With the NBA off-season winding down, it is time to take a look back at which teams came away as losers this summer.? The Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks came away mightily disappointed as one team lost an All-Star and the other failed to sign one in free agency.
Here is my breakdown of every NBA off-season free agent signing and trade.
Check out my NBA off-season winners.
Los Angeles Lakers
Dwight Howard walked, the Lakers got nothing in return for him, and found themselves still way over the salary cap.? Yuck.? They amnestied Metta World Peace in hopes of lowering their luxury tax number and also lost Earl Clark to free agency.? The Lake Show?s ?big? moves in free agency thus far have been adding Chris Kaman, Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, and Jordan Farmar to one-year deals.? With Kobe?s injury status and return date up in the air for next season and an aging Steve Nash running the point, L.A. will struggle to reach the postseason this year.? To end on a positive note though, they will be massively under the salary cap next summer so the bumpy road ahead won?t last too long.
Dallas Mavericks
For the second straight year, Mark Cuban was unable to land a marquee free agent and was forced to turn to Plan B.? Unlike last season when plan B included the smart decision to fill the roster with veterans on one-year contracts, Dallas spent a good chunk of change by spending approximately $55 million for a new starting backcourt of Jose Calderon and Monta Ellis.? That duo is now locked up for the next three years but certainly isn?t going to help the Mavs return to upper tier of the Western Conference.
Dallas had to make some sort of splash in free agency though since Dirk Nowitzki is entering the final year of his contract.? If the Mavs have any hope of keeping him around, they need to surround him with better talent but I am just not sure Calderon and Ellis is what Dirk will looking for from his long-term backcourt pair.? The team tried to fill their major hole in the middle by recently inking Samuel Dalembert to a 2-year, $7.5 million deal.? At least, Dallas will still enter next off-season with a ton of cap space as they hope to avoid the three-peat in failing to land a big name free agent.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks earned the award for ?worst free agent signing? of the off-season by giving Zaza Pachulia $15.6 million over three years.? Here?s my question; who else was offering Pachulia anywhere near that amount?? There?s no way he could have been in high demand like that.? No.? Way.? Pachulia?s agent committed highway robbery on Bucks general manager, John Hammond.
Outside of that ridiculous signing, Milwaukee now has a real dilemma on their hands at the point guard position.? Not wanting to sign restricted free agent Brandon Jennings to a long-term extension, the Bucks turned their attention to Jeff Teague.? They signed him to a 4-year, $32 million offer sheet but the Hawks matched it so now Milwaukee needs to figure out what to do with a ticked off Brandon Jennings who easily wins my player award for ?Biggest Off-Season Loser? since no team was willing to offer him a long-term deal.
To fill voids on the wing, the Bucks made a few moves that will do nothing to improve their standing in the Eastern Conference.? O.J. Mayo and Carlos Delfino were signed to multi-year deals and Luke Ridnour was brought back to help replace the losses of free agents Monta Ellis and J.J. Redick.? Milwaukee gave away starting small forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (for those keeping track at home, the Bucks gained five future second round picks this off-season so at least they have that going for them.)? As a result, Milwaukee will likely be one of the worst teams in the East.
David Kay is a senior feature?NBA Draft,?NBA, and?college basketball?writer for the Sports Bank.? He also heads up the?NBA?and?college basketball?material at?Walter Football.com?and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities.? David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu to Milwaukee.? He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the?most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft?on the internet , AND the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft. (Yup, nearly 3peat champ? #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at?David_Kmiecik.
Source: http://www.thesportsbank.net/nba/2013-nba-off-season-losers-387/
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