Most Confusing Offseason Decisions

Every year, there are moves that seem to be surefire hits, horrible moves, and moves that nobody saw coming.  The ones that I like to think the most about are the decisions that do not make any sense to me.  In this post, I will discuss the 4 moves that I thought confused me to a large extreme and 4 that weren’t as major and there’s more logic behind.

 

 

New Orleans Point Guard Situation

New Orleans ended last season with an apparent excess of guards, with Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Kira Lewis as possible options at the 1 and Zion Williamson showing glimpses of being a point forward.  The Pelicans first traded Bledsoe and Steven Adams to create cap space, which was seemingly used to try to target Kyle Lowry, despite rumors that he would favor Miami or Philadelphia in free agency.  They proceeded to whiff on Lowry (no surprise there) and allow Lonzo Ball to walk, where they got back Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, and a future 2^nd from Chicago; while they got back something, I think both are best used as backups and don’t come close to offsetting Ball’s impact.  They then acquired their new starting point guard in…Devonte’ Graham from Charlotte?  He’s a good shooter, but I don’t get why they’d want Graham’s playmaking more than Ball’s (unless they want Williamson or Lewis as the primary ball hander).  Further, they gave up a protected first round pick to get him, something I consider more puzzling and foolish.  On the plus side, the pick is top-14 protected, and I don’t expect them to make the playoffs this year.  That said, the Pelicans have yet to show that they are able to build a winning team outside of having Williamson fall in their laps, and replacing a talented player who had good chemistry with their star for someone worse doesn’t seem wise.

 

DeMar DeRozan Sign-and-Trade Conditions

Before critiquing this move, I’ll be the first to say that I am a huge fan of DeMar DeRozan and think he can bring a lot to several teams.  While he has always been a skilled scorer who is also smart playing off screens, he has developed into such a good playmaker and can be the lead point guard on a competitive team.  I think the fit with Chicago will be nice because he is a strong scorer, can slow the game down a bit so Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine don’t tire themselves (and Nikola Vucevic) out, and will be their best playmaker in the half court.  I am surprised by the money they gave him (3-years, $85 million) since it didn’t seem like there were any other teams with the cap room and interest who would offer more than $60 million at that point.  Further, the Bulls gave up a lot in a sign-and-trade to get him:  Thaddeus Young is a good player who would have likely been the starting power forward for them and Al-Farouq Aminu would have been a valuable player for them on defense.  They also gave up a first rounder and two seconds.  While there is something to be commended about wanting to go all-in during LaVine’s prime, they have given up a lot of picks for Nikola Vucevic and DeRozan, two guys who can make your team more competitive but don’t turn you into a championship contender.

 

The Lakers going all-in on…offense?

Two seasons after the Lakers won a championship with a strong defense, the team seems to be changing its focus for this season.  First, they gave up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrel, and their 2021 1^st rounder for Russell Westbrook.  I think the move for Westbrook was in the event that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are injured again, but I question the fit of Westbrook when anybody else has the ball since he doesn’t do anything off the ball (just stands there and bricks shots), and I thought that in losing Caldwell-Pope they lost one of their better defenders (I also thought there were better uses of trading Kuzma, but that’s beside the point).  In free agency, the retained Talen Horton-Tucker, let go of Alex Caruso, Dennis Schroder, Andre Drummond, Markieff Morris, Wesley Matthews, Ben McLemore, and Jared Dudley, and signed Trevor Ariza, Carmelo Anthony, Kent Bazemore, Dwight Howard, Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn, and Malik Monk.  It makes sense that they would favor shooting after the addition of Russell Westbrook, but it seems like they favored shooting at the expense of defense.  I honestly don’t particularly trust Anthony, Ellington, Nunn, or Monk on defense, and don’t think Ariza and Bazemore are the great defenders people make them out to be at this point.  Right now, I think the defenders I trust consistently are Davis, James, Horton-Tucker, Marc Gasol, and Howard…yikes.  That said, I am in favor of many of these signings on their own; I think retaining Horton-Tucker was brilliant and a necessity, and I think Ellington, Howard, Ariza, Monk, Bazemore, and Nunn are all smart signings when isolated.  However, losing Caruso and Morris is a major negative for the team’s defense.  There could be some frustrating games throughout the season.

