. Not a PF. Makes Chicago extremely small at forward now as well.

F - Patrick Williams, Javonte Green
F - DeMar DeRozan, Torrey Craig

They are not big in the backcourt either. Zach Lavine their only true SG and he has average height but with below average muscle. The rest are combo guards. Good sized PGs but small SGs.

G - Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter
G - Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Coby White

So smallish at guard and very small at forward.

C - Vucevic, Drummond

Got legit size at center but not much defense or mobility. They cannot cover for all the holes defensively that are going to be caused by their lack of size & defense at forward.

Chicago need to pursue a real power forward preferably with Patrick Williams and maybe one of those combo guards leaving in such a trade.

Bulls look like a 30-35 win team to me.

Regarding Patrick Williams he’s been playing out of position at PF as he is a more natural PF. In some ways last season was his rookie year at age 20 being still super young, and missing most of the previous season with an injury, and his first being a Covid year.

He came into the league pretty raw, but has impressive physical tools and has had some big games. I’d like to seem him unleashed at 30 MPG at small forward to see what he becomes, but the problem is the Bulls have 2 ball dominant wings in DD and Lavine, and Williams fills the role of spot up shooter most of the time forced to play to PF.

Honestly the Bulls should just blow it up trading their vets. They won’t be realistically contending. The cautionary tale of trading Williams is they have done that before with Wendal Carter JR and Markannen letting them go too soon. Be patient with P Will, and try to get him playing more at his natural position SF to see what he becomes. I’m still high on him.

[Who]

We couldn't get Torey Craig to sign here over Chicago to fill that potential void?

Quote above is from another thread. I missed this one. This is a bummer. T Craig and Josh Richardson both off the table. Only two-way wing left is Terrence Davis. Is that correct? They were my three guys at the start of this.

I like Anthony Lamb as well but we just signed two SFs in Brisset and Banton and drafted another one in Jordan Walsh. I like Lamb better than any of those guys but ... it is a lot of SFs.

I wonder if J Walsh be used as a two-way to make roster space for further signings. Kept in the G-League instead of being given an opportunity to play in order to fit in Brisset and Banton.


Anyway, Chicago should start T Craig instead of Pat Williams. Williams has struggled to justify his starting spot and frankly only has it because he was a high draft pick. Not because of performance. He should be a 15mpg bench guy. T Craig is better.

Although, if I were to guess, Chicago will instead use T Craig as their backup PF behind DeRozan. Not a good use of T Craig. He is a SF. Not a PF. Makes Chicago extremely small at forward now as well.

F - Patrick Williams, Javonte Green
F - DeMar DeRozan, Torrey Craig

They are not big in the backcourt either. Zach Lavine their only true SG and he has average height but with below average muscle. The rest are combo guards. Good sized PGs but small SGs.

G - Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter
G - Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Coby White

So smallish at guard and very small at forward.

C - Vucevic, Drummond

Got legit size at center but not much defense or mobility. They cannot cover for all the holes defensively that are going to be caused by their lack of size & defense at forward.

Chicago need to pursue a real power forward preferably with Patrick Williams and maybe one of those combo guards leaving in such a trade.

Bulls look like a 30-35 win team to me.

Regarding Patrick Williams he’s been playing out of position at PF as he is a more natural PF. In some ways last season was his rookie year at age 20 being still super young, and missing most of the previous season with an injury, and his first being a Covid year.

He came into the league pretty raw, but has impressive physical tools and has had some big games. I’d like to seem him unleashed at 30 MPG at small forward to see what he becomes, but the problem is the Bulls have 2 ball dominant wings in DD and Lavine, and Williams fills the role of spot up shooter most of the time forced to play to PF.

Honestly the Bulls should just blow it up trading their vets. They won’t be realistically contending. The cautionary tale of trading Williams is they have done that before with Wendal Carter JR and Markannen letting them go too soon. Be patient with P Will, and try to get him playing more at his natural position SF to see what he becomes. I’m still high on him.

