Free agency starts / reported signings (merged)

[cman88]

Wonder what Miami's game plan is. Seems they are falling apart.

Then again most of these guys are undrafted scrubs who played above their ceiling. So maybe they figure than can plug anyone in.

Plus maybe they realize last year was a fluke.

[Who]

Wonder what Miami's game plan is. Seems they are falling apart.

Then again most of these guys are undrafted scrubs who played above their ceiling. So maybe they figure than can plug anyone in.

Plus maybe they realize last year was a fluke.

I don't think they are falling apart at all. I see their current rotation on a par with last year's rotation. They haven't lost anything in my view.

G - Josh Richardson, Kyle Lowry
G - Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson
F - Jimmy Butler, Cartier Martin

If Lowry is waived, that will be the first hit they will have taken that they cannot absorb. Then again, they may end up trading Lowry & picks for an upgrade. So that one could go either way.

I really like Josh Richardson there. I see him as an upgrade over Gabe Vincent. Tyler Herro back from injury. They had D Robinson as deep bench insurance who can step up as a regular rotation player in the loss of Strus. That perimeter core has not lost anything.

[Who]

Dennis Smith Jr to Nets

Mentioned in another thread. I did not see it here.

Nice signing for the Nets. An upgrade over Patty Mills who is just too old at this point. Leaves a hole at backup PG for Charlotte to fill.

[Who]

Sacramento signed that European guy they have linked to for the last month or two, Sasha Vezenkov. He got 3yrs $20mil.

A SF shooter/scorer type. Some say the best player in Europe. Others say that guy Micic is (playmaking big guard).

Hmm ...

They just added Chris Duarte in a trade to be their backup SF so does this mean Vezenkov will play primarily PF for Sac-town? That Sacramento is commiting to their 2 SFs forward lineup configuration full time moving forward.

F - Keegan Murray, Chris Duarte
F - Harrison Barnes, Sasha Vezenkov
G - Kevin Huerter, Malik Monk
G - De'Aaron Fox, Davion Mitchell
C - Domantas Sabonis

It looks like that is where he would fit in. Duarte is too small to play PF. Keegan Murray to slender. So that role would fall to H Barnes and S Vezenkov.

[liam]

I would've thought something in the 5yrs $125-150mil range for Bane.

Probably closer to the $30mil per year than $25mil. He is a top 10 SG. Lot of those 11-17th rank starters are getting $18-23mil. So let's go with the $150/5yrs marker.

Heck, Bane is better than Jerami Grant ($32mil per) or Kyle Kuzma ($26mil per).

Bane is a big part of the reason that the Grizz performance doesn't drop much with Morant out.  He has the best on/off differential for the Grizz.  Not sure what you mean by 11-17th rank but I'd suggest he's better than top 10 SG. 

JB is about to get SuperMax.  Is there really that much of a difference between JB and Bane?  If JB and Bane were swapped, would there be a significant difference in performance for the Celts?  Might even be a bit better due to better fit with Tatum and the offense being run.

Yes, I wonder about that Jaylen vs Bane if they swap places hypothetical. Would Boston be any worse or better off? Would Memphis be any better or worse off?

I was trying to figure out just how highly to rate Bane during the playoffs because I wasn't happy with where I had pegged him. I couldn't make up my mind so I left him as a top 10 SG.

For comparison, here are the other top 10 SGs = Devin Booker, Shia Gilgeous Alexander, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Jaylen Brown, Mikal Bridges, Zach LaVine, Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Desmond Bane

That is in rough order.

The Bane on/off stats are very interesting. A lot of Grizzly fans feel Bane is their most irreplaceable player. He is the guy they fear getting hurt and being out a long time the most. Morant appears to be the easiest to replace. Then JJJ in the middle.

There is a part of me that wonders if Bane is roughly as valuable as Ja Morant on the floor. That Bane as a low mistake almost entirely positive contributions has as large a net impact as Morant does who makes more positive plays but also has far more negative plays.

I mean Morant plays poor defense despite being perhaps the most athletic PG in the league. He has a bad outside shot that hurts their spacing and team offense. Now he has positives that overcome that and make him a large net benefit to the team but those negatives chip a fair bit off of his positive contributions.

A guy like Bane who plays good defense, is a lights out shooter who gives some of the best spacing / gravity of any player in the league and provides solid secondary ball-handling and passing ... is he better than Morant?

I don't mean in terms of potential. Morant if he fixes his defense and develops a shot, would clearly be the far more valuable player but that is potential not current performance. On a current performance basis, is Morant any better than Bane? I am not sure he is.


Back to Jaylen and Bane.

I lean towards the team being better with Bane than Jaylen due to Bane's shooting and low error style of play. Or at worst, comparable with Bane vs Jaylen. I don't think we'd be worse off with Bane vs Jaylen.

