The Best and Worst Fits of 2015 NBA Free Agency

Written by Dylan Hunter Carter

The 2015 NBA Free Agency was full of excitement and has surely rearranged the league. With teams competing over talent, many players are signed as soon as free agency begins, whether for better or worse. These are the best and worst fits in their new homes for the 2015-2016 NBA Season.

Monta Ellis:  Ellis had clearly been the most consistent Maverick over the past 2 years and was the only asset the Mavericks had for the future. While the Mavs played very well this past season, their level of play didn't reach that of the higher tier Western Conference teams. It was clear that they couldn't make a huge impact in the playoffs. For this reason, Monta Ellis sought a change of scenery and landed in Indiana. The Pacers had been a consistent force in the East until Paul George's major injury last offseason which derailed their season. Indiana slipped out of playoff contention, landing in the 9th seed after a failed late season surge led by George Hill. Monta Ellis fits greatly into the Pacers' play style with his quickness, defense, hustle, and fast paced offense which left the team along with Lance Stephenson a year ago. Ellis and George have the potential to become the best duo in the NBA as long as they stay healthy and learn to work with each other's weaknesses. As for the Pacers as a whole, they must focus on fixing their front court after the departure of David West and the imminent trade of Roy Hibbert.

Greg Monroe: It has been clear since early into the 14-15 season that both Greg Monroe and the Pistons were ready to part ways. With the prioritization of Andre Drummond in the Piston's rebuild, Monroe has been overshadowed by the younger talent of the team. This led Monroe to seek a new home in Milwaukee, who desperately needed a Center to complete their young athletic team. The Bucks have arguably the best young core of players in the NBA with Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Michael Carter Williams leading the way without a clear starting center. Miles Plumlee and Zaza Pachulia haven't proven themselves to be consistent enough to battle with other starting centers across the league. With the addition of Greg Monroe, the Milwaukee Bucks add a much needed presence in the low post and on the boards that may surge them into the top tier of Eastern Conference teams. As long as they stay healthy, the Bucks have to potential to land a decent playoff position. As for Monroe, he will finally earn the stardom and contract that he has longed for since he was drafted in 2010.

Robin Lopez: Many fans were skeptical when former Blazer, Robin Lopez decided to sign with the Knicks. While he's always been an effective player, he's never quite been an all star caliber player. Many compare Robin to his twin brother, Brook, who has been a stud for the Nets over the past few years. Many may assume that Brook is the better player because of his offensive capabilities, but Robin excels much further on defense than Brook does. Robin can bring hustle, shot blocking, athleticism, and heart to a New York Knicks team that has been lacking in each of those categories over the past few years. With this change of scenery, it is very possible that we see Robin improve greatly in the low post as he adapts to the triangle offense. Lopez signing with the Knicks is extremely helpful for both parties and will provide for some great entertainment when the Knicks and Nets matchup and the Lopez brothers face off in important rivalry games.

DeMarre Carroll: After a breakout season, DeMarre Carroll sought to capitalize on his newly found stardom and signed a max contract with the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors have grown into a solid playoff team despite their first round exit to the Washington Wizards in a 4-Game sweep this May. They've focused their strategy on star player DeMar Derozen as well as point guard Kyle Lowry and shooting guard Terrence Ross, so clearly they have a young athletic core at the Point Guard, Shooting Guard, and Small Forward positions. This is why signing DeMarre Carroll makes no sense. While his defensive capabilities will be able to help the team, their rotation has been completely shifted and their lacking front-court hasn't been improved at all. Carroll doesn't fit into the team's fast and athletic play style, which will ultimately hurt the team as a whole. There have been lots of questions about the success of the Raptors in coming seasons and this boneheaded signing didn't fix the major issues at hand.

