Eastern Conference Offseason Primer Part Two

Cory Hughey and David Wood teamed up to breakdown the Eastern Conference teams’ needs in free agency. Click on the team names to see a detailed break down of their contract situations. 

I feel a lot better now that Kevin Love has pretty much re-signed with the Cavs. I often acted like I didn’t want him back, but I really just didn’t want to be disappointed. I also loved Kevin Pelton’s Love piece. In short, he said Love was part of both the best defensive and offensive units the Cavs had this season. To celebrate the Love news, I made a dinner that symbolizes Cleveland, and why Love probably came back. I cooked some good old beef hot dogs in beer (Busch Light, if you were wondering) and then whipped up a gastrique sauce with oranges. I’m a chef, sort of.

The point is that a gastrique is supposed to be uppity and hot dogs are the steak of the poor. However, it must also be noted that hot dogs are still delicious. The above meal defines Cleveland. We are a city that knows how to appreciate the finest things in life, but doesn’t decide to be defined or controlled by them. Clevelanders just enjoy what’s delicious.

My sister lives on the West Coast and many of my college friends do too, Los Angeles to be specific. It’s a different world there. People who aren’t girls do yoga, and they have pizza that’s just bread with broccoli on it, aka liar pizza. In Los Angeles/the West Coast, I don’t think a hot dog has been eaten unironically in years, unless you count the ones devoured by tourists who line up at Pink’s Hot Dogs. That’s a tough life to live and Kevin’s choice today showed that he wants to enjoy finely sauced hot dogs without feeling shame. I don’t blame him. Now, here’s a former Angelino to discuss some free agency stuff.

Brooklyn Nets (Cory Hughey)

Draft Selections:

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23rd via Portland), SF Arizona

Chris McCullough (29th), PF Syracuse

Cap Room: The NBA always has a character like Nets GM Billy King, and that’s one of the many reasons that the league tells a better story than any other pro sport. A cat running a team in a cosmopolitan market, whose owner has made a mandate to win now at all costs, and it cripples the franchise for a decade. King mortgaged the future to pay for the present two years ago, and it didn’t work, and it’s gonna get worse, much, much worse. The Nets are a fringe playoff team that will be deep into the luxury next year. If they renounced all of their cap holds (Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young, Mirza Teletovic, Jerome Jordan) they would only have $3.6 million in cap space. The rooks along with Lopez and Young back on board only puts them at eleven guys. Even filling out the rest of the roster with minimums will push them towards being $20 million into the luxury tax.

Yahoo Sources: The Nets have agreements now: Thad Young (4 years, $50M) and Brook Lopez (3 years, $60M). Both deals w/ player option.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2015

Story going online now: ESPN sources say Nets and Grizzlies recently discussed a Joe Johnson-to-Memphis trade

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 29, 2015

Free Agents to Take Down the Cavs: 

If the Nets signed The Human Torch, Mister Fantastic, Susan Storm, and the Thing to deals, they wouldn’t be able to take a game from the Cavs in the first round next season, because they won’t make the playoffs. With Miami and Indiana’s return to health, along with the growth spurt the Magic should experience in the standings, I can’t see a way that the Nets make the playoffs. The worst part? Brooklyn owes it’s unprotected first round pick to the Celtics next season from the Garnett and Pierce deal (both long gone). In case you missed it, owner Mikhail Prokorov stated  he would punish himself by getting married if the team didn’t win a title by 2015. I LOVE IT!

Charlotte Hornets (David Wood)

Charlotte’s basketball future is in this man’s hands.

Draft Selections:
Frank Kaminsky (9th), C Wisconson

Juan Pablo Vaulet (39th), SF Argentina

Cap Room: With Al Jefferson accepting his player option of $13.5 million, the Hornets are tapped out financially. The Hornets did not extend a qualifying offer to shotblocker Bismack Biyombo.

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs: The Hornets have made moves already. They traded away locker room joker Lance Stephenson and added Nicolas Batum for essentially just Gerald Henderson and Noah Vonleh. Batum adds some 3-point shooting, which Charlotte needs after ranking last in the league for 3-point percentage. Pairing Batum with Kemba Walker and MGK will create a formidable defensive set of wings and backcourt players.

Charlotte drafted Frank Kaminsky, who should help spread the floor from the 4 and 5 spots. When he gets paired with Cody Zeller, the Hornets will have a distinct advantage. This pairs’ height, extreme whiteness, and awkwardness will create a spectacle no team will be able to look away from, so there will be lots of open layups to be had. Michael Jordan knows what he’s doing.

The Hornets ranked ninth in defensive efficiency this past season and developed a system where everyone, even defensive minuses like Al Jefferson, could succeed. If the Hornets can maintain this defense, and keep developing guys’ shots, they’ll be a decent team. MGK attempted zero 3s last season, and Cody needs eight more feet of range to change his long 2s into 3s. So in free agency Charlotte should go after the best shooting coach they can buy.

