As any regular reader of the blog will know, I have been a strong advocate for the Kings to re-sign Tyreke Evans. As such the decision to let him go to New Orleans in a Sign-and-Trade comes as a bit of a disappointment.

However, I don't want to get too analytical right now. Instead, I want to take a moment and thank Tyreke Evans for his service to this team and to this city during these last four years, which were some of the toughest in franchise history.

When Tyreke came to Sacramento in 2009 we didn't know what to expect. We had just endured the worst season in franchise history, winning just 17 games. To top it all off, we had the best chance to win the Blake Griffin lottery and then ended up falling all the way to fourth, the worst possible scenario. Then on draft night Ricky Rubio, a player many Kings fans wanted, ended up falling into Sacramento's laps at four but the Kings went with Evans instead.

It took a little while for Evans to win us over, but he eventually did. I remember very clearly the first time that Evans wowed me. It was six games into the 2009-10 season and Evans had had a bit of a bumpy start to his career. Kevin Martin had just been diagnosed with a wrist fracture and many were declaring the season lost. The Kings were 1-4 and had to go on the road to play against the very tough Utah Jazz. I was working that night but I wasn't too upset I was going to miss the game because I figured the Jazz were going to wipe the floor with us. That didn't happen. As I checked my phone for updates on the box score throughout the night, I was shocked to see the Kings out in front and with Evans leading the way. Sacramento held on to win, and it was Evans' coming out party (32 points, 7 assists).

That next month-and-a-half was wonderful. With Evans at the helm the Kings started winning, and against some good teams too. 1-4 became 5-4 which became 9-8 (still the furthest along in the season the Kings have been above .500 in a long time).

Then came the Game Winners:

Stealing the ball from Gilbert Arenas to lock up the game.

Driving by Bogut to win the game in Milwaukee.

Capping off the incredible 35 point comeback in Chicago.

The Kings didn't see nearly as much on-court success after that first month and a half, but Reke kept rolling, joining Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average 20 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in their Rookie Year.

20-5-5 was both a blessing and a curse. After years of being out of the playoffs, Evans gave fans hope again; Here at last was someone we could build around. But the expectations born from 20-5-5 and being compared to some of the all-time greats turned out not to be to Evans' benefit.

Evans' sophomore year was a disappointment, as he struggled most of the year while also dealing with nagging Plantar Fasciitis that eventually forced him to sit for an extended period. Still, he managed to give us one of the greatest shots in Sacramento Kings history during this otherwise underwhelming season:

I have probably watched the replay of that shot hundreds of times. I know Grant Napear's call without having to watch the video. It's a moment I will cherish for a long time.

Tyreke Evans never became the superstar that so many of us had hoped to be. But he gave us moments like that half-court game winner. He gave us 100% effort and never had a bad thing to say about Sacramento. He dealt with injuries, coaching changes, two relocation scares, a lockout, multiple role changes and endless criticism. Despite everything, he kept on trying to improve and never complained.

We will miss you Tyreke Evans. I wish you could have gotten to be a part of this new era of Kings basketball. I hope you have nothing but success in New Orleans and I can't wait to give you a standing ovation the first time you visit Sacramento.

Thank you and Good Luck.

Ever since becoming the Kings General Manager just over a couple weeks ago, Pete D'Alessandro has not been afraid to speak his mind.

He recently spoke with the Bee's Ailene Voisin where they touched on the Tyreke Evans trade as well as the hole at Small Forward.

On Tyreke Evans:

"You're walking a fine line," D'Alessandro said Thursday. "You want to maintain salary cap flexibility because you want to maintain the ability to strike, to go after a player you think is special. (That was Iguodala). Tyreke was definitely going to be too much money. But we're ecstatic. We've been looking for a pass-first point guard, and we got a good one in Greivis. If he were a free agent, this is someone we would have gone after."

