Turn the calendar back a month, before any deals were made and speculation ran rampant. With every potential free agent, there were always destinations that made the most sense financially and systematically fit their abilities. Quietly something brewed, a wicked concoction of doubt and regularity. Too often lurking in the shadows loomed the two largest markets in the NBA, talons clenched with the tautness of every available tendon stretched to it’s final elasticity. They lay in wait, prepared to fulfill their destiny and shred hearts and beliefs of every small market fan in their path. Salivating as they remained in readiness, desperately craving to strike, sinking their razor-sharp fangs into the flesh of their desired free agent, claiming their prey and returning to their den.

Then the strength of the 2015 NBA free agent class turned their collective backs on New York and Los Angeles. They opted for deals that fit for what is now referred to as “basketball sense.” “Basketball sense” really could be replaced with common sense. In a modern professional sports landscape, where athletes ply their trade in Oklahoma and take residence in Malibu, the draw of the bright lights and big city just ain’t what it used to be. The Knicks and the Lakers were supposed to be the favorites, not even the dark horse candidates, to land numerous top free agents. And why not, they always are. Until recently they’ve had the best of luck, but unwarranted success, if not recognized, ends in sloth and misunderstanding of self. When you remove the facades of the two franchises, little remains of merit and inclination to join. Were franchises capable of roping in potential suitors purely based upon regality of lineage, everyone would be shipping up to Boston. That clearly isn’t happening.

Lamarcus Aldridge chose San Antonio over LA, after granting them a second meeting, as they fumbled their first. He will be joined by the resigned Kawhi Leonard. Kevin Love remains in Cleveland as Tristan Thompson (A player with a breakout Playoffs) likely does as well. Lebron James, unless he really feels like destroying any shred of good will he has left in Ohio, will remain there as well. Mark Gasol, the best center on the market refused to meet with anyone other than Memphis. Monte Ellis to Indiana, Draymond Green stays in Golden State, Greg Monroe to Milwaukee, Deandre Jordan is leaving LA for Dallas!  What this shows is that marketing, social media and salary restrictions have enabled players to make their decisions based solely upon preference of destination, never risking loss of popularity. Besides, it’s not like the Lakers or the Knicks are respectively defying you to reject them.

The Lakers are a severely flawed team, built around an all time great player in the latest stages of his career, coming off his second major injury, with a bloated contract and is supposedly not the most fun guy to be around. Don’t worry, at least he’ll hold you fully accountable for any of your faults. They’re led by an unbelievably still employed, stone age coach with little regard for analytics and current trends, and a spoiled ownership group comprised of rich offspring. The brightest of which handles the WNBA franchise.

The Knicks are an equally flawed team, whose one dimensional star is at least in the prime of his career, if not headed towards the back nine. They feature a rookie head coach whose expertise is seemingly below where it should reside, paired with a rookie GM whose basketball decision making leaves much to be desired. Rest assured the Knicks too possess a feeble owner.

New York and Los Angeles, you’re not really forcing free agents hands here. In today’s market, if it is competitiveness you seek, understand that laurels rested upon will reap you no rewards. There are simply better basketball environments, of which players are aware. Throw a rock and you’ll find superior coaches, management and ownership. Banners and a history of excellence (take a step back Knicks, this doesn’t apply to you) are the icing on the cake, the sweetener on top of the deal, not the driving force behind free agency decision making.

The Los Angeles Clippers lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference quarterfinals, a finish that is not indicative of their ability or potential success. While leading 3-1, the Clippers where easily the better team in the series. In the end they collapsed, a common Clipper trend that appeared to be on the way out. Despite making it to the second round, it was their first that was the most impressive of the entire Playoffs, pushing and being pushed to the brink by the defending champion Spurs. The Clippers had their share of deficiencies, weakness at the shooting guard and small forward position left them out of ammunition, when the big guns came into play. In a series full of vibrant action, the largest hurdle to fan viewership came in the form of the “hack-a-dj” technique frequently implemented. This, also is not indicative of the players ability and potential success. Every team has a defensive anchor, when your anchor is 6’11 and jumps like a kangaroo on meth, well, you have quite the rim protector. Deandre Jordan unquestionably possesses a limited offensive game, that is the understatement of the year. The bulk of Jordan’s offense stems from his remarkable rebounding ability, both offensive and defensive, and freakish athletic ability, typically resulting in frightening, wrist-cracking dunks.

