Recap: Free Agency Fallout (or, Westward Ho!)

Recap: Free Agency Fallout (or, Westward Ho!)

2017-07-01 Off By EvilGenius

While most of the madness arrived in advance of the 12:01 am deadline, there were plenty of shockwaves reverberating throughout the NBA landscape into the wee hours of Friday night. Cavs fans who still held out hope for an eleventh hour PG-13 deal were probably only partially disappointed. The surprise wasn’t that the disgruntled swingman was moved… it was his destination.

Cleveland? Nope. LA? Not yet. Boston? Aw, hell naw!

Instead, Indiana hitched George’s wagon to the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he’ll join last year’s jilted poster boy, Russell Westbrook in at least a one year quest to make life more difficult for the NBA Champs. In return they got…

Yes, you read that right. No draft picks. No future considerations. Not even cap space since Dipo makes more than PG-13. Just two average rotation pieces for arguably a top 10 player in the League.

If you’re wondering why the Pacers eschewed any sort of straight up or three team trade with the Cavs for Kevin Love or another team’s prospects…

…or why Kevin Pritchard decided not to play ball with Danny Ainge…

…there’s the explanations? Actually, based on the information in the next tweet, I’m sure the Knicks or Nets will be requesting permission to speak to Prichard in the near future…

…or at least the cops might…

I mean… I knew Sam Presti was kind of a magician… but even if PG-13 winds up being nothing more than a one-year rental, he still gave literally nothing away for him… and even saved some money by getting out from under the terrible Oladipo deal. It’s also entirely possible that Presti Presto just pulled the perfect trick to keep the reigning MVP from bolting in the near future if he can sell George on sticking around to see what comes next.

Unlucky Irish

https://twitter.com/BobanGOAT/status/880973100560547840

Not only did Boston get boxed out on PG-13, but around the same time… another potential target decided to stay on the West Coast…

Hard to say if it was a good decision by Steve Ballmer to max out a guy with injury and occasional behavioral issues, but he probably had to keep at least one star in his corral after losing CP3 to the Rockets… even if it means watching (gulp) Doc’s kid attempt to run Lob City for the foreseeable future.

With Jimmy Butler, Paul George and Blake Griffin now all west of the Mississippi… the Celtics must turn their full attention to their attempts to throw a reunion party for Gordon Hayward and his old college coach, President Brad Stevens. And, even that’s potentially in doubt, since Gordo’s first meeting is with the Miami Heat’s sockless curmudgeon. I’m going to guess that playing in South Beach with no state tax, and a supporting cast of Dragic, St. Weirdo, Whiteside and Winslow might just trump cold winters, IT4, Bradley, Horford, a rookie and a bunch of assets that have been collecting dust in Danny’s closet for years now…

We should know more about Hayward’s fate in the next few days… but Boston has to be fairly disappointed they haven’t been able to move the needle yet in free agency.

PG Shuffle

Paul George notwithstanding… there was a true game of musical chairs for point guards last night. The Wolves sent their PG to the Jazz…

…then signed the PG from the Pacers…

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/880981952664408064

…so, does that mean the former Pacers’ PG who previously went to the Jazz goes… back to Indy? Probably not… although he won’t likely be going to his rumored destination in San Antonio after this happened…

(This was actually the first in a barrage of WojBombs under his new ESPN moniker)

No word yet on where George Hill will actually land… same with Kyle Lowry, Derrick Rose and the recently waived Rajon Rondo. Three other PGs won’t be going anywhere anytime soon (most likely) with John Wall getting offered a max extension…

And both of the Warrior ball-handlers, as Joe Lacob begins his campaign to prove that a millionaire can outspend billionaires…

So much for the Warriors losing important pieces… at least until Andre Iguodala is done with his round of meetings with the Spurs, Kings and Rockets. But, at least they’re rumored to have a “Plan B”

It’s The (L)East We Can Do

Sure, the Western Conference not only retained their current All Stars, but also got an infusion of new ones to bolster their quest for super teams… but, hey the East made some noise too!

Yep… this “BakerBomb” was the third biggest piece signing for an EC team at the deadline. Madness indeed…

Aside from the question of where Gordon Hayward lands, another big name from the East is also almost assuredly headed West…

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/881013266528575488

But, maybe JJ Redick will cast his lot with what suddenly looks like a top four team in the EC…

And, it’s becoming more and more of a safe bet that remaining names like John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Otto Porter and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will stay in the East for at least a little while longer. Yet, none of these players reside at the top of last year’s #NBARank List.

And Then There Was One…

The one still happens to be the best player on the planet, although he’ll be another year older, and another year closer to the nationally presumed temptation to head West himself. Yet, for all of the media speculation that LeBron might leave for the bright lights of Los Angeles at 12:01 on July 1, 2018… ask this question… why? As in… “why leave the Eastern Conference which has only gotten weaker and give up the opportunity to coast into the Finals pretty much every year until retirement… oh, and also soak up about $210M of @CavsDan’s money?” If there’s one thing LeBron James is… it’s shrewd. You think he congratulated Steph on his mega-deal without knowing he will eclipse it next summer?

If you want to spend the next 364.5 days of your life being nervous about LBJ potentially leaving again… go right ahead. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you not to do so…

Mostly Quiet In The ‘Land

For all the upheaval in Free Agency leading up to the deadline… things were relatively sedate with the wine & gold. There was a report, per Joe Vardon, that the Cavs were going to make a qualifying offer to Kyle Korver at the deadline. Not sure if that happened, but he’s certainly also rumored to be a secondary target for teams pursuing the slightly younger JJ Redick…

There was one interesting notion floating around that Cleveland might be looking to find some grind for their bench bunch…

Also… this interesting tidbit might have gone relatively unnoticed by most… although was assuredly met with glee by Nate and Ben…

So… that’s the latest and greatest from the immediate wave of deadline madness. Plenty more fireworks expected as the Fourth of July weekend rolls along. Check back in regularly for updates, conjecture and viral Windy memes…

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ChrisKorvalier

About LeBron eclipsing Steph’s deal next year. Is that possible? I remember reading something last year that said LeBron would be too old to sign the 5 year super max deal.

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CLF

Delly > Shump.

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Cols714

Nope. One of them was on the floor to help game 7 win. One of them was strapped to the bench for helping us get in a 3-1 hole.

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CLF

Yup… one of them is better at passing the ball, shooting the 3, shooting free throws, and being aware of his own limitations while the other one consistently makes dumb decisions with the basketball in his hands.

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Raoul

Cols sounds like TFI Trump: Keep on repeating nonsense and hoping some dummies start to believe it.

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running jumper

We have 2.5 years with Shump. He’s still the same player as his potential would dictate. He never made the jump he needed to be vital in a title team.

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Cols714

Yeah. This is the problem. It was a good bet. But he never improved like he should have.

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