Poll: Which Central Team Had Best Offseason?
When we asked last week which Atlantic and Northwest teams have enjoyed the best offseasons of 2017, there were a handful of teams deserving of consideration. Several of the 10 teams from those divisions landed star players or deftly maneuvered the salary cap to upgrade their rosters in other ways.
In the Central division, the candidates are a little less impressive.
The Bulls and Pacers were on the other end of two of those trades that sent All-Star players to Northwest teams, with the clubs trading away Jimmy Butler and Paul George, respectively. In both cases, the return left something to be desired — Chicago received Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, and Lauri Markkanen, while the Pacers landed Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Indiana has at least has made some savvy moves in the weeks since the George trade, picking up Cory Joseph, Darren Collison, and Bojan Bogdanovic on affordable contracts, while the Bulls have only re-signed Cristiano Felicio and added Justin Holiday.
The defending Central – and Eastern – champions may join those two teams soon in having traded away an All-Star player, but for now Kyrie Irving remains with the Cavaliers. Cleveland’s offseason grade is probably incomplete until we see what the team does with Irving, but so far the Cavs’ summer moves have been somewhat underwhelming. The additions of players like Derrick Rose, Jeff Green, Jose Calderon, and Cedi Osman were solid, but they were hardly the sort of transformative moves the clubs envisioned heading into the offseason.
The up-and-coming Bucks showed signs last season suggesting they could be an Eastern Conference force within the next year or two, but with Greg Monroe and Spencer Hawes opting into their respective contracts, Milwaukee’s flexibility to make additions has been limited. Outside of re-signing Tony Snell, the Bucks have essentially been quiet in free agency — the team’s most notable additions came in the draft, when D.J. Wilson and Sterling Brown joined the roster.
Of the five Central teams, the Pistons have perhaps been the most active in adding roster reinforcements, though your view of their offseason may hinge on how you feel about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Detroit let its top restricted free agent walk, opting to replace him by signing Langston Galloway and trading Marcus Morris for Avery Bradley. Other minor moves for the Pistons included re-signing Reggie Bullock and adding Anthony Tolliver.
What do you think? Which of the Central division teams had the best offseason? Did any of these teams take positive steps forward with their summer moves? Vote below in our poll and then jump into the comment section to share your thoughts.
Which Central team has had the best offseason?
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Milwaukee Bucks 35% (564)
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Detroit Pistons 24% (392)
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Chicago Bulls 15% (244)
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Cleveland Cavaliers 14% (224)
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Indiana Pacers 11% (179)
Total votes: 1,603
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Previously:
Bucks GM Talks New Position, Antetokounmpo, Parker
Jon Horst, who is entering his first season as the GM of the Bucks, recently spoke with Steve Aschburner of NBA.com to discuss the roster and his role on the team. Here are the highlights:
On the recent ESPN story, which reminded everyone that teams will be lining up to pry Giannis Antetokounmpo away from Milwaukee once he becomes a free agent in 2021:
First of all, he’s our player. He’s under contract with us. And what did Giannis say: “I’ve got loyalty in my DNA?” That was his retort on his own. He said, “This is my team.” So, we, by and large, ignore that.
On Jabari Parker‘s recovery from a torn ACL:
For Jabari and the Bucks, this is not about this year. This is about a 22-year-old kid who is one of the best young talents in the league, and making sure he comes back physically in the right way.
On who will be making the decisions in the front office:
Obviously, ownership is ownership. Jason Kidd is our coach. They’re going to be involved in everything we do. But in taking this job, we talked about these things. Ultimately, I’ve been hired to run the basketball operations for the Milwaukee Bucks, to have the final say and to make the final decisions. I’m going to operate as such, and I have their support in doing that. The only way you can really set aside those concerns is by living it every day and watching the transactions unfold.
On the advantages of being a GM at age 34:
Maybe a level of energy, though I’ve seen people in this type of position who have more years to their name than I do. But the NBA is ever-changing. For instance, when I first started, cap guys were not a thing; everyone had an outside counsel that worked on the CBA and basketball offices were not that in tune with the cap. That’s why I got an opportunity. Shortly after that, analytics became a big thing in our sport and that’s why those people got opportunities.
