Last week, we looked back on some of the high profile off season trades in the NBA. Today, we look at the free agency additions.
Kawhi Leonard
We’re not even one season in, and Kawhi Leonard might be the best player ever to pull on the uniform of the LA Clippers.
His choice to join the Clips was fascinating in a few ways. Deep down, I think we always knew that Kawhi was heading back to Los Angeles once he hit free agency. The intrigue was to where. Would he join LeBron James and Anthony Davis to form the biggest and best three headed monster of the modern era – and arguably any era? The fact that Leonard chose to join LA’s ugly stepchild told us a lot about how he computes things. He clearly enjoyed being the best player on a championship team, last season. With LeBron and AD on board, Kawhi was a sidekick at best. Also, winning a championship in purple and gold means you get to stand with the greats of the game, but it means that you are one of a crowd: you’re A Lakers champion, not THE Lakers champion. Wrangling a title for the Raptors made Leonard a legend in Toronto, even though he played a solitary season there. Should he do the same with his hometown Clippers, he’ll be deity: THE champion of that franchise. That singularity; the want to stand alone at the mountaintop perhaps shows that he was never a true Spur. It certainly explains a lot of the decisions made in his final months in San Antonio.
On the court thus far, Kawhi has produced as expected: 26.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.1 makes from distance at 36.6%. He’s been rested in 13 of the teams 63 games, which seems about par for the course for someone of Kawhi’s importance and injury history. He’s shown some signs of becoming the soul destroying defender of his Spurs days, as well.
The playoffs are where the merits of this move will ultimately be judged but so far it has worked out well.
DeMarcus Cousins
This is so sad. Boogie Cousins was signed to a key piece if the Lakers championship puzzle, but a preseason ACL blow out put pay to him playing any part of this season. He has since been waived by the Lakers to allow them to sign Markeiff Morris off the buyout market. I sincerely hope that Cousins and his brittle legs can make an NBA comeback and that said comeback is better than Isaiah Thomas’s last few seasons.
Dwight Howard
With every setback comes opportunity and Dwight Howard has grabbed his with both hands. Howard was presumed to be out of the NBA after his Washington tenure ended without fanfare, but Cousins’ knee injury put the Lakers back in the market for a veteran back up centre: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s the artist formerly known as Superman.
The signing of the then 33 year old was certainly a risk for Los Angeles. The 3 time Defensive Player of the Year had quite clearly declined after experiencing an Indian Summer in Charlotte. And let’s not even touch the busted personal relationships from his previous stint with the Lakers back in 2013. Howard, however, has been an unqualified success as the Lakers primary backup big man. He has appeared in each and every one of his teams 61 games so far this season and has produced a solid 7.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 20 minutes.
Howard has also been a model citizen in LA, putting pay to his problematic reputation. It’s certainly debatable how much the influence of LeBron James is keeping Howard’s less professional elements in check, but Howard has also made strides personally including committing to a new diet, slimming down from his previous Adonis physique in an effort to become quicker on the perimeter.
Maybe Dwight has finally grown up.
Kevin Durant/Kyrie Irving
Given KD is yet to suit up for the Nets, let’s throw Brooklyn’s pair of prized recruits in together.
The success of the Durant signing will depend purely on what version of KD we get next season. He’ll be 32 when next season starts, coming off the single most devastating injury a basketballer can endure. Whist he isn’t an athlete that carries a lot of meat of his frame, he is a player that relies somewhat on athleticism. It’s expected that Durant will age gracefully given his height and the high release on his jumper, but that was supposed to happen in his mid 30’s. The Nets will be hoping that they get the old Durant and not Old Durant.
Regarding Kyrie, I tried to reach out to Kenny Atkinson for comment, but he was unavailable. I’d expect that the recently dumped Nets coach (and future former Knicks coach) will have very distinctive public and private thoughts on his former point guard.
On a purely professional front, Irving has been fantastic when suited up this season. In a small sample size of 20 games, Irving has put up 27.4 points (career high), 5.2 boards, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals (all in line with career averages). What has also been patently clear, is that the Nets have been better without their big ticket addition. With Irving, the team are an underwhelming 8-12. For much of the season, the team had a positive win/loss ratio without him. That, as well as his less than stellar team building statements to the media, have made this a difficult season for both player and team.
The hope is that with KD back next season, Irving will slip into the only role in which he’s had true success in his NBA career: the high scoring #2 option.
DeAndre Jordan
The 31 year old centre came as part of a package: the cost of doing business with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
There was concern that Jordan was spent after his statistically solid but underwhelming efforts in Dallas and New York last season. To a degree, those fears were proven correct: Jordan clearly isn’t the athlete that he was in his Clippers pomp, and his offensive game – free throw shooting aside – has never really developed beyond running, jumping, and occasionally killing a man.
There was also legitimate concern about Jordan taking court time and therefore development time from the Nets very own DeAndre Jordan in Training, Jarrett Allen. Whilst Allen has maintained his starting role, and played the majority if minutes at the five, Jordan has undoubtedly eaten into his progress. As the table below demonstrates, their stats per 100 possessions are remarkably similar but where Jordan has continued to struggle is defending on the perimeter; an area that Allen has proven very capable.
