Each off-season, NBA Free Agency is full of “bombs.” Wojbombs and Shamsbombs fly around for the days leading up to Free Agency and they burst like the end of a fireworks show as it begins. As the dust settles 48-72 hours later, every summer there are clear winners and losers. This summer’s winner? The Big Markets.
The NBA continues to strive to keep resources evenly dispersed across the league, but this off-season proved to be another big victory for both New York teams, both LA teams, and the Miami Heat. After an NBA Finals where Milwaukee beats Phoenix, the off-season battles became immediately bi-coastal.
But how did the NBA’s big markets win?
Knicks’d?
A year ago, if a crystal ball said that the New York Knicks would be coming off a first-round exit as the four-seed in the East… that crystal ball would have been smashed to pieces. New York busted miles past expectations and appeared to be years ahead of schedule. As they approach this off-season, the Knicks face a unique challenge. They overachieved so much a year ago, they could realistically get better and drop in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Hawks had several injuries in the first half of the season. Miami was coming off of a short off-season and had their own health issues. And for as much as New York overachieved, Bostonians will point out the Celtics underachieved. In regards to their finish in the East, the Knicks have an uphill battle to “look” like they got better. Knicks fans are not known for their patience, so what did the Knicks do?
Kemba Comes Home
New York’s first splash was signing France’s Olympic star Evan Fournier. Fournier has played very well as of late for France in Tokyo after seeing his production dive Boston. Fournier is a tough finisher through contact with both hands. In New York, he will work well in transition and screen action with Julius Randle.
But the big signing for New Yorkers was one of their own: Kemba Walker. Walker attended Rice High School in central Harlem, just five miles from Madison Square Garden. He did have a tough two-year stint in Boston with his health, but when he is available to play Walker is the stereotypical New York bucket-getting point guard. Walker is a tough shot maker who can create for himself in the halfcourt. He specializes in jumpers at the elbow and 18-foot stepbacks. While it would drive Daryl Morey crazy, it perfectly fits into Tom Thibodeau’s tough-nosed, old-school basketball.
Further, when he works at the diagonally opposite are from the floor of Randle, defenses will be stuck. Do they commit to cutting off a drive-by Walker, knowing he can just raise at 16-feet? Or do they stay home on Randle and hope their teammate can stay in front of Walker?
And even if they can, it may not matter.
Who’d Brooklyn Net?
After the big splashes in Free Agency two years ago, and the big swap last January, most assumed it would be a quiet summer in Brooklyn. Truthfully, had the Nets been healthy (or Kevin Durant wore a smaller shoe) they very well could have been NBA Champions. Instead, they focus on finding “the little areas” to improve on. They got great minutes out of veteran role players like Blake Griffin and Jeff Green last season. With a great shot to win the 2022 NBA championship, the Nets had to enter the off-season assuming they could find some ring-chasing veterans who signed for less money. They got much more than that
Don’t Bet Against Durant
If Olympic basketball taught us anything, any team with Kevin Durant on it will be very good. Last season’s biggest acquisition, James Harden, came via trade. But the Nets were strong players in the buyout market because most see teams with Durant, Harden, and Kyrie Irving as a chance to really win a championship. The Free Agent that fits that mold for them is James Johnson. Johnson is a long wing that turns 35 this season. While he’s off the floor MMA and Kickboxing resume is impressive, it also symbolizes the toughness he brings to the Brooklyn Nets. Johnson, in his 15-20 minutes, will take the defensive burden off of Durant. In a similar vein, Brooklyn added Deandre’ Bembry. Bembry is a reliable defensive specialist that will have more room to operate offensively playing with Brooklyn’s big three.
The biggest new name in Brooklyn will be Patty Mills. Mills is coming off of an impressive Bronze Medal run for the Australian National Team, including a 42 point outing against Luka Doncic and Slovenia in the Bronze Medal game. The “Boomer” will be a key rotational guard to spell minutes for Harden and Irving and is a great option to play with them in small three-guard lineups.
Lake Show Stars
Los Angeles continues to be a marque destination in the off-season. Regardless of the stars already in town, the Lakers seem to be in play for every big name Free Agent. Some years they swing and miss, some years they bring in LeBron James or Anthony Davis. The summer of 2021 feels weirdly like a combination of the two. They brought in the big name in a trade just before Free Agency, but
Westbrook comes home, Shooters Follow
It was not technically a Free Agent signing, but the Lakers off-season was entirely shaped by acquiring Russell Westbrook. Westbrook was brought in via trade, and the Lakers lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, and Montrezl Harrell. Russell Westbrook brings dominant energy and, for all his flaws, a work ethic unmatched by anyone in the NBA. Westbrook will spark a newfound transition offense in LA. Throughout the regular season, Westbrook and James don’t both have to play back-to-backs, they can alternate nights and stay fresher for the rest of the season.
The issue with the fit will be in the spacing. James and Westbrook are both best used to attacking the basket, with the ball in their hands. The weakness for both, even if James is improving as he ages, is shooting. To maximize their potential LA will need to play Anthony Davis at Center more, which makes the injury-prone Davis play more physical basketball on the defensive end.
Offensively, with Davis at the Center spot and some shooting, the Russell Westbrook / LeBron James offense is not unlike the small-ball Rockets offense. In that instance, the James Harden / Russell Westbrook backcourt averaged more points per game than any backcourt in NBA history. When it worked, the key to the small ball (and thus the key to the Lakers’ incorporation of Westbrook) was that Westbrook’s shot chart mirrored that of a center. Even if he started beyond the three-point line, he slashed to space and took the majority of his shots against defenses out of rotation and inside of eight feet. The key for Los Angeles is that they can orchestrate that five-out offense while also playing James and Davis -two very big perimeter players- as more traditional “Bigs” on defense. It all depends on the shooting.
