OT: NBA

[HMFFL]

Many were quick to crown the winners and losers during the NBA’s summer free-agent frenzy, hailing moves by teams like Philadelphia, Toronto and New Orleans as masterstrokes for franchises that appeared to be on the rise.

What looked good in the heat of the summer, though, doesn’t look nearly as good now that the weather has cooled.

Philadelphia

• The vibe: 8-11 overall, last in the Atlantic Division with a monster payroll and little to show for it right now

• The move(s): The 76ers used all their available cap space to sign Elton Brand to an $82 million deal and left little room to do anything else of significance, namely adding a quality shooter to space the floor around their new low-post staple.

• The verdict: Sixers president Ed Stefanski has said publicly that he would, “do it again in a New York second.” He’s probably the only general manager in the league willing to make that claim, publicly or otherwise. While Brand hasn’t been a bust by any stretch, he hasn’t been the difference-maker Sixers fans envisioned. Brand’s supporting cast has come up short on numerous occasions. And his supposed sidekick, Andre Igoudala, has struggled mightily adapting to his new role as the team’s No. 2 option after being No. 1 last season.

Toronto

• The vibe: 8-10 overall, and fading fast from the view of NBA-, Eastern Conference-, and Atlantic Division-leading Boston

• The move(s): The Raptors traded T.J. Ford to the Pacers for Jermaine O’Neal, believing that Jose Calderon was ready to assume control of the team and O’Neal would help All-Star Chris Bosh and former No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani form the most imposing frontcourt trios in the league.

• The verdict: Raptors coach of five years Sam Mitchell paid with his job for general manager Bryan Colangelo’s miscalculation. Not only have the Raptors missed Ford, who has played well for the surprising Pacers, but neither O’Neal (injuries) nor Bargnani has lived up to their respective hype. Calderon has played well, especially when you realize that the Raptors got him for a bargain. But he’s not as dangerous without the fear of Ford directing the Raptors’ attack when he’s not on the floor.

New Orleans

• The vibe: 10-6 overall, and trailing Houston for the top spot in the Western Conference’s suddenly mediocre Southwest Division

• The move(s): The Hornets didn’t do much outside of plucking winner extraordinaire James Posey via free agency, a subtle move designed to give the Hornets that championship edge they lacked last season.

• The verdict: The Hornets are staying afloat out West, but they are little more than a shell of the inspired bunch that challenged for a spot in the NBA Finals last season. Even with Posey playing his super sub role, the Hornets haven’t been able to find a good rhythm around their All-Star and point guard/director Chris Paul. Teams are content to let Paul have his way with them as a scorer so long as he doesn’t have anyone else to rely on to pick up the slack. The Hornets might have needed to make a few more moves than they did to ensure that this team didn’t get complacent after last year’s breakout season.

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[HMFFL]

Milwaukee

The vibe: 8-12 overall, second to only Indiana for last place in the Central Division with Cleveland and Detroit distancing themselves from the riffraff in what used to be the league’s most competitive division

• The move(s): Too many to mention just one, but the deal to send Mo Williams to Cleveland for table scraps doesn’t look so good anymore.

• The verdict: Having the likes of Richard Jefferson, Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva on the same team was supposed to make the Bucks capable of scoring at will from inside and out. Injuries to both Redd and Bogut no doubt slowed the Bucks’ momentum. And the options at point guard are slim with Luke Ridnour, Ramon Sessions and former Hawks point guard Tyronn Lue available. It’ll be up to coach Scott Skiles to figure a way out of this mess with top teams in the Eastern Conference looking to create more space between the haves and the have-nots.

[JoshB914]

The Hornets will be fine. They are 10-6 as it is and haven't played their best basketball yet.

Phili getting off to a slow start didn't surprise me. Everyone seemed to forget that Brand was coming off of a serious achilles injury. As the article said, their biggest need was actually a shooter, and signing Brand prevented them from doing that. Mo Cheeks isn't that hot as a coach either. No one seems to really have a grasp of their role with Brand in the mix. And Iggy has been AWFUL. You'd still think they'd get hot at some point and finish a bit above .500.

