The Buck Stops Here Roundtable #3: Remaining Free Agency Decisions

In your opinion, which contracts have been the best signings, largest overpays and the biggest steals of NBA free agency so far?

AM: Considering my affinity to the Hawks it kills me to say it, but Al Horford is the best signing. Obviously, Kevin Durant could help the Warriors to become an even more unstoppable juggernaut, but there’s only so much better they can get. Horford could provide a big bump to Boston’s win total.

NOTHING EASY!! My hero Zaza Pachulia is easily the steal of free agency and nothing makes me happier than the chance that not only is he going to start on a potentially all-time great team, but that he might get a ring at the end of the journey too.

I feel like the largest overpay or maybe more accurately the worst signing belongs to most of the guys signed by the Rockets. I plan on never being unlucky enough to catch Rockets games next season.

RF: Best: I loathe the Warriors and the hype-machine that they have become. I’ve personally been affected by a slew of bandwagon fans emerging within my own tight-knit friend group. Yet, even after all that, one still has to imagine grabbing KD from OKC to be the best deal so far. Yes, he’ll be making plenty of bucks, and he does restrict their cap a bit, but he’s still a future HOF’er.

Steal: Jared Dudley heading back to Phoenix will be underrated, but I think he will provide for that very young roster exactly what he brought to Milwaukee two seasons ago. The Suns are in a mini-rebuild and will probably be looking to compete in the near future, and Dudley will be the perfect guy to mentor that squad to the postseason.

Overpay: I’m torn between Harrison Barnes making max money and Ryan Anderson getting 4-years/$80 million. Both of those deals are instantly not nearly worth their price tag number, and Anderson’s especially will only get horrendously worse with time.

TP: Best: The best signing in terms of impact on wins and losses probably is Al Horford to the Celtics. Just having him replace Jared Sullinger on PNR defensive alone should net the Celtics a few wins.

Steal: Both Dudley and Zaza are fine choices for steal of free agency thus far, but I am going to avoid former Bucks in favor of a current one; namely Mirza Teletovic. He brings a top notch skill that the Bucks were desperately in need of, yet they were not forced to pay a ridiculous amount of money to get him.

Overpay: While I certainly agree with Adam when it comes to the unwatchable nature of the Rockets, I think there were even worse signings this week. The one that really gets me is the Mavericks giving Harris Barnes a max contract. I just have not seen any evidence that he can produce consistently.

TWindisch: For me, the best signing was Al Horford in Boston. Horford takes the Celtics from a fun, underachieving team to a legit top seed in the East.

The biggest overpay was Ryan Anderson getting EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS from the Houston “We Have A Problem” Rockets. Seriously. $80 million.

The biggest steal might be Al Jefferson to the Pacers on a three-year, $30 million deal. That’s great value for a legit low-post threat.

JT: I’m sure you can go with many different answers for all three questions, but I’ll try to limit them to one a piece.

I thought the best free agent signing of free agency so far has been Zaza Pachulia signing with the Warriors. Considering the moves they made in order to land Kevin Durant, I think he’s a solid replacement for Andrew Bogut and honestly could have fetched eight-digit offers from another team.

I think the largest overpay of free agency so far has been Jamal Crawford. Maybe it was the fact that the Clippers original offer to Crawford surfaced, but three years, $42 million is a lot to pay to Crawford, who seems to have lost his effectiveness as a sixth man.

I think the biggest steal so far might be Langston Galloway signing with the New Orleans Pelicans. I actually thought Galloway would have been a good target for the Bucks in free agency, but I think he’ll fit be a good fit for the Pelicans and the Knicks’ decision to suddenly renounce him this week could eventually come back to bite them.

TWray: Apologies for my indecisiveness, but free agency has been absolute madness, and I love it. I always find it hard to narrow these sorts of choices down to just one specific player, so I’ve offered a few selections for each question.

In terms of the best signing, evidently you have to acknowledge Kevin Durant to Golden State. It’s one of the biggest moves in NBA history and although it doesn’t shift the balance of power in the NBA per se, adding a former league MVP in his prime to the greatest regular season team of all-time is just plain ridiculous. However, I’m with the majority here, Al Horford to Boston transforms the Celtics into a serious contender in the East, especially within the next couple of seasons as their army of draft picks begin to develop and/or if Danny Ainge decides to cash in their assets to put pieces alongside him.

Obviously the expanding cap has facilitated a number of huge contracts during free agency. Probably the worst overpay has been giving $20 million to Ryan Anderson and $14 million to a 36-year-old Jamal Crawford, which when combined with the $11.7 million and $6 million given to Austin Rivers and Wesley Johnson respectively, looks awful for the Clippers. Honorable mentions also have to go to Timofey Mozgov for his $16 million deal with the Lakers, Jeff Green, who fleeced Orlando for $15 million, and Harrison Barnes, who is yet to convince me that he’s a max contract player worth $23.75 million. I’m sure I’ve missed more than a few bad ones too.

There’s also been a number of really nice steals. I don’t think there’s any denying that Zaza Pachulia for $2.9 million is probably the biggest, considering his play last season for Dallas and this summer’s free agency climate, like Jordan said, he should have been commanding offers upwards of $10 million. My other choice would be Festus Ezeli, who got roughly $7.5 million from Portland, mostly because it’s just insane to think that Mozgov is worth more than twice as much per year. My Honorable mentions also go to Langston Galloway to New Orleans for $5 million, Seth Curry to the Mavs for $3 million and Dwayne Dedmon to San Antonio for $3 million.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks: Meet The Summer League Roster

Check back next week when we’ll reconvene for another roundtable!