NBA Players Who Should Be Pissed at Their Front Office
With NBA free agency slowing to a halt (we see you, Lance Stephenson), we have the opportunity to riff on the issues nearest to our hearts.
Like which NBA stars should be giving their front office the super-obvious silent treatment right about now.
Real offseason setbacks and failures are the impetus for our imagined player-to-suit beefs. We're not saying these household names are on the verge of demanding a trade to more functional pastures, or that they're even frustrated at all. Their respective teams have just failed them, typically in more ways than one.
If they are, in fact, mad behind the scenes, let them be. They deserve to be angry, voice their displeasure and perhaps cut up some throwback uniforms if presented with the opportunity.
Honorable Mentions
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Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Angry-face Anthony Davis memes would probably pepper the internet if he was a few years older. At only 23, though, he has the stamina to endure a rebuilding project.
We can't fault the New Orleans Pelicans for taking fliers on Solomon Hill, Terrence Jones and E'Twaun Moore. After unsuccessfully attempting to expedite their development with Davis, they're finally doing it right—the last four years of Omer Asik's cap-clogging deal notwithstanding.
James Harden, Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets will shell out $133 million in combined money to Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon over the next four years. That's, um, something—just nothing special. Neither new arrival does anything to protect James Harden against more viral defensive bloopers. Regarding the team's potential, ESPN.com has Houston winning 41 games next season en route to clinching another eighth-seeded playoff berth.
Harden should have every right to be peeved with management. But he is more complicit in the state of the franchise after signing a four-year, $118 million contract extension, so he can't be that angry.
Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
Another year of treading water, and all the Dallas Mavericks have to show for their free-agency effort is the expiring contract of Andrew Bogut and the maxed-out Harrison Barnes.
If Dirk Nowitzki accepted a pay cut for this latest Dallas placeholder, he would most definitely headline our list. But his two-year, $50 million pact softens the blow of yet another disappointing Mavericks offseason.
Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls
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Jimmy Butler has the grounds for some serious beef with the Chicago Bulls.
This past year, he faced constant questions about his relationship with now-former teammate Derrick Rose. That's not necessarily on the Bulls front office, but it didn't help to dissuade floating notions on the home front during the regular season.
Ditto for trade rumors. Word came from the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett in March that the Boston Celtics made a bid for Chicago's All-Star shooting guard at February's trade deadline. Butler's name never left the rumor mill thereafter. General manager Gar Forman wouldn't even guarantee his future at season's end, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Months later, with Butler's rumor factory churning out material at full bore, the Bulls shipped Rose to the New York Knicks. Fine. Great. Dandy. That should have meant Butler was safe. It didn't.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com had Chicago nearing a deal on draft night that would have sent Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves, reuniting him with former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau. Nothing happened.
At least the conjecture on that front has cooled. Except Butler is now headlining a Chicago team that is no more fit to accentuate his rise through the superstar ranks than last year's disappointing squad.
The Bulls signed Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade in free agency, because, apparently, they believe NBA games are now played with three basketballs. Neither of them complement Butler well, and the over/under on the number of defensive assignments blown by the two newcomers is unofficially set at infinity.
| 47.9 | 52.1 | |
| 28.2 | 71.8 | |
| 28.3 | 71.7 |
Oh! And on top of that, Butler is now left to answer questions about his role in Joakim Noah's and Rose's departures, per ESPN.com: "That has nothing to do with me. I don't move guys. It's like I always say, 'People are going to think what they want to think.'"
Preach on, Jimmy. We'll talk to you soon, presumably around the trade deadline. That's when it will become clear the new-look Bulls aren't championship contenders, and your name is once again mentioned in the same breath as the Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Timberwolves et al.
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings
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DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings are not on the same page. They may not even be reading the same book. In other words, nothing has changed.
That much became clear on draft night, when the Kings ended up with two first-round prospects—Georgios Papagiannis out of Greece and Skal Labissiere from Kentucky. However, both players are best suited at center, just like Cousins.
"I can't control that," Cousins said of Sacramento's draft-night decisions, per ABC 10's Sean Cunningham. "I control what I can control. I don't really understand it, but I do my job."
It looks worse for Cousins when considering the Kings already have Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos, two other should-be centers. It looks worse still knowing Sacramento is looking to trade Rudy Gay, Koufos and Ben McLemore, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
On the bright side, the Kings didn't offload any first-round picks or prospects to make cap space for a Big Three of Marco Belinelli, Koufos and Rondo. That's progress.
Then again, Sacramento's biggest free-agency signings were Matt Barnes, Garrett Temple and Anthony Tolliver. Letting Rondo walk also means Darren Collison is the team's lone true-point guard (sorry, Garrett).
It's almost like the Kings want to keep their streak of eight consecutive sub 35-win seasons alive. If so, good for them. Mission accomplished. But Cousins will become an unrestricted free agent in 2018, and the Kings have done nothing to suggest he should stay with them. It's only a matter of time before their relationship goes south again.
In the interim, until Cousins becomes the trade machine's center of attention, he should whet his get-me-out-of-here whistle by seeing how he looks in rival color schemes. After all, failing a trade that's been a long time coming, 2018 isn't that far away.
Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia 76ers
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Anyone who has spent more than a second on the Philadelphia 76ers roster has something to be ticked about. But Nerlens Noel's case is special.
