Having landed their presumed starting small forward by acquiringCaron Butler from the Suns this week, the Bucks appear to have completed their major moves of the offseason. And it's certainly been a busy summer for Milwaukee — only four players currently on the roster (Ersan Ilyasova, Larry Sanders, John Henson, and Ekpe Udoh) finished the 2012/13 season with the team.
Heading into the offseason, Milwaukee was expected to retain at least one of its big free agent guards (Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings, and J.J. Redick), but all three players ended up elsewhere. As such, the Bucks will head into next season with an entirely new backcourt, led by Brandon Knight, Luke Ridnour, O.J. Mayo, and Gary Neal. The frontcourt didn't receive as drastic an overhaul, but there are plenty of new faces there too, including big man Zaza Pachulia, and forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo, Carlos Delfino and Butler.
Most of the team's top players, including Ilyasova, Sanders, and Mayo, aren't quite NBA stars, so the roster isn't exactly top-heavy. But it's more balanced and probably features more depth than last year's squad, which earned an eighth seed in the East behind high-volume shooting from Ellis and Jennings.
So what do you think of the new-look Bucks? Are they better than last season's version? Even if you believe they've improved, are they good enough to make the playoffs in the East? The Heat, Nets, Bulls, Pacers, and Knicks look like strong bets for the postseason, and the Pistons, Cavs, Hawks, Wizards, and Raptors should all be in contention as well. Is there enough room for Milwaukee, or are the Bucks headed for the 2014 lottery?
The Atlantic Division saw plenty of player movement during this offseason, with teams either adding significant rotation players or dealing them away to create bigger roles for their younger ones. Let's take a look at a few players who could continue to elevate their standing next season:
After sitting out the 2011/12 season to recover from open heart surgery, Jeff Green returned to the Celtics last year as a productive contributor and arguably the team's most important reserve, appearing in 81 games (17 starts) and averaging 12.8 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 27.8 MPG while shooting a career best 46.7% from the field and 38.5% from three. Over the final three months of the season, the former Georgetown Hoya put on a tremendous display of efficient shooting, posting scoring averages of 15.3/17.6/17.1 and never averaging less than 48.8% overall and 41.4% from long distance per month. Green could very well be relied on in a primary scoring role next season following the departures of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry – three of Boston's top five scorers last year.
One of the biggest question marks for the Knicks heading into last season was how Iman Shumpertwould fare after returning from an ACL injury suffered during the 2011/12 playoffs. After sitting out the first 37 games, the sophomore swingman returned in mid-January, averaging 6.8 PPG and 1.0 SPG in 22.1 MPG the rest of the way. While those numbers may not stand out very much, Shumpert proved to be an intriguing young player within a playoff atmosphere, going for 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting in a closeout win against the Celtics and 6-for-10 (with an uncanny 5-for-6 performance from long distance) in a comeback attempt that fell short against the Pacers in Game 6 of the Conference semi-finals. Although his shooting numbers appeared to have wildly fluctuated at times during last season (26.4% from the field/ 27.2% from three in February followed by 47.9% from the field/49.9% from three in March), Shumpert has also garnered recognition as a strong defensive player, and there is some belief that his development is strongly tied to how far the Knicks can go this year.
With last year's team leading scorer Jrue Holiday now donning a Pelicans uniform and Jason Richardsonstill rehabbing from knee surgery, Evan Turner will most likely stand as the 76ers' most experienced guard in their backcourt to start the season. The fourth-year player was actually given an enormous amount of minutes last year and put up some of the best numbers of his career thus far – 13.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, and 36.5% from long range in 35.6 MPG. A few things to keep an eye out for in terms of Turner's offensive development are how much he can increase his scoring average by, how well he can improve from last season's 41.8% overall shooting average, and if he can get to the free throw line at a higher rate.
Another name to keep an eye out for in Philadelphia is Thaddeus Young, who finished the year as the team's second-leading scorer. The 6'8 forward posted 14.8 PPG on an efficient 53.1% from the field along with 7.5 RPG in 34.6 MPG. While 57.4% from the charity stripe leaves a lot left to be desired – especially considering he shot 77.1% in 2011/12 – Young showed a tremendous amount of promise overall as a scorer in March, going for 16.7 PPG on a 58.0% clip.
A very intriguing name to follow north of the border is second-year center Jonas Valanciunas, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 Las Vegas Summer league. As a rookie, the 6'11 center delivered 8.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, and 1.3 BPG for the Raptors last season. In what could reasonably have been a preview of what to continue to expect, Valanciunas averaged 11.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.1 BPG, and 27.1 MPG in March, followed by 14.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.4 BPG, and 31.6 MPG in April. What's even more interesting are his field goal percentages and accuracy from the line over those final two months of the year (62.0%/82.0% and 55.8%/85.2% respectively). With that in mind, the 21-year-old big man figures to have the keys to the starting center position in Toronto.
