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The worst NBA offseason; the summer of 2016


2016. Specifically the summer of 2016. The NBA was a lot more different, because this was the worst times for NBA GMs. It may feel nostalgic as the draft was loaded with stars now with the likes of Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Domantas Sabonis, etc., the trades were blockbuster ones but this FA was horrible. It ruined teams for years and no team has been able to escape it as it's a never-ending thing that haunts GMs to this day. Let's talk about it.

In 2011, an agreement between the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) and the NBA was made. The CBA covers everything salary from TV, to revenue to tickets and so much more, so to not have it would be detrimental to the NBA. In this article, https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/CBA-111128/how-new-nba-deal-compares-last-one, we can see that they say how the NBA wouldn't expect a big injection of revenue and money until 2016, which was the year of the offseason. Now, the 2016 offseason wasn't particularly special but players knew. The 2016 offseason lined up perfectly with the 2007 draft which included the likes of KD, Horford, Conley, etc. And so, teams and players expected this CBA agreement to have the biggest spike ever and players would casually make 50-60M per year compared to the measly 20-30M a star would make. So, let me go over every team and how they were affected and where it's brought them today:

Atlanta Hawks: Atlanta was one of the teams I dub the "unlucky ones" who struck out heavily. Starting with Kent Bazemore, who they paid 72M/4 year. At the time, he was an alright young starter at 26 who was a 3-&-D guy averaging around 11. Bazemore could be really hot or cold at times and was one of those microwave type players who could flat out get you buckets. But, he did alright for Atlanta. He averaged similar numbers and when they were bad, he started playing worse and worse to become one of the worst contracts in the league. He eventually bounced around teams after being moved in 2019 to Portland and is currently in LA where he does practically nothing. Atlanta also got the hometown hero, Dwight Howard, to fill the void lost in Al Horford. He averaged 13 and 13 and was, I mean serviceable but left after a year to Charlotte. Want to guess how much they paid him? 23M that year. Yup, unlucky is a understatement for Atlanta.

Boston Celtics: Boston at the time was a fringe 4-5 seed, who just needed someone to pair with the 5'9 IT. And they did actually pretty solid getting Al Horford. He was a low force threat, someone who could space the floor to an extent and defend to be the perfect co-star for the King of the Fourth Quarter (we all know who the real one is). But this contract plagued many teams for the future. Boston paid him a whopping 81M/3 year contract which was a step up from his usual 12M in Atlanta. This stopped Boston from really making any major salary moves for a PG or Jimmy Butler and for his hard work as a Celtic, the Sixers paid him 30M in 2019 and he's just turned into an awful contract as an OK center.

Brooklyn Nets: Now, let me just say behind every mastermind plan is the person who did it and along with the CBA, the Nets ran this operation. See, teams were going to pay their RFAs of the 2012 or 2013 draft. Brooklyn would offer players that were RFAs tons of money with their cap space and teams were forced into using their 20-30M in cap space on young guys that they didn't want to do it on. IDK how but Brooklyn may have had an agreement with the CBA to do to this, to make teams forced into either:

A) Let their 21-27 year old young player walk to another team and probably watch as they turn into stardom or

B) Pay them and hope something works out, or else you have a bad contract on your hands.

Anyways, they paid Jeremy Lin which was actually a solid signing for about 36M/3 years to be a nice backup PG and mentor guys like Sean Kilpatrick, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Isaiah Whitehead (remember these guys?). Other than that, a job well done by the Brooklyn organization.

Charlotte Hornets: Well, well, well. After Charlotte had finally felt some success after making the 2016 playoffs, they splurged on average players that ruined Kemba's legacy and made him move to Charlotte. Nicolas Batum had a great year in Portland in 2016 and you know the rest from here. He was an all-around player but he didn't fit in Charlotte with Kemba and paid him an insane 100M/4 year. After his awful years in Buzz City, he got bought out and went to the Clippers in a S-&-T to have Charlotte receive Gordon Hayward, and now he's been good, but his contract will haunt him for the rest of his career as it's what he'll be remembered for. Also, they re-signed Marvin Williams, who averaged 12 and 6 for them, to an astonishing 60M/4 year. He was just an average PF that no team wanted for his expensive contract and after his contract, spent a little time in Milwaukee before retiring mid-way through the Bubble.

