There is bound to be a lot of movement during the 2015 NBA free agency period. Several of the big names will wait to option out of deals for the 2016 summer (when max contracts will be the biggest we’ve ever seen), but others may see this summer as the best time to jump ship. Some players have expiring deals, want to get out of bad situations, or simply see themselves finding the best long-term deal now rather than trying to wait it out for another year.
There are probably too many players to track with how NBA rumors fly around, but we’re starting to hear team’s plans start to come to fruition. One of those teams is the Milwaukee Bucks, who already dipped their hand in the NBA player transaction pool yesterday when they traded away forward Ersan Ilyasova. The Ilyasova trade looks small on paper, but it freed up some cash and also allows Jabari Parker a clear path to big minutes in his second season, when he returns from a torn ACL next year.
Of course, the Bucks look to be a team on the rise during the 2015-16 NBA season, as head coach Jason Kidd already helped get them to the playoffs in his first season at the helm and will surely be aiming to advance to round two next year. To do that, they’ll need to work to upgrade in at least one very obvious spot this summer: center.
Trading Ersan Ilysova didn’t just free up a little bit of cash. It gave the Bucks $23 million extra to play with, which may convince them to finally land a true center they can work with. Larry Sanders is out of the mix and was a headcase, and as solid as Zaza Pachulia was at times last year, he just isn’t the answer.
For the moment, that puts two quality NBA centers front and center: Brook Lopez and Tyson Chandler.
The Case For Tyson Chandler
Chandler played with Kidd in Dallas and New York and enters free agency with his deal with the Mavericks ending. With Dallas having eyes for Los Angeles Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan, it’s entirely possible Chandler may follow the money this off-season. That didn’t work out for him last time with the Knicks, but he’s already won a championship and may be excited about the opportunity to work with Kidd again. He doesn’t bring much to the table offensively and could slowly be exiting his prime, but he’s still a defensive stopper than can win on the glass.
On paper, Chandler is a win for a young, defensive Bucks team. Milwaukee thrives on defense first and with Chandler locking down the post, they’d suddenly be a complete defensive team and would then simply have to figure out how to produce more consistent offense.
The Case For Brook Lopez
Lopez could solve the latter issue where Chandler can’t, as Lopez proved during the playoffs and down the stretch this past regular season that when a team runs it’s offense through him, it usually works out for the better. Lopez has his own downside as a negative defender who can block shots but doesn’t hit the boards consistently and loses his man too often. That being said, Kidd coached him during the 2013-14 NBA season with the Brooklyn Nets, and while they didn’t necessarily have an awesome relationship, there could be enough of a connection there to build from.
Both centers could work, but if Lopez can stay healthy (a huge problem for him in the past) and is willing to work to become a better defender, he’s far and away the better choice. Lopez would first have to opt out of his current deal with the Nets, not have a serious rift with Kidd and be okay with playing in a vastly smaller market.
If all of that works for Lopez, he could suddenly be the first or second option on a young and rising team, whereas a strong argument can be made that his Nets are aging and regressing rapidly.
Whether the Bucks go with Lopez or Chandler or just skip both remains to be seen, but they badly need to address the center position if they’re going to make any real progress next season. The top teams across the league have consistency at the center position, whether it be offensively or defensively and Milwaukee needs to find their way in that group as soon as possible if they want to keep climbing the ladder.
Think Lopez is the pick? Chandler should be the guy? Neither of these guys will work? Let us know in the comments below!
