Some NBA Free Agency Reactions

 I totally thought things would slow down for me after the finals ended and all that was on was baseball. I was wrong, free agency has been lots of fun to follow so far and my Steelers made a big move this past weekend as well! We'll get to the Steelers in more detail later, but initial thoughts are it's interesting. I don't know enough to judge a safety if I'm being honest, but Minkah Fitzpatrick was at one point one of the best safeties in the league. That being said, the Steelers got back Jalen Ramsey who's getting older but is really fun and Jonnu Smith who's a solid tight end. Steelers are all in on old guys I can't wait to see how it plays out. Anyway, today is a basketball post! I'll probably continue my thoughts tomorrow with some of the stuff I missed today. 

Raptors Sign Sandro Mamukelashvili, Extend Poeltl

Say that 10 times fast. Obviously the talk of the NBA was surrounding the Toronto Raptors adding a stretch big on day 2 of free agency, a monumental occasion. I kid, but as a Raptors fan this is where I want to start so sue me. At first glance, this is a solid depth pickup for the Raptors. Backup center has been a huge hole for the last 3 seasons, and this somewhat addresses that hole with a player that offers something completely different to Jakob Poeltl. At 6'11 and 240 lbs, Mamu is more of a tweener PF/C but he is a career 35% three point shooter and he shot 37% on 2.6 attempts per game last season in just 11.2 minutes per game. He's not much of a rim protector, but he's a decent rebounder and he finishes effectively down low. I still think if Jakob Poeltl gets injured and you're forced to start Mamu at the 5, the team is probably screwed, but for 10-15 minutes a night when everyone's healthy I think he can contribute positively to the team. The other intriguing thing is with him being able to stretch the floor and play the 4 or 5, you can see him fitting pretty well with new rookie Collin Murray-Boyles off the bench. CMB can provide the defensive pop and rim pressure while Sandro can space the floor and take on the bulkier backup centers if needed. Ultimately this is a 10th man at best on a good team, but he can shoot and is big and those are 2 things the Raptors needed so I'll take it. 

The other big news from the Raptors is they announced they'd be resigning Jakob Poeltl to a 4 year $104m extension. First of all, money in the NBA is insane. Mitch Marner just left the Leafs to sign a 8 year $96m contract with Las Vegas, Jakob Poeltl, an average starting player in the NBA is going to make more than twice as much as Mitch Marner, a superstar forward in the NHL. That being said, in today's NBA economy it's a solid deal at the going rate for average centers. One gripe I heard from Raptors fans is this is essentially the same money Myles Turner got from the Bucks, that's one we'll get to later for sure. I am here to say, I think Jakob Poeltl is equal if not a better player than Myles Turner. Yes Myles Turner can shoot, and he shot almost 40% from 3 this year. That's an insanely valuable skill for a center and Jakob Poeltl does not have it. Beyond that though, I think Poeltl is better at everything else. Jak is a better screen setter - he finished 6th in the league in screen assists with 3.8 vs Turner's 2.8. Jak is a better finisher hitting 63% of his 2s vs Turner's 56%. He's a much better rebounder grabbing 9.6 boards per game vs Turner's 6.5. Finally he's a better playmaker with 2.8 assists to 1.9 turnovers vs Turner's 1.5 assists to 1.7 turnovers. Turner's skillset is coveted for sure, but beyond shooting he's not better than Jak at pretty much anything. They're both solid average starting centers in the NBA and I think the $26m per year they each are getting is market value for that kind of production. It also doesn't help the Raptors that they are completely hopeless without Jak with no other center able to replicate what he does. I'm happy to have him around for the next 4 years after this one!

Nuggets are Cooking!

This was probably the real main topic of the NBA landscape, the Denver Nuggets actually added depth. The first domino to fall was trading Michael Porter Jr to the Brooklyn Nets for Cameron Johnson. I think Cam Johnson is a slight upgrade to MPJ first of all. MPJ is a lights out 3 point shooter, but so is Cam Johnson. Cam is a better ball handler and driver, although it is marginal. Defensively I like Cam a little more than MPJ, but neither of them are as good of a defender as you would think based on their size. The real value here comes from Cam Johnson making $21m per year vs MPJ's $38m. This $17m in cap savings allowed the Nuggets more flexibility to fill out the rest of their roster, and I think they've done an awesome job at it so far. They signed Bruce Brown to return for the minimum, which is pretty funny. After their championship Bruce Brown signed a massive deal with the Pacers, got traded to the Raptors and then the Pelicans, then decided that's enough money bring me back to Jokic. They traded Dario Saric for Jonas Valanciunas. Saric did nothing for them last year and they managed to turn him into an actual backup for Jokic who won't kill them in the 10 minutes a game Jokic needs to rest. Then yesterday they announced a deal with Tim Hardaway Jr adding more shooting off their bench. This was a team that had 6 playable guys in their rotation last year when it came playoff time. They just added 3 guys who can reasonably come off their bench and not kill them + any upside they get from one or more of the young guys popping off. They are likely losing Russell Westbrook but that might be more of an addition by subtraction anyway. With Jokic still in his prime as the best player in basketball, this is exactly the offseason they needed. 

The Rockets Loaded Up

I talked about the KD trade for the Rockets already which marked the beginning of their offseason. Since then the Rockets added Dorian Finney-Smith and Clint Capela to their already deep rotation. I spoke about how the loss of Dillon Brooks isn't nothing, but they had young guys like Cam Whitmore who were probably ready to take on those minutes at the wing anyway. Then they went ahead and added Dorian Finney-Smith to make the loss completely stomachable. DFS is a good defender and 3 point shooter who can do exactly what Dillon Brooks does without all of the antics and questionable decision making that makes you wince with Dillon. Capella is a third stringer for them with Sengun and Steven Adams holding down the center position, but it is comforting to know if they suffer an injury in the front court there's reliable minutes sitting on their bench if needed. For the first time in a while I think KD is on a team that's pretty well constructed around him. Neither of these additions are major but they do provide extra depth ensuring the Rockets never have to put a bad NBA player on the floor. 

That's all for today! There were more moves that I want to talk about, but lets spread the love a little bit. Tomorrow we can talk about Brook Lopez to the Clippers, Jordan Clarkson to the Knicks and more fun stuff that comes to mind! I should've known the offseason is always fun in the NBA.