Chicago Bulls: Looking back at this time for Bulls fans, it was an awkward time. This was Jimmy's last year and a last ditch effort to make a playoffs with him by adding Dwyane Wade. Obviously at first, this was shocking since he left Miami after 14 years with the team but he'd always expressed wanting to play for his hometown Bulls. But, it was a weird pairing. Both needed the ball in their hands, Wade was aging and Butler was frustrated with the team so... it didn't work. Butler left and Wade signed with Cleveland in the 2018 offseason. They also added Rajon Rondo, who was a solid playmaker for the next coming of the Last Dance, or as I like to call that team: The First Walk (it was just weird on that team). Fun fact, Chicago, as the 8th seed, was up 2-0 against the 1 seeded Celtics but Rondo broke his finger and Jerian Grant and Cam Payne carried them to a rebuild.

Cleveland Cavaliers: They did really nothing except re-sign JR Smith, Richard Jefferson and LBJ, which didn't change much at all.

Dallas Mavericks: Mark Cuban in the 2016 offseason was still recovering from the DeAndre Jordan drama from the year prior so he just went crazy with money. He re-signed the old Dirk to a pretty big contract for a 37-38 year old and he would've paid him more, but Dirk opted for a pay cut. Their big FA splashes were adding Harrison Barnes from GSW and re-signing Dwight Powell. Also, they brought in Seth Curry, who started his career of becoming a solid player that year. Dwight made got something along the lines of 11M per year for a few years and who offered him that? Of course the Nets. They also got Harrison Barnes, an RFA from GSW since they had other plans (foreshadows the KD signing), but this set them back badly. Instead of spending this money to help Dirk in a loaded 2017 or 18 FA, they used it on Barnes, who was traded to Sacramento mid-game for Z-Bo, an aged DJ and an injured Wesley Matthews (yay). But, Dallas is lucky since they got Luka so... did they lose this? Of course they did.

Denver Nuggets: The Nuggets did nothing. I mean Mike Miller has some rings? And Darrell Arthur is... well Darrell Arthur but he's alright so A+ for the Nuggets for not doing anything too risky to ruin Jokic or the newly drafted Jamal Murray's career.

Detroit Pistons: Detroit was faced with a conflict at this time. Their up incoming young C Andre Drummond was an RFA and looking for a payday. Their idea was to hope Drummond would want a pay cut and they could land a 3rd star in this FA, but that didn't happen. Drummond was super promising at first, but he just became a one-sided C who was overpaid and the team let him go for barely nothing at the 2020 deadline. He went to LA and is now in Brooklyn. They also decided to pay Jon Leuer 10M a year for 3 years which was a questionable decision to spend your money on.

Golden State Warriors: Well, well, well. Whilst every other team is still feeling the repercussions, Golden State won it out of nowhere. It was a possibility, but totally it wouldn't happen, right? Well, they let Barnes go and as CashNasty would say "You can't finesse a finesser." They didn't get finessed whilst getting the 2nd best player in basketball. When KD left in 2019 to BKN, they got D-Lo back for him as well. They flipped D-Lo to Minny for Wiggs and a pick that became Kuminga, so they still won even after KD left. Golden State at the time were like: The rich get richer, the richer became the richest and the richest became even more rich.

Houston Rockets: After Houston suffered a 1st round exit to GSW and Howard left, they started a new revolutionary era of sharpshooters and Harden. They added Eric Gordon, who they paid 18M at the time which isn't bad, but has now become an awful contract for his poor performances. They also paid Ryan Anderson 20M for a few years which had plagued the team for a while. Whilst Anderson was good, he made too much for an alright PF and it ruined the teams chances at adding a true 3rd star.

Indiana Pacers: As Indiana was still trying to contend with PG, they made very minor additions like Al Jefferson who made a minor impact. But, a few months ago, PG released a statement that said something like: "We were about to get the best PF" and many speculated if it was Blake Griffin or Paul Millsap, but it was sort of revealed to be Anthony Davis himself. This ruined PG's relationship with the team and PG got frustrated enough to request a trade that offseason and left. So in total, Indiana started a new era over that one move of this offseason and once again, the 2016 offseason sucked for everybody.

Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers felt so close, yet so far, to a ring. A big 3 of DJ, CP3 and Balake Griffin would carry you to a chip, right? Wrong, since it showed depth was important and this offseason ruined that for them. They spent all their money on bad contracts which just worked out horribly for them. Wesley Johnson got paid 6M, Jamal Crawford got paid 16M, Austin Rivers got paid 12M, Marresse Speights got paid 7M which combined was 41M of their salary cap which could've been used on a 4th star to get them their first ring.

Los Angeles Lakers: As the Lakers entered a new era as the Black Mamba retired, the team tried to contend with their young core which didn't turn out in anyway of what they imagined. The Lakers started by paying Jordan Clarkson 36M/3 years which was actually pretty good for their backup bucket-getting bench PG, but this was the best and what was to come next will haunt Mitch Kupchak forever. They paid an aging, useless to their team veteran Luol Deng 72M/4 years, Timofey Mozgov (who was a below average C) was paid 64M/4 year and wasted 34M in cap on 2 worthless bums. This prevented them for a while from landing a star in LA like PG or Kawhi and really hurt the team in 2019 as they had LBJ but didn;t have salary to help him out with a co-star. And yes, this team was destined to fail.

Memphis Grizzlies: Memphis fans will probably still remember how bad this FA was for them. On July 7, the Grizzlies acquired the young sharpshooter from the Mavs, Chandler Parsons. And would you be surprised to tell you the Grizz paid him 100M/4 years? Probably not with how this whole FA has gone. Mike Conley re-signed which was good, but on an insane contract of 150M/5 years that made him almost impossible to trade. But, unlike many other teams, Memphis has luckily made it out of that phase and is in a new era of Ja and JJJ, but those days were some of the worst for Grizzlies fans.

Miami Heat: As Miami had lost Wade after 14 years, they went into panic mode. They tried signing everybody and wanted to use every penny of their cap space. They overpaid Hassan Whiteside to stay with them, which has been a horrid contract since where he's made 30M at some points. They then paid Dion Waiters (comment Waiters Island if you see this) 40M/3 years and James Johnson a pretty penny around 64M/4 year. Finally, they paid Tyler Johnson a whopping 76M/4 years which is just crazy for a backup PG. They made some nice additions such as Rodney McGruder or Wayne Ellington for cheap who were nice, but couldn't cope for how much they paid others to join the team. This really hurt Miami as a team and they suffered for years until they finally recovered and have become a more money-savvy team since this experiment that failed.

Milwaukee Bucks: At this time, Milwaukee was a young team on the rise led by this beast named Giannis Antetokounmpo. But that didn't stop them from making a bad signing, by acquiring Mirza Teletovic. Teletovic was paid 40M/4 years and whilst they hoped he could be a sharpshooting bench big to complement Giannis, he was the exact opposite being a bench warmer and taking up 10M in cap space that could have helped Giannis. Other than that, I don't see much wrong from this offseason by taking shots on young guys and adding veterans to accompany Antetokounmpo.

Minnesota Timberwolves: For a rebuilding team, FA can be a make or break to your team's stardom and for Minnesota, they did nothing like a bad team does. But nothing was actually was paying little amounts of money to guys who were worthless. Cole Aldrich (15M/3 years), Jordan Hill (6M/1 year) and Brandon Rush (3M/1 year). In total, it adds up to roughly 14M, which could've been 14 extra million dollars to spend on getting KAT a competent PF that could shoot and defend or used on a bench scorer, which they needed during that 2018 playoffs. They could've also gotten a 3rd star without giving up so much and using this cap space or getting a better PG than Jeff Teague or Kris Dunn. Overall, a rebuilding team that had the 5th pick, somehow lost free agency due to them paying small amounts of money that ultimately change the course of your teams history.