Philly stocked its roster with too many darn bigs. Joel Embiid is finally healthy (we think), Dario Saric is coming stateside next season, the Sixers selected Ben Simmons with the No. 1 overall pick and Jahlil Okafor still hasn't been traded.
Life was difficult enough in 2015-16, with the Sixers juggling frontcourt minutes between Noel and Okafor. The former spent more than one-third of his minutes at power forward—a position which he isn't suited for.
That playing-time distribution will only increase if Embiid warrants consistent spin. Noel's overall minutes stand to plummet if no roster changes are made, since both Saric and Simmons need to see time at the 4.
There is no Okafor trade on the horizon to simplify the frontcourt rotation, according to Philly.com's Keith Pompey. The same goes for Noel. He appeared available ahead of the draft, per ESPN.com's Zach Lowe, but his name has since exited the rumor mill, according to the HoopsHype's tracker.
This isn't an ideal scenario for anyone in Noel's situation. He lost a season due to injury in 2013-14 and is still trying to find his footing as an NBA player. Will he ever hone a reliable touch outside the restricted area? Can he be an effective pick-and-roll rim-runner? Does he have the chops to anchor a top-tier defense? Those questions won't be answered accurately in Philly with the current status quo.
The real kicker, though? Noel is extension-eligible and probably won't land a deal by the late-October deadline if Okafor remains in town. And when he enters restricted free agency next summer, his market value could be curtailed thanks to the Sixers' overcrowded frontcourt rotation.
We're moving way past inadequate development here. The Sixers, as currently constructed, are threatening to lighten Noel's future pockets if they don't move him or Okafor soon.
Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic
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No one should be more unhappy about the Orlando Magic's offseason than Nikola Vucevic.
Having one All-Star(ish) big man in Vucevic apparently wasn't enough for the Magic. They needed to trade for Serge Ibaka. And then they needed to sign Bismack Biyombo for four years and $72 million. When that still wasn't enough, they threw a one-year, $15 million deal at Jeff Green.
This pointless infusion of bigs might anger Aaron Gordon. He's now a power forward-turned-small forward. But Orlando's new head coach, Frank Vogel, is already comparing him to Paul George, per ESPN.com's Zach Lowe. That flattery should keep any ill will Gordon might harbor at bay.
Vucevic's plight is more complicated. Biyombo and Ibaka will force him to function like a power forward on offense for long stretches at a time—a role that will de-emphasize his post game and drag him further away from the bucket.
As Lowe wrote of the Magic:
"They envision Gordon acting almost as a center at times, cutting for dunks as Ibaka and Vucevic spread the floor -- a role inversion the Magic toyed with in certain lineups last season.
Orlando might end up disappointed. Ibaka and Vucevic are good shooters, not great ones. Vucevic hit a sizzling 48 percent of midrangers last season largely because teams are fine giving him those shots to clog up Orlando's driving lanes. That might change if Vucevic shoots 3s, and Vogel wants him to try -- especially from the corners.
"
All could be salvaged if Orlando continues to slot Vucevic as a starter. He isn't prepared to accept a bench role, and "the Magic are in no rush to trade" him, according to Lowe. But did Orlando make Biyombo its highest-paid player, along with Evan Fournier, to play under 20 minutes per game off the pine? And what happens next summer if and when, as expected, the Magic offer Ibaka a max deal?
Even if Vucevic is guaranteed a starting spot in light of Orlando's cosmetic makeup, the spacing warts are a real concern. He will have to drastically change his game if most of his minutes are coming beside Gordon and Biyombo or Ibaka.
Center was supposed to be one of the few spots in which the Magic were set. Vucevic gave them a known commodity. The arrivals of Biyombo and Ibaka are, on some level, an inexplicable smack in the face—Orlando's actual intentions be damned.
John Wall, Washington Wizards
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For years, the Washington Wizards were biding time and cap space, waiting for their crack at Kevin Durant in free agency. So much for that.
Durant didn't grant the Wizards a meeting before joining the Golden State Warriors. But don't worry—Washington pivoted early and decisively, trading for Trey Burke, signing Jason Smith and making the ever-underrated Ian Mahinmi its third-highest-paid player.
John Wall has to be thrilled, right? The Wizards are right back in the "You could see them finishing in the top four of the Eastern Conference, but they probably won't, so let's not raise the bar too high #Fifth&SixthSeedsMatterToo" conversation. Is there anything more for which he could ask?
Luckily for the Wizards, they made a savvy, not-at-all-Durant-driven coaching decision by hiring Scott Brooks. Fortunate still, Wall is roughly five-to-seven years away from being the strongest-ever free-agent magnet.
"A few years from now, John Wall will do well as a free-agent recruiter," Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy wrote. "SO MANY college/high school stars tell me they consider John a friend/mentor."
Too bad Wall is only under lock and key through 2018-19. The Wizards have three seasons to turn themselves into a viable contender before Wall gets wandering eyes—provided he doesn't have them already.
After inking Bradley Beal to a five-year, $128 million deal, Washington also has to find a way to restock the roster next summer with virtually no cap space. That's always fun and effective and not at all a reason to worry about Wall getting antsy. (Just kidding.)
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless otherwise cited. Salary information via Basketball Insiders.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, @danfavale.
