The dust has pretty much settled on the NBA free agent period and most of the players who were eligible have found a new home for the upcoming season. There are of course a few stragglers who have yet to ink new deals; however, the stars and second-tier guys have found their homes. With the ink now dry on the new deals and press conferences complete, it is time to take a peek in at the new faces in new places and assess just how they will fare in terms of fantasy value for the season. We have finished our look at the Eastern Conference and now we switch to the West by starting with the Northwest Division.
Portland Trailblazers
Portland obviously lost out huge this off-season when they failed to keep their cornerstone in LaMarcus Aldridge. Once Aldridge was out the door, it became a rebuild project of sorts in the City of Roses as Wesley Matthews also flew the coupe so to speak. Portland still wants to be competitive and utilize their franchise player Damian Lillard as best as they can. To that end they were able to persuade Al-Farouq Aminu to join the team. This was a decent signing as Aminu figures to get good minutes with the starting unit. Expect Aminu to certainly improve upon his last season averages of 5.6 ppg and 4.6 rpg averages.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder did what they had to this offseason as they exceeded the cap to re-sign their own restricted free agent in Enes Kanter. Kanter will be a big part of the Thunder’s success this season, as he will pair nicely with Serge Ibaka to patrol the painted area. Kanter will definitely see a decrease in terms of numbers as once Kevin Durant is back on the court, Kanter won’t be seeing as many scoring opportunities.
Utah Jazz
The Jazz had a disappointing free agent period, as they were very much a non-player. The only move the Jazz made was to re-sign their own restricted free agent in Joe Ingles. Ingles is a nice insurance-type player who can play decent minutes; however, really can’t be viewed as being a relevant fantasy player at this point in the season.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets biggest free agent move was to re-sign the versatile Will Barton. This was a good move for the Nuggets, particularly in light of the Ty Lawson arrest and subsequent trade. Barton will complement Emmanuel Mudiay in the backcourt and should see a significant increase in scoring opportunities as the season progresses. Barton is a player that is worth targeting early on in the season to monitor just how he will adapt to being a more focal point-type player offensively.
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves aren’t going to be contending for a playoff spot just yet, so there was really no reason for the Wolves to spend big here and try to push up the team’s timeline on player development. Instead, the Wolves went to the smart route in keeping and acquiring veteran leadership. The Wolves re-upped Kevin Garnett and they added veteran Andre Miller to stabilize that youthful backcourt. Neither Miller nor Garnett will offer much of anything in terms of fantasy contributions, as they are both unlikely to be playing on a regular basis once the season gets underway.