Of the aforementioned players in the Atlantic Division, who stands to take their game to another level in 2013/14?
As we detailed yesterday, Antawn Jamison decided to switch locker rooms at the Staples Center, going from the Lakers to the Clippers on a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum. Jamison is now 37 and saw his numbers drop drastically across the board last year as a part-time player for the Lakers. He averaged only 21.4 minutes-per-game in 2012/13, the lowest number of his career, but also shot 46.4 percent from the field, which was his highest shooting percentage since his 2008/09 campaign in Washington.
Our Chuck Myron compiled a list of reactions to the signing of Jamison and the consensus seems to be that, in light of the mystery that is Lamar Odom, Doc Rivers and the Clippers were able to land a consumate professional that will help do the little things it takes to win a championship. This was presumably the same reason the Lakers signed Jamison last year. The question is, were Jamison's career low averages (9.4 points-per-game) a reflection of a terrible situation with the Lakers or more simply a result of an aging player's diminishing skills? In short, what will his scoring average be this season with the Clippers?
When Tracy McGrady officially announced his retirement from the NBA yesterday, a debate over his Hall of Fame candidacy got underway almost immediately. Because McGrady left the door open to continue his playing career overseas, the clock on his eligibility won't start ticking yet, but his NBA resumé appears to be complete.
An ESPN.com 5-on-5 panel unanimously agreed that McGrady deserves to be elected to the Hall of Fame, but in an Insider piece for ESPN.com, Kevin Pelton points out the many pitfalls of the 34-year-old's candidacy: Back and knee injuries may have prevented him from reaching his full potential, and limited his career totals — he's only 57th all-time in NBA scoring, for instance, trailing several non-Hall-of-Famers. Additionally, despite a cup of coffee for the Spurs in 2012/13, McGrady never played regular minutes for a team that advanced beyond round one of the playoffs.
Nonetheless, as Pelton notes, no player that has earned All-NBA honors seven or more times has failed to be elected to the Hall. And when peak performance is considered, rather than career value, McGrady stacks up favorably against the best players of his generation.
What do you think? Does McGrady deserve to be elected to the Hall of Fame in a few years, or does his candidacy fall just short?
Last week, we asked Hoops Rumors readers to weigh in on who they think will be the Rookie of the Year out of the 2013 Draft. Victor Oladipo of the Magic was the leading votegetter with over 26% of the vote while Kelly Olynyk of the Celtics finished second with about 16%. Interestingly, No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett got about 7% of the vote, putting him behind the likes of Trey Burke, Cody Zeller, and the ever popular "someone else".
There are definitely some intriguing prospects coming out of this June's draft, but let's face it, the 2013 class has nothing on the 2014 class and it might even be one of the weaker drafts of the last decade, if you believe what some scouts had to say. It's time to look at the glass half empty and decide who will be the biggest bust out of the top ten picks. Remember: disappointment is relative to the expectation level. What might be a decent career for someone later in the draft could be viewed as abject failure for someone at the top. Happy voting!
In April this year, Jason Collins came out as the first active male homosexual athlete in an American professional sport. So far, he's failed to find an NBA team that can use his defense, size, toughness and veteran leadership.
This isn't so much related to his sexual orientation, but the fact he's a 12-year journeyman big in a league that's increasingly made a backup center somewhat superfluous.
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com wrote earlier today that an informal poll of league executives and general managers during Las Vegas' Summer League shows that Collins stands a good chance to land on an NBA roster as a 12th, 13th, or 14th man. The belief is he'll catch on as we progress towards training camp and teams look to flesh out their rosters. The informal poll by Arnovitz mirrors the one ESPN.com's Marc Stein conducted among general managers the day after Collins came out in Sports Illustrated.
Some teams have shown an interest already, but we're still more than a month from the start of training camp, and Collins is unsigned. Here's a look at some of the teams that have expressed interest, but so far failed to sign the veteran center.
The last team he played for, the Wizards, do not appear likely to bring the big man back as he was included in the Jordan Crawfordtrade primarily to make the numbers work.
Y! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reportedthat when the Celtics traded Collins to the Wizards in February, Garnett was said to have been "extremely frustrated."
Collins also has a history with the Nets' Jason Kidd and new assistant coach Lawrence Frank, after playing under Frank during Kidd's run with the Nets earlier in the millennium.
But because Reggie Evans was not ultimately included in the trade bringing Pierce and KG to Brooklyn, the need for Collins to backup KG and Brook Lopez dissipated.
The Pistons expressed exploratory interest in Collins earlier this month. But after he worked out for them, they elected not to sign the 34-year-old out of Stanford.
