Everything That's Gone Down So Far On The Opening Night Of NBA Free Agency
Basketball and NBA fans around the world had been waiting all season for today. During the entire 2018-19 season we were promised chaos when the calendar turned to June 30th and now that Day 1 is in the books, yeah it certainly lived up to the hype. Naturally things were leaked well before the 6pm start time, but once that clock hit 6:00 the Twitter floodgates opened and things went off the rails. Before you could even process a Woj or Shams bomb there were already three more waiting for you, it was almost too much to take in all at once. So in an effort to delay your Sunday Scaries, let’s take it from the top because we saw a LOT go down over the past few hours.
We may as well get this one out of the way early. This was the gigantic Woj bomb that kicked us off well before the official start time. While not surprising, both Durant and Kyrie had been rumored to BKN for a long time and as soon as they opened up the space for two max slots this was a likely outcome. Now Kyrie has a player option in year 4, so really this group gets 2 guaranteed years together before maybe Kyrie decides to bounce if Durant doesn’t return to his old form. There’s no denying all healthy this Nets team fucks, but the real story here is what a disaster the New York Knicks are. Trading away Porzingis for what? To offer money to a bunch of nobodies? I don’t want to hear a single Knicks fan says they are the team that runs New York. That is a Nets city for the foreseeable future.
I’m grouping all the MIL moves together to keep it easy. You sort of expected that Middleton was getting max money from the Bucks, he’s the #2 there after Giannis. You also had to have an idea that after the season Brook Lopez just had he was not going to be playing for pennies like he just did this past season and even at that new price that’s pretty good value when you factor in how he flourishes in this Coach Bud system. Those to pieces were big considering the Bucks are on contending.
The surprising move was the S&T with Malcolm Brogdon. He was the 3rd piece in MIL, and for just over $20M a season, I’m surprised the Bucks didn’t match and watched him head to a team in their own division. He’s not the type of player that can create his own shot, but he’s a legit spot up shooter and very solid defender. Seeing as how IND needs a PG with Darren Collison retiring and Oladipo working his way back from injury. That’s a great get for them at a price that pretty much is the market rate.
Formality. We knew this was happening on Saturday, and the entire city of Boston has not forgotten Kyrie Irving ever existed.
When Harrison Barnes opted out of his player option, many on the internet clowned him. Well jokes on us because not only did he make the money back that he opted out of, he also added another $60M to his deal. That’s how your finesse folks. Barnes got his ring, he got his bag, and he doesn’t have the pressure in SAC since that’s more of Fox/Bagley’s team. Say what you want about him as a player, but SAC probably wasn’t getting a FA better than him, so what option did they have.
Listen there are teams out there still willing to pay Trevor Ariza so you damn sure he’s going to keep collecting those checks. A veteran presence on a young team certainly can’t hurt, he provides shooting and defense, but most likely it wouldn’t shock me if he’s bought out at the deadline or moved to the Lakers once LeBron calls.
Paying Terry Rozier nearly $20M to be your starting point guard is certainly a decision you can make. If you’re the Hornets and you just lost the best player in your franchises history who also plays that position, you gotta spend that money and fill that spot somehow. Maybe their plan is to tank and they feel like giving Rozier 20 shots a night is the perfect way to execute that plan. That would make sense. As we’ll see for young point guards the market price was around 18-20M, and now we get to see if Rozier can back up all that talk about how he’s a starter in this league. The Hornets are loaded with horrific contracts so this is more the norm for them, but yeah my only advice would be to Miles Bridges. Don’t jump on any Terry lob. Trust me.
This isn’t exactly a #BOMB, but it’s still a good signing by the Bulls. A young team with a young frontcourt could use someone like Thad Young. One because he’s pretty damn good and doesn’t need touches to be effective and two because that’s not exactly super expensive. He’ll do all their dirty work, Baby Dirk and Carter Jr will still get their looks, he’ll set screens for LaVine and White, it’s hard to have a problem with the Bulls going this route. And look, at least they didn’t get shut out like the Knicks!
You’ll remember the Pacers actually kicked things off on Draft night when they traded for TJ Warren who is a pretty serviceable wing. Today they add their starting point guard and another young wing in Jeremy Lamb. I just talked about the move for Brogdon, that makes sense given their need, but the Lamb one was a little more confusing. I guess they felt they needed shooting and feel like maybe a change of scenery will be the thing that unlocks Lamb’s potential?
The big thing here is that with Brodgon on board, I would tell Oladipo to take his time in his rehab. You have a solid point guard holding things down, some good wing depth and scoring, two really good bigs, just don’t rush it.
The Suns have been after a point guard for what feels like years. To the point where they were down to trade the Celtics a first round pick for Terry Rozier. Well with D’Angelo Russell rumors swirling, they officially snagged their point guard in Ricky Rubio. Listen if there’s one thing I want on a team that has Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton, it’s a point guard that wants to do nothing but pass the ball. Defensively this team is still going to be a disaster, but offensively they could be fun to watch. Scores like 120-115 or something along those lines is what I’m expecting. In the end they got a better player than Rozier (at the moment) for a lesser price, which of course makes their cheap as fuck owner happy.
OK the Magic have me a little confused. They invested big money in Vucevic which makes sense on paper, but then you remember they drafted Mo Bamba 6th overall. Unless he’s on the trade block, it seems like they have a logjam there. Terrance Ross had a decent year for them off the bench, a career year in fact, and I guess that lands you $54M. The big question for me is that Aminu deal. If they are bringing back Ross, and they have Gordon/Isaac still on the roster, what is the need for Aminu? Why not spend elsewhere on a position that’s more of a need, maybe like point guard or something? Maybe the Magic felt great about their season last year and feel like they are building something and wanted to run it all back, but their moves are a little surprising.
