Grading FA Day 2/3 2011

[Joe]

Grading FA Day 2/3

Pretty impossible to follow Kipke’s food article, but I’ve got a few minutes free and a lot of hungry mouths to camp on my roster, so let’s do some grades. And let's do 'em in Georgia font so the bold stands out more!

2011 182 Suns Sign SF Jamario Moon for $20,400,000 over 2 years.

Grade: B. Jamario phones home! After 7 years abroad with at least 4 different teams, young Moon returns to his birthplace much older and wiser, greeted by his father with open arms. His stip may cost Tyler a few mil next year, but that shouldn’t be a problem once Ray Allen’s Godzilla-sized deal is off the books. Moon’s contract is a reasonable one, but now Tyler basically has two Renaldo Buttmans, neither of whom does great when starting at SF and both of whom thrive in backup roles. As they say in the old (south)West: this town ain’t big enough for the both of butts.

2011 182 Heat Sign PF Kenyon Martin for $15,000,000 over one year.

Grade: A-. A nice snag by the Heat as they continue to stockpile assets. Kmart turned in his second best statistical performance last year at age 33, and big ol’ rear ends like his tend to age like fine wine. A $15M expiring should be easily matched by a competing team looking to add some extra muscle from a proven winner in the frontcourt. I expect Mr. Martin to be on the move before the scrap heap FA bell rings.

2011 182 76ers Sign C Jermaine O'Neal for $33,600,000 over 2 years.

Grade: B+. At first, I was like “this feels like a lot of money for a 33 year old big butt who barely scraped together a 2:1 stock to TO last year,” but then I looked at Philly’s roster page and somehow they don’t need to pay anyone even marginally important for at least 2 more seasons, and nobody really important for 3, so no harm in keeping an A/A Center on your roster.

2011 182 Pacers Sign SG Marko Jaric for $4,650,000 over one year.

Grade: B+. Handsome Marko is no spring chicken, it’s true. The guy still gets his though – he scored better than 22 pp36 last year on 47/42% with Indiana, who should definitely deal him at their earliest convenience as they set their sights on another lottery. The Pacers roster is a motley crew of quasi-useful old fellas and young studs, so young Tonger should ship out any remaining talent post haste.

2011 182 Bullets Sign PG Luke Ridnour for $2,698,800 over one year.

Grade: A-. Ridnour pitched in some pretty useful minutes for Washington last year after coming over from New York via Boston, putting up 19pp36 on 50% shooting in legitimate minutes. As safe a backup option as there is, not sure why Weston wouldn’t want him on a 2 or 3 year deal unless Sergio LLLLLuLLLLLL is slated to take the reigns of CP3’s understudy in short order.

2011 182 Magic Sign C Elton Brand for $12,000,000 over one year.

Grade: B+. Elton got glazed pretty good by his GM since his arrival in Orlando, and with good reason – he did 17 and 12 on 45% from the floor with 4 stocks and 1.5 turnovers, one of those weird random two-way seasons Brand turns in a couple times every decade. So whose weiner did HE have to glaze to get a multi-year deal around here?? The Magic still have $21M under the hard cap with only Eric Gordon to pay next year, so I would have liked to see Merv lock up his starting 4 for at least 2 years. Still, bringing back a good player on a palatable number is good business, expiring or not.

2011 182 Nuggets Sign SG Trevor Ariza for $4,500,000 over one year.

Grade: C+. Trevor Ariza has some nice ratings, he’s just never once turned them into better than 44% from the floor, a 1:1 stock to TO, and 17 and 5 per 36 (career average: 12pp36). More like Trevor Areasonably Below Average at Everything. Feel like he’s less useful than Ime Udoka, and Kipke managed to get that on the LLE, so there were probably a few more attractive MLE fellas out there.

2011 182 Nuggets Sign SG Kevin Martin for $10,000,000 over one year.

Grade: Filler. Pretty sure this guy is on the move as part of the Carmelo deal.

2011 182 76ers Sign C Spencer Hawes for $19,860,000 over 3 years.

