NBA free agency 2013: Grading the trades and signings

The 2013 NBA free agency period is underway. Throughout the summer, SB Nation’s Mike Prada will be evaluating each trade and signing in this StoryStream We will be updating this post with links to all of our individual signing and trade grades. NOTE: Does not include draft-day transactions.

Also see: Dan Rubenstein’s free-agent grades:

But in those settings, Brewer loses a lot of his value. He thinks he can shoot, but ... he can’t. His three-point percentages the last two years: 26 percent, 30 percent. His three-point attempts per game the last two years: 2.2, 3.7. A player who hits under 30 percent of his three-pointers should not be launching 3.7 per game in just 24.4 minutes. Here’s a closer look at his shot chart last season.

Brewer is decent from the left corner, but horrendous elsewhere. Take away the left corner, and Brewer hoisted 178 threes while making just 23 percent of them. That’s really bad.

The nice thing about signing a player that was released via the Amnesty clause is that they’re more willing to take pay cuts upon becoming free agents because their old team is still paying them.

That’s huge for the Heat. They desperately needed Birdman’s energy and pick and roll ability, but also couldn’t break the bank for him given their massive luxury-tax bill. The Heat’s regular-season surge coincided with Birdman’s arrival, and while he had some moments where he wasn’t used much in the playoffs, he’s an important bench piece on a team that lacks depth. Miami had to keep him, and it found a way to do so affordably.

It’s impossible to really grade the value of this contract like we would others. Kirilenko got other bigger offers, including from the San Antonio Spurs in a potential sign-and-trade scenario, but his agent told David Aldridge of NBA.com that he just wanted to play for a winning team. His relationship with owner Mikhail Prokhorov was also a plus, and no team could have matched that. In terms of value, Kirilenko’s deal may be the biggest bargain of the summer, but it would be unfair to suggest that another team could have reasonably done more to secure his services.

Regardless, signing Kirilenko is a huge win for Brooklyn. It’s time to take the Nets seriously as a title contender.

The Los Angeles Lakers elected to use the entire taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Chris Kaman to a one-year contract, which was a curious move for a couple reasons:

-Kaman certainly isn’t the ideal Mike D’Antoni player.

The Golden State Warriors used a portion of their newly-created full mid-level exception to lure Marreese Speights to the Bay, giving him a three-year, $9 million contract. Speights should replace one element of Carl Landry’s game, but he will have trouble replacing some of the other things he does.

Speights certainly isn’t shy about putting it up. Given a chance to be a primary offensive option on Cleveland’s woeful bench, Speights took advantage, ending an absurd 26.6 percent of Cleveland’s possessions with a shot, drawn foul or turnover, per Basketball Reference. A vast majority of those shots -- 184, to be exact -- were 16-23 foot jumpers, which explains why his true shooting percentage was so mediocre.

GRADE: C+

Some quick thoughts on some smaller guard signings that have taken place over the past 10 days:

C.J. WATSON: The former Brooklyn Nets point guard inked a two-year contract with the Indiana Pacers for the bi-annual exception on the first day of free agency. This was an excellent move by the Pacers, who badly needed to upgrade on the lost D.J. Augustin behind George Hill. Watson’s style fits in better with the Pacers’ post-oriented attack, and he’s much more sure-handed as a ball-handler. Watson also gives the Pacers the ability to play small in the backcourt in certain matchups, something they were scared to do with Augustin. Nearly 39 percent (589 of 1,521) of Watson’s minutes came with Deron Williams, according to NBA.com. All in all, a great, great value signing. GRADE: A

The Cleveland Cavaliers emerged as the winners of the Andrew Bynum sweepstakes, securing the oft-injured center with a two-year, $24 million contract that only guarantees $6 million in the first year and includes a team option for the second. For Bynum to get the full $12 million in the first year, he has to meet a number of performance and health benchmarks.

This is obviously one of the more unique contracts you’ll ever see a player sign. It’s also one that says a lot about the state of both the Cavaliers and the other franchises in the league.

Truthfully, the Nuggets could have used Foye more last season, when they had Iguodala to cover for his defensive deficiencies and were pushing the top of the Western Conference without much outside shooting. They’ll still find him useful now, of course, but he could have helped push the Nuggets to another level by aiding one of their biggest weaknesses. (He would not have been much help for Denver’s other big weakness: interior defense.)

All in all, this was a nice recovery by general manager Tim Connelly. I’m still not wild about the J.J. Hickson signing, but turning Iguodala’s departure into a sign-and-trade for Foye and a trade exception was a good decision.

The move is positively Bucksian, in that the team took on a veteran they knew already who won’t move the needle much for a team that isn’t going anywhere. However, I have less of a problem with this signing than the Zaza Pachulia one because Delfino at least plays a position of need and will cost half as much for half as many years.

I’m not sure Delfino will duplicate his shooting from last season, but he’s still a useful player. He can act as a secondary playmaker, particularly on pick-and-rolls that set up other actions, spot up off other players and defend a little against the top wing scorers. He’s not great in any one area, but he’s decent in several, making him a fine all-purpose wing in a playoff rotation. Houston had him playing a lot of power forward and doing less ball-handling, which helped him shoot well, but probably wasn’t a great way to take advantage of his other skills.

