Even in the summer, Warriors are NBA kings
WITH COUSINS ON BOARD, CHAMPS LOOK FRIGHTENING AS EVER AFTER WILD JULY
It should be clear yet again, following a frantic July, that NBA free agency continues to be a breathless sport unto itself. Let’s take stock of the frenzy we just witnessed with a look at some of the standout developments from the past month:
The Golden State Warriors were supposed to romp to the NBA title in June — they were not supposed to win July, too. But they just did.
Golden State’s one-year gamble on DeMarcus Cousins prompted as much (or maybe more) fawning as the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James coup, causing the gap between the two-time defending champions and the rest of the West to seemingly widen.
On top of that, Warriors coach Steve Kerr committed to a multi-year contract extension, and unheralded forward Jonas Jerebko looks like one of the shrewdest signings no one’s talking about. The rich did get richer.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are the obvious choice as the biggest losers after LeBron’s second career departure from northeast Ohio, but July’s withering heat wasn’t any more hospitable to the San Antonio Spurs — even if you agree with those who say San Antonio did the best it could in an awful situation.
The Spurs largely chose to avoid big-ticket free agency for more than a decade after their failed pursuit of the Nets’ Jason Kidd in the summer of 2003. They re-entered the marketplace with a flourish in 2015 by signing all-star forward LaMarcus Aldridge away from Portland, but the following summer was bad — San Antonio was only on the fringes of the Kevin Durant chase in July 2016 — and this summer was a certifiable crusher.
When the Spurs won it all in 2014, led by the finals’ Most Valuable Player, Kawhi Leonard, they certainly never imagined being forced to trade the disgruntled Leonard just four short years later — with one all-star (DeMar DeRozan), one intriguing but unspectacular prospect (Jakob Poeltl) and draft compensation that will fall well outside the lottery adding up to the best package they could get in return.
Jilted San Antonio fans will undoubtedly try to convince themselves that the home team earned a measure of consolation by exiling Leonard to Canada for a season before he becomes a free agent in July 2019. But the Spurs, for so long synonymous with uncommon stability, are feeling spurned like never before.
Consider this: If Manu Ginóbili retires at age 41, instead of returning for his 17th season, coach Gregg Popovich will be the only franchise pillar left from the Spurs’ last championship squad. Tim Duncan retired in 2016. Tony Parker signed with Charlotte. Let’s hope Ginóbili plays on for one more season so he and Popovich can nurse each other through the shock of all this change.
The Boston Celtics, who are getting Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving back from injury after falling just one game short of the NBA Finals without them, still possess a vast array of trade assets and just watched LeBron exit the Eastern Conference after James’ teams made eight straight trips to the finals. When you add it all up, Boston might have had the strongest case to be declared our July champions over the Warriors — until the rival Raptors traded for Leonard.
What was billed as perhaps the most consequential summer in Philadelphia 76ers history fell far short of expectations. The 76ers didn’t get much of a sniff in the LeBron Sweepstakes, couldn’t swing a trade for Leonard or tempt Paul George to leave Oklahoma City, and still haven’t filled their general manager vacancy after an audacious bid to hire Daryl Morey away from the Houston Rockets.
The best the Sixers could do, while Toronto was beating them to Leonard, was re-sign sharpshooter J.J. Redick and trade for Denver forward Wilson Chandler. Even in the deeply diminished Eastern Conference, Philly can no longer count on a favourable path to the conference finals because of the Raptors’ potential ceiling with Kawhi. The Sixers will have to hope they can capitalize on the future flexibility they’ve maintained — and that 2017’s No. 1 overall pick, Markelle Fultz, has a big bounce-back season in store.
Houston’s July was far better than advertised. Defensive aces Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute both departed, but the Rockets re-signed Clint Capela on a team-friendly new contract and are set up to get more out of Carmelo Anthony than any team in the league. The Rockets’ bargain signings (Michael CarterWilliams and James Ennis) make sense, too.
So Houston can’t claim to have gained ground on Golden State, but I differ strongly with my colleagues who put them in the Losers of July club. I’d also caution that Morey is not done manoeuvring.
The Oklahoma City Thunder did it. They persuaded George to choose The Sooner State over his hometown Lakers — after persuading Russell Westbrook to make a long-term commitment to unfashionable OKC last summer — and then found a way to shed Anthony’s contract and replace Melo with an intriguing (if combustible) backcourt contributor in Dennis Schröder.
Let’s face it: Toronto’s trade for Leonard was clearly inspired by the Thunder’s willingness to gamble on a July 2017 deal for the free agent-to-be George without any assurances they could keep the all-star forward from walking away this summer without compensation. Do you understand what that means? The Thunder, folks, are suddenly trendsetters.
The Lakers followed up their LeBron triumph by handing out one-year deals to Kentavious CaldwellPope, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley. King James won’t win a championship next season with that sort of supporting cast, but he seems fine with the eclectic mix around him.
Which does make some sense given the Lakers still boast a number of intriguing youngsters on the roster to either develop or deal (namely Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Lonzo Ball) while maintaining financial flexibility for the looming free-agent bonanza in 2019. Rest assured, in the meantime, Hollywood’s team will be irresistibly entertaining with all those characters.
New York Knicks fans dreaming of a Durant signing next summer are hereby forewarned: It’s not inconceivable he may make Madison Square Garden home someday, but it’s extremely difficult to imagine the Silicon Valley-loving Durant doing so without playing at least one season in the Warriors’ new Chase Center palace in San Francisco, which doesn’t open until the 201920 campaign.
Two situations to monitor more closely in terms of potential big-name defections: Will Boston feel the need to trade Irving before he can become a free agent next summer? And will Portland persist with the starry but stagnant backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum — or trade one of them to aggressively remake the roster?
The free-agent action was intoxicating, despite the rash of one-year deals in a generally tight marketplace and even though the overall business did little to unsettle the team in the Bay Area that has won three championships in the last four seasons.
We can thus make the following declaration with zero hesitation: August won’t be nearly as fun.