The Opening Flurry

The opening of free agency has been filled with surprises as well as the typical head-scratching decisions (the full MLE for Desagana Diop? 4 years, 17 million for Ronny Turiaf?). So let's look at how teams have fared after the first flurry of free agent signings.Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers are the big winners, possibly moving up to #2 in the Atlantic division with the addition of Elton Brand.  That being said, the Sixers aren't as big a winner as some people seem to think. While Brand is an All-Star player, I don't think he makes the Sixers an elite Eastern Conference team and part of me isn't sure how much better they are than the Washington Wizards. Still, Brand is a huge signing and puts the Sixers smack dab in the middle of the playoff picture.Los Angeles Clippers: While the Clippers seem like big losers after not landing the Baron/Brand duo, they actually could come out in a great position. Personally, I think going from Maggette and Brand to Baron Davis and Josh Smith would be an improvement. I think the Thornton/Smith duo at the forward spots could be a dynamic duo, especially when running alongside Baron. The key is for the Clips is to not panic and overpay someone.Miami Heat: I like the Chalmers/Wade/Marion/Beasley foursome but I thought the Heat would make a run at a low post big man rather than spend a good chunk of change on a fairly one-dimensional 2 guard James Jones. Milwaukee Bucks: The Bucks re-signed Andrew Bogut to a 5 year, 60 million dollar contract with inentives that could make it worth 70+ million. While I liked Bogut, he's not that good and when you already have big money invested in Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson, I'm not sure if spending more on Bogut makes much sense.New York Knicks: New GM, same issues. The Knicks overpaid for a good but not great player who I don't see getting any better in the future. It also doesn't help that Chris Duhon was hardly a Boy Scout in Chicago so it's not like he's going to be a steady force in the locker room.Dallas Mavericks: Well, at least you can't say they're rearranging the deck chair on the Titanic. The Mavs overpaid old friend Desagana Diop and then signed up the fun but not going to help much when it matters Jose Juan Barea. Unless something changes soon, I wouldn't be surprised if the backup plan in the LeBron sweepstates is Dirk Nowitzki.  Golden State Warriors: I thought Chris Mullin and the Warriors were favorites for Worst Offseason of the Year but I never expected it to be this bad. If you had told fans in the Bay Area that their team would trade Baron Davis for Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf, they'd call you crazy. Unfortunately for them, that's essentially what the Warriors have done. They've also lost Mickael Pietrus and have yet to re-sign Monta Ellis or Andris Biedrins. While the Warriors can definitely salvage this lost offseason, the scary thing is that things still could get worse.As for the Celtics, the good news is that nobody has grabbed Posey but the bad sign is that it seems like Posey is definitely going to get a full max, 5 year offer. As much as I'd like to try to split the MLE to grab a couple of players, it's looking like we'll have to use the full MLE to bring in anyone of any value. more...