On Small Forward:

"We have to do something there," D'Alessandro said. "I might look at more of a veteran, someone to come in for a year or two, and who can really shoot it from deep. Passing and shooting have been our priorities. But while this is only one deal, I think what we did today is going to help us."

I know Kings fans are going to be very underwhelmed by this second quote. Another stopgap solution at Small Forward? Will it ever end?

The Kings did try to swing for the fences on a Small Forward earlier this week by making a big offer to Iguodala, which they then rescinded when he hesitated to accept the offer and seemingly used it as leverage. According to Sam Amick, Iguodala's preference would be to go to Golden State:

Regarding Andre Iguodala situation, he wants to play for Warriors & has already had deep talks to go there. Need space or S&T though.

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 5, 2013

The remaining SF options in Free Agency aren't really guys that you'd consider a "big splash". Andrei Kirilenko and Josh Smith are the only two that might qualify and neither are likely to come to Sacramento.

Of the rest, there are a few options that could fit D'Alessandro's description, in no particular order:

1. Dorell Wright, 27 years old, .367 career 3P%

2. Carlos Delfino 31 years old, .365 career 3P%

3. Austin Daye, 25 years old, .356 career 3P%

4. Omri Casspi, 25 years old, .353 career 3P%

5. Chris Copeland, 29 years old, .429 career 3P%

That's not a very inspiring list. Other options would be to get someone temporarily in a trade.

I'm fine with a stopgap as long as there is a long term plan and I think there is. There's nobody out there (aside from Iguodala, who is now heading to the Warriors for less money than both the Kings and Nuggets were offering) that I'd really want to commit to long term.

A stopgap option allows Sacramento to keep its flexibility for the future, so that the Kings can one day finally acquire a quality Small Forward for the future, whether it be by trade, signing or in the draft.

Things in the NBA went bonkers on Friday. The Warriors magically unloaded Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins to free up enough space to land Andre Iguodala. Jose Calderon signed with the Mavericks. Paul Millsap landed with the Hawks. The Bucks picked up O.J. Mayo. And in a huge move with massive repercussions all over the league: Earl Clark went to the Cavaliers. (That might have actually happened on Thursday; sorry, I'm a little punch-drunk.)

In actuality, the Dwight Howard decision should set the remainder of the free agent period on its head. The Rockets will almost assuredly pitch out Omer Asik. (The rumored deal for Ryan Anderson has been debunked, so Daryl Morey is no doubt shopping the Turkish center right now.) Andrew Bynum, Josh Smith, Nikola Pekovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Jeff Teague, Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis all remain available. (All were among my top 19 free agents of the 2013 class.)

But that's just a fraction of the players who are actually in play right now. The trade game is going to be nuts over the next two weeks, in my opinion. So while we consider current free agents who could be the Kings' choice as a stopgap small forward (Kirilenko, Dorell Wright, Carlos Delfino, Corey Brewer), consider that there are any number of options on the trade market. And we all know Vegas Summer League is a veritable hotbed of action for GMs.

There are teams going into rebuild mode that haven't finished dissembling. There are teams looking to break through in needs of another veteran piece or two. Pete D'Alessandro vowed to be aggressive in the offseason, and he aggressively went after Iguodala before making the decision to cut bait after hesitance from the wing. Look at how the Rockets got to here -- I can't recommend Mike Prada's breakdown enough. It wasn't through a whole lot of free agency signings. It was through trades and the draft ... until it came time to ink Dwight.

There's still a helluva lot of time this offseason for D'Alessandro, and then we'll have the trade deadline, the 2014 draft and 2014 free agency. That's all in the next year. Untold numbers of good players will switch teams between now and then. Stay tuned. This movement period isn't close to over, and three more are on the way.

Yesterday was a good example of the power of social media was it not?

NBA Free Agency went bonkers with a huge group of players moving to new teams and seemingly every 15 minutes there was either a new trade or rumour announced.

And yes, Twitter was the enabler for all of this madness.

Dwight Howard's decision to sign with the Houston Rockets was the best example of this.

