NBA Free Agency 2024

[Who]

Shams Charania: Free agent guard Cam Payne has agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million deal with the New York Knicks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

Nice pickup. I am surprised they went for another PG though. I thought Tyler Kolek was fine as their 3rd string PG. Older college player. 23 years old. Refined game entering the league. Developed jump-shot. Smart floor general. He is ready to play.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Shams Charania: Free agent guard Cam Payne has agreed to a one-year, $3.1 million deal with the New York Knicks, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

Nice pickup. I am surprised they went for another PG though. I thought Tyler Kolek was fine as their 3rd string PG. Older college player. 23 years old. Refined game entering the league. Developed jump-shot. Smart floor general. He is ready to play.

I'm guessing Thibs is going to average more dirty looks at Payne per game than Payne's PPG.

[Goldstar88]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Free agent G Gary Trent Jr. has agreed on a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, Rich Paul and Lucas Newton of @klutchsports tell ESPN. Trent reunites with Damian Lillard and joins a Bucks organization that recruited him hard to chase a title with them.

[Roy H.]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Free agent G Gary Trent Jr. has agreed on a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, Rich Paul and Lucas Newton of @klutchsports tell ESPN. Trent reunites with Damian Lillard and joins a Bucks organization that recruited him hard to chase a title with them.

Good get for them.  Too bad.

[Birdman]

Patrick Beverly to Tel Aviv

[radiohead]

Patrick Beverly to Tel Aviv

At least we won?t have to watch him in the NBA anymore.

[Who]

Patrick Beverly to Tel Aviv

Bummer. I enjoy Pat Beverley. Great defender. Useful offensive player. Ideal 3+D role player. He played great last season for both Philly & Milwaukee. He deserves to be in the league. There are a lot of teams he could help.

Teams dropped the ball here.

[CelticsWhat35]

Patrick Beverly to Tel Aviv

Bummer. I enjoy Pat Beverley. Great defender. Useful offensive player. Ideal 3+D role player. He played great last season for both Philly & Milwaukee. He deserves to be in the league. There are a lot of teams he could help.

Teams dropped the ball here.

I wouldn?t call him an ?ideal? 3&D guy. He?s been an average/below average shooter the past few years and though he?s a good defender, he?s also under-sized.  He?s also has an overinflated belief of how good he is that leads to him trying to take over games at times

[Who]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Free agent G Gary Trent Jr. has agreed on a one-year deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, Rich Paul and Lucas Newton of @klutchsports tell ESPN. Trent reunites with Damian Lillard and joins a Bucks organization that recruited him hard to chase a title with them.

Nice signing. Is Gary Trent now there best perimeter defender? And I do not mean that as a compliment to Gary Trent.

Bucks Roster

G: Lillard, Delon Wright
G: G Trent, Andre Johnson AJ Green
F: Middleton, P Connaughton
F: Giannis, T Prince, Tyler Smith
C: B Lopez, B Portis

That guy Andre Johnson was the one who impressed in the playoffs with his athleticism, energy & defense right? I don't think he can shoot well enough to start.

Delon Wright is a 2nd good defensive perimeter player off the bench. Again, I don't think his shot is good enough to start at SG.

They should have brought back Pat Beverley. His addition midseason was one of the few things they have done right with their supporting cast in recent times.

Maybe they go big with Taureen Prince at SG like the Lakers tried to do last season with their 3 SFs, one guard and one big man experiment which did not work well.

Bucks Bench

Bucks bench isn't that bad. They have a solid 9 man rotation. One high level bench guy in B Portis. Three average bench players in D Wright, P Connaughton & Taureen Prince. That is an above average bench. Well, so long as their first 9 are healthy. Once you go beyond them you have nothing but unproven unreliable kids that do not look ready to contribute. So any injury or missed time will see a quick fall off.

[Vermont Green]

MIL will be improved.  Trent should be an upgrade on Beasley.  Lillard more integrated.  It will come down to health, as it will be for several of the other potential top teams in the east.  I could see MIL, NYK, PHI, CLE, IND and MIA all being improved over what they were at the end of last season, if they are able to stay healthy.  Maybe ORL too (although I am not sure health was an issue for them last season).

Meanwhile, the Celtics will have to see what they can do to keep Porzingis healthy.

[Roy H.]

They should have brought back Pat Beverley. His addition midseason was one of the few things they have done right with their supporting cast in recent times.

Yeah, I'm confused by this from afar, as well.  But, PB never seems to stick around anywhere for too long, which makes me wonder about the locker room.

[gift]

Lillard more integrated.

and another year older though

[Who]

The Lakers bench looks weak

Starters

G: D Russell
G: A Reaves
F: LeBron
F: Hachimura
C: A Davis

Bench

G: Gabe Vincent, Bronny
G: Max Christie, J Hood Schifino
F: Cam Reddish, Daniel Knecht
F: Jared Vanderbilt
C: Jaxson Hayes

So they have two average bench players in Gabe Vincent and Vanderbilt. Then three below average ones in Reddish, J Hayes and M Christie.

Max Christie looks the best possibility for improvement. I like him as a young 3+D guy. Knecht is a possibility to overtake Cam Reddish for playing time. I gave Reddish the edge to start the campaign because he knows how to play NBA defense. Maybe they will go smaller with Reddish as the backup PF and move Vanderbilt out of the rotation in order to get more shooting on the floor.

This has to be one of the weaker benches in the league among playoff hopefuls. Denver is the only one I can think of as clearly worse.

Any injury to their starters could lead to big drop-offs.

[Vermont Green]

Lillard more integrated.

and another year older though

He is 34, as of July 15.  Same age as Jrue Holiday.  I think Lillard is still a good player, but probably will show some decline.  I think the Bucks can still be good.  Middleton cannot score like he used to.  That is why Lillard is there.  He will still score and he will still get to the line.  He played 73 games last season.  There had been some durability issues prior to last season.  As I said, if everyone stays healthy, I think MIL will be right in the mix.  If Lillard goes down, it changes things a lot.

[Who]

Cory Joseph and the Orlando Magic have agreed to a two-year deal.

Another defensive guard for Orlando.

Orlando have some quality 3rd stringers. Cory Joseph at PG, Caleb Houstan at SG, Jett Howard at SF, Tristan da Silva at PF and Goga Bitadze at C.

Good primary bench players too. Cole Anthony, Gary Harris, Anthony Black, Jonathon Isaac, Mo Wagner.

Deep team.