7 Burning Questions That Demand Answers During the 2015 NBA Offseason
At the end of every NBA free-agency bender, there is always a brief lull, followed almost instantaneously by the realization that there are still pressing questions to answer.
These questions can pertain to anything. Possible trades, free agency, depth charts, social-media emoticons—anything.
Many of these issues needn't be solved overnight. Most of them must be cleared up before the 2015-16 campaign tips off.
All of them are urgent—popular questions plucked straight from the most popular storylines that cannot afford to leak into next season.
This is an important distinction. We care not for potential playoff seeds and the winners and losers of the 2015 offseason thus far. The topics under review are more specific and either can't or shouldn't remain at the forefront of a team's to-tackle list much longer.
With the height of free agency only just winding down and its aftermath still gradually setting in, there aren't a ton of developments to dissect. More will arise as the offseason soldiers on.
There are already, however, enough high-priority issues for us to justify sporting our thinking caps.
Let's brainstorm.
Will Both DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl Survive Sacramento's Offseason?
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It's never good when a team's vice president describes the relationship between franchise cornerstone and head coach as "not pretty."
Kings vice president Vlade Divac all but sounded the alarm on the growing tension between DeMarcus Cousins and head coach George Karl while making an appearance on CBS Sports Radio's The Jim Rome Show.
"Well, I'll be honest with you, it's not pretty right now," he admitted, per CBS Sports' Matt Moore. “I'm focused on bringing a better team this year, and I think I did a pretty good job in this free agency, and now I will be focused on the two of them."
What could go wrong, right?
Cousins' camp was apparently resistant to the Kings hiring Karl in the first place, according to USA Today's Sam Amick. Just ahead of the draft, meanwhile, CBS Sports' Ken Berger brought word that Karl wanted to flip Cousins for Kenneth Faried and Ty Lawson.
There's clearly something wrong here, even if the rumor mill has gone relatively silent. It's on Divac to smooth things over, otherwise he'll have some ties to sever.
"If somebody is going to make a decision, I'm going to make the decision," he said, per Moore. "So I want to keep them both here for now."
For now.
Sounds promising.
On a totally unrelated note: Sacramento Kings fans might want to make sure there aren't any sharp or breakable objects around them for the rest of the summer.
Are the Celtics Plotting Something Big or Just in Love with Guards?
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Is there such a thing as too many guards?
If there is, no one tell the Boston Celtics.
Somehow, they need to account for Avery Bradley, R.J. Hunter, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, Evan Turner and James Young in their backcourt rotation. At 6'7", Turner can play some small forward, but that's about all the wiggle room head coach Brad Stevens possesses—unless he's feeling spunky and decides to slot Hunter (6'5") or Young (6'6") at the 3.
This logjam isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Celtics still project as Eastern Conference playoff contenders after keeping Jae Crowder and Jonas Jerebko and bringing in Amir Johnson and David Lee.
Plus, they're asset-hoarders. Stockpiling prospects and picks is their business. Thanks to team president Danny Ainge, they could have as many as four first-rounders next summer.
Amassing assets is typically part of a grander plan, though. Prospects, picks and cheaply priced talent (Bradley, Thomas, etc.) can be condensed into a franchise centerpiece or two, and we already know the Celtics aren't afraid to throw their weight around.
Ainge dangled six picks, including four first-rounders, in an attempt to creep into the top 10 of this year's draft, according to ESPN Boston's Chris Forsberg. The Celtics also figured prominently into the Cousins sweepstakes and, per Greg Dickerson of CSNNE.com, are going to keep pushing the Kings on that front.
And if it's not Cousins the Celtics are chasing, chances are it's some other big name—any marquee talent who might be able to be pried out of his current digs for the right bounty.
That, or the Celtics just have a guard fetish.
We should know for sure before next season.
Whom Can the Cavaliers Get for Brendan Haywood?
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Championship runner-ups aren't typically blockbuster-trade candidates. But the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't riding the regular second-place saddle.
For starters, money and luxury taxes don't mean a thing to them. They're spending like crazy on talent this offseason—mostly their own.
LeBron James, Kevin Love and Iman Shumpert are all coming back on new deals. Tristan Thompson should be right behind them. J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova could be right behind him. Mo Williams is coming, too.
Winning is clearly the priority, even it forces owner Dan Gilbert to dip into his rainy-day fund. And with that in mind, we have Brendan Haywood.
His $10.5 million salary for next season is not guaranteed, so he won't count against a team's cap sheet if waived. That makes him a tasty trade piece for any general manager looking to cut costs by unloading sizable contracts.
As a tax-paying team, the Cavaliers can take back 125 percent plus $100,000 of their outgoing salary in any trade. Haywood's $10.5 million deal, then, can net them another player earning as much as $13.2 million.
In the short time since their season ended, the Cavaliers have already been linked to Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford, according to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein.
To match Johnson's $24.9 million salary specifically, they would need to do two things: package Haywood with Anderson Varejao and then be totally cool with shelling out well more than $200 million in player salaries and luxury-tax penalties.
Brooklyn is no longer trying to move Joe Johnson after negotiating a buyout with Deron Williams, per Stein, but the point still stands: The Cavaliers have the means to make a unique offseason splash.
Will they actually use them?
Stay tuned for the potentially pricey conclusion...which will take place no later than August 2, when Haywood's contract becomes fully guaranteed.
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Has Jamal Crawford Played His Last Game with the Clippers?
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Jamal Crawford may not have a future with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Or maybe he does. It's tough to tell these days.
Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders first heard that the Clippers may decide to use Crawford as trade bait. But that was when DeAndre Jordan committed to the Dallas Mavericks.
Circumstances have changed. The Clippers no longer need to deal for a center with Jordan back and Cole Aldrich (!) on his way, per Stein.
Then again, like Stein noted, Austin Rivers is re-signing as well, and the Clippers already traded for Lance Stephenson. They don't need three shooting guards—four if you count C.J. Wilcox—coming off the bench.
Stephenson (6'5") can be thrown out at the 3, and either of Crawford and Rivers can run point when Chris Paul is on the bench. But it behooves the Clippers to explore their options and see if they can parlay Crawford's expiring deal into a true backup point guard, or perhaps an understudy not named Glen Davis for Blake Griffin.
At minimum, it's safe to assume coach and president Doc Rivers isn't yet done making moves. ESPN.com's Arash Markazi says to expect more changes before the start of next season.
Regardless of the change they make, there's a good to great chance it includes finding Crawford a new home.
Can the Rockets Get Another Playmaker?
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There's no reason to really fret over the Rockets' offseason. They're essentially just keeping the band together—the same band that scrapped and clawed its way to the 2014 Western Conference Finals.
With the core of Trevor Ariza, James Harden and Dwight Howard still in place, they never needed to do anything too special this summer. And they still don't. Having everyone healthy—specifically Howard, who missed a career-high 41 games last season—will be a boon in itself.
As Bleacher Report's Kelly Scaletta wrote:
"The Rockets' being together a second year will help. Not playing a morbid game of musical chairs where someone else gets injured every time the music stops will help. It may not seem like it, but the Rockets did get better by staying the same.
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Continuity is king in title pursuits. Yet as good as the Rockets remain on paper, they're still missing something: another playmaker.
Harden didn't just carry a bulk of the shot-creation duties last season. He ferried the entire burden, assisting on a team-high 34.6 percent of baskets when on the floor.
Among Rockets players who appeared in at least 25 games, Josh Smith had the second-highest assist rate. That cannot happen again, and not just because Smith could sign elsewhere. (Stein says the Clippers are trying to woo him.)
Nor can the Rockets count on Patrick Beverley and Pablo Prigioni. Beverley is more of an undersized shooting guard who specializes in tantalizing defense and spot-up three-pointers, while Prigioni is 38, on a non-guaranteed contract and could decide to make a return to Argentina.
Even though the Rockets ranked in the top 10 of assist percentage for 2014-15, they can't expect to get by with Harden playing the role of point shooting forward. They can't expect to sign an impact floor general, either. The pool of available talent is bone dry—devoid of anyone worth the Rockets dipping into their mid-level exception.
General manager Daryl Morey does have a few tradable bullets in the chamber he could dangle around the league. Donatas Motiejunas and Terrence Jones are promising prospects due for raises in restricted free agency next summer. Packaging one of them with Kostas Papanikolaou's expiring deal should net a solid point guard.
Morey can also just scour the league for unwanted talent—Mario Chalmers, for instance. According to Grantland's Zach Lowe, the Miami Heat are ready to move him for absolutely nothing.
Finally, there's the possibility that Houston does nothing, deciding instead to fully and completely run it back, changing almost nothing and no one ahead of next season.
What's the Deal with Ty Lawson?
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Now is not a good time to buy a Ty Lawson Denver Nuggets jersey.
Leading up to the draft, Berger reported that Lawson was readily available. Though nothing ever materialized, the Mavericks specifically are sure he can still be had—so sure that they considered trying to deal for him before lucking into Williams, according to ESPN Dallas' Tim MacMahon.
And why wouldn't they assume he's still available? Even Lawson himself thinks he's on the chopping block.
When the Nuggets selected fellow point guard Emmanuel Mudiay at No. 7 on draft night, Lawson's reaction was caught on video. And, per the Washington Post's Des Bieler, he said, "I told you. I'm going to Sacramento, bro."
Sacramento is almost assuredly out of the question now. The Kings have Darren Collison and Rajon Rondo to quarterback the offense.
Still, there are other teams who could enter the mix. (I hear the Rockets need another playmaker.) Lawson, while undersized at 5'11", is still only 27 years old. He slithers in and out of the paint at will, ranked fourth in assist percentage last season and is owed a very reasonable $25.6 million over the next two years.
Some team that's short on depth at point guard will bite and make an offer Denver is at least forced to consider—assuming, of course, Lawson is actually available.
Which he most definitely, unequivocally, without question is.
We think.
Will the Emoji War Wage On?
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In the most unpredictable turn of events ever, emojis matter to the NBA.
A full-on emoji war consumed Twitter once it became clear that Jordan's marriage to the Mavericks wasn't a done deal.
Chandler Parsons and J.J. Redick subtweeted transportation symbols at one another, initiating the battle.
Paul Pierce, presumably using a flip phone or two tin cans and some string, showed the world he has no idea how to work Twitter's emoji function.
The Golden State Warriors chimed in with a reminder that they're NBA champions.
Jordan Brand sent out what was either a picture of Michael Jordan's baby goat or a clever way of telling the world that His Airness remains the greatest of all time.
Bleacher Report's John Dorn summed up every team's 2014-15 season in emoji form.
It's been absolutely nuts. But the question now becomes: Will this emoji craze continue, or has it peaked?
Only one answer seems fitting at this time: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary information via Basketball Insiders and Larry Coon's CBA FAQ. Draft-pick commitments from RealGM.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @danfavale.
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