NBA free agency is considered one of the most exciting times of the year for the sport. Whether it's your favorite player tweeting out emoji eyes and sending your team's fan base into a frenzy (Isaiah Thomas with the Celtics), or players getting into an emoji war for a big time caliber player proves that this is a fun and wild time if you're an NBA fan. Now that free agency has settled down, we can look at moves that we feel are good for teams and also bad. You could read this article to hear what mine are OR you can also listen to this amazing and wonderful podcast that you should share with your friends too https://soundcloud.com/user-313357147/3-point-play.... This is a podcast I am starting up with a couple friends of mine and would really love for you to listen and share this on your social media as well. In the meantime after or even before you listen to the podcast, here are my good and bad signings of the NBA free agency.
One good/big signing that I liked this offseason was (obviously Hayward but I won't be that predictable with you), is the Toronto Raptors signing Kyle Lowery to a 3 year $100 million deal. I like this Lowery deal because as stated in this podcast https://soundcloud.com/user-313357147/3-point-play..., I feel like it keeps the Raptors relevant in the weak Eastern Conference. When healthy, Lowery was one of the better point guards in the league. Even though he only played 60 games he averaged 22.4 points per game while shooting 46.4% from the field along with 41.2 % from 3. He is also a key factor for their offense too because, without him, the Raptors’ offensive rating drops from 116.3 to 106.9 with Lowry off the court, per Basketball Reference, and their defensive efficiency slips as well. Overall, Toronto is a staggering 12.7 points per 100 possessions better when Lowry is on the floor. By keeping Lowery, they won't have to worry about these issues anymore because teams have to watch out for him. Plus, it allows him to let DeRozen thrive in the midrange instead of doing all the scoring since shooting 3's is not his strength. With the East being so weak this year with all the star players essentially moving west, the Raptors keep their main core in tact for next season. While they may have finished 4th in the east, the conference has gotten worse this year so they may be able to even move up or stay at the same spot which will be great for them and work in the playoffs. For that, that is why I like the Lowery signing for the Raptors.
For the signing I don't like, is the Pacers giving Bojan Bogdanovic a 2 year $21 million deal. I don't like this signing because I just don't know the direction this team is going and bringing in Bogdanovic as a starter just makes no sense to me. This team messed up first when they traded super star Paul George away for Victor Oladipo and Dontas Sabonis who are an average overpaid shooting guard and a prospect player. That return just does not leave the Pacers in a good spot to rebuild because those aren't exactly great pieces to rebuild around. However, if the Pacers took the Celtics rumored offer of Jae Crowder, either Avery Bradley or Marcus Smart along with a few first round draft picks, then I wouldn't have a problem with the signing. If they took that offer, the team would be much much better off for a rebuild and Bogdanovic would be a great bench piece. But having him come in and be a starter for your team that is directionless is just a bad move and I feel like Pacers fans will be disappointed with it. Bogdanovic has been a career bench role player averaging around 25 minutes and shooting 44% while scoring 11.3 points per game. We don't know how he will handle starters minutes but seeing what his stats are as a bench player, you can't expect much better since he may not do well with all those minutes. For a rebuilding team, this signing does not seem to make so much sense and giving him all that money is just something I'm not crazy about either.
There are many other great and big signings during this NBA off season that we can all discuss, but these two were ones that stood out to me but if you'd want to hear other thoughts on free agency, take a listen to this podcast https://soundcloud.com/user-313357147/3-point-play... and as stated before, make sure to share the podcast too.