Burning Questions from FA Day 1!!!
Burning Questions from FA Day 1!!!
It's late but I'm wired, I need RP, and I am coming through with some analysis for whoever wakes up with utter surprise on their faces after a very spicy Day 1 of free agency. We are gonna focus on the big signings and their implications because I am not quite the level of degenerate to spend time discussing Jeremy Lin's MLE with Houston at 1:45am.
Clippers Sign PG Kyrie Irving for $131,250,000 over 6 years.
The big one. Kyrie gets to keep his mansion in Bel Air, at least for the time being, leaving the Lakers for good after they rejected his offer to stay. This is obviously huge, assuming this deal has a no-lotion clause, and shifts the balance of power in the league in some direction to be determined.
-What do the Clippers do now? Bobby has the best backcourt in the league now, with Kyrie and Fultz. However, I do wonder - will Kyrie be happy playing alongside another star PG? Will there be some stip that makes him force a trade — is the town big enough for the two of them? Will he wrench Markelle's shoulder irreparably out of its socket? Fuck.
I said this on our recent pod but the Clippers had so much at stake in free agency, given that they don't have their pick next year (Miami does). Their roster is certainly incomplete, but Bobby drafted some young bigs and has some bird rights players he can re-sign to then go add more talent. Do the Clips trade Kyrie to balance out the roster around Fultz? Or do they instead ponder trading Fultz (for basically anything they want, I'd bet) and constructing a veteran roster around the older Kyrie (who is under long-term control, which Fultz is not).
This is really fascinating from the Clippers perspective, can't wait for Bobby to wake up lol.
The Lakers, on the other hand, are now at a crossroads - their FRP's are scattered at the moment, they have a lot of money tied up in their returning starters, and they don't have a point guard. I certainly don't think GX is completely screwed, there's enough talent to be a playoff team, but obviously, losing Kyrie and replacing him with whoever else hampers LA's title aspirations.
LA doesn't have trade assets beyond their own far-out firsts, which they have understandably been hesitant to flip. Will they try to add talent and cash in chips? Or will they go into a soft rebuild and try to get value for Paul George (who would certainly be of interest on the market). Tough break for the Lakers, but maybe the separation they needed to move forward as an organization.
Raptors Sign SG Shabazz Muhammad for $49,500,000 over 3 years.
We grabbed Shabazz coming off a career year on a three-year max starting at $15m — the idea behind that offer was to (hopefully) poach him but also get him on a deal that should have a lot of trade value. He's a great scoring and rebounding wing and this deal covers his age 30-31-32 seasons, which is well ahead of when vets generally start to decline.
If there's a burning question for us, I guess it's what type of return we can get here. I was happy to snag basically any of the guys I bid on, if you're reading this text me, I want to move him before FA 2/3 — but anyway, enough Raptors talk.
What now for the Bullets? From that perspective, this is a tough loss, but with Anthony Edwards on the way up, it doesn't figure to be a long-term catastrophe. It hurts their playoff chances this season, but also gives Edwards a platform to shine as a starter. Wes doesn't have his pick in 2023 after sending it to Cleveland, I believe, but the Bullets also have a lot of cap wiggle to add salary and round out the roster. I don't know what they bid on Shabazz, but he wanted free health care.
2022 181 Bullets Sign C Anthony Davis for $95,000,000 over 5 years.
Speaking of the Bullets, they did get their more important player back, with Davis signing for a flat max deal that he'll likely be worth. Washington really couldn't afford to lose Davis up front, so this helps stabilize them with some TC luck and maybe some more savvy additions to the roster. AD isn't quite as good as real AD, but he's an elite defensive and rebounding big with offensive high-end variance that makes him unique.
Who can Washington go and get on the trade market? That will probably crystalize in the next 48 hours — sources are saying there are some blockbuster deals going down soon.
2022 181 Pacers Sign C Greg Oden for $19,000,000 over one year.
2022 181 Pacers Sign SF Rudy Gay for $5,500,000 over one year.
These are pretty straighforward contracts for two old fuckers who didn't retire due to Ashes devil magic.
Burning question for Indy — are the Pacers going to run it back? It was a down year for Indy with some unlucky variance particularly on the De'Aaron Fox front. Indy is pretty close to hard capped, so Tong will have to find a way to shuffle the deck. Will it involve trading with Utah again...who can say.
I do think Oden even on the doorstep of retirement should be desirable on a big expiring if you're a contender — he's still great. But I'm curious what direction Indy goes from here to make their talent fit together better.
2022 181 Heat Sign SF Isaac Bonga for $53,876,563 over 4 years.