There was always talk that Jordan wanted to be a larger fixture in the Clippers offense, that he saw himself as undervalued. In all likelihood, this is the impetus for Doc Rivers frequently standing up for his offensively challenged big man. It’s not difficult to fathom Doc’s attempts to convince the media and fans that Jordan’s defense and rebounding cancelled out his shortcomings, were really attempting to convince his center that he was doing all required. Los Angeles’s better team seemed to be on the cusp of taking their game to the next level. Doc Rivers is on the short list of NBA coaches with championship rings, that players seem to enjoy playing for. They recently added Lance Stephenson (a former near Allstar) in a trade that saw them ship out rarely used Spencer Hawes, and they signed veteran cutthroat Paul Pierce. All they needed was for Deandre to resign with his current team, which would see him receiving the most money and the most obvious chance to win.

To the Clippers and most prognosticators surprise, Deandre Jordan signed a four year, $80 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Jordan is from Houston Texas and must have longed for those oppressively hot summers so much that he took less money to join a worse team. At some point, the reason for Jordan’s departure will rear it’s ugly head, however, it seems quite possible that he was promised a more prominent position in Dallas’s evolving offense. Dirk Nowitzki, an all time great, is in the twilight of his career and Dallas is at a crossroads, as it builds towards the future. Unfortunately for Deandre, when Dallas does realize it’s identity, it will also realize his best role within it, as a defensive and rebounding specialist. That is a few years down the line, since Dallas, like most of their free agent destination counterparts, failed to attain all the players on their wish list.

But what of the Clippers? The implications of Deandre leaving for the Mavericks are nothing short of disastrous. Having just traded the aforementioned Spencer Hawes, LA now sports a lamentable front court that may actually roll out Glen “Big Baby” Davis as it’s starting center. Talk about a downgrade. Had they even held off on the Hawes/Stephenson trade and run with Spencer at the five, the Clippers would be a shell of their former selves. The Clippers future rested evenly on the shoulders of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan, they all brought something different to the table, but each was as valuable as the next. Rarely is it advisable to suggest misleading a player in your system, but one could argue that it would have been worthwhile to promise Jordan a more focal role in the Clipper’s offense, retain the player and leave probable fallout to be a future concern.  That would be a more enviable position than the one that now leaves them reeling. Despite the team swap, Dallas should be worse than the Clippers this year, this change is more about LA getting worse than Dallas getting better. The West is absolutely packed with dangerous squads and this sequence of events proves as a cautionary tale, do not underestimate your rivals or the desires of your max contract players to seek what they perceive to be greener pastures.

 

 

Today’s NBA overfloweth with talent, fans are hard pressed to tune into any game and resist being overwhelmed by the best athletes in the world. The NBA shows no signs of slowing it’s pace, featuring global superstars like Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis. As the game and it’s players evolve, so does the value placed upon their attributes. What was gold yesterday, is pyrite today. Such is the case with many of the NBA’s centers, no longer allowed to dominate the paint with interior post play, now relegated to put backs and defending high pick and rolls. This doesn’t mean that the position is no longer needed, just something else is needed from it. Beyond this seismic shift in the importance of size, exist a handful of outliers, players whose skills are so rare that their expertise supersedes the common evaluation. Demarcus Cousins is one of the outliers and the best center in the NBA.

At just 24, Boogie possesses a skill set unfound in any of his piers. His size, mobility, rebounding and creative scoring place him at the top of the pile of near seven footers. To attain such a player is considered a windfall, a commodity that must be protected. Then why are there so many rumors about Cousins leaving the Sacramento Kings? The answer is in the question. The Sacramento Kings, the worst organization in the NBA. The Kings are a questionable decision maker in owner Vivek Ranadive, a rookie gm in Vlade Divac and a coach who flat out doesn’t like Boogie, George Karl. There’s no question that Demarcus can be a tumultuous fellow, the big man wears his heart on his sleeve. Given your druthers, of course you’d prefer that Cousins behave as a model citizen, unfortunately in situations such as this, the headaches are the cost of doing business. If executed properly, business can be very, very good though. Vlade and Vivek have pointedly stated on numerous occasions, that they will absolutely not trade the former Kansas center. Which in NBA circles, usually means he is absolutely available, just up your offer. The Kings are a woeful team, with no hope of being competitive any time soon, particularly in the loaded Western Conference. They’re considering signing much maligned point guard Rajon Rondo this offseason, that alone should tell you where they lay.

The Kings also selected Willy Cauley-Stein in the draft, a player whose style very much fits the current NBA center trend. But how will the two pair together? Most prognosticators are less than optimistic about their imagined prosperity. The Kings are saddled with the contract of Rudy Gay, a good, overpaid player, whose deal will prevent them from making any noise in free agency. They find themselves in quite the conundrum. They have a superb player, who they want to be a part of their team when they’re competitive, but they aren’t going to be competitive any time soon.