My point is, with my youth, I think I’m really an open-minded, collaborative person. Not that older people aren’t, but I think it’s a strength of mine. I think that will help us find “the next thing” – what’s “the next thing” that NBA teams are going to find to have competitive advantages? Just like Jason has a young staff and they’re constantly trying to figure out, what’s “the next way” to play basketball? What’s “the next way” to get a competitive advantage on the floor?
Bucks Sign Tony Snell To Four-Year Deal
JULY 31: More than a month after the Bucks and Snell agreed to terms on a new deal, the team has made it official, issuing a press release to formally announce the signing.
“Tony was an integral part of our team’s improvement last season and we’re excited to re-sign him,” new GM Jon Horst said in a statement. “He is a tireless worker, a terrific teammate and a man of great character. We look forward to having him back with the Bucks as we continue to build toward a championship.”
JUNE 30: The Bucks have agreed on a four-year deal with Tony Snell worth $46MM, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Snell will hold a player option after the third year.
The agreement comes on the heels of a season in which Snell emerged as rotation player on a postseason contender. In 80 games for the Bucks, the swingman posted 8.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per contest.
Wojnarowski had previously written about how the three-and-D player figured to draw considerable interest on the market and the disclosed agreement falls right in line with what he predicted earlier in the month.
Fun Fact: This was the first Woj Bomb of Wojnarowski’s stint with ESPN.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Central Notes: Rose, Parker, Mirotic, Harris
Newest Cavaliers point guard Derrick Rose, who signed with the club on a one-year, $2.1MM veteran’s minimum contract, is viewed by the team as a backup, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor writes. New Cavs general manager Koby Altman was careful in describing his new point guard, stating that the former Most Valuable Player will be an asset off the bench.
Entering free agency, Rose reiterated on many occasions that his goal was to sign a max contract in free agency. After a decent – if unspectacular – year with the Knicks in 2016/17 that ended with knee surgery, Rose’s free agency destinations dwindled, as did his salary. However, Altman noted that Rose was mostly interested in a winning environment.
“He wanted to be in a place where he can play with excellent players and a place where he can play in meaningful games,” Altman said at his introductory press conference.. “It’s funny, he uses the term, ‘I just want to hoop.’ He just wants to be here. He’s excited to be here. He’s in a great space mentally and his body looks great and we’re really excited about him. He came here for the opportunity to win. He came here for the opportunity to play with other great players.”
Rose, still just 28 years old, will focus on helping the team, even if it means sacrificing playing time.
Below are additional links around the Central Division:
- Bucks‘ forward Jabari Parker is recovering from a second tear of his ACL but is recovery is going well, he tells ESPN’s Nick Friedell. The 22-year-old has previously suffered a tear in the same ACL but despite not having a return date in mind, he expects to be back on the court this upcoming season.
- Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy views Tobias Harris as a starter but it will be up to the rest of the team’s performance to see if he becomes a starter, NBA.com’s Keith Langois writes.
- Nikola Mirotic, who is currently in talks with the Bulls, will not play in Eurobasket 2017, according to Sportnado. Mirotic’s focus is his NBA career, the brief report states.
Cavaliers Notes: James, Billups, Irving, Rose
LeBron James‘ future after the upcoming season is a mystery even to Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, writes Marla Ridenour of The Akron Beacon Journal. Gilbert acknowledged at Wednesday’s press conference with new GM Koby Altman that the Cavs have no control over what James may decide to do in the summer of 2018. The three-year contract he signed last summer includes a player option worth more than $35.6MM for 2018/19. “I think he is very hungry for this season and he will tell you that, too,” Gilbert said. “Beyond this season I don’t know. We’re focused on this season.”
