RFA winners 👨🏼‍🎓 and losers 🐸

For example, what happens in Minnesota with KAT and Wiggins, does the presence of Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson have any effect to either one of them? And what about Houston? No doubt Harden won't have the same statistical season he had last year but how about Paul's value, can he adjust or will his value be hurt?
With that in mind, let's try to figure out the logic behind the RFA signings in our league that offered plenty of laughter, excitement, mockery by Lebron the 🤡 and hopeless tears of financial pain.


Boston Celtics:
The math seems right for Olynyk (ranked #160 last season) at $18m/4years as he looks at an expanded role in an environment where coach Spo has been able to get the most out of his players in the recent years (Waiters, James Johnson among others).
Boston was able to successfully come out of the RFA process with another asset in JaMychal Green by using the very popular method of selling nothing (David Lee, currently with no team and a late 2nd round pick) for something.
And while we have no clear idea yet on whether JaMychal has a starting job and whether Olynyk is a nice fit in South Beach just consider the fact that backups like Cody Zeller and Gorgui Dieng are at the $12-$13m/year range 🤑
With probably the deepest roster in the league so far and still $30m to spend how can you not love this guy??

Houston Rockets:
After contemplating for a while the future of his franchise Houston decided to match the $72.400.000 million offer sheet submitted by the Knicks in what looks to be a great deal as long as Noel in unleashed by his new team. Noel finished ranked #65th at only 20.5 min/game so it's very reasonable to expect him to crack the top 50 if his minutes go up (as expected).
Troy Williams will have the chance to become a rotation player in Houston as long as his 3point shot becomes consistent and although it took more than the minimum to get signed he might actually become one of the steals of the season if he's able to secure the back up SF position for Mike D'Antoni.

Minnesota Timberwolves:
Not the top tier signings that one would expect but Minnesota is already loaded and both Carter-Williams and Joffrey Lauvergne are the type of low risk investment that a manager could take in hopes of earning valuable production in the late rounds. The duration of these contracts is not very dynasty friendly and the People's Republic of China is always looking for subpar talent to add to its league (point guards are of extreme value) but again, the numbers are too low to cause any long term financial hardship.
Add to this the gift (?) handed to him by New York for Shabazz Muhammad at $1m/1 year and Minnesota should be thanking the committee for forcing him to retain the RFA rights for Shabazz although he clearly renounced his rights and had no intention to resign him once the initial salary dumps occurred.

New York Knicks:
The RFA period was played very well by the Knicks who held all of his options open and adjusted to the price set by the market for shooting guards. Choosing between Hardaway Jr and KCP for basically the same price might come down to haunt the Knicks but the future looks bright for Pope as he will be entering a very friendly situation in LA with Lonzo Ball.

Utah Jazz:
A winner by accident the Jazz were able to retain Joe Ingles and steal Jonathon Simmons both for very reasonable price tags.
Ingles is looking at an expanded role in the Mormon city with Hayward out of town and will be looking to take his game to the next level under the influence of a coach that enabled him to be a top 150 fantasy asset in just 24m/g.
Meanwhile in Orlando, Simmons will be entering a crowded rotation but he brings exactly what the Magic lacked in recent years, hustle and testicular fortitude, so don't be surprised if Simmons is able to steal the starting job from Ross and crack the top 100.


Chicago Bulls:
It's more than clear by now that the previous Chicago GM had some issues figuring out the big picture and compiling a balanced squad while maintaining the necessary flexibility. And yes the money was not there and Chicago already has 5 point guards but letting 3 serviceable backups walk away for nothing will get you an F grade.
Chicago showed that they are all in in Felicio, wasting no time signing him the first days of free agency and with a rebuilding plan currently in place the Bulls might be clearing the house soon allowing Felicio to become a starter.
The Lauvergne and Carter-Williams deals were cheap and both players might have the chance to crack top 150 value if the situation is right for them.

Los Angeles Lakers:
Reminder: If you are bidding for the services of Alex Len and Walter Tavares and end up with the the latter for 4 years don't be surprised if you are suddenly ousted out of the league after a sudden poll 🤠

Miami Heat:
Throwing his money at the #153rd ranked player in fantasy basketball last season looks like exactly the type of move the Miami GM would do. While 4 years at almost $4m is not a lot of cash the panic level of Miami skyrocketed immediately leading to a completely lopsided trade that we now call the "JaMychal O'Neal" sellout. His negotiation tactics are now being taught at Harvard business school in a specially created section called "How not to completely eliminate your leverage", presided by the honorary Kevin Pritchard. And since Miami had already decided the league hiatus for 17 days he could just wait a little bit more to find out the JaMychal O"Neal destination before trading a staring caliber PF for nothing.
As for the David Lee free agency watch? It is now entering uncharted territories in its 51st day with no clear destination in the horizon (insert music theme from Star Trek)