Pat Williams worries me. I don't much confidence in him. I don't think he has much of a nose for the ball and I don't think he has much of a head for the game.

Nose for the ball = doesn't use that athleticism to make many hustle plays. To grab rebounds. To force turnovers.

Head for the game = he becomes so peripheral out there on offense. The game just passes him by. He doesn't understand how to get involved. DeRozan and LaVine take a lot of posessions but there are still more opportunities there to be had than Pat Williams takes advantage of. Only 8 FGAs in 28mpg. Only 1.2apg. A 1:1 AST:TO ratio. Never gets to the foul line. Only 1.3 FTAs per game for a FT percentage of 15.5% compared to FGs taken.

That is a lot of (very) bad signals.

I expected more progress from him at this point. His development since joining the Bulls has been limited. Another worrying sign for a player so young and fairly raw entering the league. That he hasn't been able to take any major steps forward. I was hoping he would give the Bulls a big lift coming back from that that long term injury but there was no difference out there whether he was in the team or out of the team. He made no difference. That was so disheartening to see.

Next year is a big season for him. He has to show some growth.

[Vermont Green]

I am not up on Patrick Williams' game but he makes $9.8M.  In theory, a bench wing/swing could be a nice add.  Not sure how he could end up on the Celtics.  S&T with Grant wouldn't work I don't think (Grant is base year compensation) so you would have to trade Brogdon ($22.5M) to bring back Williams + say Alex Caruso ($9.4M).  Brogdon might be a decent fit in CHI.  Not sure we win that trade, even if CHI were to throw in a pick or something.  It would extend our depth some.

[JBcat]

We couldn't get Torey Craig to sign here over Chicago to fill that potential void?

Quote above is from another thread. I missed this one. This is a bummer. T Craig and Josh Richardson both off the table. Only two-way wing left is Terrence Davis. Is that correct? They were my three guys at the start of this.

I like Anthony Lamb as well but we just signed two SFs in Brisset and Banton and drafted another one in Jordan Walsh. I like Lamb better than any of those guys but ... it is a lot of SFs.

I wonder if J Walsh be used as a two-way to make roster space for further signings. Kept in the G-League instead of being given an opportunity to play in order to fit in Brisset and Banton.


Anyway, Chicago should start T Craig instead of Pat Williams. Williams has struggled to justify his starting spot and frankly only has it because he was a high draft pick. Not because of performance. He should be a 15mpg bench guy. T Craig is better.

Although, if I were to guess, Chicago will instead use T Craig as their backup PF behind DeRozan. Not a good use of T Craig. He is a SF. Not a PF. Makes Chicago extremely small at forward now as well.

F - Patrick Williams, Javonte Green
F - DeMar DeRozan, Torrey Craig

They are not big in the backcourt either. Zach Lavine their only true SG and he has average height but with below average muscle. The rest are combo guards. Good sized PGs but small SGs.

G - Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter
G - Zach LaVine, Alex Caruso, Coby White

So smallish at guard and very small at forward.

C - Vucevic, Drummond

Got legit size at center but not much defense or mobility. They cannot cover for all the holes defensively that are going to be caused by their lack of size & defense at forward.

Chicago need to pursue a real power forward preferably with Patrick Williams and maybe one of those combo guards leaving in such a trade.

Bulls look like a 30-35 win team to me.

Regarding Patrick Williams he’s been playing out of position at PF as he is a more natural PF. In some ways last season was his rookie year at age 20 being still super young, and missing most of the previous season with an injury, and his first being a Covid year.

He came into the league pretty raw, but has impressive physical tools and has had some big games. I’d like to seem him unleashed at 30 MPG at small forward to see what he becomes, but the problem is the Bulls have 2 ball dominant wings in DD and Lavine, and Williams fills the role of spot up shooter most of the time forced to play to PF.

Honestly the Bulls should just blow it up trading their vets. They won’t be realistically contending. The cautionary tale of trading Williams is they have done that before with Wendal Carter JR and Markannen letting them go too soon. Be patient with P Will, and try to get him playing more at his natural position SF to see what he becomes. I’m still high on him.

