In Thursday’s NBA Draft, teams basically had one of three priorities:
1. Stockpile as many assets as possible for the future
2. Save money to get under the luxury tax
3. Clear as much cap space as possible for free agents this summer
Like it or not, that’s the state of today’s NBA. Few teams are set in their rosters for next year; they want as much flexibility as possible.
And that flexibility revolves around the marquee free agents, especially one in particular: LeBron James.
It’s not inconceivable to believe that any move a team with cap space (i.e. Chicago, Miami) made was with the intent to lure James into signing in mind.
That being said, let’s take a look at what teams gained an advantage in signing the King and what teams fell a little flat in their efforts.
Let’s start with the biggest winner of all…
Winners
Chicago Bulls
The biggest news of the day from a free agency standpoint, and one that definitely made Clevelanders a little more nervous, was Chicago’s shipping of Kirk Hinrich and the No. 17 pick to Washington.
The Bulls are up to nearly $30 million in cap space this summer. It’s extremely close as to whether or not they have enough to offer two max contracts, but they could conceivably convince one free agent to play for just a little less cash.
So maybe they bring in Chris Bosh to further tantalize LeBron.
Or they promise him Ray Allen as a sharpshooter.
Or they go with a lot of small pieces, like Kyle Korver/Mike Miller and Brendan Haywood.
They suddenly have a lot of cash available to entice any available free agent, whether it’s LeBron James or whoever. Oh, and they also have the two best pieces (Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah) that any team with cap space has to offer.
This is the state of the NBA today. As Cavs beat writer Brian Windhorst put it, a team gives away one of its key role players, a first-round pick, and $3 million for nothing as of now, and they’re revered for it. But there’s a reason for it: as of now, Chicago is in the free agency driver’s seat.
Miami Heat
I think Jeff Van Gundy said it best when he said the Heat don’t really need LeBron James next year to be a factor, as long as they re-sign Dwyane Wade and get someone like Bosh or Amar’e Stoudemire to go along with him.
But Miami traded their No. 18 pick, got Joel Anthony to test the free agency market, and are attempting to buyout James Jones. That would leave them with two players on roster for next year: Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers.
Quite simply, they’re building a team from scratch.
But they can offer up to three max contracts, which means the James-Wade-Bosh summit isn’t out of the question. While it’s unlikely to occur, it’s still a distinct possibility.
And now, they’re more of a threat to nab James than they ever have been.
Los Angeles Clippers
Strangely enough, I think the Clippers did enough on draft night to maybe further enhance their argument.
I don’t think they’re much of a player in the James market in the first place, but by drafting Al-Farouq Aminu and Willie Warren and trading for Eric Bledsoe, they certainly didn’t hurt their chances.
They now have a solid nucleus with Baron Davis and Bledsoe at the point, Eric Gordon and Warren at shooting guard, Blake Griffin and Aminu at power forward, and Chris Kaman in the middle.
All that’s missing is a marquee small forward.
Losers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs were working the phones trying to get a selection anywhere from picks 16-26. When New Orleans traded down, it looked like they might have a potential trade partner, since the Hornets would love to get themselves below the luxury tax line.
Unfortunately, the Cavs couldn’t work out a deal.
On the same line, they had talks with Minnesota about acquiring one of their picks, either at No. 16 or No. 23. The T’Wolves wound up drafting Luke Babbitt with their second first-round selection and shipped him and Ryan Gomes to Portland in exchange for Martell Webster.
They then used their final pick on Trevor Booker and included him in a trade to Washington for the No. 30 and No. 35 picks.
The Cavs’ biggest asset in acquiring a selection was cash…but there weren’t many teams interested in just selling their pick. In fact, only one pick in the first-round was bought: Memphis at No. 25, where they drafted Dominique Jones and sold the pick to Dallas.
Cleveland had strong interest in Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe—he would have been the prize for new GM Chris Grant. Instead, Oklahoma City got him at No. 18 and traded him to the Clippers for a future first-round pick.
That offer was better than anything the Cavs could give the Thunder. Once it got to the end of the first round, they were far less aggressive in their approach.
This might not seem like a big deal, but Cleveland obviously had some areas they wanted to quickly address. However, much like the Tom Izzo situation, the Cavs came away empty-handed and still searching for answers.
New York Knicks
There’s not much the Knicks could have done to improve their odds of landing James with the 38th and 39th picks in the draft.
That said, there were opportunities to maybe a bigger splash. Towards the end of the first round, guys like Jordan Crawford and Greivis Vasquez were still available. The Knicks could have maybe packaged their second-round picks to move up and a highly touted player.
When they made their selections, New York native Lance Stephenson was still on the board and top-notch defender Devin Ebanks was as well.
Instead, they went with Andy Rautins, someone who’s only real contribution to an NBA team will be three-point shooting (think of a less athletic Kyle Korver, if that’s possible) and Landry Fields, a good scorer in college but a classic NBA tweener who’s not great in any one area.
They’re basically sticking with their “we’re going to put three-point shooters around LeBron James” plan. But let’s just say Andy Rautins and Landry Fields didn’t make New York look that much better in the eyes of the King.
New Jersey Nets
The Nets were a hot topic of conversation in free agency over the last few days.
First, it was rumored they were moving the third pick. Then, once word broke out about Chris Paul potentially being on the trading block, several pundits linked them as one of the few teams who could successfully bring in CP3 with the right amount of talent and assets to deliver in return.
Finally, before the draft, they were rumored to be in talks with Indiana on a deal that would have sent Devin Harris and the No. 3 pick in exchange for the No. 10 and Danny Granger.
In the end, they wound up hanging on to their spot and taking Derrick Favors. Not a bad move by any stretch of the imagination, but in terms of their LeBron chances, it definitely hurts.
Unless they wind up making a mega-deal over the next week or so, I can’t imagine LeBron willingly sacrificing his prime to play with Devin Harris and Derrick Favors. They might be free agent players, but not in the biggest game of all.