Jordan has, however, given the Nets a proven commodity to play at centre for all 48 minutes, and that can’t be underestimated. In a season where seemingly everything has been in flux in New Jersey, consistent production at centre has been a constant. It will be interesting to monitor the minute split of the two centres, now that that Coach Kenny Atkinson is out of the picture. Worryingly, Jordan has started in Allen’s place in the team’s first game since the Atkinson firing.
Bojan Bogdanovic
Utah’s choice over the off season was clear: exchange a portion of their smothering defense, for some offensive explosion. Essentially, they’ve looked to become more balanced. The thought process was solid; ask the Sixers how their brilliant defense and clunky offensive fit is going. Whilst the trade for Mike Conley hasn’t really panned out yet, the signing of Bojan Bogdanovic from Indiana for $73 million over 4 years has worked a treat.
It was certainly a risk for Utah to hand that sort of money to a 30 year old with only 6 months of true leading man status on his NBA resume, but the Bosnian has been everything the Jazz had hoped for. Bogdanovic is 2nd on the team in scoring at 20.5 points per game and his outside shot (3 three pointers per game at a scorching 41.5%) has opened up the offense exactly as the team would have hoped. He’s also proven to be a more physical player than expected, leading the team with 4 made free throws per game and holding up down low against power forwards that look to exploit his relative lack of size.
The move has juiced Utah’s offense, currently 7th in the league. They do need to find their defensive mojo, however. That vaunted defense has slipped to 12th in the NBA.
An added bonus for the Jazz is Bogdanovic’s late game ruthlessness: he’s hit game winners against both the Bucks and Rockets this season.
Julius Randle
Julius Randle continues to be this generations Reggie Theus – wonderful talent, great stats, but hard to build a winning team around.
Randle’s 3 year $63 million deal with the Knicks was always presumed to be an over pay, but that’s what happens when you sign with New York – it’s simply assumed that you’re overpaid. That’s not Randle’s fault. What is his fault is his inability to fit into a system.
Randle is the archetype of the player to stay away from in the modern NBA: the big man that can’t stretch the floor, and can’t protect the rim. A career 29.3% shooter from the arc, Randle this season has regressed to 27.1% on 3.6 attempts. His 0.3 blocks per game are also below his already paltry career average. It would be remiss to point out that Randle is a talented basketballer. He’s a very good rebounder and developing into a nice play maker. But the issue is that Randle appears to think he’s a Draymond Green/Kawhi Leonard hybrid on offense, trying to dribble to places that his handle can’t, well….handle; or pass into spaces that just aren’t there.
The Knicks have a modern, rim-running, shot blocking freak in Mitchell Robinson on their books – they would be wise (remember: Knicks) to lean on him as their long term centre.
Randle still has a place as an 2nd unit offensive powerhouse that can bully opposition bench units. And that’s fine. It just doesn’t seem like a good use of $21 million per season.
Al Horford
This was supposed to be the signing that thrust the Sixers to true championship contention. With Horford in tow, a defensive unit that would suffocate all before them was set to be unleashed upon the NBA. The added bonus was that the one man that seemed to be able to flummox Joel Embiid was fighting on their side, now. Horford’s play making and ability to stretch the floor would open up avenues for Ben Simmons that previously hadn’t been there. He would anchor the 2nd unit at both ends of the floor, giving the Sixers strength across the entire 48 minutes.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way, though.
Philadelphia are 6th in the NBA in Defensive Rating – not quite where they’d hoped they would be, but excellent nonetheless. At the other end of the floor, they’re an awful 18th in Offensive Rating. It turns out that Horford’s stretch abilities don’t really translate when being guarded by a quicker 4 man, rather than a plodding 5 man. At age 33, he has clearly lost a step on defense, too. He’s simply not suited to chasing around the Jaylen Brown’s, Pascal Siakam’s and Davis Bertans’ of the world. He’s not even that great at marking stretch five’s Like Brook Lopez or Marc Gasol these days. What Horford does is envelope post players with strength and guile. He gives players like Bam Adebayo, Domantas Sabonis and, dare I say it, Joel Embiid fits.
Coach Brett Brown has experimented with some Horford-less starting lineups, with limited success. The fact remains that for the Sixers to truly compete, they need to find ways to make the Horford signing work. That’s assuming those ways actually exist.
Christian Wood
The undrafted Wood has been a pleasant surprise for the Pistons, and is perhaps the catalyst for the front office to belatedly embrace a full teardown/rebuild of the squad.
The 24 year old, whilst clearly talented (I had him tabbed as a very late 1st round pick at the time) had failed to stick with Philadelphia, Charlotte, Milwaukee and New Orleans before Detroit thought that they could be the ones to unlock Wood’s latent gifts. There is a reason for that: Wood was seen as a problem child who didn’t look after his body, was averse to defense and had some off the court issues. Given Detroit’s less than stellar record in player development, Wood sticking – let alone thriving – seemed a long shot. This seemed like Wood’s final chance at an NBA career.
Perhaps the man himself realised that, too. He quickly beat out Thon Maker as the primary backup for Andre Drummond, often sharing the court with Drummond due to his very good 3 point shooting. With Drummond now toiling in Siberia Cleveland, Wood is the undoubted centrepiece of the Pistons rebuilding effort. He scored a career high 29 points against the Thunder this week before beating it with 30 against the Jazz.
Wood has been one of the great success stories of season 2019/20.
