NBA Rumors: Exploring the best possible landing spots for the top eight remaining free agents still on the open market
Nearly two weeks into NBA Free Agency, there are still plenty of big-name free agents that haven’t found a home. The expectation – and hope – is that will change over the course of the next few days.
But what are the best possible landing spots for the best remaining free agents? We explore.
Isaiah Thomas
New Orleans Pelicans
Shortly after LeBron James announced he would sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, Rajon Rondo announced he would do the same. He left a gaping hole in the Pelicans depth chart. Unless they choose to start Ian Clark or slide Jrue Holiday back to the 1, they need a new starting point guard.
Clark has had trouble creating for others, he is more suited as a 3-point option. Holiday has no issue creating for others but as he’s shown he is better situated as an off-ball weapon and secondary ball handler. Sharing the backcourt with Holiday would mask some of Thomas’s serious defensive issues. Holiday was 1st team All-Defense last season, a perfect backcourt mate for IT. It would be like playing with Avery Bradley again, albeit a more high usage Bradley.
Thomas would have to know his role on the team from day one. This will not be the Boston Celtics, he will not be asked to score 30 a night. They have Anthony Davis for that. Instead, Thomas will have to have more of a pass-first mentality. Nobody will expect him to put on his best Rondo impersonation. He’ll still need to maintain his aggressiveness but more of his drives should end in passes to Davis or Holiday than in attempts for himself.
There are a few point guard options for New Orleans to choose from, but none of them have a resume like Isaiah Thomas. With almost no market for a starting point guard, he will likely only demand the veteran’s minimum. No other team can offer New Orleans combination of playing time and importance to the team. While still giving him a chance to make the playoffs.
Clint Capela
Houston Rockets
Unlike the market for a starting point guard, the market for a rim running, shot blocking, high percentage center is booming. Unfortunately for Clint Capela, few teams have the money to offer him. Which leaves the Houston Rockets in control.
His skillset is perfect for the modern NBA. There are no shortage of teams that would offer a max or near max contract if they had the means to do so. Sadly, they just do not. Clint, through no fault of his own, may end up as the biggest loser of this offseason.
The spending summer of ’16 has left teams with little to no cap space to maneuver. Unless the Atlanta Hawks come in with a big offer Capela will likely have to sign for whatever Houston wants to give him. If the Rockets try to lowball him he could always accept the qualifying offer and hit free agency again next year when teams have a little more to spend.
For now, though, it would be hard to envision Capela suiting up for any team other than the Houston Rockets next season. The only question is for how much?
Jabari Parker
Chicago Bulls
It’s looking more and more likely that Jabari Parker’s run in Milwaukee has ended. Once a promising piece to the young Bucks core, injuries have derailed his career. An ACL tear is a tough thing to come back from. Two is even harder.
Parker is still young and talented enough that teams will take a gamble on him. He averaged 20.1/6.2/2.8 while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 36 percent from beyond the arc in his last (somewhat) healthy season.
At this point in his career, he would be a low risk/high reward option for the MLE or possibly even the veterans minimum. What better team to give him a second chance than his hometown Chicago Bulls?
The Bulls have no intention of winning this year anyways. He could slide into the starting unit as the Small Forward or stay at his natural position and come off the bench behind Lauri Markkanen. Either way, he would see a lot of minutes for Chicago if he can manage to stay healthy.
Marcus Smart
Boston Celtics
The Celtics are, unsurprisingly, letting the market dictate Marcus Smarts value. Smart is, a little surprisingly, as he puts it “hurt and disgusted” by the lack of communication from the front office. This is routine when dealing with restricted free agents. There is no need to outbid any other teams when you have the final say whether or not you match any contract that gets signed.
Smart is a solid contributer for the Celtics, but getting a handle on his actual value is difficult. It’s impossible to deny his hard nosed defense. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty and doing the little things to help his team win. Every franchise could use a player like Smart. The question is, how much is that actually worth?
He shot 36 percent from the field and 30 percent from downtown last season. While he certainly has proved he has value to Boston, he may not have the same impact on another team. The Sacramento Kings appear to be gearing up to offer him a contract anyways though after the Chicago Bulls matched their offer to Zach LaVine.
The Celtics may match or they may not. Regardless of where he ends up next season, Boston is the place he should be.
