Free-Agent Signings, FAs Remaining, and What It All Means

by thankyouforblaze on Dec 16, 2011 9:36 PM PST

Well, Bill Simmons recently wrote in his "12 Days of NBA Xmas" ( http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7360397/the-eleventh-day-nba-christmas ) about the remaining free agents left on the board and the signings thus far. It painted an interesting picture and allowed for some serious speculation on the upcoming NBA season. So, I'd like to just make a couple notations and allow for conversation in the comments below.

-First, there are some interesting free agents left out there, including but not limited to:

Arron Afflalo
Samuel Dalembert
Andrei Kirilenko
Kris Humphries
DeShawn Stevenson
A couple other guys: Reggie Evans, Michael Redd, Peja Stojakovic, Rodney Stuckey, Yi Jianlan, Al Thornton, Julian Wright, Nick Young, Ike Diago.
JR Smith, Kenyon Martin, and Aaron Brooks are stuck in China for the moment, but are likely to come back to the NBA after their respective seasons end in March. Same with Shasha Vujacic
Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis are recent amnesties, and will likely fall to teams for veteran minimums, making for valuable, cheap contracts.

-I'm a huge Afflalo fan, and I think he could really help a team. DeShawn is a shut-down defender. And I'd take a flier on just about any amnestied player (with the exception of Trout!) for a veteran's minimum contract (not for the Blazers though).
-Of course, there were plenty of signings.

Jamal Crawford in Portland (hooray!)
Chris Paul to the Clips
Tyson Chandler to the Knicks
Tracy McGrady in Atlanta
Chuck Hayes to Sactown
Big Baby traded for Brandon Bass (man, did this signing seem beneficial only to Celtics; I'm a Bass fan)
Richard Hamilton to the Bulls
Josh Howard to the Jazz
Vince Carter & Lamar Odom to Dallas
Kwame (!) Brown to GS, after the Warriors failed to land their first 6 choices
David West to Indiana
McBob to the Fake Show
Shane Battier to the Heat
Eric Gordon to NO
Aaron Gray to Toronto (I seriously thought he'd be good for PDX)

I think several teams made great moves, some teams made lateral moves, and a lot of teams got worse.

NY got a lot better defensively
Clippers just got way more interesting, and should be in the playoff running for at least the next 2 years
the Heat picked up a quality veteran in Battier, though I think you'll slowly see him falling off. But dang, love that guy's D.
NO did well for having to lose a superstar, but they'll continue in mediocrity.
the L*kers just got worse

I think Portland got a little worse but made significant progress for the future. It looks like management is slowly viewing a rebuild around LaMarcus, while trying to stock up on-the-run both young assets and draft picks, while sending out overpaid veterans (Wallace, Camby) near the trade deadline (just a guess). I think the Crawford deal was one of the best signings this offseason, as we hopefully replaced a lot of what Brandon brought to the table.
Anyways, I'd like to hear your thoughts about any of the signings or any of the free agents left, and what you think this means for any team in general.
You can track player movement at ESPN: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/transactions-11-12/2011-12-nba-player-movement-tracker

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Thanks for the summary and the work you did.

The Dude abides.

by BrewDude on Dec 16, 2011 10:27 PM PST reply actions

You forgot big #10

the vanilla gorilla

When reached 40+ years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Dec 16, 2011 10:44 PM PST reply actions

he said interesting free agents

as in free agents an NBA team would be interested in

La Illaha Illallah Muhamadur Rasulallah

by AbuFatimah on Dec 17, 2011 11:03 AM PST up reply actions

oooh

next time you see Joel, be sure to mention this

I think your legendary people skills are beginning to slip

When reached 40+ years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Dec 17, 2011 12:12 PM PST up reply actions

I am sure Joel is a great guy, I have not had the pleasure of meeting him.

But I say that in no disrespect to him, its just from the outside looking in it appears that his playing days are over
If he could return an contribute I will be so pleased that I am wrong
I will not mention it to him because I am sure he could probably beat me up

La Illaha Illallah Muhamadur Rasulallah

by AbuFatimah on Dec 17, 2011 1:23 PM PST up reply actions

lol

I’m hoping Pyrz saves face and retires.

