Kris Humphries became a national laughingstock during the NBA lockout, but not for anything remotely related to basketball. The power forward got hitched to tabloid/reality TV star Kim Kardashian in a (literally) made-for-TV wedding. Two months later, she filed for divorce. All the while, her reality show portrayed Humphries as something between a bumbling fool and a strangely unaware bro-ham. (Also, he shaved his brother-in-law's arm pits on camera. I would not click this link and skip to the one-minute mark, nope.)
NBA Free Agents: Kris Humphries Seeks Last Laugh With Fat Contract
Kris Humphries hasn’t been in the news at all during the offseason. He’s keeping it real low-key ahead of his free agency.
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But ignore all of that for a moment. (Please, just try.) Humphries should still be a major free agent target for any number of teams. The New Jersey Nets, where Humphries has played his last 108 games, appear to be looking for a center in free agency in order to slot Brook Lopez at power forward, which is Hump's natural position. That means that Humphries is likely to be heading elsewhere.
What he brings is a tenacious nose for the ball on the glass. Last season, Hump registered the No. 5 offensive rebounding rate in the entire league, and finished No. 2 on the defensive boards. Part of that can be owed to having a poor rebounding center in Lopez -- Humphries’ defensive rate was much higher in New Jersey than it’d been elsewhere over his first 5-1/2 seasons -- but Hump has always been a monster on the offensive glass, and should remain so.
Humphries is underwhelming as a scorer; his career per-36 average is 13.2 with a 46 percent effective field goal percentage that’s quite low for a roleplayer who takes only an average number of shots. Hump’s mid-range jumper is rarely used but not bad; he shouldn’t be asked to stroke it from outside much, but when he does he will be a decent option.
Painfully few rumors about Humphries' next team have surfaced compared to all of the rumors about his personal life. He seems like a natural fit for a full mid-level exception (four years, $22 million), but could drive for more if teams struggle to use up their cap space. Never rule out a return to New Jersey if for some reason the Nets strike out on Nene and Tyson Chandler.
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