Summer signings, round 13

- After signing Brian Skinner and waiving Josh Powell, as described in the previous blog post, the Clippers finally did the other obvious thing and withdrew the qualifying offer to Nick Fazekas. This moves leaves them with roughly $1.4 million in remaining cap space. However, if they hadn't made the moves to sign draftees Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Mike Taylor unnecessarily early, as well as the even more unnecessary Jason Hart trade, then that number would be more like $2.5 million. I'm going to keep bloody going on about this until someone patronisingly rubs me on the head and tells me that it's OK.

- Adonal Foyle re-signed with the Orlando Magic, who still don't have a good backup big man. I'm all about Marcin Gortat, though. I like him. Also, free agent Magic guard Carlos Arroyo signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, a move insignificant of itself, but which serves to make this year's already weal free agency point guard crop even weaker. Someone needs to either gamble on Shaun Livingston, or get Kevin Ollie back in this league. Anything to keep Smush Parker out. (NB: Earl Boykins was rumoured to be going to Maccabi, but that was before the Arroyo signing was announced, so I doubt that's still on. However, for all his failings, Boykins is maybe now the best free agent left on the market. That's how bad the market is.)

- While we're on the subject of crappy journeyman point guards, Anthony Goldwire is still going, signing for Egaleo in Greece. Goldwire's kicking 40's door down, in the words of the lyrically superior Eminem, but he's still getting basketball jobs. So he's either broke, or he deeply loves the game. I truly hope it's the latter.

- The Lakers signed a short D-League scoring guard, Dwayne Mitchell. Seems like a weird place to start when they have other depth concerns, but oh well. I watched qutie a bit of the Lakers summer league, and Mitchell didn't play much behind such luminaries as Joe Crawford, Coby Karl, Brian Roberts and Cedric Bozeman. I don't know what to make of that.

- Julius Hodge says he wants to make an NBA comeback. Hmmmm. For those unaware, Hodge played for the New Jersey Nets summer league team. For those also unaware, the New Jersey Nets basketball operations person thingy is Kiki Vanderweghe. For those yet further unaware, Kiki Vanderweghe is the man who drafted Hodge way too frigging high back when Vanderwghe was the basketball operations person thingy with the Denver Nuggets. Yet even while crossing the country to follow the one guy to date who thought him worthy of an NBA contract, Hodge couldn't get himself another one. That doesn't bode well.

- Kevinn Pinkney and Shan Foster have agreed to sign with Juve Caserta in Italy. Therefore, Shan Foster must continue to wait to PLAAAAY IN THE NBAAAAAAAA". (I laughed at myself. Judge me if you must.)

- Another Dallas secound round draft pick, Renaldas Seibutis, has signed with Bilbao in Spain. Do you know how hard it is to think up good Renaldas Seibutis jokes? Let me tell you. It's very hard indeed. So I won't bother.

- Ndudi Ebi has signed with Carife Ferrara in Italy, alongside Harold Jamison. There just aren't enough Harold Jamison updates in the world today. Do you know what you get if you Google News-search "Harold Jamison"? Nothing. Well, nothing in English, anyway. Fucking shame.

- Steven Smith has signed with Kolossos Rhodes in Greece, perhaps the finest non-Phillipino team name I've ever seen. Such imperialism! Such history! Such distinction! Such pressure! Good luck Steven.

- Uros Slokar has signed for Fortitudo Bologna. By the way, if you like professional basketball players with accessibility, you'll LOVE Uros Slokar's website. Feel free to email him. Tell him I sent you. Offer him the job as this site's main web developer. Don't tell him that it's unpaid.

Who Dun What?

July 1st signified stuff happening. (Sorry, I couldn't be bothered with an intro.) Here is who done what.