Rodney Hood
Philadelphia 76ers
After years of Trusting the Process, Philadelphia took a leap last season and ended with the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. They capped it off by going on an impressive 16-game win streak to end the year. After beating the Miami Heat in five games they eventually lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round.
The bench was a problem in that series, as it was all year long for the 76ers. Picking up Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova at the deadline really bolstered the second unit for the rest of the season, both played big roles in spacing the floor during the 16-game win streak. Unfortunately, both have also left the 76ers to reunite with their old teams.
Rodney Hood is not quite the marksman that Belinelli and Ilyasova are. He’s not too far behind though, and is a far better shot creator than either. His defense may be lacking but coming off the bench in a 6th man role would mitigate the importance of being a solid defender. He would be tasked to score and not much else.
He’s still young enough to fit in and grow with the Philly core. If Markelle Fultz doesn’t come back strong after one of the worst rookie outings ever for a first overall pick, Hood would be even more valuable to a young team trying to compete.
Greg Monroe
New Orleans Pelicans
The Phoenix Suns traded Eric Bledsoe for Greg Monroe on November 7th. Until February 1st, when he was eventually waived, the Suns deployed the strangest center rotation in the league. Either Monroe, Tyson Chandler or Alex Len could start on any given night. Another one of the three would come off the bench. The third would recieve a DNP-CD.
It was an odd decision from management. Maybe they needed more time to make up their minds about who they wanted to keep. It’s possible they wanted to boost Monroe’s trade value while trying not to torpedo Alex Len’s and Tyson Chandler’s. Or they could have just been contributing to the tank by giving none of their centers an opportunity to get a feel for their role on the team.
Regardless of their intentions, Monroe played well in his limited minutes, in fact, his first game in a Suns uniform he got the start and didn’t disappoint with 20 points and 11 rebounds. He’d then go on to have several stellar games for the Suns before getting waived.
Moose is still a capable center. He played more efficicent minutes after Boston picked him up. They may have chosen Aron Baynes to re-sign but with Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving set to be healthy before the season tips off, they needed a defensive minded big man more than a scorer.
He has improved as a defender as well, though. He’ll never be great on the other end of the floor, but the effort was there. What Monroe is great at is scoring efficiently and the New Orleans Pelicans could use that coming off the bench behind Anthony Davis next season.
Alex Len
Philadelphia 76ers
Alex Len played well last season, when he got the minutes, anways. He was stuck in the afformentioned Phoenix Suns logjam at center as well. When he did play he managed to hit a career high 56% from the floor. He upped his rebounding percentage as well. Per 36 minutes he averaged a very solid 15.1/13.4/2.1 with 1.6 blocks on top of that. Despite the improvement, he played his least amount of minutes since his rookie season.
With first overall pick DeAndre Ayton now the center of the future for the Suns, don’t expect Len to re-sign. The Suns loss could be the 76ers gain. They have no centers on the roster behind the often-injured Joel Embiid. Recently re-signed forwards Richaun Holmes and Amir Johnson can fill in admirably on any given night. Getting a second true center on the roster should be on the minds of the front office, though.
Lens rim running style of play would mesh well with Ben Simmons. He may actually be a better fit next to the Aussie wonderkid than Embiid, who needs post touches in order to be as effective as possible. Len doesn’t need to create for himself, his time in Phoenix has shown he’s not particularly good at it anyways.
Whether as an insurance policy for Embiid or anchoring the second unit, the 25-year-old Ukrainian is experienced enough to help them compete right away. While still being young enough to fit with their future plans.
Joe Johnson
Indiana Pacers
The Pacers were a pleasant surprise last year. After being pegged as a lottery bound team before the season began, they went on to become the 5th seed and took LeBron James and the Cavaliers to 7 games in the opening round of the playoffs.
The breakout year for Victor Oladipo along with the departure of LeBron James from the Eastern Conference has the Pacers thinking about a deep playoff run. Indy has already signed veterans Tyreke Evans fresh off a bounce back season and solid big man Kyle O’Quinn. They could still use a mentor like Johnson, though.
A 7-time all star who has been to the playoffs 13 times in his 17-year career. Joe Jesus won’t be glued to the bench either, they could use his shot creation from the second unit. He had a down year shooting the ball last season splitting time between the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, but as a 37 percent 3-point shooter over his career don’t expect that to be the new normal for him.
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Johnson should still have use as a player, but if it turns out father time has won another battle, his role as a mentor on a team without a single player over the age of 30 will be well worth the veterans minimum.