I thought Toronto would have a better record because of Bosh/Calderon alone. But the JO deal didn't make them much better. JO has been a lot more effective than I thought he would be and has settled into his role as a defensive stopper quite well. But the guy has never made his team that much better and he's getting paid big time bucks. And 43% shooting from the field from a player like that is a killer.

Milwaukee made no sense to me at all. They bring in a coach in Skiles that has had his most success coaching young players thanks to his disciplined and no-nonsense mentality (Chicago). It seemed like they were primed for a rebuilding process with Skiles' hiring and Redd sure to be dealt to make $$$ available for the future. And what do they do? They lock themselves into mediocrity and a high team salary for at least the next three seasons by trading for Richard Jefferson. That was one of the dumbest moves of the entire offseason (although nothing comes close to the Warriors giving Maggette $10M a year IMO).

[tontoz]

Milwaukee made no sense to me at all. They bring in a coach in Skiles that has had his most success coaching young players thanks to his disciplined and no-nonsense mentality (Chicago). It seemed like they were primed for a rebuilding process with Skiles' hiring and Redd sure to be dealt to make $$$ available for the future. And what do they do? They lock themselves into mediocrity and a high team salary for at least the next three seasons by trading for Richard Jefferson. That was one of the dumbest moves of the entire offseason (although nothing comes close to the Warriors giving Maggette $10M a year IMO).

I don't get what you are saying about the Bucks. Jefferson is a very good player in his prime and they gave up crap (Yi and Simmons) to get him. That was a great deal for the Bucks.

Dealing Mo for scraps and hiring Skiles are dubious moves, but i think their main problem so far has been injuries.

[JoshB914]

Jefferson is good but there was no point in acquiring him. They should have gone into rebuilding mode and dealt Redd instead of choosing to commit $30+ million a year to become a .500 team at best. Now they're stuck paying two second options superstar $$$ for the near future.

[tontoz]

Jefferson is good but there was no point in acquiring him. They should have gone into rebuilding mode and dealt Redd instead of choosing to commit $30+ million a year to become a .500 team at best. Now they're stuck paying two second options superstar $$$ for the near future.

It is easy to say blow it up and start over but that is a long process. They have three quality players now with Redd, Jefferson and Bogut. They probably screwed up getting rid of Mo though.

Simmons is making $10 million+ over the next two years. Jefferson's deal has 3 years. I don't see how that can be considrered a bad deal because Simmons blows.

[lunarblues]

the bucks problem was that they have no post defense. villaneuva isn't even there half the time, bogut can barely change shots much less block them, and their bench bigs are as bad as our were last year. they aren't going anywhere until they get at least two new bigs. personally i say they need to trade charlie V and luke ridnour for some defensive specialists. and i'm not talking starter either. they need to revamp that bench. even if it means going with gadzuric and bogut at the 4 and 5. let ramon sessions run the 1 and hope that redd gets back. right now the bucks are looking at another 8-13 pick which isn't going to get them where they need to be.

[tontoz]

the bucks problem was that they have no post defense. villaneuva isn't even there half the time, bogut can barely change shots much less block them,

I guess you didn't watch us play the Bucks last year. Bogut averaged 3.75 blocks per game against us. He averaged 1.7 blocks on the season.

They have issues at the 1 and 4 but i think they will be better than people are giving them credit for.

[conleyorbust]

Josh, I don't disagree that the Hornets will be "fine" but I think that they will be worse than expectation. They came off a near 60-win season and picked up Posey for that "Championship Edge" and everyone assumed that, that in and of itself was all they needed to take the next step to be legit contenders. Instead it looks like they had a lot of guys playing at their peaks last season and their lack of depth in the front court and backcourt has been exposed a little because they spent all their FA money on another swing man. They'll certainly make the playoffs but a lot of people just assumed that they were going to be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the league this season and they certainly aren't.