New Orleans Pelicans: At this time, the Pelicans had struck gold as AD was one of the best young players in the league and a very coveted asset. And what did they do to surround AD with talent? Overpay shooters. They gave Solomon Hill 42M/3 years, E'Twaun Moore 39M/3 years and other guys a lot of deals to just lose all cap space possible. Over the next few years, this continued and add in a Demarcus Cousins trade where they gave up 2 solid starters, some picks and their young stair to build with AD, Buddy Hield, and that's how AD requested a trade. This offseason was a crucial stepping stone in showing how dysfunctional this organization had become and why New Orleans will most likely be the next NBA team to relocate.

New York Knicks: I sincerely Knicks fans and I'd skip past this part. Phil Jackson may ring a bell as a fantastic coach but the worse GM ever. He spent a few years in the Big Apple and demolished any good things Knicks fans had or had gotten. They splurged this offseason to add to their big 3 of an injured D-Rose, aging Melo and promising big named Kristaps. They paid Joakim Noah 72M/4 years, Courtney Lee 64M/4 years and Lance Thomas 32M/4 years. I guess their goal here was to get depth which in no way, is this reasonable depth. Phil really set the team back a few years with these awful signings and I think why Jerry Krause wanted to stop at 6 before Phil would ruin Bulls basketball too.

OKC, Philly, Phoenix, Toronto, Sacramento and Utah: I have limited characters left so I bunched teams who didn't do much together. OKC lost KD but they didn't really do anything to counteract it as they used their money in the 2018 offseason to get PG and Melo with Russ. Philly didn't do anything other than paying Jerryd Bayless 36M/4 years but they were able to deal it in a Jimmy Butler deal and the rest of the guys they signed were just young guys who left after a year. Phoenix's bad signing was really just paying Jared Dudley 30M/3 years but hey, he still contributed and was a nice fit between their C and TJ Warren at the 3 as he was a solid shooter for his position and size. Toronto had a big choice on their hands as DeMar was a free agent, but Deebo stayed loyal and re-signed with the team. They also signed FVV for a minimum which was a steal. The Kings made quite a few bad moves paying Matt Barnes 8M/1 year, Arron Afflalo 24M/2 years, Garrett Temple 12M/2 years, Anthony Tolliver 6M/1 year and more just bad contracts to mid players. This was probably the last straw for Boogie as later in the year he'd be traded. In Salt Lake City, it was very quiet as they just signed Joe Johnson to a minimum, which proved to be a useful deal especially with his playoff performance.

Portland Trail Blazers: The Blazers at this time were looking for a LMA replacement as he'd left last offseason and CJ + Dame was becoming an elite backcourt. But, they really fumbled all their cap space signing Evan Turner to 72M/4 year, Festus Ezeli 10M/1 year and were pressured by Brooklyn as they offered their RFAs lots of money, in which Portland accepted all 3. (Crabbe 72M/4 years, Leonard 56M/4 years, Mo Harkless 45M/4 years). This was crucial to the success as lots of money was tied up in other expenses and no wonder players don't like the Blazers organization if this is a usual occurence.

San Antonio Spurs: After the Spurs had an eventful 2015 offseason by signing LaMarcus Aldridge, they added more. They re-signed Manu Ginobili on a good contract for output, David Lee for 7M/1 year and young players who'd develop into solid players like Dewayne Dedmon or Bryn Forbes. But, one player they overspent on was Pau Gasol. Gasol was an All-Star C the year prior but he aged and regressed very quickly and considering San Antonio had agreed to 48M/3 years, that money could've been the deciding factor to a ring or not as they could've used it to upgrade a position and hopefully beat the 2017 Warriors in the WCFs.

Washington Wizards: The Wizards had come off an amazing year led by MVP candidate John Wall and a future superstar Bradley Beal. They spent their cap, instead of getting a 3rd star, to get Ian Mahinmi for 64M/4 years and Jason Smith for 8M/2 years. And this team really is bad and they've now been doing it for years. This was just awful for this team and eventually, Brooklyn forced this team into another RFA scheme with Otto Porter Jr, and this really destroyed any chance of Washington trying to contend with a 3rd star alongside Beal or Wall.

Well, that was a very interesting recap. Teams won (or should I say a singular team won because only 1 team won), some teams did solid, some teams did nothing and 80% of teams lost or did something detrimental to their roster. Thank you for reading this and Waiters Island (IYKYK). Bye!

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