Howard in fairness, didn't say a thing about where he was headed until he had notified all parties, (suitors again were the Rockets, Lakers, Mavericks, Warriors and Hawks), but the rampant speculation on Twitter from various media heads made it seem like Howard had switched his mind on numerous occasions, and at one point #Dwightmare was trending in Canada. Remove Twitter from the equation and likely we would have had a couple reports regarding which way Howard was leaning, but not the firestorm of differing accounts and constant updates.

Howard though wasn't the only one garnering Twitter attention yesterday.

It started late in the afternoon with reports that the Golden State Warriors were making a move to dump salary on the Utah Jazz in an attempt to lure swingman Andre Iguodala from the Denver Nuggets.

It worked, and suddenly there was not only a very intriguing group of players in Oakland, but also potential pieces to work with in a sign-and-trade scenario with the Lakers, if the Warriors were still looking to make a run at Dwight Howard.

That of course didn't play out, Howard chose to head to the Houston Rockets, but the Warriors were still left with a very dynamic club, and suddenly the West looks scary as hell. The Clippers, Warriors, and Rockets all seem to have taken steps forward, and of course clubs like the Grizzlies, Spurs and Thunder are still very strong as well.

This means that some teams though have regressed and the Nuggs, Jazz and Lakers stand out in this capacity.

The Lakers have some very interesting decisions to make with Howard now gone, as Bryant will miss a good chunk of the season via injury, Steve Nash was fairly ineffective last season, and besides Pau Gasol and Mr. Meta (who could be amnestied), the cupboard is pretty bare.

The Jazz are in full Wiggins mode that's for certain. They lost Al Jefferson to the Bobcats, took on the ugly contracts of Richard Jefferson and Andres Biedrins in the trade with the Warriors, and then had to renounce the rights to Paul Millsap thanks to said trade, making him a free agent and thus losing him to the Atlanta Hawks on a two-year deal.

Got all that?

The Jazz puts my count at six clubs now actively looking for a shot at Andrew Wiggins next seasons as the Celtics, 76ers, Suns, Kings, and Magic all project to be pretty awful too, and the Lakers, Bobcats and Pistons don't exactly look like Championship contenders either.

The Bucks grabbed OJ Mayo, the Mavericks agreed to a four-year deal with Jose Calderon and the Hawks, as previously mentioned, snatched up Paul Millsap, but all three could find themselves in the NBA basement depending on other moves still to come. The Hawks have a major decision to make with Josh Smith while the Bucks have to deal with guys like Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings.

And of course there are some teams that look like complete wild cards like the New York Knicks.

They could again be a top four playoff team in the East, but it also wouldn't surprise anyone to see them crash into the lottery.

So where does this leave the Raptors?

I'd argue that the Bargnani trade is addition by subtraction but even so, the club as presently composed, still looks to me as a 40 win team max.

Therefore Toronto still has some work to do if it wants to either join the Wiggins race, or sneak into one of the final playoff spots in the East.

The team's roster is nearly full now (14 guaranteed contracts by my count assuming Bargs trade and Stone signings go through) but the Raps obviously still have needs to fill, something we'll be digging into on Monday. While having Calderon back for sentimental reasons might have been nice for many Raptors' fans, that was an extremely long shot admittedly. There's no way management would have risked another Lowry/Calderon debacle like last year and the club likely couldn't have afforded his services anyways. The team will still likely look for another PG option this summer and best of luck to Calderon in Dallas where he could post great offensive numbers alongside Dirk Nowitzki.

Finally, one more note on yesterday's transactions. As I discussed on Twitter after the news of the Iguodala signing broke, the move is one Raptors' fans have to be happy about. Minus Iggy, the Nuggets take a step back in the West meaning the first-round pick Toronto acquired in the Andrea Bargnani trade (or will acquire post July 10) looks better and better. As a reminder, the pick is the Knicks' own, but the protection on the pick meant that the Nuggets, based on a part of the Carmelo Anthony trade, had the right to swap their own first-round pick in 2016 with that of the Knicks. That means that if the Knicks drop in the standings in 2016, Denver could say "thank you very much," and swap picks with New York, taking the lower pick, and leaving the higher, and likely less valuable, one with Toronto.

