2018 NBA free agency grades: Kings snag Nemanja Bjelica
The Sacramento Kings went out and signed Nemanja Bjelica to a three-year deal. Here’s the grade for this free agency signing.
Yahoo! Sports reporter Shams Charania reported that the Sacramento Kings signed forward Nemanja Bjelica to a three-year, $20.5 million deal. It was more money than a lot of people had anticipated, but they had to pry him away from going back to Europe to play.
The Minnesota Timberwolves placed their qualifying offer on Bjelica, to only remove it to allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. He then was going to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, but backed out of that to play overseas.
Or so we thought.
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Bjelica signed that big deal with the Kings that is by far more beneficial to him. Getting a multi-year deal worth $20 million is a big move for him. The Kings, on the other hand, might have overpaid him just a bit.
They have the cap space necessary to pull of this deal because most of the contracts on the team are rookie deals. Bjelica is a good player and will most likely be coming off the bench this season as well.
For being in the league for only three seasons, he’s already 30 years old. He did play seven professional seasons in Europe and was even named the Euroleague MVP in 2014-15.
He spent the last three seasons with the Timberwolves, where for the most part he was underutilized. When he was given the chance to play more minutes or even get the starting job one night due to injuries, he usually succeeded quite well.
In today’s game, you’re often looking for a stretch 4 and he fits that mold. Last season he averaged 41.5 percent from 3 on 2.7 attempts per game. He was one of the better shooters on that Minnesota roster.
He also averaged 6.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals per game. There’s one issue with his game and that is that he only plays well when he’s given consistent playing time.
If he isn’t getting consistent minutes, his confidence levels drop significantly. His shooting motions are off and when he’s wide open from distance, he won’t shoot the ball but instead hesitate and make the wrong move.
He can shoot the ball, but sometimes he just struggles to let the ball fly.
When you get him to shoot the ball, you can get 3s like this consistently.
#Sixers fans, here's a little taste of Nemanja Bjelica's shooting.
— Tom West (@TomWestNBA) July 5, 2018
41.5% from 3, good pick-n-pop option, quick release, can shoot off the move a bit, range beyond the arc. He'll help create some nice offensive lineups around Simmons. pic.twitter.com/ctHhsVjNSB
The Kings haven’t done a lot this offseason to improve their record from last season. They made a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies that aqcuired Ben McLemore for a second go-around along with Deyonta Davis.
They also drafted Marvin Bagley III with the second overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Until he and the Kings other young budding stars break out, the Kings will be another team looking at a top-five pick.
Next: Tracking all the grades in free agency
While they did overpay Bjelica this offseason, they’re still getting a fairly good player. He can come in and play the three or four position next season and will hopefully give them the needed push to help some of the other players out.