Ball Don’t Five: Top 5 most important stories of the NBA offseason
As we continue to work our way through the endless summer between the Finals and Opening Night, we’ll pause each Friday to briefly consider and count down some NBA-related topic of note. We like starting lineups and round numbers, so we’ll run through a handful of items each week. With a nod to our friends at Dr. Saturday, welcome to Ball Don’t Five.
This week’s installment: The Top Five Most Important Stories of the NBA Offseason.
5. The Knicks and Lakers try to rebuild
For better or worse, the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are notable NBA franchises no matter their win-loss records. That status has recently gotten both teams into trouble, with management focusing on maintaining some level of success even when the best logic said a rebuild was in order. Such decisions become more difficult when superstars like Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony are on the payroll, but an unwillingness to be bad arguably held both back for the past few seasons (or, in the Knicks case, a decade or more).
So it’s notable that both teams had reasonably sensible offseasons for the first time in what feels like forever. Yes, the Lakers went after LaMarcus Aldridge and added Lou Williams to a backcourt that already features its share of shoot-first-second-and-third scorers, but selecting young point guard D’Angelo Russell with the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft struck no one as a move that treated Kobe as if he were still capable of bringing the team back to contention by sheer force of will. And although the Knicks picked up vets Robin Lopez and Arron Afflalo to soak up some of their cap space, Phil Jackson’s decision to select (and then question) Kristaps Porzingis at No. 4 made it clear that he would not seek a quick fix to the team’s many problems.
There is no way to know how long this state of affairs will last, because the Lakers and especially the Knicks have shown little ability to hold to certain plans. For now, though, their somewhat measured approaches stand out against recent history.
4. New coaches for the Bulls and Thunder
The 2015 Golden State Warriors and LeBron-driven superteams aside, we expect contending teams to have a fair amount of continuity and experience. So what should we make of the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder, two teams with title dreams that just gave their head-coaching jobs to college coaches with no NBA management experience beyond Fred Hoiberg’s time in the Minnesota Timberwolves front office? Chicago’s claim to true contender status is questionable regardless of Derrick Rose’s health, but they’re the second-most established team in the East and have enough good players to think of winning games in June. Meanwhile, the Thunder bring back a healthy Kevin Durant and can expect to compete with the other elite squads at the top of the West.
On the other hand, both teams have many questions to answer that didn’t necessarily exist a year ago. Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks were known quantities with strengths and weaknesses that had been debated for several seasons. At the very least, the Bulls know that Hoiberg will apportion minutes in a more sensible way than Thibs did, just as the Thunder can assume that Billy Donovan won’t wear smart-guy glasses. But their lack of NBA experience cannot be explained away simply because Steve Kerr did very well under the same circumstances. The job is difficult, and these rosters have a great deal of continuity and have presumably become accustomed to a certain way of doing things in several mostly successful seasons.
Nevertheless, both Chicago and OKC made big moves to raise their ceilings at a time when their coaches appeared to have outlived their usefulness. Hoiberg and Donovan may be hoping to build careers in their new towns, but they will be expected to deserve results this spring.
3. DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl feud until they don’t
The head coach and star of the Sacramento Kings have apparently made up, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this perpetually ill-at-ease organization is one losing streak from facing the prospect of more discord and strife. The reports last May came so fast and furious that it’s easy to imagine George Karl trying to force out his best player or DeMarcus Cousins demanding a decision on Karl’s future or requesting a trade. The Kings have been so dysfunctional that it’s safer to assume controversy than to treat them like any other middle-of-the-road team.
This possibility is more notable for what it means for other teams than what it says about the Kings, who should be pretty easy to understand at this point. Roughly 47 NBA franchises have committed to a management style that prizes asset collection for the purpose of trading for a true star — think of the Houston Rockets’ long-term rebuild and eventual deal for James Harden in October 2012 as a useful precedent. If Cousins does become available, expect many teams to entice the Kings with draft picks, high-potential young players, and eating enough contracts to clear cap space. And any team that ends up with Cousins will have the most statistically productive offensive center in the league.
2. DeAndre Jordan saves the Clippers and screws the Mavericks
July 8 will go down as one of the weirdest days in recent NBA history, and not just because it involved emojis, a fake door barrier, and the image of Mark Cuban driving around Houston trying to find DeAndre Jordan’s House. The free-agent center’s decision to spurn an agreement with the Dallas Mavericks to re-up with the Los Angeles Clippers changed the fortunes of both franchises. The Mavericks lost any sense of forward momentum and tried to rebound by putting together a group of veterans with serious short-term and long-term question marks. The Clippers merely returned to the ranks of the league’s top few title contenders and avoided having to move forward with several additions to the bench and no defensive linchpin to make the roster work.
Yet the impact goes well beyond the immediate fortunes of both clubs. Cuban and the Mavs now have to face the brutal truth that Dallas is not an especially desirable free agent destination, to the point where the franchise’s entire approach to team-building figures to change. The Clippers obviously made out better, but Jordan now holds significantly more power than he did several months ago because he proved himself essential to the team. Such matters could become crucial to L.A.’s season if Jordan bristles at Chris Paul’s leadership style again in the future. The Clippers’ have many reasons to feel optimistic, but the hierarchy is new and open to disagreement.
1. The Spurs add LaMarcus Aldridge
Let’s not overthink things here. Aldridge is a four-time All-Star and prolific scorer whose mid-range shooting should complement the existing Spurs system very well. The discussions of Aldridge as a Tim Duncan replacement have always disregarded much of what makes the Big Fundamental so valuable, but the fact remains that the Spurs have added a great talent in his prime to a team that already looked to set to put together another title run after last season’s first-round exit to the Clippers.
However, the Aldridge signing did not only add strengths to previous strengths. The 2015-16 Spurs face several potential problems in the backcourt, and not just because they lost 3-point threat Marco Belinelli to the Kings in free agency. The aging Manu Ginobili has been on the downswing for several seasons, but the more pressing issue involves Tony Parker, who struggled massively at EuroBasket 2015 last month, shooting just 34.3 percent from the floor for bronze medalists France.
The Spurs have attempted to shrug off Parker’s poor showing as a shooting slump, but it takes on added significance given that the Spurs’ roughest stretch of 2014-15 came after the All-Star break, when an ailing Parker put forth some of the worst nights of his career. Aldridge obviously doesn’t play point guard, but the presence of another excellent scorer should make life easier for Parker and ease Kawhi Leonard’s continued transition into becoming a more adept playmaker.
It’s rare for one move to turn a middling team into a championship contender, but every title winner usually adds one or two notable rotation players over the previous offseason. Players of Aldridge’s caliber usually do not occupy that role, and that’s why the Spurs’ coup stands as the most important story of the last three months.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
