The Craziness of NBA Free Agency 2019

photo by Dan Carlson

The past week has been a wild one for anxious professional basketball fanatics. News broke earlier today that the most coveted remaining free agent, Kawhi Leonard, has decided to team up with Paul George while Demarcus Cousins is set to join forces with Lebron and AD--capping off an eventful free-agent signing frenzy for the NBA, and setting the league's spotlight now on the city of Los Angeles. With all the recent free agency madness settling, let's calm down now and put things in perspective. Here are a 4 of my thoughts and main takeaways on what's transpired.
                          
First off, the Clippers have just become the overnight favorite to win it all next season. I've said many times that Kawhi Leonard is the best player in the league today and, now that he's in LA, the Clippers in my view are now the top contender. Forget all the upsides on offense that their newly formed squad now has. I mean c'mon, it's the NBA--virtually all teams and players can score the ball. It's the defensive aspect of this team that now sets them apart. Wherever Kawhi's played, he's infused the defense-intensive culture which has led his teams to success. And now, Jerry West has created a 3-headed defense monster in teaming him up with 2 other elite defenders in Paul George, and Patrick Beverley. This defense is going to be a huge problem for all opposing offenses in the NBA and, as the old sports adage goes, defense wins championships right?

Secondly, I think everyone needs a reminder that the Golden State Warriors still exist and are still prime contenders in the West despite losing Kevin Durant and Demarcus Cousins. Did everyone forget how good the Dubs were before KD got there? Few teams, if any, can play solid team ball on both ends of the floor like Golden State can. Their sustained success over the past few seasons has been due in large part to their system--their offensive and defensive schemes. Defensively, they rotate and communicate better than anyone else. They still have 2 of arguably the best long-range shooters of all-time in their back-court, and their core style allows for ball-movement and rotations that still set them apart from all other teams in the league.

Thirdly, despite all the hype, the Los Angeles Lakers are the biggest question in the league going into next season. With Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins now in LA with Lebron James, it will be interesting to see exactly how well they'll manage in playing the sidekick roles. Lebron James is an active Hall-of-Famer, and clear face of the current era of basketball, but all the elite players who have teamed up with him have experienced declines in their individual productivity. Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving. Because of Lebron's style of play which requires that all things offensively have to flow through him, his all-star teammates have always under-performed in comparison to their productivity prior to teaming up with him; oftentimes being confined to stand-and-watch catch and shoot roles along the perimeter having to clear the floor for Lebron to do his thing. Can we expect a different result with AD and Boogie? We'll have to wait and see. Much of the hype on this newly formed Lakers squad is based in the assumption that AD and Boogie will continue to be the players we've been accustomed to seeing up to this point. If they can each maintain their productivity, and mesh well with Lebron and the rest of the team, the Lakers will certainly be a force to be reckoned with. However, history suggests that that's a big IF.
Fourth, the East now virtually belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks. The situation in the East has been simplified following this free-agency. With no Lebron or Kawhi now to stake their claim in the East, it's safe to say that next season's Eastern Conference Title is the Greek Freak & company's to lose. If Kevin Durant cannot make the comeback this season, I doubt Kyrie Irving will be able to carry the Nets to any meaningful situation by himself. The Raptors are now unlikely contenders without Kawhi. The Sixers have become the new Raptors, in a sense--solid and promising during the regular season, and then disappointing come post-season. The only legitimate contender standing in the Bucks way now are, of course, the Boston Celtics. Although they lost Kyrie, Kemba Walker's as good of a replacement for him as they could've hoped for. If Brad Stevens can get them back to playing the solid team ball they were playing prior to this past season, then the conference could be a toss up between Milwaukee and Boston.

One thing's for sure and that's that next season will be a very entertaining and exciting one for basketball fanatics. The NBA is now perhaps the most balanced that it's been in years--in terms of its' talent distribution made possible via free-agency and the draft. Here are my power rankings for next season:

WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. Los Angeles Clippers
2. Golden State Warriors
3. Denver Nuggets
4. Los Angeles Lakers
5. Houston Rockets
6. Portland Trailblazers
7. San Antonio Spurs
8. Utah Jazz

EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. Milwaukee Bucks
2. Boston Celtics
3. Philadelphia 76ers
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Toronto Raptors
6. Miami Heat
7. Brooklyn Nets
8. Atlanta Hawks

What ya'll think? Comment below.
-Samoan A. Smith