However if the Nuggets and Knicks BOTH decline to the point of lottery standings by 2016, it's a win-win situation for the Raps as even if Denver does swap picks with New York, the pick Toronto receives would still be a quite high one. This is the ideal situation going forward, and hopefully the loss of Iguodala starts this process.

174. Jerome Beasley

173. Winston Bennett

Winston Bennett was a 6'7" small forward from Louisville, KY. Born February 9th, 1965, he was Mr. Basketball for the state of Kentucky in 1983. He then joined the Wildcats at the University of Kentucky, averaging 28 minutes per game over his four seasons with 11 points, six rebounds, and an assist per contest. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected him in the third round of the 1988 draft, 64th overall.
Bennett averaged 16 minutes per game over parts of three seasons with the Cavs, scoring five points with three boards and an assist during his time there. He was waived near the end of the 1991-92 season. Miami signed him to a 10-day contract on April 10th. He played one minute that night, sinking his only field goal and grabbing one rebound in a 108-93 Heat win over the Washington Bullets. Six days later, he made his second and final appearance with Miami, and his final overall NBA performance, again playing one minute. This time, he missed his only shot as Miami lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 95-87.
Later on, Bennett went into coaching, serving as Rick Pitino's assistant both at the University of Kentucky and with the Boston Celtics. He later became the head coach of Kentucky State, eventually serving in the same capacity with the NAIA's Mid-Continent University.

172. Matt Fish

171. Todd Fuller

170. Mickell Gladness

The Sacramento Kings and free agent forward Carl Landry have agreed to a contract worth around $26-27 million over four years, agent Mark Bartelstein told the media on Saturday. The deal gives a young Kings team some added experience.

Four yers is a fairly long deal for a 29-year-old who spent the past season coming off the bench, but Landry has consistently provided efficient play in the post in the past. Last season with Golden State, Landry averaged 10.8 points and six rebounds per game while filling a key reserve role.

It's going to be interesting to see is how Landry fits onto a roster that already features a pair of power forwards in Jason Thompson and Patrick Patterson. Considering the money Sacramento just committed, though, it wouldn't be surprising to see some trade rumblings in the coming weeks concerning this logjam of players.

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Floyd: Don’t blame Howard for circus

• Roth: Why Dwight Howard annoys everyone

• J.R. Smith returns to NY | The Knicks are reunited!

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

The Kings have signed free agent forward Carl Landry to a four-year deal, his agent Mark Bartlestein announced on Saturday. Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski pegged the contract at $26 million over four years.

Landry is, of course, a former King. He arrived in the Kevin Martin trade in 2010 and exited in the Marcus Thornton deal in 2011. He's been a reserve player much of his career, outside of his first 28 games with the Kings. Since leaving Sacramento, he's become a much better rebounder; improvement in this area often comes with age, so let's hope Landry can keep it up going forward.

Landry will turn 30 before the beginning of next season, but his game relies more on skill and effort than athleticism. He made $4 million in an excellent season for the Warriors last year. He has a career average of 17 points and almost 8 rebounds per 36 minutes, shooting 53 percent from the floor.

Top Hat makes roughly the same as Jason Thompson and Chuck Hayes, and with Patrick Patterson also under contract, it'll be interesting to see if Pete D'Alessandro flips one or two of the power forwards. Thompson is the only one of the four who can play center. Some think Kings center DeMarcus Cousins belongs at power forward, too.

Welcome back, Carl.

Arguably the top remaining player available dropped off the market Saturday as forward Josh Smith agreed to a big four-year deal with the Detroit Pistons. Valued at up to $56 million with incentives, it's not quite a max contract, but certainly signifies a massive commitment to the free agent forward.

