Minnesota fills major gap, Thunder between a rock & a Harden place
The TimberWolves thought they had that dead-eye shooter to pair with Ricky Rubio in Brandon Roy. We all know how that turned out, but Minnesota’s four-year, $28 million contract with Kevin Martin, reuniting with coach Rick Adelman, makes absolutely perfect sense. He shot 42.6 percent from three last season, a career best, and his 45 percent shooting percentage from the floor was his best mark since the 2007-2008 season. His 10.2 turnover percentage (the estimated number of turnovers committed per 100 possessions) was just outside the league’s top 20, which will make a good contrast to the often-sloppy Rubio.
Minnesota will be a playoff team next season if Rubio and Kevin Love remain healthy, and Chase Budinger would be a major part of that. He was sidelined for most of last season, but GM Flip Saunders (that still sound weird) still gave him three years and $20 million to continue the powerfully pervasive trend of shooters getting paid this offseason. The Wolves clearly hope that last season’s 32.1 percent 3-point shooting percentage, was an injury-caused aberration and that his 40 percent number from 2011-2012 in Houston is what we should expect.
With Martin now out of the fold, Oklahoma City could still arrange a sign-and-trade, there isn’t much left from its James Harden trade with the Rockets, as Adam Stanco mentions. J.R. Smith could be a possibility for the Thunder, but it’s probably a far cry from what Sam Presti envisioned.
Splitter signing opens eyes
Many prognosticators said that big man Tiago Splitter would command around $9 or 10 million per season in a new contract, but this writer always had his doubts about that. Splitter only averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds last season. But San Antonio clearly valued his defense, a 100 defensive rating (15th in the NBA), and offensive efficiency (56 percent field goal percentage and top-1o rankings in True Shooting and Effective FG%) was enough for the Spurs to give four years and $36 million.
| Tiago Splitter | Numbers | League Rank |
| FG % | 55.9 | 7 |
| True Shooting % | 60.7 | 7 |
| Win Shares/48 | 0.197 | 8 |
| O Rating | 118.2 | 9 |
| eFG % | 55.9 | 9 |
| D Rating | 100 | 15 |
Even to the statistically inclined, that seems like a really large number. But 8.2 win shares is a lot, and perhaps the 28-year-old will grow into a larger role and justify his huge new contract.
Webster cashes in
It’s a classic case of a player coming to a new team on a contract year and having a career-best season. Martell Webster had easily the best season of his career with Washington, and scored a four-year, $22 million deal because of it. Webster had career highs in points per game (11.4), three-point field goal percentage (42.2), rebounds (3.9), PER (13.9), eFG% (55.1), True Shooting (60.1), offensive and defensive rating (115 and 106) and win shares across the board. Whether Webster has turned the corner on his young career is another story, but he was clearly rewarded for what the Wizards hope is a breakout 2012-2013 campaign.
Washington also inked Eric Maynor to a contract, who’s looking to resurrect his own career. Maynor was dealt by Oklahoma City to Portland this past season after Reggie Jackson supplanted him as the Thunder’s understudy to Russell Westbrook and did a lot better with the Blazers as Damian Lillard’s backup. Maynor improved his field goal percentage by over 10 percent (from 31.3 to 42.2) and his three-point field goal percentage from 32.6 to 38. He’ll compete with A.J. Price as the backup to John Wall.
Bulls fortify bench
Mike Dunleavy is essentially a spacer at this point, which Chicago could use around Derrick Rose (remember him?) and their plethora of bigs. The newest Bull, he signed a two-year deal, attempted his highest number of 3-pointers in five years and hit a career-high 42.8 percent of them. Keeping Nazr Mohammed seems a bit curious considering he shot exactly 10 percent worse from the field in 2012-2013 than he did in 2011-2012, but he did average 10.1 rebounds per 36 minutes, so he’ll be asked to do some reserve grunt-work again for Chicago.
Shlomo Sprung loves advanced statistics and the way they explain what happens on the court. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. His website is SprungOnSports.com. You can follow him on Twitter.