 

Memphis’s entire offseason

Memphis was busy this offseason in some strange ways.  While many seemed to hate the trade that sent Jonas Valanciunas to the Pelicans, I don’t think it was the worst move for them.  They got an additional pick, got Bledsoe (who they were able to move) and Steven Adams (who I think will be a good fit), moved up from picks 17 and 51 to 10 and 40, and Valanciunas is up for a new contract next year anyways (and would likely be expensive).  The trade got weirder from there:  they drafted Ziaire Williams (who might have fallen to them at 17, but is at least a good player), traded the 40^th pick and a couple 2^nd round picks for the 30^th pick and drafted Santi Aldama (who I had going undrafted but thought he could be a mid-late second round pick), moved Bledsoe for Patrick Beverly, Daniel Oturu, and Rajon Rondo, and then flipped Beverly for Juancho Hernangomez and Jarrett Culver.  The trade of Valanciunas then Bledsoe and then Beverly is confusing because it adds 5 players, which brings the team to 17 guaranteed contracts.  I don’t think they are done yet; don’t be surprised if they try to move at least one of these guys for a trade exception or a pick.  They also traded Grayson Allen for Sam Merrill and two second rounders; Allen was doing well for them, but he’s up for an extension and it makes sense.  They were unsurprisingly quiet in free agency (they let Justise Winslow leave and didn’t sign any major players), but it was still a strange selection of moves.

 

Sacramento’s centers

Now we get to the four moves that aren’t major moves or as surprising, but I still consider them strange moves.  The Kings wisely resigned Richaun Holmes for 4-years, $46.5M, after he had a great year where he averaged 14.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.6 BPG, 0.6 SPG, and shot 63.7% from the field in 29.2 MPG.  They traded Delon Wright (who was likely expendable due to the draft selection of Davion Mitchell, another guard) for Tristan Thompson, who likely wouldn’t be able to play alongside Holmes and already was looking like a clunkier fit in Boston.  They then resigned Alex Len to a 2-year, $8.5M deal, but I think he would play even less than Thompson.  They already have Marvin Bagley (who I think is best as a center on a team) and a couple lesser names who are solid in Chimezie Metu and Damian Jones, as well as Harrison Barnes who I prefer at the 4 rather than the 3 but will likely play the 3.  I think the best way to utilize De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton would be to play faster on offense, but Sacramento is making their team even slower with the additional big men they acquired.

 

Kelly Olynyk signing

The Pistons signed Olynyk to a 3-year deal worth a little more than $37M and he’s talented, but I don’t get this move due to the timeline and the roster decision.  He will help the depth (especially allowing Isaiah Jackson to not play more minutes than he’s ready for) and will improve the shooting.  That said, is signing a 30-year-old to a long-term deal the best move for a team that is early in a rebuild and isn’t trying to win anytime soon the best idea?  Further, they gave up Mason Plumlee, who was on a smaller deal and (in my opinion) is better than Olynyk (with the exception of shooting), to have the cap space to sign Olynyk.  They also had to move down 20 picks in the second round in order to do that.  That said, he won’t make the team good enough to not tank.  Also, they have to spend money somehow, so he’s not the worst selection as an established player.  It just caught me off guard.

 

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Daniel Theis signing

While I’m a fan of Theis and think signing him was a wiser move than giving Kelly Olynyk to more money given their cap situation, I’m not certain about the fit.  He’s a 30-year-old who will be signed to a 4-year deal, which isn’t the best fit for a team that is rebuilding and is already fairly expensive.  He’s an inconsistent shooter, which will be tough to have him playing, but he will likely have teams who want him and can fill in if Christian Wood has any lingering effects.  I’m not opposed to it, just a little confused by it.

 

Elfrid Payton signing

The reason I don’t really get the Suns signing Payton is because the Suns already have Chris Paul, Cam Payne, Devin Booker, and Landry Shamet who can all handle the ball well while Payton isn’t a good shooter and below average off the ball.  Still, he was signed to a minimum deal, so it might be worth a shot in the event that anyone gets hurt.

What did you think about these moves?  Are there any moves this offseason you found interesting?  Let me know in the comments!