Thus, four of the five Laker signings since the Westbrook trade have been three-point shooting wings. Defense be damned! The Lakers are going to be sure they can spread the floor out for James and Westbrook to operate. Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington, Malik Monk, and Kendrick Nunn all shoot better than 35-percent from three-point land. Ellington, who led the bunch at 42.2-percent last season, is a long rangy defender that, with Davis behind him, should be on the floor a lot of the game.
Los Angeles’s “Other Team”
The Los Angeles Clippers, for decades, took the “little brother” in the City of Angels. The Clippers went through decades wandering between incompetent and mediocre, but now? The Lob City Clippers turned the little brother into a formidable franchise, and Kawhi Leonard has brought title aspirations to the other locker room in Staples Center. Leonard resigned with LA this summer to continue to work to bring a title to the other Los Angeles.
Seeing Triple
In conjunction with Leonard a couple of years ago, the Clippers brought in Paul George. Along the perimeter, the Clippers have several switchable wings defensively. They have an All-NBA defensive option in Leonard and an All-Star option in Paul George. Now a career NBA Starter in Justise Winslow. This will be especially useful as Kawhi Leonard makes his way back from the knee injury he suffered in the playoffs. The Clippers can’t replace Leonard with a single player, but they can cover up the hole he left with Winslow in spots. Winslow comes to LA after a brief stint in Memphis following a successful start to his career in Miami. Winslow is a strong and long six-foot-six that flies around the floor to keep pressure on the offense.
The only thing that has been able to stop him from being a defensive menace thus far has been his own health. In 2016-17, his second year in the league, he played just 18 games. 2019-20, his last year in Miami, he only suited up 11 times. In his year in Memphis, he played in just 26 games. But if he can be healthy and in the rotation, the Clippers’s defense will be long, explosive, intelligent, and nearly impossible to score on. In addition, LA was able to re-sign Nic Batum.
The biggest signing may end up actually being their draft pick, BJ Boston. Boston was drafted out of Kentucky 51st overall after a rough lone year in college. Boston struggled in an awkward college year dominated by COVID cancellations, postponements, and isolations. But if he finds himself in a good headspace? In the off-season of 2020, Boston was widely considered and projected to be a top-five pick in one of the strongest drafts in recent memory. In addition to re-signing Reggie Jackson, the Clippers want to get more offensive production from their backcourt. If they can get top-five pick production from the 51st pick, they’re much better than a year ago.
And a year ago? They were in the Western Conference Finals.
Vice City Vandals: The Heat Steal Free Agency
The Miami Heat made runs to the NBA Finals six times between 2005-06 and 2019-20. That would be an impressive feat for any franchise. San Antonio’s dynasty was in the Finals six-time between 1998-99 and 2013-14 behind the dominance of Tim Duncan and Greg Popovic. But Miami? They did it with their third core of stars and two different head coaches. Free Agency is waning down and one thing is very clear: the Miami Heat are building yet another contender, in the present tense, in South Beach.
Miami was a surprise Eastern Conference Champion in 2019-20. In the Bubble, Miami earned the fifth seed in the East. After drawing some favorable matchups, the Heat routed the Pacers, gave the Milwaukee Bucks a gentleman’s sweep, and defeated the young Boston Celtics in six games. Miami was certainly the beneficiary of playing no road games in the 2020 playoffs, but they also didn’t get any home games. Their finals run was predicated on Jimmy Butler’s toughness, Goran Dragic’s craftiness, and Bam Adebayo’s versatility. Thus, when two-thirds of that equation was injured, they lost to the Lakers in a tough Finals series. Had “injuries been turned off,” who knows how their 2020 season could have ended.
The Miami Heat were swept in the first round by the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks just six months later. It would be easy for the Miami Heat to write off the 2020 playoffs as exhaustion. But in South Beach, that means it’s time to rebuild. The Miami Heat entered this off-season with a clear plan: build a contender with players that fit their culture and are ready to win now. In doing so, they won Free Agency.
Kyle Lowry, PJ Tucker, Markieff Morris: Championship Mentality
Kyle Lowry kicked off free agency by announcing he was heading to Miami, even if the full outline of the multi-team trade wasn’t unveiled until much later. PJ Tucker but is heading south after being unable to come to an agreement in Milwaukee in free agency. Markieff Morris announced he too was heading to Miami the next day. The Miami Heat have a key piece from each of the last three NBA Champions with the trio. Could Pat Riley be more obvious about his end goal?
In getting a handful of champions, in addition to his championship-winning coach, Riley is clearly hedging the Heat’s chances on past resumes and one key player’s potential: Bam Adebayo.
Schematically each of these veteran pieces pairs perfectly with Adebayo’s game, hinting at an elevated role. Lowry will, as a strong and sturdy point guard, enable the inverted pick and roll game that turns the positionless Adebayo into a creator. Lowry can absorb the contact from the Big covering Adebayo trying to navigate the screen in a way few guards can. He also can pop to become a shooting threat, or short roll into becoming a secondary creator on the floor. Morris and Tucker both help Adebayo with guarding frontlines but can spot up in the corners and create space on offense. While there may have been more talented trios available, it’s hard to imagine a threesome of signings that pair with Bam Adebayo better. After a tremendous run in 2020, and running out of gas in 2021, Adebayo will have the franchise firmly on his shoulders in 2022.