Grade: C-. I do love a homer contract, and Spencer Hawes is one of the coolest real life Sixers of our lifetime, but this feels like a bit of good money thrown after bad. It’s not that I didn’t like DMo’s gamble on Hawes a couple years ago as potentially the next Okur – super fun! Just feels like he probably didn’t need to commit $20M over the next 3 years to this guy after his supercamp came up short. The Sixers had plenty of room on their cap sheet, would have been nice to see them bring in a difference-maker after finishing behind New York and Washington in the division last year.

2011 182 Pistons Sign C Nenê for $12,500,000 over one year.

Grade: Filler. God, at least I hope so.

2011 182 Raptors Sign C Chris Andersen for $10,000,000 over one year.

Grade: B+. There simply is no more reliable business decision than signing a solid big butt to a solid expiring contract – the Birdman still has some feed in the tank (birdbath?) and will almost certainly move for a nice stack of RPs in the near future.

2011 182 Timberwolves Sign PF Stromile Swift for $10,250,000 over 2 years.

Grade: B-. After taking on Sheed for free, it seems the Timberwolves are flipping the switch? No camps posted yet but I’d suspect we will see a Harden supercamp out in Minny, and it looks like Stromile is going to be the starting PF? Feels like this team probably needs a little more time for the Morris twins to incubate, but Swift’s contract isn’t going to be a dealbreaker either way.

2011 182 Nuggets Sign SG Ime Udoka for $1,200,000 over one year.

Grade: A-. Pretty much as quality a player as you can hope to get on an LLE. A bit of defense and rebounding and shotfunneling to Steph and Melo.

2011 182 Bulls Sign PF Jonathan Bender for $4,500,000 over one year.

Grade: A-. Never thought I’d see the day where Jonathan wasn’t wearing the purple and gold. Matt picks up a second version of Tony Battie who’s 4 years younger, so some good insurance for if/when the big guy kicks the bucket.

2011 182 Timberwolves Sign C Sean Williams for $10,250,000 over 2 years.

Grade: B-. He’s a bit raw and unproven, but the young pothead did put up 3 stocks a game last year and is totally uncamped to my knowledge, which is enticing. If Pankin has the RP to dump some points into his rebounding and handles, he could definitely turn into a quality piece…but at that point he will have expired and won’t have Birds because Pankin only signed him to a two-year deal instead of three. As ESPN would put it, c’mon, man!

2011 183 Nets Sign SG Michael Redd for $18,900,000 over 2 years.

Grade: A…but an F for Redd’s agent and his math skills. Dunce cap Mike decides to take less money than he got from multiple other teams, including the Celtics, who offered him $11M x 2 for a total of $22M. Amazing get for Stephen, who will undoubtedly deal Mr. Redd to a contender for some solid value. Redd still has plenty of scoring juice left and remains super efficient in the TO department, even if he sucks at arithmetic.

2011 183 Lakers Sign SF Carlos Delfino for $6,000,000 over one year.

Grade: B. Delfino is totally fine, this contract is totally fine. Will be interested to see what the Lakers decide to do in the next couple years as their stars approach their deathbeds, but seems like Delfino probably won’t be around to find out.

2011 183 Nets Sign PF Lamar Odom for $16,800,000 over 2 years.

Grade: B. This deal is only a good one if Stephen has a suitor for Lamar, who is just a hair too good to keep around on your tanking team. The multi-year deal makes me think he already has his bags packed, so good on Stephen for getting the most out of this FA day.

2011 183 Heat Sign C Curtis Borchardt for $7,500,000 over one year.

Grade: B+. See Anderson, Chris. Aging. Big Butt. Medium expiring deal. Tanker team. A tale as old as time.

2011 183 Bullets Sign PF Eduardo Najera for $1,440,000 over one year.

Grade: B+. Solid 4th big on a solid 4th big-type number. The Bullets can’t plan to start him, but after the death of Big Ben, they’re going to need to get themselves some replacement ass in their starting lineup.

[Clinton]

Zero D/Fs , this article is washed in good vibes

[Joe]

Zero D/Fs , this article is washed in good vibes

Nah, I am just washed as a writer. Too soft!

[Kipke]

Grade 350 RP