Realistic Expectations for NBA Players Returning to Former Teams in 2014-15

One of the underrated narratives of the 2014 NBA offseason lay in the sheer number of free agents who wound up rejoining their former teams after years-long detours.

The most obvious example, of course, was LeBron James, whose prodigal return to the Cleveland Cavaliers single-handedly upended the Eastern Conference power structure—to say nothing of the league itself.

But James’ shocking decision only scratches the surface of the manifold instances of Association staples who shunned yet another plunge into the NBA unknown for a foray into the familiar.

Today, we’ll look at seven such players to parse out exactly what we should expect from them heading into the 2014-15 campaign.

How will they fit into the rotation? Has the team improved since their departure, or are they now a part of an arduous rebuilding project? How will fans take to their respective returns?

Thomas Wolfe once said, “You can’t go home again.” Well, that was the name of the book. Anyway, apparently it’s not true.

Steve Blake, Portland Trail Blazers

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Steve Blake has always been a point guard who relied more on wits and wherewithal than otherworldly talent. Which is why, in the wake of undoubtedly the worst season of his 11-year career, Blake—now 33 and dangerously close to flat-out obsolescence after a forgettable stint with the Golden State Warriors—somehow managed to sniff out the best basketball situation possible.

To say the Portland Trail Blazers’ bench is bad would be an understatement. In fact, according to HoopsStats.com, the Blazers have finished at the bottom of the league (in terms of pure point production) for two years running.

Still, Damian Lillard can’t exactly be expected to log all 3,396 minutes. Enter Blake, whose brand of heady, steady floor-generalship can help accentuate the more incendiary talents of second-year man C.J. McCollum, veteran sharpshooter Dorell Wright and the rest of Portland’s ragtag reserves.

It’s a far cry from where Blake was six short years ago, when the former Maryland standout was starting 78 of Portland’s 82 games alongside seemingly surefire up-and-comers Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden. But Blake’s Rip City refrain not only affords the aging point guard one last spin with a contender; it gives Portland an affordable backup option ahead of what will no doubt be a crucial summer in 2015.

Brandon Rush, Golden State Warriors

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Homecoming stories are fun. But a homecoming story that’s also a redemption story? I, for one, am already crying.

Two years ago, Brandon Rush—then a member of the Golden State Warriors—had emerged as one of the deadliest three-point marksmen in the league. And while he’d spent most of his career as a skill-specific reserve, that skill all but guaranteed Rush a long and fruitful NBA career.

Then, just three games into the 2012-13 season, disaster struck in the form of a torn ACL in Rush’s left knee—the end result of an awkward landing in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. But while Rush would eventually return to the league the following season, his one-year stint with the lowly Utah Jazz was the definition of "forgettable."

Luckily, the Warriors hadn’t forgetten just how valuable Rush’s brand of floor spacing could be. On July 22, Rush inked a two-year, $3 million deal to return to the Bay Area.

Playing under first-year head coach Steve Kerr, Rush could prove a potent backup for fourth-year rising star Klay Thompson—the perfect sharpshooting analog to allow the triangle proponent to maintain some semblance of offensive continuity between units.

It’s become something like gospel to say it takes two years to fully recover from a knee injury. Rush was never one to rely much on his athleticism, which should bode well in his fight to return to the ranks of the NBA’s three-point shooting elite.

Omri Casspi, Sacramento Kings

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For many, returning to a former NBA team is a matter of straight economics. For Omri Casspi, it’s more than a little personal.

Selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 Draft, Casspi became the first Israeli-born player ever to suit up in an NBA game. Now, after a three-year detour that included stints with the post-LeBron Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets, Casspi—recently waived following a trade to the New Orleans Pelicans—stands to be an important piece of the Kings’ ever-evolving puzzle.

At just 26 years old, Casspi still has plenty to offer his former and current team. Whether Casspi can crack the rotation ahead of former No. 2 pick Derrick Williams, however, remains to be seen.

Key to Casspi’s resurgence will be whether the rangy small forward can recapture a more consistent three-point stroke—an area in which Casspi has steadily declined since the 2011-12 season.

For a team that finished a putrid 27th in three-point shooting a season ago, Casspi’s resurgence will be critical. Not to mention a huge boon to his role as bona fide global ambassador for the NBA.

Trevor Ariza, Houston Rockets

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Whether or not you believe in the strategic sanctity of “three-and-D” players, this fact at least is difficult to deny: Trevor Ariza is a pretty good one.

It wasn’t always this way; in fact, Ariza didn’t even crack the 30-percent mark until his fourth year, back in 2008-09. But after a breakout year in which the spindly swingman hit on a career-high 40 percent from distance, Ariza entered the offseason with potential suitors aplenty—an attractive consolation prize for the many teams looking to wedge their way into the LeBron and Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes.

In the end, Ariza opted to return to the Houston Rockets, leaving behind an up-and-coming Washington Wizards squad for a more proven basketball product. That blossoming swingman Chandler Parsons had already bolted the Rockets for greener pastures (and a greener payday) with the Dallas Mavericks certainly didn’t hurt.