---

Stuff what happened when the season changed over


Player/Early Termination Options

These fellas opted in:

Dallas: Eddie Jones
Denver: Allen Iverson
Houston: Steve Francis
Indiana: Jermaine O'Neal
L.A. Lakers: Chris Mihm, Trevor Ariza
Miami: Shawn Marion
New Jersey: Stromile Swift
New Orleans: Melvin Ely
New York: Stephon Marbury
Orlando: Keith Bogans
Philadelphia: Calvin Booth
Phoenix: Grant Hill
Portland: Raef LaFrentz
Sacramento: Kenny Thomas, Ron Artest
San Antonio: Jacque Vaughn
Toronto: Rasho Nesterovic
Utah: Jason Hart



These fellas opted out:

Boston: James Posey
Golden State: Kelenna Azubuike, Baron Davis
L.A. Clippers: Elton Brand, Corey Maggette
New Orleans: Jannero Pargo
Orlando: Adonal Foyle
Portland: James Jones
San Antonio: Brent Barry
Washington: Gilbert Arenas



Team options

Exercised:

Charlotte: Jermareo Davidson
Houston: Steve Novak
Indiana: Stephen Graham
Utah: Paul Millsap


Declined:

Charlotte: Othella Harrington
Milwaukee: Awvee Storey




Who got qualifying offers?

Click this.


That is all. Salaries being done now.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Golden State

Golden State

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Austin Croshere (one year minimum)
Troy Hudson (one year minimum)
Kosta Perovic (previous draft pick, 3 years, $5.832 million)




Players acquired via draft:

First round: Brandon Wright (8th overall), Marco Belinelli (18th overall)
Second round: Stephane Lasme (46th overall)



Players retained:

Matt Barnes (re-signed, 1 year, $3 million), Kelenna Azubuike (re-signed, 2 year minimum)




Players departed:

Sarunas Jasikevicius (bought out, to sign in Europe), Adonal Foyle (bought out, signed with Orlando), Mickael Pietrus (unsigned, restricted, will probably re-sign but I didn't know which category to put it in), Zarko Cabarkapa (left unrestricted, unsigned), Josh Powell (left unrestricted, signed with Clippers), Jason Richardson (traded to Charlotte)





Bobbins:

I would like to extend a hearty apology to Golden State Warriors Vice President of Basketball Operations, Chris Mullin. In the early part of his time as GM (I'm not typing "Vice President of Basketball Operations" every time, "GM" will do), I ragged on the bastard somewhat mercilessly for his personel moves. And it seemed justified. Inheriting a pretty poor team. Mullin did not do much to improve that, but did spend over a quarter of a billion dollars on re-signing his core players. In an 18 month period from his hiring in April 2004 to October 2005, Mullin gave out enormous contracts to Mike Dunleavy Jr, Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, Adonal Foyle and Derek Fisher, contracts which totalled a mindboggling $261 million for only 5 players (two of whom came off the bench). The only surprise was that he didn't give a similarly insane contract to Erick Dampier, a free agent who did get an oversized contract, but with Dallas.

Mullin's excessive spending forced him to then cut some salary, making moves such as having to deal a first round pick along with Eduardo Najera to Denver for next to nothing, just to be able to avoid the tax threshold. He pigeon-holed himself into a corner, having to sacrifice assets to keep within budget, all for a late lottery team. Things were looking bleak, and some people questioned (rather harshly) whether Chris had gotten back on the drink. Those people will go to hell, partly for their poor ethics, but also for just not being funny.

But Chris Mullin and the Golden State Warriors will not go to hell. Somehow - and this surprises no one more than it does me - Mullin has turned the situation around. The contracts of all of the above players have been gotten rid of (while Foyle is still being paid for three more years, his buyout leaves the Warriors paying a not-too-excessive amount to him, and the 30%-ish savings make the buyout an entirely worthwhile venture), and the only questionable contracts remaining are those of Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington and Baron Davis. And in even, in all three instances there, a case could be made that each player is receiving market value, or only a small amount above it.

The Warriors now have the league's 29th highest payroll (not counting Pietrus), which, when phrased more sensibly, means that they have the second lowest payroll around. Players such as Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis still have big pay days yet to come, but Golden State is now in a position where they can pay the players that deserve big pay days, because they have freed themselves of the players that didn't.