Extremely nice guy, just had his career disrupted by injuries.

He was a vital member to Portland, but not any longer

"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."

by thankyouforblaze on Dec 17, 2011 3:46 PM PST up reply actions

backbone of Portland's interior defense for 5 years

take care before you bet against the Przy

When reached 40+ years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Dec 17, 2011 4:27 PM PST up reply actions

nothing against Joel

but in agreement with AF above, Pryz moved awfully slow last year, and he has lost a step (or 6) since even the 2008-2009 season playoffs (the last games I saw in person).

Yes, he was a backbone, but players come and players go (e.g. Brandon Roy, Clyde Drexler, Travis Outlaw (lol)) and when they’re through than they’re through. And Pryz is through, or darn close.

"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."

by thankyouforblaze on Dec 17, 2011 11:11 PM PST up reply actions

then he'll just have to prove his doubters wrong

all over again

When reached 40+ years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Dec 17, 2011 11:47 PM PST up reply actions

Still can't believe that the likes of Humphries and Dalembert haven't

been signed yet. Are there teams out there that have at least the full MLE to offer them? I guess Kris is waiting for the Nets to get Howard before making a decision but that could take half the season. Dalembert must have interest from the Heat but they don’t have any money left right?
Denver has got to resign Affalo but the Mavs don’t have the need for Stevenson anymore so he must be looking for another team.
What about Nick Young? Surely the Wizards have to resign him cause they still lack offense power and what about Stuckey? The Pistons drafted Brandon Knight and they have a good backup in Will Bynum so do they really need to offer Stuckey a multi-year deal? I don’t think so.
Yi might just head back to China if he hasn’t already. Thronton will have to take the minimum, I guess thats what you get when all you do is take bad shots and don’t play defense.
How many of those guys will end up without a team I wonder?

by VinnyB on Dec 17, 2011 4:11 AM PST reply actions

Stuckey just signed with Detroit today

by vullkem116 on Dec 17, 2011 10:18 AM PST up reply actions

Keith Bogans?

After hearing ChiTown waived their starting guard, I wondered how he might fare on our squad. He could provide the perfect defensive complement to Crawford offensive outbursts. I am not sure what kind of contract he would be looking for, but style-wise I think he could be a great fit if he’s willing to take a lesser role, being used primarily in defensive situations. I think he’s at that point in his career where he would consider it…what do y’all think?

by Mallardvalue on Dec 17, 2011 8:44 AM PST reply actions

Would love to get some ...

Kenyon Martin when he gets back from china. Would rather have gotten humphries than Craig smith.

Disagree that we got worse. I think we have more depth and better depth than we had for the last few years, and finally feels like the right mix between young players and veterans.

"These are dreams that we have." --Rudolfo Fernandez

by bfan on Dec 17, 2011 11:16 AM PST via mobile reply actions

I think

Dalembert would be a good addition

by TheShougPanther5 on Dec 17, 2011 11:29 AM PST via mobile reply actions

I say we got better....

From what we had last yr…

-Felton is an upgrade from miller. Not much but he is….

-Craig smith and Kurt Thomas is an upgrade over Shawn Marks/ Joel/ Dante and who ever big we had or try playing.

-Jamal Crawford is no Broy but Jamal Crawford is better than a 42 game no knees Broy. And definitely better than a bi-polar Rudy.

I say the blazers got better.

by Hoi on Dec 17, 2011 2:11 PM PST via mobile reply actions 1 recs

I can agree with that

but we long continuity, we lost a guy (Roy) who was familiar with the system, and we lost Oden for the foreseeable future.

Pieces wise, yes, we’re better, but team wise, we got a little worse. I’m hoping after a month together the team starts to gel.

"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."

by thankyouforblaze on Dec 17, 2011 3:48 PM PST up reply actions

I keep hearing this ( we are better now than last year) and it is false.....