I thought Philly would be better. They're D has been very nice but they are terrible on offense, down years so far from every rotation player outside of Thad Young. I'd imagine that they will begin to click on offense as the season wears on - shots that aren't falling now will start to fall, still though, they won't be as good as I and others thought. Iggy needs to find himself too.

I like that the says the Raps miss Ford who has played well for the suprising Pacers even though the Pacers are 7-13 and on track to be worse than last season. Granted, the Raps are hurting. They are terrible on D and a little below average on offense and I think a lot worse than their record shows. JO has declined more than a lot of people expected, even people who didn't think he had much left. He just isn't an elite anchor on D at this point and having bad defenders at 2 starting spots plus Bosh who has to carry the scoring load doesn't make for a good team D. Jose is the ultimate game-managing point guard which works when you have more than one player on the team that can create his own shot. Unfortunately for the Raps, they don't so Bosh is left lifting too much of the offensive load.

I wouldn't call Milwaukee disappointing because I don't think many people here expected them to do well. By efficiency, last season they were the worst D team in the league and had the 21st ranked O in the league. What did they do over the course of the summer that would possibly cover that much ground? Skiles has them trying harder on D than ever before which is actually working for them, but their offense sucks because last year for Jefferson and for Redd's whole non-bench warmer career, those dudes didn't expend any effort on D whatsoever. Now that they are, their offense is equally suffering. They could be better though, Sessions is a great suprise for them. Bogut is a competent double-double guy, and Jefferson/Redd should be able to score a lot better than they are. I think they'll start clicking soon but I still think they are a mediocre squad.

I see what Josh is saying about paying Jefferson big-bucks to be an 18-5-2 player on 43% shooting but I think the counter to that is, what big name FA are you going to lure to Milwaukee?

[lunarblues]

the bucks problem was that they have no post defense. villaneuva isn't even there half the time, bogut can barely change shots much less block them,

I guess you didn't watch us play the Bucks last year. Bogut averaged 3.75 blocks per game against us. He averaged 1.7 blocks on the season.

They have issues at the 1 and 4 but i think they will be better than people are giving them credit for.

for the year bogut is 46th in blocks and 60th in blocks per 48 min.

he might be good against us, but against the rest of the league he's not able to the job done, however, i'm not using that to crucify the bucks, al horford isn't that far ahead of him, but when bogut is arguably the best post defender they have, that is a big problem. they need a defensive big that they can plug in to force others to hesitate when going to the basket. they have to find a way to get upgrade that power forward position though that's for sure.

[tontoz]

the bucks problem was that they have no post defense. villaneuva isn't even there half the time, bogut can barely change shots much less block them,

I guess you didn't watch us play the Bucks last year. Bogut averaged 3.75 blocks per game against us. He averaged 1.7 blocks on the season.

They have issues at the 1 and 4 but i think they will be better than people are giving them credit for.

for the year bogut is 46th in blocks and 60th in blocks per 48 min.

he might be good against us, but against the rest of the league he's not able to the job done, however, i'm not using that to crucify the bucks, al horford isn't that far ahead of him, but when bogut is arguably the best post defender they have, that is a big problem. they need a defensive big that they can plug in to force others to hesitate when going to the basket. they have to find a way to get upgrade that power forward position though that's for sure.

This season just started and Bogut has been hurt. He averaged 1.7 blocks last season which isn't great but it isn't bad either.

Boguts big problem is that he can't make foul shots or midrange shots.

The 4 spot is definitely a problem but i don't think they are that far from being a good team.

[lunarblues]

they are a power forward away! that's their achilles heel. i think that charlie is best served coming off the bench where he can be the focus of the second team's offense. but they need a post defender on that first unit. someone like stromile swift or darko millicic just to throw some names out. he doesn't have to be an all-star, just someone that knows how to play a specific role.

[HoopsGuru25]

I saw the JO/Ford swap as a bad trade the day it happened. Jermaine is still a very good defensive player...but his offense has regressed to the point where he is actually a terrible offensive player if you account for the amount of plays that go through him.