Tough loss for the Suns, who are now without a starting point guard and may have to get creative to replace Bonga. He was basically the perfect PG for their team, offering stocks and boards from the PG spot that help to cover for what Jokic specifically lacks in his otherwise insane FBB kit.
Phoenix has been committed to running inside — who can they go and get at point guard that suits their style? It's not a particularly long list. I still think they're quite well-positioned, but losing Bonga, who was viewed as the long-term PG solution (but couldn't be responsibly RFA tagged with Rui coming up next year) creates some likely roster upheaval.
What do the Heat do with Bonga? Miami has been trying to dig out of its tank, and Scoops has gotten the short stick on lottery luck, but he has a ton of assets now, and is also building around two young bigs in Sengun and Wiseman. I actually think the still relatively young Bonga is a great fit with Sengun — is there an opportunity here for Scoops to build a balanced/inside roster? That probably won't be tenable until Sengun matures, but there's definitely an argument for keeping Bonga for the long haul and trying to improve the roster a bit for next season if tanking gets boring. Due to Bonga's very specific skillset (he doesn't really help as much on an outside-oriented team at PG), very curious what the market will be for him.
2022 181 Nets Sign PG D'Angelo Russell for $46,410,000 over 4 years.
2022 181 Nets Sign C Deandre Ayton for $119,809,138 over 7 years.
SWAMPY STEVE WITH SOME BIG SNAGS.
This sucks for the Cavs (sorry Manty), who are left without a PG and will need to address that to keep the team competitive. Russell is young and pretty solid and should have trade value for the Nets — Steven also doesn't have a great young point guard prospect to build around (sorry Coby), so there's an argument to hang onto Russell, too.
Burning Q here is really for Cleveland — how do they address point guard? They have 11m in cap space, but also likely want to re-sign their own free agents (Boogie, Thon, etc), who should be retainable at a reasonable cost given how much cap space was eaten up already. There are some good vet PGs lying around in FA, but also some interesting ones potentially available on the trade market. Getting a lower-TO PG next to LaVine could be a blessing in disguise, I suppose.
Ayton re-signed for a lot of money - should I say AY TON (fml) and my sources are saying he could be on the move elsewhere at dawn. At dawn!!! I've always wanted to say that. Great Morning Jacket Album, a favorite of GhostCoach Monty Williams.
2022 181 Hornets Sign SF Semi Ojeleye for $120,312,500 over 7 years.
That's the sound of me pouring kerosene all over my Hornets futures.
Clippers Sign PG Kyrie Irving for $131,250,000 over 6 years.
The big one. Kyrie gets to keep his mansion in Bel Air, at least for the time being, leaving the Lakers for good after they rejected his offer to stay. This is obviously huge, assuming this deal has a no-lotion clause, and shifts the balance of power in the league in some direction to be determined.
-What do the Clippers do now? Bobby has the best backcourt in the league now, with Kyrie and Fultz. However, I do wonder - will Kyrie be happy playing alongside another star PG? Will there be some stip that makes him force a trade — is the town big enough for the two of them? Will he wrench Markelle's shoulder irreparably out of its socket? Fuck.
I said this on our recent pod but the Clippers had so much at stake in free agency, given that they don't have their pick next year (Miami does). Their roster is certainly incomplete, but Bobby drafted some young bigs and has some bird rights players he can re-sign to then go add more talent. Do the Clips trade Kyrie to balance out the roster around Fultz? Or do they instead ponder trading Fultz (for basically anything they want, I'd bet) and constructing a veteran roster around the older Kyrie (who is under long-term control, which Fultz is not).
This is really fascinating from the Clippers perspective, can't wait for Bobby to wake up lol.
The Lakers, on the other hand, are now at a crossroads - their FRP's are scattered at the moment, they have a lot of money tied up in their returning starters, and they don't have a point guard. I certainly don't think GX is completely screwed, there's enough talent to be a playoff team, but obviously, losing Kyrie and replacing him with whoever else hampers LA's title aspirations.
LA doesn't have trade assets beyond their own far-out firsts, which they have understandably been hesitant to flip. Will they try to add talent and cash in chips? Or will they go into a soft rebuild and try to get value for Paul George (who would certainly be of interest on the market). Tough break for the Lakers, but maybe the separation they needed to move forward as an organization.
Raptors Sign SG Shabazz Muhammad for $49,500,000 over 3 years.
We grabbed Shabazz coming off a career year on a three-year max starting at $15m — the idea behind that offer was to (hopefully) poach him but also get him on a deal that should have a lot of trade value. He's a great scoring and rebounding wing and this deal covers his age 30-31-32 seasons, which is well ahead of when vets generally start to decline.