Big time get for the Jazz. Once Oladipo went down Bogdanovic carried the load for the Pacers and was a legit 20 point scorer who actually improved on the defensive end. He brings much needed shooting to that lineup and honestly could vault the Jazz into legit contenders in this wacky year in the West. He certainly cashed in on his performance this year and should only help create space for Donovan Mitchell with both he and Ingles on the perimeter, two knock down shooters.
The only downside is this move forced UTA to say goodbye to Derrick Favors, who might not be one of the best available centers on the market
If there is one thing JJ Redick is really good at, it’s securing the bag. This man finds way to get PAID and I like his fit in NO. That team needs shooting and veteran leadership and by all accounts Redick provides both. I imagine he’ll get similar looks playing around Zion as he did in PHI with all the attention he’ll get and really this is a win win for everyone involved. I wonder how different this offer was from what PHI was willing to go to, but seeing as how Redick is coming off one of the best years of his career, maybe they felt like he was only going down from here.
Probably a little weird for Bulls fans to see DRose play in DET, but in terms of fit they certainly needed a point guard. Maybe you believe in Reggie Jackson but I sure don’t so why not roll the dice with Rose. He looked pretty good in Minnesota, seems healthy, and it’s not like it took a shit ton of money. This could be one of the moves this summer that didn’t get a ton of buzz but ended up being one of the most impactful in a sense that he could very well outplay that contract. Plus I just think DRose and Blake are going to be fun as hell to watch together.
Hey it’s not like the Sixers completely struck out! They were able to pay their 4th best player $180M who has never even made an All Star team. Anytime you have the chance to do that you have to do it, everyone knows that. Bringing back Mike Scott is actually really important for them considering they lost Redick and need shooting, and on that money he’s worth it. The man has a cult following in Philly and there really isn’t a downside to that move.
The million dollar question is what’s going to happen with Jimmy Butler. These contracts don’t give us an idea one way or the other because the Sixers can pay everyone if they want. There are rumors they don’t want to go a 5th year on Butler, but I don’t see why not. I thought the idea was you traded for him to go all in with that group. They lose Jimmy, it’ll be interesting to see if it’s a S&T or he leaves to go somewhere that can fit him under the cap like LAC.
Dedmon was an attractive stretch 4/5 who has shown some good flashes the last two years in ATL. Just over $10M feels about right, there was some hope that maybe he could be a low cost big option, but rumors came out last night that SAC was ready to make this offer for him and it makes sense since WCS has made it clear he wants out of SAC. I think the Horford rumors there have died down, so their interest in another stretch big isn’t all that surprising.
Feels weird that SAC is doing things that make sense, but hey even Vlade can get hot!
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1145473620380127233
Sooooo the Spurs are basically just a repeat of an old Raptors team? DeRozan, Gay, Carroll, I feel like we’ve seen this before. Listen who am I to ever question Pop, I get bringing Gay back but I don’t really get the Carroll move. He’s not super expensive and if healthy that defense certainly gets a boost and maybe they really felt like wing depth was an issue. He does feel like a Spurs type player and Pop will probably turn him into a beast. Classic Spurs move that’s “meh” that ends up winning them playoff games.
The Knicks did it! James Dolan is back baby! Don’t be sad about missing out on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, you just landed Zion….with hops! Jokes aside, Randle is a really good young player who showed out this past season and honestly has only gotten better with the bigger role he’s had. He’ll have plenty of that in NYK and he’ll probably be close to a 21/9 guy again. It just sucks that everyone is going to be disappointed rather than excited to have him because he’s not Kevin Durant.
They opened those max slot for a reason, I just didn’t expect that reason to be Julius Randle.
When his $1.9M option was turned down, my hope was that Noel was going to hit the open market and be a great young low cost big. That dream looks to be dead as he’s staying in OKC. I haven’t seen a number yet, but he showed flashes there last year and he certainly doesn’t touch the ball on offense which is good news for PG13 and Russell Westbrook. I just hope he finally figures his shit out because his potential is still through the roof.
This is also important if OKC is able to unload Steven Adams to get under the tax, at least they have a big back on the roster who could essentially fill that role.
Houston needs wings and shooting, Danuel House gives them that. The Rockets fell in love with him last year and his story is actually pretty crazy it’s cool to see him land a guaranteed deal. Also in the event that they end up moving PJ Tucker or Eric Gorodn, they are going to need someone like HOU and Harden probably gave it his blessing so that’s all that matters.
Love that my guy Gerald Green is back too. The Rockets system is built for him.
Damn Nets Superteam isn’t joking around.
Good for Rodney Hood. He found a niche on that Portland team, won them some playoff games and now gets to stick around on a nice two year deal. They need someone to help fill the holes left by Evan Turner and Aminu, and it looks like that’s going to be Kent Bazemore and Hood. Also don’t forget the drafted wing Nassir Little to help as well. Rodney Hood can shoot and defend his position, and it’s cool to see him in this situation after looking pretty helpless there for a while
Another low cost potential big off the board. Unless you watch Wizards games you probably don’t know who Thomas Bryant is, but at 22 he’s a pretty intriguing big man prospect. He rebounds well, defends, and was cheap. His bump to $7M is a good price for a big like him, a guy who can definitely outplay the value of that contract. The Wizards can take any young talent they can get, and Bryant certainly fills that mold.
So far that’s all we got and we’re not even 2 hours in. It’s going to be a long night, we still have no Kawhi, Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, Boogie, D’Angelo Russell news so I hope you don’t plan on sleeping tonight. We’re just getting started.