Pat Williams worries me. I don't much confidence in him. I don't think he has much of a nose for the ball and I don't think he has much of a head for the game.

Nose for the ball = doesn't use that athleticism to make many hustle plays. To grab rebounds. To force turnovers.

Head for the game = he becomes so peripheral out there on offense. The game just passes him by. He doesn't understand how to get involved. DeRozan and LaVine take a lot of posessions but there are still more opportunities there to be had than Pat Williams takes advantage of. Only 8 FGAs in 28mpg. Only 1.2apg. A 1:1 AST:TO ratio. Never gets to the foul line. Only 1.3 FTAs per game for a FT percentage of 15.5% compared to FGs taken.

That is a lot of (very) bad signals.

I expected more progress from him at this point. His development since joining the Bulls has been limited. Another worrying sign for a player so young and fairly raw entering the league. That he hasn't been able to take any major steps forward. I was hoping he would give the Bulls a big lift coming back from that that long term injury but there was no difference out there whether he was in the team or out of the team. He made no difference. That was so disheartening to see.

Next year is a big season for him. He has to show some growth.

Well very young talented players can be wildly inconsistent so it’s not going to look impressive looking at his averages. If you take a look at what he does in his higher end games (18 games at least 15 points and 23 games at least 6 boards) the talent is in there. If he could get a little more consistent and make those 15 and 6 numbers  closer to his averages limiting his dud games going into his age 21 season he’ll be on the right path. He also seemed to play better from January on.

He is also already an excellent defensive player as well.

[Who]

I am having fun watching Chet Holmgren in SL. So I was trying to figure out OKC's roster and where he fits in. Man, I am having trouble just telling who is on the team + how the roster will be balanced.

G: J Giddey, C Wallace, P Mills, Tre Mann
G: SGA, Isaiah Joe, V Oladipo, L Waters III
F: Lu Dort, K Williams, O Dieng, K Johnson, A Wiggins
F: Jalen Williams, C Holmgren, A Pokusevski, D Bertans
C: J Robinson, Jaylin Williams

Seriously, that is 19 players! I am so confused.

-- Why did they sign Patty Mills? That Tre Mann guy looks a solid 3rd string PG.
-- What will they do with V Oladipo? Surely they will buy him out.
-- Way too much depth at SF. Aaron Wiggins looked interesting. He might be a nice buy low candidate for someone.
-- Bertans = Buyout?
-- They still have no clear starting center.

Chet Holmgren looks too small bulk wise to play center full time. He looks a power forward for the time being. He reminds me a bit of Jaren Jackson Jr. He needs his S Adams / J Valanciunas to play next to.

Maybe the buy out Oladipo and Bertans. Then use two-ways for K Johnson and someone else. Does that work? I am still not clear on those two way contracts and how they work.

I forgot Vasilije Micic. They signed him as well.

Appearently, they also signed a guy named Jack White.

White, a 6-foot-7 forward from Australia, played 66 minutes in 17 games last season for the Nuggets, scoring 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

White joined the Nuggets' organization last July on a two-way contract. In 14 games with Denver's G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, last season, he averaged 20.9 points per game.

A four-year player in college for coach Mike Krzyzewski, White averaged 2.7 points and 13.6 minutes per game with the Blue Devils from 2016-20.

"Jack was just the best teammate ever," Krzyzewski said in a 2020 interview. "A hard worker – came to work every day. One of the easiest kids to coach that I've had the opportunity to coach in my 45 years as a collegiate coach. He is a top-notch defender, rebounder and shot blocker. He does all the dirty work. Offensively, he'll be able to add and stretch a defense because he can hit his outside shot."

3rd Aussie after Patty Mills and Josh Giddey on OKC.

So that is 21 players now.