Not just shedding payroll, Mullin has continued to bring in quality players, making very good draft selections such as Biedrins and Ellis to go along with minimum salary finds such as Matt Barnes and Big Lenny Sambuca. He has cleaned out the crap that previously permeated his roster, and continued to pack it with prospects.

And it all began with the can't-miss Baron Davis deal, in which Mullin traded Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis's expiring contract to New Orleans for Davis, who has since had a rebirth of sorts under new Warriors head coach Don Nelson. Despite the occasional slip-up (drafting Patrick O'Bryant and the Mike Montgomery era to name but two), it's been relatively all gravy since then, and the Warriors boast a young and

So well played, Mr Mullin sir. You join an elite group of GM's who can undo previous mistakes without making future ones, and therefore now have distinct seperation between yourself and the McHale/Thomas's of this world. Congratulations.


Now that all that bumlicking is out of the way, let's use less general terms and stick to this past offseason. A relatively tame one given the venom with which it began, Mullin added to his young talent on draft night by obtaining Brandan Wright, Marco Belinelli and Stephane Lasme, all of whom have joined the Warriors straight away. The big savings opened up by moving the salary of Jason Richardson - who was becoming largely expendable away - allow the Warriors more of the previously mentioned financial flexibility that they now enjoy. And as a result, the Warriors can boast a young core that rivals or surpasses that of most other teams in the NBA. They have at least one young talent at every position - often two - with a team crafted to be playoff calbire now, yet even better in the future.

Most importantly, they retained Don Nelson. A frowned-upon signing at the time, Nelson gave the young Warriors team something that they never had before - an identity. They quickly became a fast paced team with a flowing offensive system, not entirely unlike the system previously employed by Nelson during his time at Dallas. This team became one of the better stories in the NBA last year, and scored an upset for ages when they beat Dallas in round one, becoming the first #8 seed to beat a #1 seed in a seven-game series. Which was fun. Where I live, we have an expression for that: "f'in creamed the bastards".

It came apart in the second round, but it still marked a successful season for the franchise, the first for a hell of a long time.

This offseason was of building upon that, to decent effect. The Kevin Garnett whispers came to nothing, but then, that was somewhat expected. You could say that it's something of a disappointment as a fan to hear that Kevin Garnett might be coming to town, yet you wind up with Austin Croshere instead. It's a fair point. But the Warriors have not disappointed in any way, improving their roster slightly and upgrading for the future, while keeping the coach that made last season one to remember.

And what's more, they signed Troy Hudson. I mean, WOW!

(OK, so now I'm taking the piss. But the rest stands.)



Next season:

There is no real reason to suggest that the strategy that got the Warriors to the playoffs last season would not be successful once again. And with only one significant change in the rotation taking place, the Warriors have good continuity going into next season, not least from the return of Nelson. The loss of Jason Richardson should be reasonably offset by the continued improvement of Monta Ellis, the addition of Marco Belinelli (and no I'm not making the obvious surname comparison between him and Don Nelson), and the re-positioning of Stephen Jackson.

Whether the Warriors have the multi-dimensionalness to beat most teams in the playoffs is another question. The addition of Brandan Wright should help their rebounding problem (the Warriors sported the worst rebounding deficiency in the NBA last season, at -5.0), but they remain a poor rebounding and defensive team, once again relying too much upon Andris Biedrins's foul situation to win games. And as any old fart will tell you, these things count double in the playoffs.

Still, win lose or draw, the Warriors and Nellieball will be as entertaining as ever. They won't replicate the storybook nature of last season, but they figure to have a similar level of success, Still outgunned and outsized in the stronger West, the Warriors aren't a home court advantage team, but they're in a better situation for the future than most of their peers.

