Signings & Such (cont)

Miss a coupla days and the stories pile up quick then disappear forever.

Aldridge (Spurs): 4 yrs/$80m, West (Spurs): 1yr/$1.5m, Ginobli (Spurs) (terms undisclosed, I assume its 1 year, something like $6-8m). Kawhi and Aldridge locked up for the future, held on to Green and Ginobli, add in West for a song. Wow. A pretty good off-season for an aging team that didn't even get out of the 1st round. Who's gonna beat this team? The Clippers? The Warriors? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? Lawdy. (Pre-pre-pre-season pick: Spurs over Cavs)

Lou Williams (Lakers): 3yrs/$21m, Brandon Bass (Lakers): yrs/$ undisclosed, Roy Hibbert to the Lakers. The Lakers were so bad last year that just adding anyone is an upgrade. In comes rim protection, D and rebounding down low and scoring off the bench. Teams need those things, the Lakers need those things so its hard to say that the Lakers haven't improved somewhat. But even these guys are tradebait for later on (someone's gonna be desperate for a shotblocker at the trade deadline, Lakers might be able to steal a 1st rd pick for Hibbert). No one wants to talk shit about the toys while they're still under the tree...but the Kobe swansong season is not setting up to be a playoff run.

Barea (Mavs): 2yrs/$5.6m. The Mavs needed more PGs and they still do.

Gasol (Grizzlies): 5yrs/$110m. Anything short of the absolute most amount of money agreed to as soon as Gasol could get a pen in his fingers would've been awkward and uncomfortable for all of us. This one's a cockle-warmer.

Bjelica (Wolves): 3yrs/$12m. Seems like a bargain for a top quality veteran PG. Curious to see how the Rubio/Bjelica/Jones dynamic develops. Wolves are high on my League Pass meter right now (I dig the young talent-rich squads).

Stuckey (Pacers): 3yrs/$21m. Most underrated player in the league last year. Pacers did well to get him at a good deal.

Koufos (Kings): 4yrs/$33m, Caspi (Kings): 2yrs/$6m. The Kings are the Kings, thus it is their fate to overpay even the mediocre free agents. I like Koufos as much as the next guy but I'm not sure I'm ready for the $8m/per portion of his career. Also, not sure I understand the fascination with Caspi, perfectly serviceable journeyman off the bench, can score a little, not turnover prone, seems like a team player. But is he the kind of guy you really just need to have around? I dunno. Maybe there's more to it than his stats.

Joseph (Raptors): 4yrs/$30m; Biyombo (Raptors) (didn't find the details). Toronto, too, has moved into an overpayer this summer. Too bad, last year everything was on the up swing, now everything looks on the down (Vasquez, Johnson, Lou Will already gone, expect more to go). But now that they're a low expectations team, they can sneak up on people again, might be just the ticket to get them going in the playoffs. Biyombo is a pretty terrible player, not rant-worthy but beyond long legs doesn't much else a basketball player needs. I like Cory Joseph, could be an exciting young player but $7.5m/per seems a bit rich for a dude that's never really played. But when you're inviting people on to a sinking ship, I guess you need to sweeten the deal.

O'Quinn (Knicks): 4yrs/$16m. (Actually an s&t with the Magic getting cash and a 2nd rd pick swap in 2016, seems like the Magic could've gotten more back, that's a pretty good contract, wonder why they let the Knicks have him) I like O'Quinn, not a starter this year but a reliable bench minutes big guy. I think that's a very reasonable contract for O'Quinn and the Knicks didn't have to give up anything to get him (a 2nd rd pick swap? How is that even a thing?). NYK is working the risk/reward factor very well so far.

Evans (Mavs): 2yrs/league minimum ($4m for 2 years?). Bench guy, young, cheap, if he works hard he'll get some playing time.

Jackson (Pistons): 5yrs/$80m. I was wondering when this was gonna happen, thought it was a day 1 kinda move, guess the Pistons needed to get ducks in rows and whatnot. This is more money than I would give Reggie Jax, especially since its no guarantee that he and Jennings can play together. But Stan Van is in overpay mode, lucky for Reggie to be on the good side of that deal. I'd like to think that Stan Van is going somewhere with all these moves but I don't see them getting closer to the 8th spot in the East (though probably not any further away).

Jason Kidd is NOT the GM in Milwaukee. It took precisely one year for that story to begin. Can't wait to see where this story is by next summer. You'd think the fates of Kidd and the current GM (uhhh.....uhhhhh) would be intertwined, such that promotions/firings would come in tandem but perhaps there's enough daylight between them to shake them up. We'll see.