G: J Giddey, C Wallace, P Mills, Tre Mann
G: SGA, V Micic, Isaiah Joe, V Oladipo, L Waters III
F: Lu Dort, K Williams, O Dieng, K Johnson, A Wiggins, J White
F: Jalen Williams, C Holmgren, A Pokusevski, D Bertans
C: J Robinson, Jaylin Williams

They are saying the Patty Mills deal was like the Vic Oladipo deal where OKC takes on a bad contract in exchange for draft compensation. So they may have three vets there (Bertans also) who may get waived to make roster spots available. Two two-way contracts still would leave OKC with 17 players. They gotta move some people.

[goCeltics]

Bol Bol released yes please, instead of Kornet at least, and as a potential Grant replacement.

[tonydelk]

Bol Bol released yes please, instead of Kornet at least, and as a potential Grant replacement.

I'm surprised he was released.  Super cheap.  Played well at times last year.  Had a really good stretch of games where he was a legit starter.  Last year was his 1st run he's gotten after his college injury.  Must be more to it because he has talent as an end of bench player.  I would much rather have him the Kornet.  He could play with Rob as well on the 2nd unit for small stretches.  He's a turnover machine though.  Wonder if that had something to do with it.  He was also late to rotate at times a lot to.  Still though.  Young, talented and has length.  Seems like a Brad guy.

[Who]

Bol Bol released yes please, instead of Kornet at least, and as a potential Grant replacement.

I'm surprised he was released.  Super cheap.  Played well at times last year.  Had a really good stretch of games where he was a legit starter.  Last year was his 1st run he's gotten after his college injury.  Must be more to it because he has talent as an end of bench player.  I would much rather have him the Kornet.  He could play with Rob as well on the 2nd unit for small stretches.  He's a turnover machine though.  Wonder if that had something to do with it.  He was also late to rotate at times a lot to.  Still though.  Young, talented and has length.  Seems like a Brad guy.

I think Bol Bol is a forward rather than a center. A PF. Too thin to play the five spot. So I don't think he would effect Kornet. More likely someone like Brisset or Banton as 3rd string PF.

I don't think he is much good as a player. A tweener player. At his height and mobility he needs to be a center but he doesn't have the size / bulk for it. So he plays PF. He is still stuck between two positions and struggles to defend players at either spot. Not really skilled enough for the PF position in terms of outside shooting, handles, passing.

I don't think he is worth pursuing for the Celtics.

[Sketch5]

Bol Bol released yes please, instead of Kornet at least, and as a potential Grant replacement.

I'm surprised he was released.  Super cheap.  Played well at times last year.  Had a really good stretch of games where he was a legit starter.  Last year was his 1st run he's gotten after his college injury.  Must be more to it because he has talent as an end of bench player.  I would much rather have him the Kornet.  He could play with Rob as well on the 2nd unit for small stretches.  He's a turnover machine though.  Wonder if that had something to do with it.  He was also late to rotate at times a lot to.  Still though.  Young, talented and has length.  Seems like a Brad guy.

He's only 23. Some time bugs don't come into their own till 25. He did show some signs that he can play. I'd take an other flier on him right now.

[Birdman]

Be great pickup

[PAOBoston]

Bol has been cut or traded by 4 teams in 3 years. He’s 23. That’s all you need to know. He should try his luck in Europe. He’s not an NBA player.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Bol has been cut or traded by 4 teams in 3 years. He’s 23. That’s all you need to know. He should try his luck in Europe. He’s not an NBA player.

Rumor is that its not the talent. He feels like he deserves a bigger role. That's why Denver traded him. I'm guessing he looked at the Magic front court and didn't think he'd have opportunity, so he requested the move.

Every time he gets out on the court, he is effective, and he hasn't had injury problems these last few years, right?

My brother told me that we love Wemby because he's tall and he can shoot and dribble and play defense, but can't Bol do all of that too? I thought it was a fair point. He may have a Christian Wood-type career path, but the team that he takes off with may be really helped.

[Who]

There is persistent speculation that Pascal Siakam — the team’s leading scorer, second-most prolific playmaker and ultimate home-grown success story — could be traded before the regular season starts and perhaps much sooner as the NBA’s transaction market simmers.

- Michael Grange, Raptors beat writer