Post by NOLa. on May 7, 2014 15:14:32 GMT -6
The draft is now starting to come to a close with the last few picks of the 1st Round on the clock and a request by the commish to wrap this thing up. By far the quickest and most active rookie draft we’ve had and there was plenty of movement, most notably by the Wizards and Spurs series of trades, our eyes now focus towards free agency. We’ve had several interesting free agency periods already in our short existence of a league, such as the first offseason when we pretty much skipped it. Or how about the second offseason where the question and debate was “Is a G/G worth a max?” The last offseason produced a class filled with talented players and lots of them for each position, filled with role players, solid starters, and some All Stars.
We’ve seen it time and time again, but when teams have cash and are looking to replace those scrubs of theirs with some talent they will spend. I expect the same for this free agency, but how does this class stack up compared to last season’s and is it worth spending this season?
So…. How does this class look?
Not so good, as indicated by above picture. 3 First Team All NBA players are free agents in Shawn Kemp, Kevin Johnson, and Karl Malone. Serious talent! The problem? Guaranteed supermaxes. There are others, too. Tim Hardaway, Scottie Pippen, Gary Payton, Brad Daughtry and Hakeem seem like locks for the supermax. I expect all (or most) of the above will wear the same jerseys they did the season before when we start back up and all is said and done. Sign and trade is the only method other teams have in obtaining these All Stars.
Well what about the others? Clyde Drexler, Derek Harper, John Stockton, or the most interesting free agent in Patrick Ewing have a chance to earn some serious cash. But are they worth a max or supermax? There are other 30+ year old players that still have some game left in the tank and probably for seasons to come, but the devil that is the Offseason Training Camp has proven consistently that 30 year olds begin to die, and some more than others (Dominique Wilkens). The color whore inside all of us savors the opportunity to strike at these players when available because their previous owners haven’t publically been favorable of paying max money for aging stars. However, if there was one guy who will get a max out of this group it’s Ewing.
His future in Indianapolis is in jeopardy as Pauly made news in the Trade Block that Ewing was available for S&T, which got some in the league to wonder if Ewing was worth the supermax. The case for him is that he’s one of the best Cs in the game still, excellent inside scorer, and a defensive beast with great size. The case against him is that he’s 31 and has below average athleticism for an elite C. In the end it’s a numbers game and stats don’t lie, he’s a consistent 24ppg – 9rpg -2.5bpg player in a position of need for most teams with the likes of Zo and Shaq growing up. I know there has to be one team in the league that feels they are one center away from competing for a title.
As for the other players in this group of older guys, I’m expecting a mix of short term high dollar deals and 1 year rentals. Like I said earlier, these players are still good and got some game left in the tank. We’ve seen teams before offer 1 or 2 year deals for the max money and won the bid over long term deals for slightly less. Loyalty and job security doesn’t seem as important as the amount, they figure to hit you up or the 1 year max deal and hit the FA market $5mil richer. These players like money $$$$, it’s also rumored Randy Moss is their representing agents (what is he, 15 years old in 94?)
So if there’s talent why is this a bad class in my view? Take away those players referenced above and what exactly is left for grabs? Seriously, remove the supermax players and the players you know you aren’t getting at the top because they are getting maxes. Now, factor in the teams sitting on $10mil to spend knowing that money not spent is money not earning. Some teams need to completely refill their roster with only 2-4 players on their teams! Left looking at who is left and knowing teams will be spending money means that those Y/Y players will start getting some Day 1 looks by teams needing to restock.
The talent in between the all stars and bench players? They are the same free agents from last season that made it to Day 3 and the teams with cap decided to spend their remaining cash on 1 year rentals. This class is horribly top heavy and the availability of the best is unfavorable without trading, and the depth below is thin and aging.
Prediction of this FA: Quick sweep of supermaxes, Day 1 and 2 bid wars for weaker players, and teams will rely more on trades than the actual FA to build on leading up to training camp.
Hope you enjoyed! Leave your thoughts below about this upcoming FA.
