NBA Free Agency 2012: One Glaring Weakness of Each Top Agent

With the outpouring of love and insane bargaining of fanbases to get top free agents to join their teams, you sometimes forget that these are not perfect players. 

Front office can spend months pining over a particular player. They crave him so badly that they force out the negatives in his game and think only of the great addition he could make.

You see it every year with almost every player. 

This year's free-agent class is no different than those of years past. This whole phenomenon has been blown even more out of proportion because of the lack of top-tier talent available this summer. Decent free agents are being as highly sought after as truly great players have been in previous seasons. 

This is a reality check for everyone: Despite what our minds are trying to trick us into believing, the free agents available this summer are not perfect.

They each have at least one glaring weakness. This is an important thing to consider prior to the July 11th field day.

Deron Williams

Deron Williams has to be included in every conversation about the top point guards in the game. He is a star who has been stuck on an uncompetitive team for the past two seasons.

Williams, who announced via Twitter that he would be rejoining the Brooklyn Nets, was the top unrestricted free agent on the market. His re-signing had a lot to do with the big trade Brooklyn made to bring in Atlanta Hawks star Joe Johnson. 

Williams' game doesn't have a true weakness. He is one of the most talented all-around guards in the NBA. Since 2006, he has not finished a season averaging less than 16 points and nine assists per game.

His most glaring weakness actually has little to do with him.

I am worried that Williams may have forgotten how to play with someone of Johnson's caliber. Together they have the potential to be the best backcourt in basketball, but Williams just went through a season with Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries as secondary scorers.

How Williams is able to mesh again with a second premier scorer should be interesting. 

Ray Allen

Ray Allen is a prime example of what happens to the perception of a decent player when a weaker free-agent class comes through.

When and how did Allen become the most desirable free agent of this summer?

This is a soon-to-be 37-year-old shooting guard who missed 22 games last season due to bad ankles. A legendary shooter, no doubt, but there is no reason Ray Allen should be this desirable in 2012. 

Late Friday night it was reported by Brian Windhorst of ESPN that Allen had chosen to sign with the Miami Heat. For everything the Heat will benefit from—stellar three-point shooting and perhaps a few clutch bombs—they will risk with Allen's glaring age and injury risks.

While he missed just seven combined games the three previous years in Boston, there is zero assurance that his current ankle issues will not linger as he continues living in the twilight of his career. 

Kevin Garnett

After mulling a possible retirement, Kevin Garnett has apparently opted to return to the NBA for another run at a second title. 

Unfortunately for the rest of the league, there was never much doubt that if he were to return, it would be to Boston. However, the Celtics' re-signing their defensive leader was not a 100-percent hit.

Garnett comes with a certain risk. 

While he experienced a sort of renaissance the second half of last season, that does not change the fact that he missed significant time in each recent year. He can deny age as much as he wants in interviews, but at 36 a NBA center is on his last legs.

According to sources, Garnett will sign a three-year, $34 million deal with the Celtics. That is great for next season, especially considering the massive pay cut he will take from last season.

However, do you want to be paying a 39-year-old Kevin Garnett $11 million? 

Jason Terry

Jason Terry has deservedly received a lot of praise over the past few years as he became a dynamic bench scorer for Dallas.

However, he will be 35 years old before next season and offers very little to a team outside of volume scoring.

It was reported recently by The Boston Globe that Terry has reached an agreement with the Celtics to play in Boston next season.

As a Maverick Terry was playing 32 minutes per game and putting up more than 13 shots a night. Terry was shooting just 43 percent from the field last season but still managed 15 points per game.

The glaring weakness of Terry is playing in a system in which he won't get 30-plus minutes and 13-15 shots per game. If those numbers shrink and his percentages stay the same, he is a below-average NBA player.

Especially when you consider the lack of anything else he can give you on a basketball court.

Andre Miller

From 2000 through 2010, Andre Miller started all but 17 of the games in which he played. Last season he came off the bench in all but seven. 

The glaring weakness in Miller's game lies in his stubbornness to accept a diminished role. At 36 years old, he still views himself as a starting point guard in the NBA. The issue is that the NBA doesn't agree with that assessment. 

While he is still a talented distributor, NBA teams are not looking for aging, pass-first guards to start. The league, in particular the point guard position, is traveling at warp speed into an era of young, fast combo guards running the point. 

If Miller cannot accept the fact that he is a quality backup, mid-season problems are going to continue to arise.

And nothing can derail a team more than a veteran leader making a stink about starting.

Steve Nash

Imagine not knowing who Steve Nash was. Would it make sense that multiple NBA teams were falling over themselves for the chance to sign a 38-year-old point guard who just submitted one of his worst statistical seasons in 12 years?

It probably wouldn't make much sense. However, knowing that player is a two-time league MVP makes it more reasonable. 

That first part still exists, though.

No matter how many teams envision Nash's pass-first, run-and-gun style catapulting them into contention, he is not perfect and has pretty glaring flaws.

The most eye-popping weakness is his defense, which has never been good or even above average. Nash is 38, and his defense is only getting worse.

Recently it was reported by ESPN's Mark Stein that Nash would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers. He will be paired with a 34-year-old Kobe Bryant to create one of the more ancient backcourts in the league. 

Eric Gordon

When healthy, Eric Gordon is one of the most automatic 20-points-per-game scorers in the NBA. He has all the physical tools and scoring skills to be Dwyane Wade.

However, the only part of that previous paragraph that matters is "when healthy."

Gordon reportedly wants out of New Orleans (h/t The (La.) Times Picayune) and may have agreed to terms with Phoenix. The Hornets will get a chance to match the Suns' offer, though.

