If healthy (BIG if), Andrew Bynum has proven he can be the primary interior presence on a championship team. Will free agency be good to him? Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
The chaotic period of free agency in the NBA is now over. All of the box-office types have been signed to their max-level deals and teams are now in the market for players who, more or less, can fill holes on their rosters. Now the NBA offseason moves into it’s second stanza. Quality unrestricted free agents still remain available. Can any of these guys push a team over the hump and into contention? Here’s a look at the top five unrestricted free agents still on the market.
(Photo Credit/
Brandon Jennings/Insidedfwsports)
5. Elton Brand-At age 34 and entering his 15th season, Brand may be a bit long in the tooth. He, of course, is no longer the 20-10 type he was earlier in his career. But the former No. 1 overall pick can still provide a team with excellent interior defense and a consistent mid-range jumper at a reasonable price. Add in the veteran leadership he provides and its easy to see why Elton Brand will have plenty of suitors in the upcoming weeks.
(NBA.com photo)-Corey Brewer’s length and ability to defend multiple positions will likely attract offers from several NBA teams.
4. Corey Brewer–The most valuable role players in today’s NBA are “D and 3″ types; players who can come off the bench and play excellent defense and knock down 3-point shots. Brewer is a terrific perimeter defender at 6’9” and runs the floor extremely well, but the reason he’s still on the market is because he has not been able to add a consistent 3-point shot to his repertoire. Still, at age 27 and in a market that has essentially dried up, several teams are likely to be interested in the former Denver Nugget.
3. Andrei Kirilenko–Once considered a first team All-NBA defensive player, Kirilenko may have lost a step, but he still one of the most versatile and smart defensive players in this league. But after opting out of a deal with Minnesota that would have paid him $10 million this season, what type of contract is the Russian-born 32-year-old in the market for? It has been reported that Kirilenko is looking for a multi-year deal with a contender. This will limit his options, as most contenders are nearing the cap threshold and unable to deliver anything near what he is likely to be looking for. Will Andrei be willing to take a pay cut to win? Or will he look for the best possible offer?
Monta Ellis is the most explosive scorer left on the market in 2013. (Flickr.com photo by IsoSports)
2. Monta Ellis–If you’re in the market for a guy who can flat out put the ball in the bucket, Monta Ellis is your man. Since arriving on the scene with the Golden State Warriors as a second-round draft pick in 2005, Ellis has been a scoring machine, with a career average of 19.4 points per game. But Monta is undersized and underwhelming on defense and he lacks the playmaking ability of a true point guard. He is still young (27), but at this point it will be difficult to break the bad habits he already has instilled in his brain. Thanks to the nature of game, though (he’s an exciting scorer, teams typically pay big for that), Ellis will almost certainly draw a contract in the $10 million per season range, if not more. But can a team win big with Monta Ellis as its focal point?
1. Andrew Bynum-At 25 years old, Andrew Bynum is a 7′, 285-pound force of nature with two championship rings. He is a proven commodity; a guy capable of dominating this game at the highest level. Players of his size and skill set are becoming scarcer and scarcer. Of course, the injury history is disturbing. Bynum missed the entire 2012-13 season with knee trouble and he’s never started more than 65 games in ANY season since he entered the league as a teenager in 2005. If healthy, Bynum is without question a max player. Would he be willing to take a shorter deal to prove his health and then possibly parlay that into a max contract a year or two down the line? It may not matter. Several teams have missed out on key free agents already. If a franchise wants to compete now, and Bynum checks out health-wise, he may command big money regardless of his injury history.