I agree that we are better now than we were at the end of the season last year. We are not better this year than we were at the beginning of last year.

A lot can happen during the season. Last year we thought we had Roy coming into his prime. we thought that Oden would be back soon etc.

Who knows what we will be saying at the end of this year

by vullkem116 on Dec 17, 2011 4:28 PM PST up reply actions

We are better than we were at the start of last season

we just didn’t know that last season, Roy was supposed to Roy and Oden was supposed to be back by January. Of course LMA was still supposed to be Robin, We$ was more of an unknown and Wallace was in Charlotte. This team is better in the front court than it was at any point last season at the 2/3 spots only question is PG will Felton/Smith be better than Miller/Mills?

Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin

by Biph on Dec 17, 2011 7:45 PM PST up reply actions

It seems to me this team as it stands now (especially in health) is better than

our playoff team last year. Wallace, Wes, and Ray will all improve, as should LMA. My concern is how long will the team last with the heavy schedule and long minutes by the starters. I was disappointed last year by how much LMA was played and he was certainly gassed at the end of the season. Camby seems like the least likely to hold up with the intense schedule. Doing well in the playoffs will be less of the home team advantage and more of which team has the most healthy bodies who are playing well together. Last year certainly demonstrated how playing well together trumped the 3 all-stars.

by kacee on Dec 17, 2011 8:10 PM PST up reply actions

this team has a pretty solid 10 man rotation

5-Camby/KT
4-LMA/Rhino
3-Wallace/Batum
2-We$/Crawford
1-Felton/Smith
CJ, EWill, AJ and Babs on the deep bench.
I would like to see PDX find a way to turn AJ and Babs into Pryz and (insert low end PG of your choice here) but that’s a minor quibble PDX has as much depth at each postion as any team.

Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin

by Biph on Dec 17, 2011 8:33 PM PST up reply actions

completely agree

obviously the weak spot of our team is the aging camby and thomas duo. but say for some crazy reason oden makes it back this year, we look pretty nicely setup.

by Devyn on Dec 17, 2011 10:06 PM PST up reply actions

Agreed that a third reliable center like pryz (in his good years) would be

exactly the insurance needed. Unfortunately, you know who will end up playing major minutes at center just like last year: LMA! Play fast, play small, all doublespeak for getting LMA up past 40 min/gm. And just to try to win one more on the second night of a back to back or the fourth game in a 7 day period. Those young guys will never improve much sitting on the end of the bench.

by kacee on Dec 17, 2011 10:38 PM PST up reply actions

I don't mind LMA at center

Rhino’s inside scoring will lighten the load on LMA when he does play the 5.
I think PDX has enough big bodies right now to keep LMA down to 36 and maybe even 34 min a game.
If Barron shows up in preseason PDX should strongly consider keeping him and waiving AJ.

Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin

by Biph on Dec 17, 2011 10:51 PM PST up reply actions

On a faster pace team, how will camby fare?

He may start to feel the stresses of a running team. Which may force LMA to play more 5, for many minutes. I’m holding fast that we may need to trade Camby for Okafor in the future.

Being a Blazer fan is not exactly healthy.

by dpnim on Dec 18, 2011 7:25 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

he wont have to run

he’ll need to get the defensive rebound and make the outlet pass then lumber down the court at his own pace while the other 4 guys make the break.
On a side note LMA, Wallace, Batum, We$, Crawford how scary is that lineup a lot of defense and a lot of offense.

Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin

by Biph on Dec 18, 2011 7:30 AM PST up reply actions

I wouldn't want to see Nate play both Camby and Thomas

more than 20 minutes a night. That leaves 8 minutes to share according to the situation on the night, can we play small ball and use LMA at C and rotate Wallace and Smith at PF. Perhaps on some nights either Camby or Thomas can play 25-28 minutes but to keep them fresh for the Playoffs and b2b2b’s we got to keep their averages down to 20 mins a game. Oh and CJ and play a few minutes at the 5 next to Smith/LMA as well.

by VinnyB on Dec 19, 2011 5:42 AM PST up reply actions