Basketball Insiders Week in Review 7/24

The Pacers Might Be A Problem

By Moke Hamilton

During last month’s draft, between the Boston Celtics desperately trying to unload their third overall pick and experts trying to predict where Skal Labissiere would fall, somehow, we overlooked the Indiana Pacers dramatically upgrading their point guard position by turning George Hill into Jeff Teague.

Somehow, we missed the Pacers turning the 20th pick in the draft into the versatile Thaddeus Young and, due to the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, overlooked the signing of Al Jefferson. Jefferson, who will turn 32 years old in January, has probably seen better days, but even still, when healthy, he is still a tremendous low post presence.

With newly installed head coach Nate McMillan calling the shots for the Pacers, there are a bevy of unknowns in Indianapolis.

But even still, it’s difficult to imagine them not reemerging as a power in the Eastern Conference.

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Garrett Temple On Kings, Free Agency, More

By Alex Kennedy

After years of playing on minimum contracts, being waived and bouncing around from team to team, Garrett Temple finally has some job security and a lucrative NBA contract. The 30-year-old recently signed a three-year, $24 million deal with the Sacramento Kings.

Temple’s contract will pay him $8,000,000 each season (with a player option for the final year), which is more than double what he earned over his first six years in the NBA combined.

When fans think of the NBA lifestyle, they typically imagine enormous mansions, ridiculous cars and full bank accounts. This is understandable, especially at a time like this when NBA teams are handing out some of the largest contracts in league history. While some players live a luxurious lifestyle and most are very comfortable (if they manage their money well), there are plenty of players who make significantly less than you would expect.

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Late-Career NBA Team Changes

By Joel Brigham

Dwyane Wade in Chicago, even after that 2010 Slam Magazine cover that featured him in a Bulls jersey, is one of the most disorientating things current NBA fans have ever seen. After 13 seasons, three NBA championships, one Finals MVP award, 12 All-Star appearances and eight All-NBA team appearances with the HEAT – not to mention a handful of important team records including the most points in Miami history – it’s an odd thing to even imagine Wade in a different uniform, but here we are. D-Wade is a Chicago Bull.

Pat Riley can gripe all he wants to about how sad it is that Wade left Miami, but there was no way he could have paid what he felt was beyond market value for a player who no longer was someone he felt could keep them in the hunt for an NBA championship. Not with LeBron James gone, and certainly not with Chris Bosh’s playing future in jeopardy.

So Riley let Wade go, and now we’ll spend the next nine months adjusting our eyes to one of the most shocking late-career team changes in league history.

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Second-Round Standouts at Summer League

By Cody Taylor

Much of the hype coming into the Summer League is often placed upon some of the top picks from that year’s draft class. Coming into this year’s Summer League, players like Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Kris Dunn and Buddy Hield (among others) were some of the players who received the most attention.

There was some curiosity surrounding other players scattered throughout the first round as well. While it’s the first-round picks that grab most of the headlines, we tend to forget about some of the second-round players. But there were a number of second-round guys this year who made a name for themselves.

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Can The Thunder Keep Russell Westbrook?

By Steve Kyler

Yesterday, the Oklahoma City Thunder rescinded their qualifying offer on free agent guard Dion Waiters. While that by itself is notable because he is no longer a restricted player and can leave the Thunder with nothing to show for him, there is a bigger concept that fueled the decision to release the offer.

There is a quirky section of the NBA’s labor deal with the players that allows for teams with salary cap space to use that space to re-work an existing player’s contract. Not all players are eligible and deals can only be worked upwards and not downwards, which happens in other sports like the NFL.

It also can only happen if the team has ample cap space to cover the value of the new deal.

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Should The Lakers Pursue Russell Westbrook?

By Jabari Davis

With the Los Angeles Lakers finally appearing to have turned the corner in terms of fully embracing idea of developing their young core, there are a growing number of fans with understandable concerns over the proposed deadline owner and head of basketball operations Jim Buss famously placed on himself back in January of 2014. Per the Los Angeles Times, Buss made certain guarantees about helping to return the team to the level of contending in a tough Western Conference within a relatively short period to his family and business partners.

The concern from within the fan base isn’t over whether Buss will remain in his current capacity within the front office – he’d remain an owner and person of relative influence, regardless – rather it is whether a man with a proverbial ticking time clock over his shoulder will maintain the patience it may take to see the rebuild through to fruition or if he might be tempted to try to expedite the situation?

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Summer Of Calculated Risks In Free Agency

By Lang Greene

With a billion dollars up for grabs in free agency this summer, it’s no surprise players walked away from the negotiating table – paid in full. For many players, their new contracts represent dramatic raises over what they’ve earned in prior years – many becoming eight-figure guys where in the past the notion would seem to be an impossibility.

However, there remains a group of players who opted buck the trend and chose to take deals seemingly far below their respective market value for an opportunity to compete for a title, get increased playing time or opt for a more comfortable fit.

Whatever the motivation, the fact remains that with so much money flying around this summer, these players signed for deals much lower than they could have demanded.

Let’s take a look at some players who are taking a calculated risk by playing the long game and not cashing out in the short-term.

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Most Creative NBA Deals So Far

By Eric Pincus

The initial barrage of free agency is complete.  While a few stragglers remain, most of the impact free agents are off the board.

LeBron James has yet to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but that’s presumed to be fait accompli.  Kevin Durant has relocated to the Golden State Warriors.  The Los Angeles Lakers quickly locked in Timofey Mozgov.

Some teams still have spending power, like the Boston Celtics – who are still hoping to make a blockbuster trade – or the Brooklyn Nets with almost $19 million left in cap space.

A few franchises managed to stay above the NBA’s record $94 million salary cap, including the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors and Cavaliers.

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Terrence Jones On Why He Joined Pelicans

By Oliver Maroney

Since the start of the NBA’s latest free agency period on July 1, many players have received enormous contracts. In fact, some of the largest deals in NBA history were handed out by teams this summer.

But every year, there are always a few surprises in free agency. This year, one of the players who shocked some people was Terrence Jones, who signed with the New Orleans Pelicans on a deal that’s worth the veteran’s minimum for one season.

Jones, a former national champion with the University of Kentucky, had many thinking he was going to seek a big-time contract because of the unprecedented cap rise and his potential. After all, he’s only 24 years old and showed a lot of potential during his time with the Houston Rockets. However, his decision-making process was much different than many would’ve anticipated for a young and hungry player.

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Rockets Take Worthwhile Risks in Anderson and Gordon

By Jesse Blancarte

The Houston Rockets entered last season with high expectations. Houston was coming off their appearance in the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the eventual Champions, the Golden State Warriors. Houston was powered by James Harden, Dwight Howard and the analytically oriented principles implemented by general manager Daryl Morey. The Rockets finished the season with the 6^th best defense and 12^th best offense in the league.

Following their loss to the Warriors, the Rockets made one of more the interesting moves of the 2015 offseason in trading for Ty Lawson. Lawson was in the midst of several off-court issues involving alcohol, so the Rockets made a shrewd move by trading non-guaranteed contracts and a protected 2016 first-round pick for the speedy point guard. It was a bold move that came with little risk after Morey convinced Lawson to drop the guarantees on his roughly $13.2 million salary for the 2016-17 season.

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