Chicago Bulls (Cory Hughey)

Draft Selections:

Bobby Portis (22nd), PF Arkansas

Cap Room: 

Yahoo Sources: Chicago Bulls, Mike Dunleavy agree to $14.4 million deal. http://t.co/Ral1AGmfbB

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2015

Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls finalizing a five-year, $95M maximum contract with player option after four years, league sources tell Yahoo.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2015

The Bulls could have had Jimmy Butler locked up last year for $13 million a season or so. They chose to give him the qualifying offer instead. Now they are on the hook for an average of $19 million per season. I’m assuming both Butler and Dunleavy’s contracts are descending so they are probably slightly lower next season than the average per season over the life of the deals. With a rough estimate of $22 million next season for Butler, Dunleavy and rookie Bobby Portis, that would put the Bulls around $86 million for 12 players. Even if they filled the other three spots with rookie minimums they would still be over five million into the luxury tax. It’s possible they will look for a cash dump of one of their bigs to dodge the tax. The Bulls could be a cap bully like the Lakers and New York teams, but they’ve chosen for years to be a luxury tax lamb.

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs: I might sounds Cols-ian, but if the fairly healthy Bulls of last season couldn’t take down the Love-less, Varejao-less and basically Kyrie-less Cavs, they don’t scare me at all. If MJ and Scottie resigned on vet minimum deals, they wouldn’t beat the Cavs in a series.  They won’t have Thibs running them into the ground during the regular season, which is a plus. He was a great coach at a standings glance, but his teams were always running on fumes by the second round of the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers (David Wood)

Draft Selections:

Myles Turner (11th), C Texas

Joseph Young (43rd), PG Oregon

Cap Room: Since Roy Hibbert opted into his $15.5 million player option, and David West declined his $12.6 player option, the Pacers have $15,563,258 to play with if they renounce the rights to all of their guys. That likely isn’t happening, but I still can’t imagine them extending Luis Scola his $6,650,000 qualifying offer. Cap guru Nate Duncan estimates Indiana will have about $11 milllion to play with.

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs: The Pacers are in a spot similar to the Knicks. The front office wants the team to remain competitive, but it is probably in the organization’s best interest to develop young players. With David West leaving, the Pacers now have a 250 pound hole at the power forward/tough man spot, but there is a solution to that, which we’ll get to later. With Roy Hibbert opting in, the Pacers still have a defensive anchor, but they aren’t really sure he is worth his offensive ineffectiveness in a faster league and are shopping him. The Pacers drafted young big Myles turner and will probably play him at the 4 and 5 spots to see what he can bring; however, he is years away from being a game changer.

Luis Scola is a great competitor and a Larry Bird favorite, but he probably doesn’t want to take a discount to play on a rebuilding team and to teach guys verticality. Rodney Stuckey is also a Bird dude, but he has played himself into a sixth man contract worth $5+ million. He averaged 12.6 points per game off the bench last year.

If the Pacers want to remain competitive and still build, they should look at some absolute shameless pure scorers to compliment their consistent defense. Louis Williams of Toronto (15.5 ppg) comes to mind. Monta Ellis is being talked with currently. If he comes in under $9 million per year and would consider coming off of the bench (he demands the ball so much), he’d work out. While losing West at the 4-spot seems like a hit, the Pacers could play Paul George there for some minutes, CJ Miles at the three, and a random 3-jacker at shooting guard. As always, a Hibbert trade could net them a few game influencers, not game changers though. However, that might be enough in the East though if Paul George progresses his game a bit more.

Orlando Magic (David Wood)

Mario Hezonja, The European Swaggy P

Draft Selections:

Mario Hezonja (5th), SF Spain

Tyler Harvey (51st), PG Eastern Washington

Cap Room: The Magic have $16,128,073 to spend after giving qualifying offers to Tobias Harris, Kyle O’Quinn, and Willie Green.

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs: Looking over the Magic’s roster one thing is really apparent. This team has a ton of rookie contract guys, and if they’re able to build anything decent, the league best watch out because everyone can be locked up whether they like it or not. The Magic backcourt of Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo is very athletic and they’ll be defensive stoppers as they master the NBA game. The frontcourt duo of Channing Frye, Andrew Nicholson, and Nikola Vucevic are offensive studs; however, they’re sieves on defense. The other Magic front court guys, Kyle O’Quinn and Aaron Gordon, are all defense guys. No one on the team is multi-dimensional, and the defenders aren’t efficient enough yet for the offense guys create to mean anything.

