Winners and Losers of the NBA Free Agent Summer of 2010
This was the biggest free agent summer ever in the NBA.
Several high profile players were available and teams had planned for years to clear cap space to attract some of the best free agents available.
Now that the biggest free agent out there, LeBron James has picked his team, it is time to sort out the winners and the losers of the NBA free agent market.
Winners
The Biggest Winner: Miami Heat
The biggest winners of the NBA Free Agent Market have to be the Miami Heat.
Pat Riley and Dwyane Wade did an outstanding recruiting job and all of the pieces fell into place.
The Heat re-signed Wade, and then signed Chris Bosh to join him. When both players had announced that they were playing with the Heat but details of the contracts were not complete, it was obvious that LeBron James was going to join them.
The minute it was announced that James would join Wade and Bosh, the odds for the Heat to win the East went crazy at the Top Online sportsbooks.
Regardless of what minimum salary players the Heat will sign to help Wade, Bosh, and James they are the clear cut biggest winners of the Free Agent Market.
In an article I wrote earlier in the free agency season I bet that LeBron would go to Miami.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics decided they could make another run at the championship and kept their core in place.
They talked Doc Rivers out of retirement and then signed All-Stars, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two team-friendly discounts.
Those contracts will allow the Celtics to be active in the free agent market and grab a few players to give them size down low, filling the void left by the injured Kendrick Perkins.
When Perkins returns from injury it will give the Celtics depth and size to play with teams like the Lakers.
Finally, it allows the Celtics to keep Rondo in the fold as the future face of the Boston Celtics.
Marginal Players
Darko Milicic, Channing Frye, Amir Johnson, and Drew Gooden all signed contracts with teams combining for a total of $114 million.
With the entire free agent buzz around the big three, teams did not want to get shut out and therefore they ended up paying too much for players that are marginal at best.
The players took advantage of this and cashed in becoming winners of the free agent summer of 2010.
The NBA
The league could not be happier with this free agent period.
The NBA was the top story every night on Sportscenter and fans were glued to their television sets wondering where players would sign.
David Stern and the brass of the NBA could not be more content.
This free agent summer put all of the attention on the league and will have fans eagerly anticipating the start of the new season.
The only people who may not be pleased with all the free agent buzz is the Lakers. Their championship has been overshadowed by all the hype surrounding LeBron James.
New York Knicks
Many people will believe that the Knicks should be considered losers since they did not land LeBron James. I disagree.
The Knicks figured out early in the free agent period they would not land James and instead of standing pat (see NJ Nets) they were aggressive and signed Amare Stoudamire.
He is familiar with the offense that the Knicks want to run and is very friendly with Tony Parker and Carmelo Anthony.
The Knicks still have plenty of cap space and could form their own “Big Three” if they play their cards right.
Since the Knicks lost out on LeBron they will send David Lee to the Warriors in a three way deal.
The deal, according to sources, would send Lee to the Warriors for Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, and Kelenna Azubuike among others. Even if this deal does not go through, the Knicks will do a sign and trade with Lee and get some decent players in return.
Losers
The Biggest Loser: New Jersey Nets
The Nets were considered to be a big player in the free agent market.
They have a new owner with deep pockets and plenty of cap space.
They courted LeBron James and a few others but when all was said and done, they have not signed a single caliber free agent.
The Nets lost the recruiting battle for LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Rudy Gay, and Carlos Boozer.
Signing Travis Outlaw will not make up for that.
They have some young talent on this team and the future looks bright, but for right now the Nets are big losers this summer.
City of Cleveland
The writing was on the wall for Cleveland.
LeBron James failed to meet with potential head coach Tom Izzo and that may have been an indication that he never intended on coming back to Cleveland.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Chris Bosh told the Cavaliers that he would not play there although Toronto had worked out a sign and trade scenario.
Other teams had better supporting casts and attacked LeBron with more vigor and a commitment to winning.
The city of Cleveland will lose an estimated 20 million dollars in revenue with James leaving town. This does not include ticket sales and memorabilia and is just based on the income the city pulls in when the Cavs are playing in town.
The summer of 2010 becomes another painful chapter in an ugly history in Cleveland sports and the fans suffer from broken hearts once again.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls started the free agency period as the front runners to get LeBron James and Chris Bosh.
Then they were announced as favorites to bring back the local hero in Dwyane Wade.
When all the deals were done, the Bulls ended up 0-3 in the free agent bonanza.
They did sign Carlos Boozer and this is a good fit for this team but this signing does not even come close to meeting the expectations that were set forth when the free agent period started.
This is just another example of how the management of the Chicago Bulls dropped the ball again and may have let a championship slip through their fingers.
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks retained Joe Johnson by signing him to a six year maximum deal that will be in the $123 million range. This is a great deal for Johnson but the Hawks will live to regret it.
He is 28 years old and will hit the 30 year old mark in the early stages of this deal.
The stats say that this is when an NBA player is likely to suffer a decline in production.
Joe Johnson is a very good player but he has yet to show anything in the playoffs.
This deal will haunt Atlanta in the future and could go down as one of the worst deals in NBA history.
Until the season starts we won't know who the real winners and losers are but for now this list shows just how good (or bad) teams did this year in the Big Free Agent Summer of 2010.