There’s more this morning out of Cleveland:
- Gilbert took issue with reports that Chauncey Billups turned down a front office position because of money, Ridenour adds in the same story. Billups supposedly interviewed twice with the team about possibly replacing former GM David Griffin, but Gilbert downplayed those sessions, calling them “informal.” He also said an ESPN report that Billups pulled his name out of consideration because of a lowball salary offer of $2MM were erroneous. “It was nothing to do with money at all,” Gilbert said. “For you guys to think that we’re in this payroll tax or luxury tax to where we are and we’re going to worry about — I don’t want to ever say a million dollars or two [million] dollars or three is not a lot of money — but relatively speaking, you know our track record and that’s not how we make decisions. It had nothing to do with money.”
- The refusal by Gilbert and Altman to admit that Kyrie Irving has asked for a trade was a strategy to preserve the point guard’s value, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. Pluto notes that Irving and his representatives have had several days to deny the rumor and have remained silent. The writer adds that getting sufficient value in return for Irving is the biggest challenge facing Altman as he settles into his new job.
- The Cavaliers have made attempts to reach out to Irving, but he doesn’t want to talk to anyone from the team, according to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic (subscrition site).
- Derrick Rose hoped to sign with the Spurs or Clippers when free agency began, but both teams passed on him, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Bucks coach Jason Kidd was interested, but the only offers came from the Lakers and Cavaliers.
Bucks' Chief Operating Officer Resigns
- Mike McCarthy, who has been the Bucks‘ chief operating officer for the past eight months, has submitted his resignation, according to Rich Kirchen of The Milwaukee Business Journal. McCarthy will serve as a consultant to the team.
Bulls, Blazers, Raptors Hold Largest Trade Exceptions
When an over-the-cap NBA team sends out more salary than it receives in a given trade, that team can generally create a traded player exception. As we explain in our glossary entry, a traded player exception serves as a way for a team to acquire talent without using cap room to do so.
Traded player exceptions last for one year from the time they’re created, and can be used to absorb a player’s contract in a trade without sending out any salary in return. Trade exceptions can’t be combined with another exception or another contract, but they have $100K worth of wiggle room. So, a team with a $9.9MM TPE could trade for a player earning $10MM without any outgoing salary involved in the deal.
In recent weeks, a handful of teams – including the Hornets, Clippers, and Cavaliers – have seen trade exceptions created last July expire without being used. However, none of those TPEs was substantial. All of this year’s biggest TPEs are still available, though some are more likely to be used than others.
Here’s the current list of the top 10 traded player exceptions available around the NBA, along with each TPE’s expiration date:
- Chicago Bulls: $15,311,329 (6/22/18)
- Portland Trail Blazers: $12,969,502 (7/25/18)
- Toronto Raptors: $11,800,000 (7/13/18)
- Toronto Raptors: $7,630,000 (7/14/18)
- Los Angeles Clippers: $7,273,631 (6/28/18)
- Milwaukee Bucks: $5,000,000 (2/23/18)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $4,936,529 (11/1/17)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $4,837,500 (1/7/18)
- New Orleans Pelicans: $3,517,200 (2/20/18)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $2,550,000 (7/6/18)
While some of these TPEs are quite sizable, there’s a good chance that most of them will go unused. Many of the clubs on this list are near or above the luxury tax threshold, and will be reluctant to acquire an expensive player without dumping any salary as part of the deal.
The Blazers, Raptors, Clippers, Bucks, Thunder, and Cavaliers all fit that bill, though some of those clubs may be willing to bite the tax-penalty bullet, while others could wait until next July when some contracts expire to use their respective TPEs.
As for the Bulls, no team has a more significant TPE than the one Chicago created as part of June’s Jimmy Butler trade. But that exception is somewhat hollow at the moment — the Bulls only have $73.25MM in guaranteed salaries on their 2017/18 cap, so the club could actually create an even greater chunk of cap room by renouncing its trade exception, along with its other cap holds and exceptions. Still, there’s no reason to do that now. That TPE could come in handy later if the Bulls re-sign Nikola Mirotic and much of that potential cap space disappears.
The full list of current NBA trade exceptions can be found right here.