If the defense can imrpove to league average under Scott Skiles, draft pick Mario Hezonja can make a huge impact. Mario is described as a ballsy and super confident scorer who can make the 3-ball and take guys off the dribble. He will add the complete offensive player the Magic need and should pair nicely with Vucevic to carry the team’s scoring duties. Orlando tried to pry Paul Millsap away from the Hawks, but they failed. They had the right idea with that move. They need a complete player who is a veteran to usher along the team’s development. David West would be an amazing grab for the Magic, and they should be willing to overpay for him. West’s scary presence would terrify the team into defending, and I’m sure he could teach the young guys how to win. If the Magic totally strike out, they can always look to package a few extra young guys for a disgruntled vet.

Philadelphia 76ers (Cory Hughey)

Jahlil Okafor was ret' to go pic.twitter.com/6d8NuSq5Lo #76ers

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) June 28, 2015

Joel Embiid was amused by the 76ers drafting another big man. That & more NBA draft reaction: http://t.co/Oi5Kd0YFAT pic.twitter.com/OAPV2ennbO

— ESPN (@espn) June 26, 2015

Draft Selections:

Jahlil Okafor (3rd), C Duke

Richaun Holmes (37th), SF Bowling Green

Arturas Gudaitis (47th), C Lithuania

J.P. Tokoto (58th), SF North Carolina

Luka Mitrovic (60th), PF Serbia

Cap Room: They’ll have around $52 million next season, and $12 million of that will be dead money from JaVale McGee. That total includes the cash dump they took from the Kings last night in adding Carl Landry ($6.5 million), Jason Thompson ($6.4 million), and Nik Stauskas ($2.8 million).

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs: 

This question seriously doesn’t apply. I will defend them though. They were stuck in mediocrity for half a decade. The Nets went all in for nothing and their future is more pathetic than Andy Dick throwing up on the floor at a Jewish deli bar at 11 in the morning. You can always sell the future to a fan base for a couple years, and they are entering year four. That’s the breaking point. On the plus side, they have an A$$<%@? of assets going forward and Noel is blossoming into what a lot of us on this very blog were salivating for before the 2013 draft. He’s a defensive monster, and he’s only going to get better. I wasn’t against the Okafor selection either with the recent news about Embiid’s foot not progressing as expected. Okafor’s game might be old school, but I’m not against zigging, while the rest of the league zags. If Okafor develops as expected, he will absolutely abuse small ball finesse lineups. If Noel and Saric, Embiid, or Okafor hit their potential, they’ll be two fifths of their way to being vicious, with $40 million in cap room and a full draft pick war chest. The bummer of it all, other than the fans having to see another 50 losses, is that of the three center prospects on the roster, Embiid had the highest ceiling. If the foot were never an issue, he’d probably be a Cav.

Washington Wizards (David Wood)

Kevin Seraphin with his cold-blooded friends.

Draft Selections:

Kelly Oubre (15th, via Atlanta), SG Kansas

Aaron White (49th), PF Iowa

Cap Room: The Wizards have zero money to spend this offseason once they sign Kelly Oubre. They have negative money to deal with if they extend qualifying offers to Kevin Serpahin ($7,407,517 ), Rasual Butler ($947,276), and Drew Gooden ($947,276).

Free Agents to Take Down Cavs:

Paul Pierce signed a 3 year deal will the Clippers! Welcome to the family! Beyond excited for next season! #GearUpLA pic.twitter.com/zRyYQ8xWCy

— Los Angeles Clippers (@LAC__Nation) July 1, 2015

The Wizards moved into modern day times just at the start of the playoffs. All their long 2s morphed into timely 3s. They took the Hawks to six games in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. And, if Paul Pierce had released his 3-pointer a second sooner in game six, the Wizards would have taken the Hawks to overtime and had a chance for a game seven.

The Wizards have much of their team under contract for next season. However, the really important guy who hit a game winner for them in the playoffs, Paul Pierce, declined his player option. And, he is now headed to the Los Angeles Clippers.  The Wizards did move up in the draft to take small forward Kelly Oubre who will be a 3-and-D guy, but Oubre isn’t ready to start at the 3 spot. Again, Pierce returning to mentor that kid would have only helped the Wizards. Martell Webster just isn’t the same type of veteran as The Truth. And, that’s the truth right there.

And, finally, the Wizards haven’t offered young French center Seraphin a qualifying offer yet. Serpahin needs to stay in Washington. Nene and Gortat are both over thirty now, and Seraphin projects to be a decent post threat and defender in more minutes. He held opponents’ shots at the rim to 47.1%. That’s Mozgovian. And, as Cavs fan know, he can get his blocks, o-boards, and flashy hooks when given minutes. If he leaves, the Wizards are probably stuck with stretch-4 (I say that with only a slight smirk) Drew Gooden and no longer have a snake owner on the team.

The Wizards won’t make a splash this offseason. That’s okay though, because the pool they’re sitting in is calm, and that’s sometimes exactly what is needed for a young team.