Louis Williams: The only thing more disappointing than the Raptors allowing 6th Man of the Year Louis Williams to leave Toronto is his final destination: the Los Angeles Lakers. While it can be argued that this move improved a great guard lineup in LA, it also took up cap space that could be used towards acquiring a Center in free  agency. The Lakers have struggled terribly over the past few years mostly due to injury and ineffective Free Agency periods. While injury cannot be controlled, Free Agency can, and spending their money on yet another shooting guard with a scorer's mentality was not the right move. Lou Williams is primarily a shooter and an isolation scorer, which is a great asset for any team. The problem with the Lakers adding his talents to their roster is that Kobe Bryant, Nick Young, and Jordan Clarkson are all shooters and isolation scorers as well, and that style of play has landed them near the bottom of the power ranking for years. As for Lou Williams, he's the real winner of this deal. While he may be sacrificing some shots, he'll also have the opportunity to learn from one of the best players of all time in Kobe Bryant; not to mention he'll be able to enjoy the LA lifestyle. Considering he has his own Drake song about him and is known for having 2 stunning girlfriends at the same time, it'd be easy to infer that Lou Will is ready for that limelight.

Rajon Rondo: After lots of speculation about where he may land, point guard Rajon Rondo has signed a 1-year deal to play with Rudy Gay and the Sacramento Kings. The former-Celtic spent the majority of his career as a dimer-extraordinaire and an exceptional slasher until tearing his ACL in January of 2013. Rondo never quite returned to his prior level of play, leading the Celtics to trade him to the Dallas Mavericks where he failed in a short stint this season. Now, in Free Agency, Rondo found a new home with the Sacramento Kings on a one year deal. While it may be argued that Rondo's point guard play can help the struggling Kings, this also undermines the emergence of Darren Collison as their starting point guard. Collison joined the Kings last year and made an immediate impact by creating shots for teammates and scoring efficiently, so adding a hot headed point guard like Rondo to their rotation could be detrimental to Collison's development and to the Kings' growing young core.

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Trade Talk: Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets

Written by Taylor Odenat 

As of July 19, 2015, Ty Lawson is now a member of the high scoring, three-point shooting Houston Rockets. They enjoy collecting talent for their roster, and Ty Lawson is one of the more talented point guards in the NBA. Formerly playing for the Denver Nuggets his whole career, after several seasons of losing he pushed his way out of Denver and he recently got into some DUI problems. Denver planned for Ty’s inevitable departure from the Nuggets by drafting prospect 19-year-old guard Emmanuel Mudiay and now have shipped him off to Coach McHale, James Harden, and Dwight Howard. However, whether or not this was a good move for Ty to join the Rockets is a completely different story.

Ty Lawson will presumably start for the Rockets leading to a starting lineup of Lawson, Harden, Ariza, Jones, and Howard. However, what does this mean for Patrick Beverley moving forward. He was their lock-down defender and fit the criteria for a guard playing alongside James Harden. Harden is a ball dominant combo guard who can handle the ball, distribute, and of course score at will. He basically played the point and the off guard for Houston last season leaving them without the use of a point guard that needed the ball to orchestrate the offense. Patrick Beverley was a perfect fit for their lineup because he would defend full court, which James Harden has struggles with in general, he would knock down an open three without once demanding for the ball. On the other hand, Ty Lawson does his best work heading the offense and making decisions. Houston already has their floor general in James Harden, so why trade for another one.

On paper, this team looks like a championship contender. The imminent Lawson to Dwight lobs off pick and roll situations will certainly be fantastic and exciting to watch, but in the long run this trade won’t make Houston much better. It will of course make them a more talented squad, but talent doesn’t always win. Any front office can stack a roster with talent, but if that talent doesn’t play well together or work off each other; they will finish behind the organizations that now how produce with one another.

In the trade, Denver received a lottery-protected 2016 first round draft pick, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, Pablo Prigioni, and Joey Dorsey. Don’t be fooled, the Nuggets didn’t lose in the two teams exchange. Denver acquired young talent with talent and potential, a lottery pick in a promising 2016 draft, and most of all allowed Mudiay to take the reigns of star point guard of the Nuggets. Additionally, Denver has a successful history of trading away superstar and improving without him; most recently Carmelo Anthony.

While this does have the chance to work for Houston and finally push them over that hump to get to the NBA Finals, two ball dominant guards spells for trouble in paradise. Both Harden and Ty struggle on defense, so there will be problems on both sides of the floor. Ty will have to prove that he doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective and that he can make a high percentage amount of spot up threes, but if he can’t he will just become a shell of his former self and Houston won’t be championship contenders.