Quick thoughts on four smaller free-agent point guard agreements:

But Hickson’s gaudy statistics are often empty because he falls short in more subtle areas that help teams win games. He doesn’t box out consistently, offers almost no resistance when defending the pick and roll and doesn’t really do a good job of contesting shots. The Blazers were outscored by 5.4 points per 100 possessions when Hickson was in the game last season, per NBA.com, and that’s no accident.

Perhaps the best indicator of Hickson’s empty stats come when looking at the Blazers’ rebounding numbers when he’s on the court. Hickson himself was an excellent rebounder statistically, snaring nearly 21 percent of available missed shots while on the court. However, the Blazers as a team grabbed a significantly higher percentage of available defensive rebounds (75.1 percent, to be exact) when Hickson was on the bench than they did when he was on the court (72.1 percent), per NBA.com. This is not a one-year thing, as there was a similar difference with the Kings in 2011-12 before Hickson was traded. This confirms a lot of what we see when Hickson plays: he’s great on plays where he can make a nice individual effort, but fails to consistently box out other team’s good rebounders in a way that would allow a teammate to grab the board.

Even if it’s not a perfect fit, the cost makes the Collsion signing a no-brainer for the Clippers. In a more limited role on a good team, the speedy point guard can see his strengths amplified and his weaknesses patched over, allowing him to cash in once the season ends.

That’s the hope, at least, but it’s a reasonable one for him to have. In turn, the Clippers should reap the benefits.

It’s a nice value signing. Wright kind of got lost on a 76ers team that lacked direction and was not tailored to his skills, but on paper, he appears to be the kind of 3/D shooter that has become popular around the league. He actually posted a very good true shooting percentage and was at 37 percent from beyond the arc, but Doug Collins didn’t really trust him as a complete player and often parked him on the bench.

That inconsistency from game to game probably prevented Wright from getting a bigger deal. His numbers look good on the whole, especially for those who embrace the advanced statistical movement, but he tends to float from game-to-game. His defensive effort lags, his aggression is inconsistent and you often end up disappointed.

The Pelicans keep kicking the can down the road when making an ultimate decision on Al-Farouq Aminu, signing him to a one-year, $3.7 million deal after declining his fourth-year rookie option before the season. Aminu’s an athletic wing who can’t shoot a lick, but he’s still young (turning 23 in September) and can defend and rebound. The Pelicans lack small forwards and good perimeter defenders, so keeping Aminu on the cheap was probably a good decision.

GRADE: B

Why is he back? I’m not really sure, to be honest. The Bucks really didn’t need to make this signing, both because it doesn’t make sense with their current roster and because it ties up cap flexibility for a team that really should be embracing a full-fledged rebuilding effort.

Pachulia isn’t a bad player, of course, but he also doesn’t have a lot of upside. At 29, you pretty much know what you’re getting from him. He’s willing to bang inside, can rebound pretty well, sets good screens and commits a baffling number of turnovers for someone who rarely looks to shoot. If healthy, that’s good enough to at least make him an adequate backup big man, but Pachulia also has battled several injuries in recent years, missing 30 games this year and 24 the year before.

At this point, Harris is usually playing with another ball-handler anyway. To put things in perspective: almost exactly half of his minutes this season (710 out of 1,421) came with Jeff Teague in the game. Harris also played another 294 minutes with Williams, and none of Atlanta’s top 250 lineup trios featured Harris, Teague and Williams. That means that we’re only talking about 417 of Harris’ minutes, or just under 30 percent, coming when he’s the only ball-handler. This idea of him being a point guard like Calderon is a point guard is obsolete.

And in this role, Harris thrived last year. The Hawks were a whopping 7.3 points better per 100 possessions with Harris in and 2.7 points worse per 100 possessions with him out. Most of that impact came defensively; the Hawks surrendered 97.9 points per 100 possessions when Harris played and 104.1 points per 100 possessions when he sat. The Harris-Teague pairing was particularly effective, as Atlanta outscored opponents by 10.4 points per 100 possessions when the two shared the court.

Of course, there are also reasons why he hasn’t nailed down a starting job. For one, he’s abysmal defensively, though he at least tries to position himself well. Point guard defense is less important than wing or interior defense, but many good point guards have field days when they go at Calderon. Calderon’s sparking assist/turnover numbers can also be somewhat deceiving because they are a product of his low-risk style. He attempted just 80 shots at the rim all season last year and averages only two free throws per 36 minutes for his career. If he drove more often, he might commit more turnovers, but he’d also make himself into a much more dynamic threat that would tilt defenses and open up even more efficient shots for teammates.

Those weaknesses are why I think four years and $28 million is a bit ambitious for his services. In a lot of ways, Calderon is just good enough to make you and your team mediocre. His strengths allow you to run a coherent offense, but his weaknesses prevent you from making it more dynamic.

GRADE: B-

All this is to say that two years and $5.5 million to return to Charlotte is nice value for him. I’m surprised contenders that needed frontcourt depth didn’t come knocking.

GRADE: B+

GRADE: A-

GRADE: B+