Barring some kind of miracle ascension from one of Houston’s phalanx of small forwards, Ariza is the clear front-runner to eat up a lion’s share of the 3-spot minutes. And while he’s not quite the playmaker Parsons was, Ariza’s defensive versatility should pay big and immediate dividends to a team that’s struggled to contain opponents on the perimeter.

Now entering his 11th NBA season, it’s hard to imagine Ariza making anything more than marginal productive leaps from here on out. All the same, his skill set fits perfectly into what the Rockets want to do, namely: give James Harden and Dwight Howard the ball as often as possible.

Tyson Chandler, Dallas Mavericks

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Tyson Chandler’s role in the Dallas Mavericks’ monumental upset of the Miami Heat in the 2011 Finals has by now become the stuff of NBA legend. Put simply: Without Chandler’s unrivaled rim protection, the Mavericks wouldn’t have stood a snowball’s chance in hell of stopping Miami’s rim-pounding attack.

Three years later, Chandler is back with the Mavs, rounding out a roster looking to make good on Dirk Nowitzki’s last few years as a top-tier talent.

The key part of that last sentence: three years later. Indeed, Chandler’s health and athleticism have deteriorated somewhat in recent seasons, no doubt a product of the outsized burden of cleaning up many a defensive mess with the New York Knicks.

Still, Rick Carlisle seems positively tickled about the prospect of having his old warhorse back in the fold.

“He’s one of the most popular one-year players in the history of any franchise,” Carlisle, speaking to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Dwain Price. “A couple of speaking engagements the last few weeks, I just got up and the first thing I said was, ‘Tyson Chandler is back with the Mavericks’—and everybody stands up and goes crazy. He’s the kind of guy you can’t help but love to watch because of his approach, his enthusiasm. He’s a winner.”

It’s impossible not to see Chandler as a significant upgrade over Samuel Dalembert, whom the Knicks acquired along with Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington and Shane Larkin in a pre-draft deal that also sent Raymond Felton to the Mavs.

As long as he stays healthy, Chandler remains one of the league’s elite rim protectors. Not to mention a paragon of offensive efficiency (three-foot range be damned).

Arron Afflalo, Denver Nuggets

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NBA career arcs can be tricky things. Luckily for Arron Afflalo, his has yet to crest.

Coming off undoubtedly his best season as a pro, Afflalo opted to leave the young Orlando Magic for the more proven Denver Nuggets, the team with whom the blossoming scorer and defensive specialist first broke out.

The timing couldn’t be better for the Nuggets, who have struggled mightily to find something resembling a consistent two-way presence on the perimeter. Afflalo provides that in spades: He's a lockdown defender whose ever-evolving offensive repertoire gives Brian Shaw a much-needed late-shot-clock option.

Still, given Afflalo’s impending $7.5 million player option next summer, some, including Sports On Earth’s Michael Pina, have questioned whether or not trading for the Swiss Army Knife swingman actually suggests a viable long-term plan:

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Denver exchanged Evan Fournier (cheap, improving and European cool) and Roy Devyn Marble for Afflalo, an above-average off guard in his prime who functions at both ends and is currently underpaid (but eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer). In a vacuum, the Nuggets committed highway robbery here, but within the context of excavating a path to the top, it's tough to see how this move fits into Denver's plan. Maybe it's evidence that they don't have one.

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Not that there isn’t a far rosier view to be had here. Buoyed by the return of Danilo Gallinari and bolstered by the high-energy talents of Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried, the Nuggets have a legitimate shot at exorcising last year’s disappointing 36-win campaign. And Afflalo—who has steadily emerged as one of the NBA’s foremost two-way forces—stands to figure heavily into that equation.

Afflalo proved last season he has the talent to be a serviceable No. 1 option. What Denver gives him, however, is a chance to let the game come to him, all while using his peerless perimeter defense to spark what could be one of the NBA’s most exciting transition attacks.

LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

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When you’re talking about the most gifted basketball player on the planet, “expectations” is a tricky word. We “expect” LeBron to continue being the most gifted basketball player on the planet until he decides he doesn’t want to be that anymore. That’s it. That’s the expectation.

But lest we lose sight of the greater narrative here, a quick reminder: LeBron James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers—the team that drafted and reared him and in many ways made him the monster of the hardwood he is today—and that is awesome.

If the Cavaliers weren’t the clear-cut favorites to win the NBA championship heading into training camp, they might well be by the midway point in the season. If not sooner. The reasons are all too obvious: Buttressed by the game’s most formidable trio (James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love) and marshaled by the singular basketball genius of new head coach David Blatt, Cleveland has all the makings of an offensive juggernaut in waiting—a team that could literally rewrite the modern record books.

At the center of it all, once again, is LeBron himself, who will look to not only recapture the MVP crown from upstart usurper Kevin Durant but capture a legacy-defining third championship as well. Many more, if all breaks right.