As for Jaylen in Memphis, I do think Memphis would be worse off. They already lack outside shooting. They lack secondary ball-handling and passing from SG / SF / PF positions. Jaylen more mistake prone. Jaylen more individualistic on offense. Worse fit next to Morant.


I also wonder how much of that is Jaylen having the game of a SF rather than a guard. He is a physical slasher and defender/rebounder rather than a shooter & secondary ball-handler / playmaker that you expect from your SG.

If Memphis can rejig their lineup with Jaylen at SF and bring in a new SG who can shoot, the team suddenly becomes very interesting very fast. And could be an improvement over the team with Bane and whatever SF they scrounge up to start next to him.

No one ever talks about Bane's short arms anymore. No one talks about how he couldn't get any better or that he was a tweener, etc, etc...

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Wonder what Miami's game plan is. Seems they are falling apart.

Then again most of these guys are undrafted scrubs who played above their ceiling. So maybe they figure than can plug anyone in.

Plus maybe they realize last year was a fluke.

I don't think they are falling apart at all. I see their current rotation on a par with last year's rotation. They haven't lost anything in my view.

G - Josh Richardson, Kyle Lowry
G - Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson
F - Jimmy Butler, Cartier Martin

If Lowry is waived, that will be the first hit they will have taken that they cannot absorb. Then again, they may end up trading Lowry & picks for an upgrade. So that one could go either way.

I really like Josh Richardson there. I see him as an upgrade over Gabe Vincent. Tyler Herro back from injury. They had D Robinson as deep bench insurance who can step up as a regular rotation player in the loss of Strus. That perimeter core has not lost anything.

Not sure how you can argue that. Lowry is a year older and likely to be waived. He's not really even a positive in most games anymore and they are unlikely to get anything comparable to Vincent, and then still won't have a backup for him.

I'm not sure what the obsession is with Josh Richardson on this board. He hasn't been a reliable starter since the last time he played for the Heat. Now he's several years older and slower.

They are worse than they were, and there really isn't any way you can argue differently.

[Who]

Jaxson Hayes signs 2yrs with Lakers.

Their replacement for Mo Bamba and W Gabriel.

[Who]

So Lakers bench mob now look like

G: G Vincent
G: Lonnie Walker IV, J Hood-Schifino
F: Taureen Prince, Cam Reddish
F: Rui Hachimura
C: Jaxson Hayes

It is an athletic group. Speed. Size. Defense.

Not the most skillful group of players.

[ozgod]

Wonder what Miami's game plan is. Seems they are falling apart.

Then again most of these guys are undrafted scrubs who played above their ceiling. So maybe they figure than can plug anyone in.

Plus maybe they realize last year was a fluke.

I think Lillard is their game plan.

[Who]

Bruce Brown is largely a product of Jokic. His TS with Jokic off the court is 50.25

Interesting note about B Brown's scoring efficiency without Jokic. That is a terrible figure. League average was 58%. That is way way way below average.

That is around where Russell Westbrook was at his worst. He was typically at 51% TS%. Oh wait, one season at 50% in OKC in 2018-19. Then three years of 51%. 2/3rds of this past season at 50% in LAL but 56% in LAC for 51% overall.

[Who]

Any word on what Denver are doing?

Bruce Brown is a big loss for them. He was part of that three headed monster along with KCP and A Gordon who gave DEN that defensive balance they needed alongside their three offensive minded star players of Jokic, J Murray and MPJ.

I saw the re-signed Reggie Jackson who did not play much for them after being acquired. He could replace the offense Bruce Brown brought but not the defense.

I mean, right now KCP is their only plus defender on the perimeter. They need some reinforcements to keep their crown.

[jpotter33]

What a lovely time for Musk to employ rate limits and limit how many tweets you can view during NBA free agency.

This guy is putting on a master class about how to destroy a major company.

[Who]

Oh, that guy Micic from Europe got 3yrs $23.5mil from OKC. The other guy who gets talked about as the best player in Europe. Nice signing for OKC.

Another big ball-handler to go with SGA and J Giddy. Even Jalen Williams.

OKC starting to look very good. Huge hole in the middle though that will hold them back until they fill it. Reminds me a bit of the early Durant Westbrook days when you were just waiting for them to move on from J Green & N Krstic and bring in two real big men instead who would vault them up from a 45-48win team to a title contender.

In this case, a good starting center could push this team up into the 50-55 win status. They could be the new Memphis Grizzlies. That type of deep hard working team that outworks everyone and finishes with one of the top seeds in the West.

[celticinorlando]

What a lovely time for Musk to employ rate limits and limit how many tweets you can view during NBA free agency.

This guy is putting on a master class about how to destroy a major company.

As well as nhl free agency. I haven’t been able to refresh my timeline for hours. What a POS

[Phantom255x]

D'Lo back to the Lakers for 2/37M. That's a lot less than I expected