It’s been a wild and crazy July in the NBA with free agency dominating the sports news. An unparalleled spending spree, created by the expanding salary cap, allowed even journeyman players to enjoy extremely rich paydays.
Kevin Durant‘s decision to join the Warriors was the biggest jaw-dropper but certainly not the only one. The Celtics finally landed a big-time player, or something close to it, by wooing away Al Horford from the Hawks. Dwyane Wade stunned virtually everyone around the league by leaving the only NBA home he’s known for the place he grew up, jumping from the Heat to the Bulls.
Chandler Parsons received a huge contract to join the Grizzlies, who were also successful in retaining the top point guard on the market, Mike Conley. The Mavericks replaced Parsons with an offer sheet to restricted free agent and ex-Warrior Harrison Barnes, who became expendable when Golden State landed the biggest fish on the market.
Atlanta replaced Horford with Dwight Howard, while the Spurs — who struck out in their pursuit of Durant — nabbed aging but still highly productive big man Pau Gasol.
Several other big names in the free agency sweepstakes, including DeMar DeRozan, Nicolas Batum, Hassan Whiteside and Bradley Beal, decided to stay put.
This leads us to our question of the day: Aside from Kevin Durant joining the Warriors, what was the most significant free agent signing this month?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on the topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
It’s going to be the Knicks signing of Brandon Jennings.
Easy-ish answer is probably Horford to Boston. I’ll go with Conley re-signing with Memphis instead though. Without him, Parsons doesn’t join Memphis and Memphis goes on the brink of a somewhat significant rebuild. I really like what the team has done so far, and while it won’t allow them to compete with the top teams, they’ll definitely be highly competitive in the immediate future.
Ill go with Conley staying put. A lot of teams hoping to get him to fill a PG hole, and did some crazy things when it was clear he wasnt available.
Boban
Feel like because Timmy Duncan retired, pay gasol was a huge pickup.
D Wade by a mile.
Not because he’s leading the Bulls to the finals, more that it signals a total garbage fire in Chicago. Hoiberg was overwhelmed last year…now he has Rondo and crusty home town hero on a farewell tour DWade to contend with. And Jimmy Butler was the MAN for like 48 hours when Rose was jettisoned…now he’s got Marquette hero taking the spotlight AND his position in the starting lineup bumping him to the 3?!
This was the most significant.
Horford, Dwight, Paraons we all knew were on the move. Conley and DeMar were near certainties to stay put and they did. Mozgov got the most entertaining contract, but Wade descending on Hoiberg is the most significant from an entertaining perspective.
#Trainwreck
I agree with your points, though I answered differently. Wade to Bulls is a significant impact on the Bulls, for sure (and I agree likely negative), but it has minimal impact on the league – the Bulls were irrelevant before, they might be slightly more relevant for 1-2 years if Hoiberg is a magician, but not real contenders even for the East.
Butler didn’t impress anybody with his immaturity last season. While I can’t stand the Bulls front office, I beleive they did the right thing by bringing more veteran players in to sort of set an example for him. He’s clearly lacking in the leadership department. I would have preferred the Bulls had traded Butler and start an actual rebuild, but we know jow gutless GarPax is when it comes to committing to change.
If Wade disappears, and the mediocre performance continues with the Bulls next season, they’ll have no choice but to blow it up.
Wade to Chicago as it was the move that gets Dunleavey to the Cavs, which will be the biggest acquisition any title chasing team makes outside of Durant obviously. Him coming off the Cleveland bench to spell LeBron is going to be so unnoticed initially but will pay huge dividends all year/postseason long
Future MVP seth curry is the obvious answer but I am going with Ron Baker. Solid starting PG for the knicks since rose and jenning will be done by all star break
Celtics finally getting a really solid free agent to come to them in free agency in Horford is number one for me. Next is Wade leaving the Heat. Doesn’t matter where he went it’s that he left. The next biggest thing to me is the Warriors losing more than half of their Championship team. People think the. Getting Durant is good well not so fast. That Strength Bt Numbers thing is long gone now. They are not going to be as deep even with that signing of West for the bench. Then next is the Spurs being able to bring Gasol with losing Duncan. Everyone says Gasol is Duncan but Duncan was completely miserable in the playoffs and Gasol can still perform and his game is similar bro Duncan with how he plays hard can rebound and has those finesse shots. I think a lot of teams did really well for themselves this offseason.
Durant Iggy curry klay green west zaza Livingston 8 deep and they still might add a few guys. They will be fine.
As a 6er fan it pains me to say this,but I gotta go with Horford to the Celtics.he gives them the big stud they needed.Conley resigning didn’t surprise me at all,other then the money anyway.Howard has been rumored with Atl for years.Gasol leaving Chicago for Sa don’t surprise me much,as he’s chasing chips at this stage of his career.and Wade being in a new uni will be weird,but still seems like a desperate move to me.and ofcourse I love the 6er signings.would be hard not to improve from 10 wins,but having vets in the backcourt,knowing when to push or slow things down should improve us more then ppl think.
They’re the most significant,but most surprising to me is Mozgov to La for 16 per.while him and Deng gives them veteran experience that come from winning culture teams,the money is crazy.dont care about the cap increase,16 per is still about a sixth of the cap,and he’s a 20 minute a night center.
Horford to the Celtics, easy. It moves the Celtics up a significant notch. Barnes just helps the Mavs tread water as they lose Parsons, and same goes for Howard & Atlanta. Parsons will improve the Grizz, but not nearly as much as Horford on the C’s. Wade is a big name, but on the downside of his career, with a whole lot of potential issues playing alongside Rondo & Butler.
The pacers in my opinion are the second best team in the east. I like the moves Bird made
I think the Raptors bringing back the team they had last year which was unquestionably the 2nd best team in the East AND improving the only weakness they had at the 4 (I love Scola but he’s just not what he used to be and not better than Sullinger at this stage) puts them very much in the 2nd position again unless Indy gets a massive improvement from Myles Turner which is possible but not a certainty but let’s go over players best to worst for like the first 7 guys:
Best player- George vs. Derozan= Very Slight Edge George but not as much as people think because while Derozan isn’t an elite defender he isn’t trash either and he is the better offensive player of the two.
2- Teague vs. Lowry= Edge Lowry and it’s not really close
3- Young vs. Valenciunas= Slight Edge to Young but Jonas is a quality big man not to be counted out
4- Ellis vs. Sullinger= No Edge, equal players with different specialities
5- Turner vs. Carroll= No Edge at the moment but Turner has a way higher upward threshold.
6- bench Jefferson/Miles/Stuckey vs. Ross/Joesph/Patterson edge Raptors if only slightly
I think it ultimately is Lowry vs. Teague Lowry is so much better it’s hard to make up the difference.
Derozan is not the better offensive player between George and him. George can get to the rim and fight through contact, post people up, and is a very good 3 PT shooter.
I might be slightly biased as a Pacers fan, but Paul George is without a doubt the much better player than DeRozan. He’s obviously better than DeRozan defensively and offensively he can do everything. Need an example? Just watch their playoff series. DeRozan struggled all series as his game is reliant on getting to the free throw line since shooting isn’t his forte (he’s good from mid-range and respectable behind the arc, but he’s not scaring anyone out there). Paul George is a bit better and smoother getting to the rim/through contact, his post ups/mid range game is also much smoother and better and he is a threat from behind the arc.