And it's mainly down to Chris Mullin. Jesus. That's something I'd never thought I would say.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Orlando

Orlando

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Rashard Lewis (signed and traded from Seattle, 6 years, $112,753,504)
Adonal Foyle (two year minimum)
Marcin Gortat (two year minimum)



Players acquired via draft:

First round: None
Second round: Miroslav Rakovic (60th overall, unsigned)



Players retained:

Keyon Dooling (opted in), Pat Garrity (opted in)



Players departed:

Travis Diener (signed with Indiana), Grant Hill (signed with Phoenix), Darko Milicic (signed with Memphis), Bo Outlaw (unsigned, may yet return)





Bobbins:

In a seven day period in February 2006, first year GM Otis Smith made two trades. One saw the expiring contract of Kelvin Cato and a 2007 first rounder (later parlayed into Rodney Stuckey) dealt to Detroit for Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo, and one saw falling star Steve Francis dealt to New York - in a trade only Isiah Thomas could make - for Trevor Ariza and the huge expiring contract of Penny Hardaway.

Within a week, the floundering Magic had been re-invigorated. Since the McGrady/Hill era had failed several years prior, the John Weisbrod era had made the Magic's fortunes worsen further. Managing to do almost everything wrong, Weisbrod saw fit to end the McGrady in Orlando era by dealing him and Juwan Howard to Houston for Francis, Cato and Cuttino Mobley, a trade which vastly improved Houston but which didn't do much for Orlando. Daring and skilled enough to somehow make the situation worse, though, Weisbrod subsequently traded Mobley to Sacramento for Doug Christie, a man who played only 21 games with Orlando, scoring 119 points. And that's not to even mention the Varejao and Gooden for Battie deal with Cleveland that he also rustled up.

Weisbrod then resigned. Which seems fair.

Yet, with these two trades in early 2006, Otis Smith had managed to get some serious value for the two remaining pieces from the McGrady to Houston trade. Able to free himself of Francis's enormous contract and burdensome play (if ever there was such a thing as addition by subtraction, this was it), Smith was setting his team up for big cap space in the summer of '07 after Hill's contract also expired, while also picking up two decent youngsters in Milicic and Ariza. And he obtained all that for peripheral pieces that he didn't want or need.

The situation then got even better almost immediately after these deals. With a 19-34 record after losing on the night of the Francis deal, Orlando won only 1 of their next 7 games, before winning 16 of the following 20. The streak saw the Magic's younger players come into their own - Dwight Howard continued to be really good at stuff, and Jameer Nelson showed some terrific scoring efficiency. Darko Milicic's first halfway decent run of playing time in his NBA career gave him the opportunity to show off what skills he had, and he showed himself to be a gifted shotblocker and talented scorer, even if he couldn't rebound for shit. Carlos Arroyo's first half-season as a Magic player made him look like a useful piece for a young up-and-coming team to have, while Hedo Turkoglu and Tony Battie looked like being good veterans to have around for a more concerted playoff push in 2007. Were it not for a similarly strong finish by the Chicago Bulls, the Magic's terrific end of season run would have gotten them to the playoffs (maybe), quite a turnaround from a team that was as many as 20 games under .500. In 2007, Grant Hill was set to return, and Magic fans were happy.

It should have been so great. It wasn't.

The 2006/07 began brightly enough, with Orlando pushing out to a 13-4 lead. But the injury bug soon bit, as it so often does to the Magic. Battie, Hill, Ariza and Keyon Dooling all got injured, and the Magic were left thin. Carlos Arroyo's brief 2006 flirtation with decency ended quickly, as he regressed back to his ineffectual, what-the-hell-is-a-playbook-and-where-did-I-put-my-jumpshot self. Nelson and Milicic also regressed: Nelson chucked with considerably less efficiency than the previous season, and made no strides with his sub-par running of the offense, and Milicic scuttled about everywhere with a certain air of despondence. Grant Hill got injured, which you'd expect, and his namesake and sister - head coach Brian Hill - proved to be absolutely awful.

The Magic did make the playoffs, doing so with a sub .500 record, but it wasn't worth much - they were quickly swept by the Detroit Pistons.

Still, all was not lost. The Magic still had some young pieces that were still waiting to leave the nest, along with one of the best young superstars in the game in Howard. And with Grant Hill's contract finally expiring, the Magic also had near-max cap room if they chose to use it.

They did. Jesus, did they ever.