New Orleans Pelicans:
The Donna Martin of our league, a confirmed spendaholic and spendthrift, New Orleans did not let us down as he basically tried to sign ALL available RFAs!!
There are those who know how to manage their finances, and there are those who just spend, spend, spend...even if it means regretting it later. Our "buddy" was able to sign not 1, not 2 but 3 RFAs while losing the tie brake on another 2 (who matched the offer) ending up with more shooting guards than what he needed. The league has reacted very responsible in the meantime avoiding to bail him out from 3 contracts that time will tell how reasonable they are.

Washington Wizards:
Otto Porter, as expected, ended up to be the MVP of the RFA kingdom getting grossly overpaid at $84m/4 years sending Washington running to the ATM. The waiting period to match that offer sheet was less than 24 hours as Washington literally sold his arm, his legs and his vacation time in order to resign Porter. On top of everything Washington missed out on a great opportunity to turn New Orleans into a financial shithole as our buddy did submit the highest bid for Porter as well 🙌🏼
The numbers are there as Otto was ranked 22nd last year but if we really want to be honest we should be expecting at least some regression this year or to put it in another perspective Otto Porter has hit his ceiling already.
To give credit where it's due Washington came back to earth a couple weeks after that move and decided to part ways with his starting Center in order to clear some salary and fill the gaping holes of his roster but the road to the top seems to be long.
Meanwhile, Trey Burke is still looking for a team in China (not in the NBA) and Reggie Bullock is still high after smoking all the available pot in the city of Detroit.


Indiana Pacers:
Indiana clearly was just testing the market as he didn't go all in for any of the top RFAs. And while you wouldn't call the Felicio and McClemore contracts bad the reality is that Indiana got cheap and submitted lowball offers for the top RFAs while failing to get one of the top guys.
McClemore already looks like a wasted signing as he managed to hurt himself running laps and will be out until Christmas as the clock is already ticking and he seems destined to follow the Rashad McCants career path and end up in China sooner than later.
If Felício turns out to be an all-star caliber talent then this move would be nothing short of genius but following the actions of the worst from office in the NBA, the Gar-Pax, doesn't look very smart🤔. Felício is still very young at the age of 25 but he has not even shown any real flashes of talent. His conditioning was poor at times and he could not keep up with young athletic power forwards. Until Felício decides to change his diet, workouts, and off-season training programs I just do not see him becoming anything more than an overpriced back-up.
Extra swag points to Indiana for the preferential treatment he got during the RFA process as although he sent incomplete emails multiple times the committee (surprisingly) showed great understanding and violated the rules proving to the rest of us that indeed there is another way for this league to be run, the league of compassion and understanding pure honest mistakes 🤓

Phoenix Suns:
What do Alex Len, Aaron Williams, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Lucas Noguera, and UNSIGNED rookie Ivan Rabb have in common? Well, you guessed it right, they are all players that do not move the needle so if you want to tell me that Alex Len and Aaron Williams are fantasy assets with trade value in the $4m range I will be glad to be proven wrong. This offseason has been a great reality crash test for all the Biyombos of the world who were looking to cash in just like years and except from Charlotte and the resurrection of Dwight Howard (which by the way is a dream) the NBA is moving away from slow moving bigs who can't stretch the floor. Kudos to Phoenix for letting Andre Roberson and his $24/4 million walk as the trolling of New Orleans was spot on this offseason 👻


Charlotte Hornets:
Still waiting for Mason Plumlee to sign with a team but it looks more and more likely that he takes the qualifying offer with the Nuggets and becomes a UFA next season since the money (especially for bigs) has dried as of the end of August.
$23m/4 years will prove to either be a bargain if Plumlee is signed, traded and gains his starting job back in the near future or a tad overpriced if he remains a backup who needs to average at least 25-30 minutes to be fantasy relevant. Keep in mind that Plumlee's numbers were hurt really bad once he got traded to Denver and the situation won't be different with Paul Milsap now in town.

Milwaukee Bucks:
Ranked 110th last season one could argue that $9m is a little too much for Nikola Mirotic but he saw a spike in his production after the departure of Taj Gibson and the competition for the starting job is easier this year with Butler out of town. The question here is the fit for Milwaukee as Mirotic will hurt you in % (where the Bucks are currently at the top in our league) and give you a boost in 3 pointers (where the Bucks are bottom 3). Eventually this looks like a good signing as Milwaukee is able to retain at a reasonable price a potentially high valued asset that will look to flip in the next few months depending on the formation of the rest of his roster.