I don't see how any one could say that trading for Jefferson was terrible for Milwaukee unless you thought they would be in the hunt for a star player in 2010(which will never happen). They had the worst small forwards in the league last year and you could argue that Villanueva is slightly better(and probably the same age)than Yi. They upgraded at two positions while also getting rid of Bobby Simmons terrible deal(which is only 1 year shorter than RJ's) at the same time.

[JoshB914]

HG- If the goal is to win a title, the Bucks screwed up massively. I don't see how you can credit the Milwaukee for "getting better" when it completely kills their cap space for upcoming seasons in exchange for a guy that is nothing more than a solid player. How do they expect to win a ring with a core of Jefferson/Redd? It has nothing to do with FA's, it has to do with building your team up the correct way.

By trading for RJ, the Bucks killed their cap space for coming seasons. Is that really worth it to get a guy that gives your team a ceiling of about .500? Thanks to the $$$ they are committing to two second options, they have no real chance to get better in the coming years. They will be stuck at the bottom end of the lotto, and with no $$$ to spend to upgrade the team. Getting into this kind of cycle can KILL a team. Just ask the pre-Woodson Hawks who kept rolling along with overrated players on big contracts! That was over five years ago and we are just now starting to put that disaster in the rear view mirror.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and rebuild. And all signs pointed to the Bucks going in that direction. But for some reason the Bucks decided to add a solid player with a superstar contract. Even if they did get the best value out of the deal, it wasn't worth it to pay $18M for a few extra wins.

[tontoz]

HG- If the goal is to win a title, the Bucks screwed up massively. I don't see how you can credit the Milwaukee for "getting better" when it completely kills their cap space for upcoming seasons .

You'll have to explain how the Jefferson deal kills their cap space. I sure don't get it.

[killbuckner]

Josh- I think that you are wrong to think that every team has the goal of winning a title. Most teams in the league simply don't have the pieces to get it done. Most teams are tryign to have a team that will make the playoffs and win the division if everything breaks right. But for how much every team talks about winning the championship I just don't think thats the goal.

[JoshB914]

For starters, it put them at $71M team salary this season which is surely not worth it if you're just pushing to make the playoffs.

As for the future, they have about $65M that they already must spend for next season and $31M of it is between their two "stars." They should have just dealt Redd and gotten some picks and expirers, suffered for a couple of years while cutting salary, and built through the draft. That is the only way you're going to win in Milwaukee, because like HG said, top FA's aren't going to go there.

I would like to hear how the Bucks can seriously upgrade their roster in the summer. They most likely won't get a pick high enough to get an instant impact rookie, and they don't have the $$$ to sign enough good FA's to build with. They are quite a few steps away from just being a good team, but they can't take those steps with the kind of $$$ they are spending.

Think about it, they locked themselves into three years of Redd/Jefferson for $30M! I still don't get how that makes sense for that organization. If their goal is to get close to .500 and maybe make a playoff appearance then mission accomplished. Otherwise they are stuck in a rut for the coming seasons.

[JoshB914]

Josh- I think that you are wrong to think that every team has the goal of winning a title. Most teams in the league simply don't have the pieces to get it done.

Every organization should be building towards a title. Obviously that doesn't happen over one offseason (unless you're the Celtics), but that should always be the ultimate goal.

[killbuckner]

Josh- whether it shoudl be the goal or whether it is the goal are different. I don't think the Hawks ownership as an example has a championship as the ultimate goal at all> They want to make the playoffs and if things break right win a playoff round or two but they aren't seriously taking the steps necessary to build a championship team.

[tontoz]

For starters, it put them at $71M team salary this season which is surely not worth it if you're just pushing to make the playoffs.

The Jefferson deal didn't put their payroll at that level. It was already there. You still seem to forget that Simmons had $22 million left on his deal. The Bucks couldn't take back more salary than they shipped out because they were over the cap. Over the next two seasons the Jefferson deal has no effect on their cap at all.