It would be very difficult if not impossible to provide a commentary on the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade while also managing to take an interesting or unique viewpoint, or to say anything that hasn't already been said. So I won't. But I will recommend that you look at the figure that he signed for (listed above), and think long and hard about whether he is worth it. And if you come up with any answer other than "no", keep looking at it until you do. In 2013, a 33 year old Rashard Lewis is going to be being paid nearly $22.7 million. It's freakin' bizarre. Or freakin' stupid, pick your own adjective. Both work.

The move was made just that much more baffling when looked at in addition to quotes by Otis Smith before the start of the summer, on how he intended to obtain a much needed scorer for the Magic while also having the resources and cap management to be able to keep the younger talent (namely, Darko Milicic). Smith's response was that it would involve some "creative financing". And in a sense, he was true to his word - Roget's thesaurus shows that "creative" has a synonym of "original". And the Rashard Lewis deal was most certainly original, if nothing else.

In obtaining Lewis, the Magic have wildly overpaid, but also lost some talent. Restricted free agents Darko Milicic and Travis Diener were renounced in order to bring in Lewis, and despite the apparent efforts of Smith, Seattle could not be persuaded to take back any salary from Orlando, meaning that all their cap space went on one player.

So now, ask yourselves whether the trio of Hill, Milicic and Diener (who should, without a doubt, have played over Carlos Arroyo all of last season, and who is now nicely lined up for a breakout season) is going to help any more than Rashard Lewis on his own. It's a tough answer, but either way, the Magic's player personel did not improve much. If at all.

It was a situation that could well have been avoided had Tony Battie not been given an extremely presumptuous extension back in March 2006, and had the unnecessary signing of Keith Bogans not taken place. Those two players combined for a $7.64 million cap hit this summer, whereas Milicic and Diener signed for a combined $8 million. Which duo would you rather have?

(Oh, and there was also the Billy Donovan fiasco, but we'll say no more about that. Embarassing, but not debilitating.)

In the interests of fairness, I should mention the acquisitions of Adonal Foyle and Marcin Gortat.

There, I've mentioned them.




Next season:

Given that things didn't exactly pan out ideally in the free agent market, and without any players from the draft to speak of, a large part of the Magic's future success rests on the shoulders of new head coach, Stan Van Gundy. And I promise you that this next stanza will include no references to Ron Jeremy.

By not being Brian Hill, Van Gundy has already improved the Magic's coaching situation. But if he can find a way to improve on Hill's rotations (and it shouldn't be that hard. Here's a starting point - play Redick. He has his flaws, but he's not Keith Bogans. That's a big plus), and offensive sets (don't just force feed Dwight Howard. Get him touches, but don't go to him every time down. Mix up your plays, and let things flow somewhat. Especially when Jameer Nelson is your point guard), then things will be looking up. It would also be a big help if Van Gundy is somehow able to not completely alienate himself from the players and to preside over something other than an irrepairably sour locker room, things that Brian Hill reportedly could not achieve.

Additionally, a lot depends on the play of Jameer Nelson. After a down year last season, tragedy struck this offseason when his father died in an accidental drowning incident. How this affects Nelson remains to be seen, but will soon be known. There are traditionally two ways to go here: one would be to become demotivated, á lá Michael Sweetney. The other way to be to take that adversity and build upon it to make himself a better player.

The Magic need the second one.

Last season's mediocre performance suggests that the good run to end the 2005/06 season was nothing more than an aberration. With better coaching and better performance this season, the Magic have the opportunity to show that it was last season that was the anomaly instead. If Orlando gets breakout performances from one or perhaps a couple of young players (specifically looking in the directions of Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick), they could contend for the open Southeast Division title.

Perhaps a more realistic expectation, though, would be for a low playoff seed once again. The Magic's talent level is not yet comparable to that of the East's elite teams. Peripheral players Arroyo, Dooling and Garrity combine for roughly $11.4 million of expiring contracts this offseason. The Magic would do well to capitalise on that. For they could use a further big infusion of quality. They didn't get one this season, yet so badly need one to rejoin the top of the East.

A stopgap season then, if you will.