You Get a Max Contract! You Get a Max Contract! The Story of the 2015 Offseason

                                                        Written by Taylor Odenat

With the salary cap steadily increasing over the next few years, NBA teams have seemingly been throwing money at players this offseason. The two may not correlate, but with the amount of free agents that have been given 4 or 5 year deals for an outstanding amount of money; it appears to be the only plausible explanation. Players that one would never imagine to receive more than a few million dollars per year, are being given $80 million over several years. Last offseason, Chandler Parsons signed with the Dallas Mavericks and was paid $14.7 million. Even though this was only a season ago, fans and players gasped at the amount of money the previously most underpaid player in the league was collecting. However, this offseason everyone is signing contracts to be paid Chandler Parson’s money and no one is even blinking an eye. Maybe these players will live up to their outlandish contracts, but for some that may not seem possible.

DeMarre Carroll is a prime example of someone who may not live up to the considerable sum of money they will be obtaining from their team. Once a role player for the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, Carroll has recently agreed to a 4-year, $60 million deal that will give him $15 million per year. While credit should be given to Carroll for displaying this past regular and post-season that he is a quality forward in this league, he was a product of the system. Once taken out of the element of the effective system, he will drop off in productivity and therefore become not worth the amount of money Toronto will still have to pay him. 

Lance Stephenson is a recent example of a player that left his good situation for the money on a different team believing he’d still be effective. After once being the spark, heart, and soul of the 2013-2014 Indiana Pacers, Stephenson signed a contract with the Charlotte Hornets during the 2014 offseason. He would show to definitely be the product of a system and he wouldn’t perform nearly as well as his contract expected him to. His shooting was awry, his decisions were questionable, and he just didn't provide the Hornets with a starter that would push them into playoff contention in the East.

DeMarre Carroll could be next Stephenson in that he will arrive to his new team and prove he is not of the same value as he previously advertised. The Atlanta Hawks floor spacing, no dominating superstar system allowed Carroll to flourish. However, the Toronto Raptors are just not that team and Carroll will not be the same player because of his ability to flourish in a certain scheme; not the ability to be a superstar like his contract suggests. 

There were other signings that made just made NBA fans scratch their heads. Carroll performed well in the Atlanta Hawks offensive structure so teams believed he was worth a big contract, however other players were mediocre during the 2014-2015 regular season and are being paid strikingly. For example, the Boston Celtics and Amir Johnson have come to an agreement of a 2 year/$24 million deal. A man who averaged 9.3 ppg and 6.1 rpg will be getting paid to come off the bench behind Jared Sullinger, assuming he isn’t on his way out, in Boston. Amir Johnson is a high energy forward who will provide them with rebounding and effort. However, $12 million is overpaying Johnson for the limited skills he brings to the table. One would believe that Boston would learn from their mistakes to make deals to overpay players after acquiring Gerald Wallace via trade, however they obviously haven’t learned their lesson. Secondly, Omer Asik will also be receiving $12 million a year for five years to remain in New Orleans. While this does make for suffocating defense in the paint for NOLA, this just isn't the direction the NBA is going in. The Pelicans have overpaid for a center that will eventually become useless due to the small lineups that will continue to develop around the NBA. Omer Asik won’t able to keep up with fast 4’s on the perimeter and will not prove to be equivalent to his contract. He’ll give Anthony Davis the opportunity to focus more on offense instead of rebounding, but overpaying Asik over starting Ryan Anderson and joining the small ball direction of the NBA was nonsensical. 

Is the NBA entering a previous time where people such as Gilbert Arenas are paid $18.5 million a year to not even play for their team? That seems the road that the NBA is going down with all these long contracts and overpaying players, and it won’t stop until a team begins to realize their mistakes. But with the new salary cap that approaching, that realization may never occur and bench warmers such as Aron Baynes will be paid almost $7 million a year to give limited production and possibly not even rise off the bench. 

All statistics came from Basketball Reference unless stated otherwise.