Will Kevin Durant be the next superstar to opt for a change of scenery in the summer of 2016? If not, could it be Dwight Howard instead? (Yes, again) Will someone change teams and then change his mind during the moratorium period again like DeAndre Jordan did? One thing is for sure, the salary cap is going up dramatically next summer – projected to be in the $90 million range – and roughly 20 teams will have room for at least one maximum salary contract. In
What if I told you your favorite team could land a power forward that has never averaged less than 10 points per game in any of his 13 NBA seasons? He won a gold medal for Team USA. He is widely viewed as a good locker room guy. His basketball IQ is just south of MENSA territory. Who is the mystery free agent forward? It’s Carlos Boozer. In a statistically down season, Boozer averaged 11.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and
Tristan Thompson remains the biggest fish in this summer’s free agent sea, as noted in our updated rankings. In fact, LeBron James has called Thompson a “key piece” to Cleveland’s hopes of winning a title this season. So why the elongated stalemate between the two sides? It comes down to leverage. Cleveland has it for the upcoming season, but Thompson has it afterward. Confused? Let me explain. [Read more…]
As I said recently on NBC Sports Radio and in my previous free agent rankings — there are still bargains to be had on the free agent market. Just ask the New York Knicks, who landed Kevin Seraphin on a one-year, $2.8 million deal. Seraphin was No. 1 on our previous free agency rankings. Seraphin turned down several significant offers for a better chance at playing time with the prospect of cashing when the salary cap spikes next summer. [Read more…]
As I said recently on NBC Sports Radio and in my previous free agent rankings — there are still bargains to be had on the free agent market. Just ask the New York Knicks, who landed Kevin Seraphin on a one-year, $2.8 million deal. Seraphin was No. 1 on our previous free agency rankings. Seraphin turned down several significant offers for a better chance at playing time with the prospect of cashing when the salary cap spikes next summer. [Read more…]
The problem with giving midsummer report cards is that they’re like a “progress report” from your kid’s school. “So-and-so is in danger of getting a D in math,” one such report from my youngest son’s school said. He ended up with a B-plus. Being halfway through the summer means a lot of things (halfway toward a supertan, a month closer to a second straight golf-free year), but it does not mean you can give an entirely accurate reading of a team’s offseason.
So the month of August begins with another head-scratcher award for Sam Hinkie. The mad scientist in Philadelphia had earned plenty of props on this site for his acquisition of three rotation players — Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas and Carl Landry — along with a first-round pick and the right to swap two additional two first-round picks with Sacramento in the early-July deal that allowed the Kings to clear the cap space to sign Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli and Kosta Koufos. The
Free agency shopping at the end of July is similar to waiting all month for the giant coupon booklet from your neighborhood grocery store. With that in mind, which players will be this year’s bargains on the clearance shelf? Can you find a scoring guard and a big man off the bench with a $2.8 million mid-level exception? Yes, that is somewhat akin to a two-for-one deal on soon-to-expire potato chips at your favorite grocery store. Some of the unrestricted free agents in