Ranking the Remaining Free Agents

With Matt Barnes recently resigning with the Golden State Warriors, one of the last available productive free agents was taken off the market. The remaining free agents can be split into three groups: veterans able to produce now (Varejo, Bell, Brown), young guys with potential (Pavlovic, Pietrus, Adams), and of course, aging veterans (Webber, Mutombo, Rose).

Here are my rankings of the top twenty remaining free agents based on desireability to teams:

1.) Anderson Varejo
2.) Charlie Bell
3.) Sasha Pavlovic
4.) Chris Webber
5.) Mickael Pietrus
6.) P.J. Brown
7.) Ruben Patterson
8.) Earl Boykins
9.) Corliss Williamson
10.) Brian Skinner
11.) James Posey
12.) Melvin Ely
13.) Dikembe Mutombo
14.) Troy Hudson
15.) Hassan Adams
16.) James White
17.) Jalen Rose
18.) Dee Brown
19.) Jeff McInnis
20.) Danny Fortson

Others include: Jumaine Jones, Gary Payton, Marc Jackson, Derek Anderson, Alexander Johnson, Yaroslav Korolev, C.J. Miles.

Boston, Detroit, New Jersey, Miami, Washington, Cleveland are the teams most likely to sign some of these players above. Boston is still looking to add one more perimeter player with Reggie Miller being mentioned to come out of retirement. If the Celtics can persuade Posey or Adams to join the team, it would be a better choice than Miller.

Detroit should add one more big body upfront to put next to Rasheed Wallace. Returning Webber would be the most logical decision, but bringing in Brown would also be a good choice. New Jersey still is light in the post. A big body like Williamson or Fortson could help them in the long run. Miami has reportedly pursued Pietrus in the past, and this would be beneficial for their perimeter defense. It is more likely though, that they return Posey or Payton. The Wizards could still use some scoring off the bench. If they can afford Ruben Patterson, he would be a great fit. Cleveland will look to bring back Pavlovic and Varejo.

Denver Nuggets' 2006 Offseason

(Originally posted on October 9, 2006.)

The Denver Nuggets made two transactions this summer:

Acquired forward Joe Smith from the Milwaukee Bucks for guard-forward Ruben Patterson.
Acquired guard J.R. Smith from the Chicago Bulls for guard Howard Eisley and two second-round picks.

On the surface these are small moves that will not result in them to jump from 44 wins to become a 50 win team. However, if you consider the risk-reward, the Nuggets without question had a productive offseason.

Consider the salaries and ages:

Player Name, Age, 2006-07 Salary, 2007-08 Salary
Ruben Patterson: 31, 7.8, free agent
Howard Eisley: 34, 1.2, free agent
Joe Smith: 31, 6.1, free agent
J.R. Smith: 20, 1.1, 1.6 team option

Now consider the Nuggets depth at SG:
Julius Hodge
Courtney Alexander
Earl Boykins

The Nuggets gambled an aging point guard and two second-round picks on a guy who only two years ago was a major prospect. They also upgraded their roster with the Joe Smith-Ruben Patterson swap. Patterson would have spent another season disgruntled as he would have been stuck behind Carmelo Anthony and Eduardo Najera. They were able to accomplish these feats while saving almost two million dollars this year. Although these moves were not major splashes that some may have been looking for them to make (i.e. trading Kenyon Martin, bringing in an all-star shooting guard), they were important moves that will help the Nuggets organization.