Brooklyn Nets: 5 Best Free Agents to Target for 2013-14
By Phil Watson
Andray Blatche (0) finished in the top 15 in the NBA in player efficiency rating after being amnestied by the Washington Wizards. He is a free agent the Brooklyn Nets would love to retain. Photo Credit: Mark Runyan, Basketball Schedule
The Brooklyn Nets, fresh off their Game 7 loss at home to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, May 4, are now in offseason mode.
Brooklyn made big splashes last offseason by re-signing free agents Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace and trading with the Atlanta Hawks for Joe Johnson.
That means the Nets do not have a lot of salary cap flexibility for 2013-14. According to HoopsHype.com, the Nets are already committed for more than $89.5 million in salaries for next season, although the $4 million the club will pay to Travis Outlaw will not count against the cap as the club used its amnesty clause exemption to release Outlaw in December 2011 (per ESPNNewYork.com).
According to International Business Times, the Nets and owner Mikhail Prokhorov are expected to be on the hook for a $43.4 million luxury tax bill next season—the largest in the league.
The only relief Brooklyn could get would be small. C.J. Watson has a player option for next season and could opt for free agency, but the Nets would only save slightly more than $1 million if Watson chooses not to exercise his option for 2013-14.
The team does have three expiring contracts, but again, none of them are large and Brooklyn would like to bring at least one of those players, Andray Blatche (who earned a little more than $854,000 in 2013-14), back next season. The other expiring deals belong to Jerry Stackhouse ($1.35 million) and Keith Bogans ($854,000).
With so little flexibility under the cap (because the Nets are already over the expected cap, which won’t be announced until July), Brooklyn will not be a player in the coming Dwight Howard sweepstakes and likely won’t have the coin to even be in the running for a player such as Jarrett Jack. Even a guy such as J.J. Redick may be out of the Nets’ price range.
The series with the Bulls showed the Nets to have a desperate need for a knockdown 3-point shooter and obviously the team would like to retain Blatche.
With those conditions, here are the five best free agents for the Brooklyn Nets to target this summer.
1. Andray Blatche
Andray Blatche (NBA.com photo)
2012-13 (Brooklyn): 10.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg in 19 mpg, 51.2% FG, 68.5% FT
Blatche had a great bounce-back year after he was amnestied by the Washington Wizards last July.
He came off the bench to back up both Brook Lopez at center and whichever power forward was starting—either Kris Humphries or Reggie Evans—and produced in a big way. His per-36 minute numbers are impressive—19.5 points and 9.7 rebounds—and he was at least an average post defender with a defensive rating (DRtg) of 101 (points allowed per 100 possessions) as well. His player efficiency rating (PER) of 21.9 was 13th-best in the entire league.
He was an important role player for the Nets and it would be wise to bring him back, if the price is right. After all, he did have a solid season, the highlights from which appear below:
2. Randy Foye
Randy Foye (NBA.com photo)
2012-13 (Utah): 10.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.0 apg in 27.4 mpg, 39.7% FG, 41.0% 3FG, 81.9% FT
Randy Foye is the type of 3-point shooter the Nets really could use and Foye might be available at the right price.
Foye made $2.5 million this season with the Utah Jazz and started 72 of 82 games. He also averaged 5.3 3-point attempts per game and knocked them down at a 41 percent clip.
Given the inconsistency with which Joe Johnson shot the ball last season from 3-point range, Foye would be a good addition to the second unit as a 3-point specialist. If any team ought to know what Foye can do from long range, it’s the Nets, given what Foye did to Brooklyn on March 30:
Mike Dunleavy (NBA.com photo)
2012-13 (Milwaukee): 10.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg in 25.9 mpg, 44.2% FG, 42.8% 3FG, 82% FT
Dunleavy is a slightly more expensive, larger version of Foye. Dunleavy is more of a small forward than shooting guard and in 75 games for the Milwaukee Bucks this year, he was an effective scorer off the bench.
Dunleavy hit 42.8 percent from 3-point range, good for eighth-best in the league, and at age 32 still have some tread left on the tires as a reserve.
If Brooklyn could keep a deal for Dunleavy close to the veteran minimum, this could be a quality pick-up for the Nets.
Dunleavy had a solid effort for the Bucks in Game 2 of their first-round humiliation at the hands of the Miami Heat:
D.J. Augustin (NBA.com photo)
2012-13 (Indiana): 4.7 ppg, 2.2 apg in 16.1 mpg, 35% FG, 35.3% 3FG, 83.8% FT
If Watson chooses to enter free agency, Augustin could be a reasonably priced replacement as the backup point guard.
Augustin, a former ninth-overall draft pick of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2008, never quite turned into the star the ‘Cats were hoping for. But he is a solid, if not spectacular, point guard who could come off the bench to spell Deron Williams.
The one year Augustin got some run in Charlotte, 2010-11, he averaged 14.4 points and 6.1 assists in 33.6 minutes per game, so he is capable of production … just not a lot. That means he might be able to be had at a price that won’t blast Brooklyn too much further above the expected salary cap.
5. Juwan Howard
2012-13 (Miami): 3.0 ppg, 1.1 rpg in 7.3 mpg
Just kidding, folks. The market for the Nets is just that thin, but not so thin that the Nets should consider bringing in a 40-year-old who is the last active member of Michigan’s famed (or infamous) Fab Five.