4 winners and 3 losers from a sluggish Day 2 of NBA free agency

The second day of NBA free agency came and went without nearly the fanfare that accompanied Day 1. It would have been hard to top the initial flurry of trades that led up to July 1, and the first day was filled with key signings as well. Still, plenty of important moves happened on Sunday, and here’s who won and lost.

Last year, the Nuggets aggressively pursued Dwyane Wade in free agency, only to see him turn around and sign with the Chicago Bulls. (How’d that turn out?!) At the time, the Nuggets weren’t a team that was guaranteed to make a playoff push and Denver wasn’t exactly a glamour market, although we can all agree there are some perks to living in Colorado.

Well, Denver still isn’t a glamour market and the Nuggets missed the playoffs again, but they successfully signed a top free agent on Sunday. Welcome, Paul Millsap, to the Mile High City.

The Nuggets nabbed Millsap on a three-year, $90 million deal. It’s a move that makes for a crowded front court in Denver, but moving Kenneth Faried or not bringing back Mason Plumlee would fix that rather easily. Either way, Denver now boasts a killer duo of Millsap and Nikola Jokic, which should help the Nuggets at least keep up with the quickly improving Western Conference.

It was only January 2015 when the Hawks won 60 games, went undefeated in January, and saw their entire starting five get named Player of the Month.

They were too pure for this world. We’ll see them on the other side.

It’s hard to decide who’s a real winner or loser in Toronto, who re-signed Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry on Sunday in an effort to bring the gang back. On one hand, the Eastern Conference keeps getting weaker and weaker. On the other, none of the top four teams — Cleveland, Boston, and Washington — got worse, and the Raptors couldn’t get past the second round last year. Why would this coming season be any different?

But Lowry (who signed for three years and $100 million) and Ibaka (three years, $65 million) both are clients of agent Andy Miller, so he must be a winner for orchestrating $165 million headed to a couple of his players.

It happens every single year: A top free agent will take meetings in the first three days, sleep on it while mulling his decision over, and make an ultimate decision on July 4. This is fine and perfectly understandable for men making enormous decisions about the rest of their lives for them and their families. Still, it ruins the holiday for basketball writers, a mild inconvenience for a dream job but an inconvenience all the same. I enjoy a hot dog on the lake, too, damnit.

This year’s free agent is Gordon Hayward, the biggest name still on the market. Hayward’s decision between the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, and Utah Jazz will likely come on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to the Salt Lake Tribune’s Tony Jones.

Miami’s pitch is their beach lifestyle and one of the league’s best coaches in Erik Spoelstra. The Celtics brought Hayward to Fenway Park on Sunday, showing him a video featuring sports legends saying good things about Boston and a personalized message from David Ortiz. In Utah, Hayward’s meeting will take place in San Diego with the Jazz executives. Their pitch, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, will revolve around how Hayward’s role will continue to grow with the team, all while playing next to Rudy Gobert, an ideal teammate for him.

One city’s Fourth of July fireworks may double as a Hayward celebration on Tuesday, and us basketball writers will watch them from the window behind our desk while blogging away.

Nene tried to re-sign with the Houston Rockets on Saturday, agreeing to a four-year, $15 million deal only for the NBA to tell both parties that they can’t do that. See, in the new CBA, there’s an over-38 clause that prevents players from signing for longer than three years if they are or would turn 38 during the length of the contract. Instead, the 34-year-old Nene settled for a three-year, $11 million deal with Houston the next day.

Nene missed out on an extra $4 million, but he’s still making $11 million. He’s a winner here. The Rockets get a quality backup big man back, one who served them well all last season. And the NBA wins because you can never sneak something past them.

If free agency feels quieter this season, you’re right.

Last year, due to an unprecedented cap spike, every team in the league had cap space. It helped facilitate many deals happening quickly, including some lucrative ones. This year, free agents may be hoping for the same type of deals while teams realize that they just don’t have that type of money. This is the result.

Minnesota signed Taj Gibson on Sunday on a two year, $28 million deal. It’s the second player that Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau has brought in that he coached just a few years ago in Chicago, the first of course being Jimmy Butler.

I don’t necessarily love Gibson’s fit — last season was his worst in several years, and he can’t space the floor when Karl-Anthony Towns is in the post, a place where he dominates — but boy, the Timberwolves won’t be fun to play against next year. They still definitely need a shooting wing, and those have mostly flown off the market at this point. Still, at least Thibodeau knows what to expect from his new roster.

Who’s next from the 2014 Bulls? Can we get Carlos Boozer to Minnesota? Mike James? KIRK HINRICH REUNION, LET’S GO. (On a serious note, someone tell the Timberwolves that they shouldn’t sign Derrick Rose. Don’t do it.)