NBA free agency has a lovely tendency to move in waves. Once the most prized names — guys like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony — make their choices, the rest of the group sifts into place by type. Often, one player's signing sets the market for others of his same role, so that a single signing triggers a cascade of similar ones. Shooters might all get their contracts in succession, point guards go in a round of their own, and on July 15, 2014, the NBA's class of Beefy Big Guys had their hour:
Celebrating the beefiest day in the history of NBA free agency
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Yahoo Sources: Free agent center Joey Dorsey reaches agreement on a two-year deal with the Houston Rockets. http://t.co/623JnyjWLa
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 15, 2014 Free agent Jeff Adrien has reached a 1-year deal with Houston, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 15, 2014 Free agent forward Trevor Booker has reached a deal with the Utah Jazz, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 15, 2014 Kris Humphries has agreed to a three-year, $13M deal with Washington, league source tells Yahoo Sports. Team option on third year.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 15, 2014 That’s four 6’8-ish power forwards weighing 250-ish pounds signing in rapid succession. Combined, they account for about 19 percent of the NBA’s muscle mass. ‘Twas a day of beeves:
(If the rumored DeJuan Blair deal had gone through, we'd be at unprecedented levels of beef.)
It’s just funny to me how specific some of these markets are. These three teams clearly said “okay, we have a decent frontcourt in place, now we just need some short-ish dudes with biceps that look like loaves of challah to back them up,” and boom there they all go.
Of course, there is only room for so much beef in the NBA. While four beefmen found their homes, one of the modern beef legends had to go. Farewell, Carlos Boozer. You’ll find a new home for those balloonish biceps in the near future.
UPDATE: As of Wednesday, 6’7, 270-pound DeJuan Blair is expected to join the Wizards. THE BEEF GOES ON.
