Archive for the 'Offseason' Category

This week, the news Knicks fans have been hoping to hear finally came: David Lee and Nate Robinson re-signed with the club, each inking 1-year deals in the $5-7 million range that (most importantly) will not interfere with the Knicks' long-awaited free agent pursuit of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or any of the other headliners in the star-studded FA class of 2010.

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No, this isn't meant to excoriate new Hawk Jason Collins in the same brutal fashion as when we went after Desmond Mason a few weeks ago (BTW, sorry Des, but man, you've sucked for four years now)... In fact, I was once a big Jason Collins supporter because of his tremendous defensive impact, as quantified by his adjusted +/- and his on/off team defensive efficiency numbers. And I wasn't the only stat guru high on Collins' D, either. But in recent years, it's been harder and harder to find anything redeeming about Collins' play, even on defense. His 2-year adjusted plus/minus, one of those "hidden impact" numbers where Collins once thrived, was an horrifying -8.66, meaning that for every possession he was on the floor, he'd cause an otherwise average team to play like a 20-win one. Yikes.

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In an annual rite of passage, ESPN has gathered their stable of NBA experts and polled them on various topics regarding the upcoming NBA season. First among the discussion fodder? The Rookie of the Year race (or non-race, if Blake Griffin lives up to expectations), and dual polls for the best newcomer and the worst newcomer. That Ron Artest finished top-3 in both polls tells you all you need to know about L.A.'s big offseason roll of the dice...

At TrueHoop yesterday, it was pointed out that Houston has 11 players on its roster between 6'6" and 6'9":

"TrueHoop reader Terry: 'Do you realize that the Rockets will have 11 players between 6-6 and 6-9? And their 6-6 player is Chuck Hayes ... what is the plan here? Trevor Ariza 6-8, Brent Barry 6-7, Shane Battier 6-8, Chase Budinger 6-7, Brian Cook 6-9, Joey Dorsey 6-8, Chuck Hayes 6-6, Carl Landry 6-9, Tracy McGrady 6-8, Luis Scola 6-9, James White 6-7.'"

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Apparently Desmond Mason can't come to terms with the Thunder on a contract, because the two parties can't agree on a role for him:

"Desmond is not ready to be relegated to a cheerleader and relegated to a mentor for the younger players," [Mason's agent] said. "Desmond's got a lot left in the tank."

Does he? Really?

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Well, as you probably know if you're reading this blog, it's August 19 and Allen Iverson, the NBA's 5th-leading scorer in terms of all-time points per game, is still an unrestricted free agent without a job. After playing a career-best 82 games and posting one of his better seasons ever during the 2007-08 campaign, Iverson's reputation as a player took a huge hit last season when Denver traded him to Detroit for Chauncey Billups, a hometown favorite who quickly became the media's go-to reason for the Nuggets' surprise success. Making matters worse for A.I., Denver finally broke their playoff hex come springtime, while the Pistons languished as Iverson created a rift between Richard Hamilton and coach Michael Curry, and then was shut down for good with a back injury as Detroit almost missed the playoffs and were unceremoniously swept by the Cavs in the first round. So if you're looking at Allen Iverson's stock right now, the price is just about as low as it's ever been in his 13-year career.

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Finishing out our series on big-name veterans who switched teams this summer, we turn to Richard Jefferson, acquired by the San Antonio Spurs in a predraft trade for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas. Jefferson is not quite as old as the other guys we profiled in this series -- at 29, he's still theoretically hanging on to the tail end of his prime -- but just as with Shaq, VC, and 'Sheed, you get the distinct feeling when you look at RJ's career numbers that his best days have come and gone.

Is that feeling true, though? Is RJ done as a star? Or was he ever even a star in the first place? And what can the Spurs expect to get from him going forward? First, check out Jefferson's advanced numbers:

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Having covered the moves made by the Lakers, Magic, and Cavaliers this offseason, we now turn our attention to the Boston Celtics, whose bid to repeat as champions in 2009 was derailed by a number of late-season injuries, including the especially catastrophic loss of Kevin Garnett for the entire playoffs. In the wake of that injury and the subsequent loss of Leon Powe, Boston was reduced to starting Glen Davis and giving significant minutes to Brian Scalabrine (!!) off the bench in their series loss to Orlando -- a series which they managed to extend to 7 games despite the patchwork frontcourt. So when Boston opted not to bring the injured Powe back (and they may not re-sign Davis, either, depending on the offer he draws from another team), it was clear they needed to revamp their big-man situation before the window permanently closed on the mighty triumvirate of Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

Enter Rasheed Wallace...

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In the style of this hilarious piece he did a few summers back, ESPN's always-entertaining Bill Simmons brings us his takes on the offseason's biggest storylines using quotes from "Almost Famous". From a statistical perspective I don't always agree with what he writes, but it's still always worth reading, if not simply for the humor and the references.

Not to be outdone by the Magic's draft-day acquisition of Vince Carter, the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled the trigger on a trade of their own on June 26, finalizing a deal for Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal. It was a swap that had been bandied about at the trade deadline -- but ultimately not completed -- and when the Cavs were ousted in an Eastern Conference Finals upset by Orlando, more than a few observers pointed to GM Danny Ferry's unwillingness to acquire O'Neal in-season as a mistake that possibly cost them the series. But now that the supposed blunder has been rectified, O'Neal is officially a teammate of LeBron James (having come at the relatively low price of Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, cash, and a 2nd-round pick), and he joins a team that won a league-best 66 games a year ago. However, at age 37, how much can the Big Aristotle realistically add to Cleveland's championship chances?

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