If there's a burning question for us, I guess it's what type of return we can get here. I was happy to snag basically any of the guys I bid on, if you're reading this text me, I want to move him before FA 2/3 — but anyway, enough Raptors talk.
What now for the Bullets? From that perspective, this is a tough loss, but with Anthony Edwards on the way up, it doesn't figure to be a long-term catastrophe. It hurts their playoff chances this season, but also gives Edwards a platform to shine as a starter. Wes doesn't have his pick in 2023 after sending it to Cleveland, I believe, but the Bullets also have a lot of cap wiggle to add salary and round out the roster. I don't know what they bid on Shabazz, but he wanted free health care.
2022 181 Bullets Sign C Anthony Davis for $95,000,000 over 5 years.
Speaking of the Bullets, they did get their more important player back, with Davis signing for a flat max deal that he'll likely be worth. Washington really couldn't afford to lose Davis up front, so this helps stabilize them with some TC luck and maybe some more savvy additions to the roster. AD isn't quite as good as real AD, but he's an elite defensive and rebounding big with offensive high-end variance that makes him unique.
Who can Washington go and get on the trade market? That will probably crystalize in the next 48 hours — sources are saying there are some blockbuster deals going down soon.
2022 181 Pacers Sign C Greg Oden for $19,000,000 over one year.
2022 181 Pacers Sign SF Rudy Gay for $5,500,000 over one year.
These are pretty straighforward contracts for two old fuckers who didn't retire due to Ashes devil magic.
Burning question for Indy — are the Pacers going to run it back? It was a down year for Indy with some unlucky variance particularly on the De'Aaron Fox front. Indy is pretty close to hard capped, so Tong will have to find a way to shuffle the deck. Will it involve trading with Utah again...who can say.
I do think Oden even on the doorstep of retirement should be desirable on a big expiring if you're a contender — he's still great. But I'm curious what direction Indy goes from here to make their talent fit together better.
2022 181 Heat Sign SF Isaac Bonga for $53,876,563 over 4 years.
Tough loss for the Suns, who are now without a starting point guard and may have to get creative to replace Bonga. He was basically the perfect PG for their team, offering stocks and boards from the PG spot that help to cover for what Jokic specifically lacks in his otherwise insane FBB kit.
Phoenix has been committed to running inside — who can they go and get at point guard that suits their style? It's not a particularly long list. I still think they're quite well-positioned, but losing Bonga, who was viewed as the long-term PG solution (but couldn't be responsibly RFA tagged with Rui coming up next year) creates some likely roster upheaval.
What do the Heat do with Bonga? Miami has been trying to dig out of its tank, and Scoops has gotten the short stick on lottery luck, but he has a ton of assets now, and is also building around two young bigs in Sengun and Wiseman. I actually think the still relatively young Bonga is a great fit with Sengun — is there an opportunity here for Scoops to build a balanced/inside roster? That probably won't be tenable until Sengun matures, but there's definitely an argument for keeping Bonga for the long haul and trying to improve the roster a bit for next season if tanking gets boring. Due to Bonga's very specific skillset (he doesn't really help as much on an outside-oriented team at PG), very curious what the market will be for him.
2022 181 Nets Sign PG D'Angelo Russell for $46,410,000 over 4 years.
2022 181 Nets Sign C Deandre Ayton for $119,809,138 over 7 years.
SWAMPY STEVE WITH SOME BIG SNAGS.
This sucks for the Cavs (sorry Manty), who are left without a PG and will need to address that to keep the team competitive. Russell is young and pretty solid and should have trade value for the Nets — Steven also doesn't have a great young point guard prospect to build around (sorry Coby), so there's an argument to hang onto Russell, too.
Burning Q here is really for Cleveland — how do they address point guard? They have 11m in cap space, but also likely want to re-sign their own free agents (Boogie, Thon, etc), who should be retainable at a reasonable cost given how much cap space was eaten up already. There are some good vet PGs lying around in FA, but also some interesting ones potentially available on the trade market. Getting a lower-TO PG next to LaVine could be a blessing in disguise, I suppose.
Ayton re-signed for a lot of money - should I say AY TON (fml) and my sources are saying he could be on the move elsewhere at dawn. At dawn!!! I've always wanted to say that. Great Morning Jacket Album, a favorite of GhostCoach Monty Williams.
2022 181 Hornets Sign SF Semi Ojeleye for $120,312,500 over 7 years.
That's the sound of me pouring kerosene all over my Hornets futures.
free healthcare has never been more important
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