Whoever winds up with the young shooting guard will always have the worry of injury on their minds. In his sophomore and junior NBA seasons, the Indiana product missed a combined 46 games.

Then came last year's disaster, in which he saw action for the Hornets in only nine sporadic games. 

All of Gordon's talent is for naught if he cannot manage to stay on the court.

That is his glaring weakness.

Brook Lopez

Coming off a breakout sophomore year in 2009-10, much was expected out of Brook Lopez. Unfortunately he followed that up with a so-so junior season and then missed nearly the entirety of this past year. 

It is tough to put a finger on just what Lopez's biggest weakness is. He has all the tools and outstanding size and should seemingly just be better.

Yes, he has the injury concern, as his feet have given him trouble for two years now, but that isn't it. 

What concerns me most is that for a player of his size and physical nature, he should be a better rebounder. NBA 7-footers who log as many minutes as Lopez should be able to rebound consistently. Lopez managed under six rebounds per game two years ago. In just five games last season, he grabbed only 18 boards.

Brook Lopez's glaring weakness is his lack of rebounding prowess, especially given his height and time on the court. 

Roy Hibbert

One of the players most deserving of the levels of attention they are receiving this offseason is Roy Hibbert.

He had a breakout year this past season and, given the premium placed on height in the NBA, may actually be worth the money he will command. 

However, as during his time at Georgetown, flaws remain in Hibbert's game. The same things that caused him to fall out of the lottery 2008 are the things giving pause right now. 

Looking at his impressive final statistics doesn't tell the story of how inconsistent the 25-year-old is offensively. Scanning briefly over a game log, you are treated to almost as many four-, five- and seven-point totals as you are 15, 18, 23 marks. 

While he came close, Hibbert didn't shoot 50 percent from the field this past season, as he has failed to do in each of his first four years.

For a player of his size and physicality, that number should be higher, which would make him a 18-and-10 player instead of a 12-and-10 player. 

Brandon Roy

I won't spend much of your time discussing the glaring weakness of Brandon Roy's game. When the words "degenerative" and "knees" are combined into many sentences about players, things are fairly self-explanatory. 

Roy was an All-Star prior to his retirement from the game after just five seasons. Those seasons were riddled with injury, though, especially the last couple, in which he missed a combined 52 games. 

Roy's comeback could be very short lived, even in a reserve role in Minnesota.

Nicolas Batum

Often a player's inability to create his own shot can be misconstrued as a lack of aggressiveness. While not unrelated, these are often two separate parts of a player's game.

With Nicolas Batum, I feel his inability to create his own shot is a weakness that leads to a lack of aggression.

Selfish, ball-controlling players find it easy to be aggressive because it is easy to look aggressive shooting or driving.

Since they always have the ball, they can emit that image.

Batum is different and lacks the isolation skills necessary in the NBA, especially at the small-forward position. This is a weakness that can be exposed simply by defenses, and that makes it a glaring issue. 

Fortunately, on Friday it was reported by ESPN.com that Batum agreed to a preliminary deal with the Timberwolves. This could be the perfect spot for Batum, playing with a great distributor in Ricky Rubio and an actual power 4 in Kevin Love.

He is a restricted free agent, though.

Goran Dragic

Goran Dragic's numbers as a starter in the NBA are phenomenal. He averages 18 points and eight assists per game in a starting role. However, those numbers are averaged out from the only 36 starts he has made in his five-year NBA career.

He filled the role for Houston outstandingly when Kyle Lowry went down last season, but it remains to be seen if he can withstand an entire year's worth of starting at the point-guard spot.

His glaring weakness is his inexperience with the position and role. 

Recently it was Tweeted by ESPN's Marc Stein that he came to a preliminary agreement with the Phoenix Suns. If he mans the starting PG spot there for an entire season, we will know a lot more.

For now, though, his lack of a track record could hurt him.

Ersan Ilyasova

Ersan Ilyasova experienced somewhat of a breakout year last season with numerous mind-blowing statistical games. 

However, like I stated earlier, teams can't become enamored with a few guys or just potential. Ilyasova may have a ceiling that is a lot lower than some may hope. He is undoubtedly a rebounding machine, but his biggest weakness is the versatility of his offense.

Ilyasova has improved only slightly offensively given his recent uptick in playing time.

He must develop some more low-post moves if he wants to become a star in this league.

Gerald Wallace

It will forever be a mystery to me why Gerald Wallace is always so desirable to teams. He has played on three teams the past two years and always seems to disappoint more than impress.

Wallace can put up solid stats for any team, given enough court time. He is not a star, though. Teams seem to value him far too highly for a player that, in my opinion, is a dime a dozen in the NBA. 

Wallace has always been a versatile player, but his offense has always been a little suspect. He is an 11-year veteran of the league, so it is hard to say he will still improve. Instead, realize that he hasn't shot near 50 percent from the field since 2006.

His biggest weakness is that teams mistake his abilities for what he actually is. 

O.J. Mayo

When the Memphis Grizzlies did not extend a qualifying offer to O.J. Mayo, he became an unrestricted free agent. 

Like Wallace, Mayo seemed to be miscast early on in his career. Mayo entered the NBA during the time a host of hyper-athletic, high-flying wings were starting out. The USC guard was tossed into that group, but in reality he isn't that type of player. 

His biggest weakness is his lack of athleticism at a position that is dominated by that trait. In 2010 Mayo was relegated to a reserve role in Memphis and has been on his way out since then. 

For a player his size, he does not get to the rim and finish enough. The NBA today makes it very hard for young players to develop into Paul Pierces or Manu Ginobilis.

Teams crave athleticism from young guards, and Mayo isn't that player.