The movement of NBA free agents is starting to take shape just to days into the free agency period. On Tuesday, a number of veterans re-signed with their teams including David West, Tiago Splitter, Tony Allen, Martell Webster, and Chase Budinger. Here is the breakdown.
Indiana Pacers re-sign PF David West to 3-year, $36 million deal
West was an integral part of the Pacers run to the Eastern Conference Finals so re-signing him was priority number one for them this off-season. His leadership and experience is needed on a still relatively young, sometimes immature Indiana team and there weren’t many other options available on the market to serve as a suitable replacement so though I think they overpaid a tad to keep him, it was a no-brainer decision.
Grade: B+
San Antonio Spurs re-sign PF/C Tiago Splitter to 4-year, $36 million deal
Perhaps no team in the NBA does a better job at retaining the players they develop than the Spurs and that continues with their investment in Splitter. With Tim Duncan getting up their age, Splitter is a vital piece to San Antonio’s future and hopes of continuing their dynasty run. $9 million per year seems a bit aggressive for someone who averaged just six points and three boards a night during the Spurs run to the NBA Finals, but with other teams trying to pry him away, San Antonio had to open up their checkbooks to keep him around.
Grade: B
Memphis Grizzlies re-sign SG Tony Allen to 4-year, $20 million deal and re-sign PF Jon Leuer to 3-year, $3 million deal
Allen was coveted by a number of teams this off-season because of his ability to defend the heck out of the basketball. Had Memphis lost him to another team, there would have been a major void at shooting guard without a real opportunity to properly replace him so re-signing him is a huge win for a team that thrives on the defensive end. To do so at a very reasonable five million dollars per year makes the deal even that much sweeter. Re-signing Leuer; whatever.
Grade: A-
Washington Wizards re-sign SF Martell Webster to 4-year, $22 million deal
While Webster exceeded expectations this past season, he hasn’t shown the consistency during his eight-year career to warrant this long or pricy an extension. He is only 26 years old but Washington did just draft Otto Porter with the third overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. At the very worst, Webster should be a bench scorer but I just don’t see the hurry to invest this sort of money in someone with his track record.
Grade D+
Chicago Bulls re-sign C Nazr Mohammed to 1-year deal
The journeyman is really nothing more than a big body who can play 8-12 minutes a night and give Joakim Noah a blow. Chicago didn’t really have a true back-up center and the cap space to find much of an upgrade so why not bring Nazr back. Go here for more on the Mohammed signing.
Grade B
OTHER NBA OFF-SEASON MOVES:
KNICKS MAKE RISKY TRADE FOR BARGNANI
BLAZERS GET ROBINSON FOR PICKS
7/1 FREE AGENT RECAP (PAUL, DUNLEAVY RE-SIGN)
SUNS LAND BLEDSOE IN 3-TEAM TRADE
T-WOLVES ADD SHOOTERS WITH MARTIN AND BUDINGER
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David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag.)
You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.