Bucks Sent $1.9MM To Sixers In Sterling Brown Trade
- The Sixers can no longer receive cash in trades during the current league year, which runs through June 30, 2018. In addition to receiving $3.2MM from the Clippers, they were sent $1.9MM by the Bucks in exchange for the No. 46 pick (Sterling Brown), per Pincus (Twitter link). The limit for cash received in trades this season is $5.1MM.
Bucks Rumors: Giannis, Monroe, Henson, Assistant GM
The Bucks should still have at least a couple years before they have to start worrying about Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s long-term future in Milwaukee, considering the young star hasn’t even played one game on his new four-year contract with the franchise. Still, recent comments made by Antetokounmpo may stir up a little premature anxiety among Bucks fans.
As Michael D. Sykes of SBNation details, Antetokounmpo was asked recently by a fan about Kevin Durant‘s departure from Oklahoma City, and whether the Bucks star would avoid a similar situation a few years from now.
“A lot of people say they’re going to stay on a team and decide to move to a different team,” the Bucks forward said. “But you guys got to remember: A guy might want to stay on a team, but if the team doesn’t do the right things and the right moves for the player to become great. Because, KD, the reason he wanted to stay in OKC was to win, right? So, they didn’t win the championship. That’s why he decided to leave. So do not hate only the player. Because sometimes it’s not up to the player.”
Antetokounmpo’s statement was probably more of a defense of Durant than a hint at his own future, so there’s little reason to read much into it at this point. But the Bucks’ front office will certainly take note. The club figures to do all it can over the next several years to convince its star player that he can win a title in Milwaukee, and surround him with players capable of helping him do so.
- The Bucks continue to explore possible trades involving Greg Monroe and/or John Henson, sources tell Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times. Previous reports indicated that both highly-paid big men were on the block. Within the same piece, Woelfel adds that Milwaukee is expected to name an assistant general manager by the end of the week. That assistant GM will work closely with new GM Jon Horst in the team’s front office.
Latest On Kyrie Irving
There’s little chance that the Cavaliers will salvage their relationship with Kyrie Irving, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who says the team is “acting as if a trade is almost inevitable.” Per Lowe, the Cavs also seem confident that they’ll be able to land a significant haul for Irving, despite the fact that stars like DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George, and Jimmy Butler have returned underwhelming hauls so far this year.
Lowe’s latest piece on Irving explores possible trade scenarios involving the Suns, Celtics, Heat, Knicks, Hawks, Bucks, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Pelicans, and more. While many of those proposed scenarios appear to be speculation on Lowe’s part, they give the impression that the Cavs certainly won’t be limiting themselves to Irving’s reported wish list of four teams as they seek out the best possible deal.
Here’s more from Lowe, along with other updates on Irving:
- The Cavaliers‘ highest priority in an Irving trade is to get a “blue-chip” young player in return, sources tell Lowe. Cleveland’s ideal scenario would be a deal that nets the club that blue-chip player, plus a veteran or two, plus draft picks. In other words, the Cavs are aiming for a trade package that provides the best of both worlds — players that can help the team contend for a championship in the short term, and valuable long-term assets.
- Since Irving made his trade request, the Cavaliers‘ front office has studied every trade involving a star player over the last decade, per Lowe. One particular deal that caught the club’s eye was the one that sent Goran Dragic from Phoenix to Miami for a package that included multiple first-round picks.
- Many teams, including the Celtics, have called the Cavaliers to let them know they want to be kept in the loop as trade talks progress, writes Lowe.
- The Nets still have a chunk of salary cap room remaining and could be an interesting trade partner in a multi-team scenario, but there have been no rumblings yet about their potential participation, according to Lowe.
- The Kings have no interest in moving De’Aaron Fox in a deal for Irving, reports James Ham of CSNBayArea.com.
- One Western Conference team executive tells Chris Mannix of The Vertical that he thinks the Cavaliers may end up having to wait until after December 15 to make a deal, after this year’s free agent signees become trade-eligible. If that happens, it might create an awkward few months in Cleveland, with Irving still on the roster when the season begins.