Collins expressed an interest in returning to the Celtics weeks before coming out as gay.
So Collins is still a free agent despite most executives believing he'll find a roster spot before the season starts.
The question remains: where will Jason Collins play next season, if at all?
After a busy month of July in which we saw 13 different trades officially consummated, things have slowed down considerably in August, but we've still seen a pair of deals finalized: The Grizzlies acquired Fab Melo from the Celtics for Donte Greene's non-guaranteed contract and cash, then sent Tony Wroten to the Sixers in exchange for a future second-round pick.
Both Melo and Wroten were drafted a year ago, with Melo going 22nd overall and Wroten going three picks later at No. 25. Neither player contributed much in his rookie season, but not much was expected of either guy right away — Melo was considered a raw project, while Wroten entered the NBA at age 19.
Even so, after a year, both players are already on their second NBA teams. The Celtics had to include $1.66MM in cash to move Melo, though that was more a result of the team's proximity to the tax line than an indicator of the big man's worth. Meanwhile, the second-round pick the Grizzlies acquired in the Wroten deal is heavily protected and may never change hands. In other words, two players drafted in the first round were acquired for virtually nothing just one year later.
Of course, not all first-round picks develop into useful NBA rotation players, but it's probably too early to give up on either Melo or Wroten. So today's poll question is this: Which player would you rather roll the dice on? If your favorite team decided to take a flier on one of the two 2012 first-rounders, would you prefer the former Syracuse center or the ex-Washington guard?
We learned tonight that Chris Paul will replace Derek Fisher as the president of the NBA Players Association. It is no secret that Paul is exceptionally popular among the NBA's players and fans, as Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes in his story about Paul's new position. Deveney also notes that the point guard has been involved in the union since he was a rookie, which allows him to utilize star power and knowledge in a position and union that desperately need both.
Since rumors of LeBron James eyeing the position surfaced in late July, the idea of a league star as the union front man has been universally advocated after more than a decade without one. But is that advocacy on point? And if so, is CP3 the man to prove it? There are a lot of new faces in new roles this year, from commissioner to NBPA president, so this selection could have legitimate ramifications. Let us know what you think, and feel free to elaborate in the comments section.
Yesterday, Luke Adams ran down the status of this year's amnesty victims. Only 14 NBA teams came into the summer of 2013 with the ability to use the amnesty provision and just five took advantage of the provision and released a player in July during the '13 amnesty period. Three of those players have already found new homes for the 2013/14 season. Metta World Peace hooked on with the Knicks after intimating for a good while that he would explore opportunities in China. Mike Miller returned to the Grizzlies after being cut loose by the Heat. Linas Kleiza had his $4.6MM deal taken off the books by the Raptors and signed a two-year pact in Turkey. Still left: Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas.
Things have been fairly quiet on both players. Thomas was said to have been of interest to the Knicks, but we haven't heard anything on that front in over a month. Meanwhile, we haven't heard any reports on Gooden since he was let go on July 16th.
The Bobcats cut bait with Thomas, the former No. 4 overall pick, in order to give themselves enough breathing room to sign Al Jefferson. Thomas hasn't been able to stay on the floor much in his last three seasons, seeing time in just 121 games. In that stretch, he averaged just 7.0 PPG and 4.0 RPG, not quite the production they would have liked from someone making $17.1MM over the next two seasons.
Gooden, 32 in September, was on the block for a while in Milwaukee, so it wasn't a surprise to see him cut loose last month. He had arguably his best season as pro in Milwaukee in 2011/12, averaging 13.7 points and 6.5 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per game, which added up to a PER of 18.88. However, he was only able to play in 16 games for the Bucks last season.
Both veterans are on the market for any NBA club to pickup – who would you rather have on your team?
Gary Bedore of KUSports.com published a story over the weekend in which he spoke to former Jayhawk Ben McLemore about his goals for the 2013/14 season, and McLemore's desire to prove that the six teams who passed on him on draft night made a mistake.
"I feel I come in with a chip on my shoulder," McLemore said. "I feel I am going to work hard to get Rookie of the Year. I know the mindset I’m going to come in and show everybody I could be the alpha dog and win that Rookie of the Year. I’m definitely going to work hard to get that."
The 2013 draft didn't feature a consensus first overall pick, and the player considered by many to be the best prospect in the class (Nerlens Noel) is still recovering from an ACL injury. As such, the field is wide open for McLemore or anyone else to earn those Rookie of the Year honors.
With Noel likely to miss the start of the season, and a few rookies unlikely to play significant roles right away for their respective teams, not all of this year's lottery picks are in position to compete for the award. But from the No. 1 pick (Anthony Bennett) on down, there are plenty of candidates. Who's your choice to become the 2013/14 Rookie of the Year?