It’s time for the Kings to make a trade. There has been far too much writing on the wall and Cousins leaving Sacramento has been mentioned far too often. The damage is irreparable. Sacramento is unlikely to lure John Callipari to the Kings, clearly a last ditch effort to appease Cousins. His current coach has been too vocal in his desire for him leave, unfortunately rendering the situation beyond individual party’s desires and toward, what must now be done.

The two most visible trade partners for Sacramento are the Celtics and the Lakers. These are the two organizations that have expressed the most interest in acquiring the 6’10 center.

From the Lakers, the Kings would require D’angelo Russell and Julius Randle, maybe even Jordan Clarkson to begin any trade talks. Had the Lakers selected Jahlil Okafor in the draft, this trade would be a far less bitter pill for the Kings to swallow, replacing their proven big man with a potentially great one. Question marks do remain when it comes to Randle though, he may have been a lottery pick one short year ago, but a player coming back from a broken leg never measures out to their true trade value. Hesitation may also arise when the thought of trading your best player within the Pacific division rears it’s ugly head.

From the Celtics, the Kings can have whoever they like. Boston can offer Marcus Smart as the best part of their package, but he projects out to be a good but never great player. The key to a trade with the Celtics is going all in on a full rebuild, something that may be required of Sacramento. The Kings would be loaded with a plethora of draft picks, including multiple first rounders of the projected-to-be-very-bad-very-soon, Brooklyn Nets, acquired in the Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett trade. Boston also provides the added value of sending Boogie almost as geographically far away as possible.

If George Karl has his way (He won’t.), Cousins will be on his way to Denver for a package of Kenneth Faried, Ty Lawson and Wilson Chandler, because Karl has a really hard time letting go of the past. His infatuation with his previous players is confounding, especially those from a roster that never actually accomplished much.

This story isn’t even close to fully developing. The rumors of Karl’s imminent dismissal, Callipari’s potential arrival, the posturing for bigger trade offers, all promise to drag this out for at least a month or two. However, the King’s must remember, this is not the same situation as the Kevin Love trade last season. The Cavaliers lucked into the first pick, subsequently emerging as the favorite to land the UCLA power forward’s services.

The draft is over, the pieces are in place and will not change. If the Kings don’t act swiftly, teams will move on and leave themselves with less to offer. For an organization that has done little correctly for the past ten years, timing is key. Sacramento should remain wary of entering into waters with the sharks of the NBA. Especially since we’re not sure they can swim.

 

The palm trees were supposed to be casting their gentle shade upon his brow, the waves providing sweet lullabies and the girls should have assembled in single file. That is of course had Jahlil Okafor been drafted by his preferred destination the Los Angeles Lakers, a team with a storied history of dominant centers ruling the paint for basketball generations. However, when Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak selected D’Angelo Russell with the second pick in the 2015 draft, he elected to fall in line with the team building pattern du-jour, casting aside previously valued post play for positionless basketball and pace and space. Where it another time, even as recent as five years past, Okafor would have been the no-brainer option, but professional basketball changes more than Kendrick Perkins pivot foot. Now Okafor finds himself in the city of brotherly love, where he seems a little less than enthused to be, after all will it even be safe for him to play there?

There were rumors prior to draft night that Okafor’s agent had advised the 76ers against drafting his client, typically a repugnant suggestion that would garner little sympathy. This is no typical scenario, this is the Philadelphia 76ers, not basketball purgatory but basketball Hades. The 76ers have little to no interest in fielding a competitive team and make no illusion of their intentions. They are stockpiling picks and drafting the best player available year after year, which has left them with three cornerstone players that all play the same position. One that has become a marginalized position at that. Flash forward to a media junket, where the 76ers newest players pose awkwardly with the teams new jerseys and give local journalists an opportunity to lay their scrutinizing eyes upon them. A casual, meaningless affair that rarely leaves attendees with any question or cause for concern. Until…

 

Why’d he go and do that? Now body language isn’t everything and at times can belie an individuals true heart felt intentions. But, come on Jahlil! How is anyone supposed to see that and think you have any desire to play for the 76ers? Maybe he doesn’t, maybe that is the exact purpose for such deliberate histrionics. Is it difficult to fathom a person of influence to Okafor, I don’t know… Say his agent, quietly suggesting that he give a subtle cue to 76ers gm Sam Hinkie that Philadelphia’s Center logjam could be dissolved by trading the 6’10 Duke product?

Who knows? We weren’t there, maybe there was a hungry, shivering puppy at Okafor’s feet and was merely offering shelter as quickly as possible. Or he’s just not happy with his situation and is looking for a way out. Right now it’s raining centers in Philly and there are more than a few teams in the NBA whose front courts could use watering.