Considered a probable Plan B for teams that failed to land Dwight Howard this summer, Smith instead heads to a franchise that never even met with arguably the top player on the market. With Detroit seemingly loading up for a hopeful return to competitiveness in the near future, let's take a look at what else is going on around the league.

Cavs get Jack, Kings land Landry

The two players who powered the Golden State Warriors' bench last season both found lucrative new homes for the 2013-14 season on Saturday. Power forward Carl Landry agreed to a four-year, $27 million deal with the Sacramento Kings this weekend, while point guard Jarrett Jackgot a slightly smaller deal, $25 million over four years, from the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the Warriors deciding to use up their available cap space to sign Andre Iguodala, we see two of the key players from last year's roster move on this summer. As Sactown Royalty notes, the Landry signing could lead to additional moves for the Kings, given the new logjam at power forward.

Teague 'growing frustrated' with Hawks

Looking to cash in on his breakout season, point guard Jeff Teague is "growing frustrated" with how the Atlanta Hawks have handled his free agency thus far. Specifically, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports says Teague perceives a lack of meaningful contract discussions between the two sides, which is significant when Atlanta essentially holds the rights to the guard's future. As a restricted free agent, the Hawks will presumably match any offer sheet he signs from another team, though their intentions seem less clear with this revelation. After bringing in Paul Millsap to replace Josh Smith, it's possible Atlanta could be committing to bigger changes, including the departure of its point guard. Here's more from Peachtree Hoops on this situation.

Mavericks pursuing Andrew Bynum

The Dallas Maverickshave moved on from Dwight Howard to the expected Plan B, free agent center Andrew Bynum. Highly regarded when he was traded as part of the Howard deal last summer, Bynum has seen his reputation decimated by a number of injuries over the past season. Still, he's arguably the final remaining available player capable of All-Star performance when healthy. For a Mavericks team that missed out on its key targets this summer, settling for Bynum wouldn't be the worst consolation prize. If healthy, a frontcourt of Bynum, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion could be highly intriguing, and as Mavs Moneyball says, "Bynum may be completely damaged goods by this point, but his level of talent simply can't be ignored."

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Prada: How Morey got his man

• Ziller: Lakers need a miracle

• Josh Smith signs with Detroit | Iguodala to Golden State

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

There's a corollary between Isaiah Thomas and Jason Thompson, Greivis Vasquez and Carl Landry, the Kings' point guard spot and power forward position.

I.T. and J.T. have been challenged by potential replacements before, and have come out on top. Thomas has beaten Jimmer Fredette (picked 50 spots higher in the 2011 NBA Draft) and Aaron Brooks for his job. Thompson first knocked Mikki Moore out of the starting power forward spot, then beat back challenges from Landry, Sean May, Chuck Hayes, Thomas Robinson and now Patrick Patterson. And now Landry is back to try again.

Vasquez is the newest challenger to I.T., but it seems really important to note that unlike Jimmer and Brooks, the Venezuelan is of a totally different style than Thomas. Fredette and Brooks are pretty similar to I.T. in style: score-first, pass-second, get out in transition. Vasquez is the Kings' first pass-first guard since Sergio Rodriguez.

Landry, meanwhile, is coming in as -- in my opinion -- a top reserve. That's where Top Hat has seen his greatest success in recent years: as a top frontcourt scoring option off of the bench. It's also worth noting that his first run as a starter alongside DeMarcus Cousins didn't go too well. So while Landry is back and likely to steal minutes from Thompson, it's perhaps not as a direct challenger for the starting job. (Patterson is a different story.)

If you ignore Jimmer for a second and assume rookie Ray McCallum makes the roster, the Vasquez-Thomas point guard rotation makes a lot of sense. Look at their 2012-13 per-36 and shooting numbers.

Isaiah is the better individual player. He scores way more, and does it more efficiently. (He's also younger [by three years] and currently cheaper.) But basketball's not an individual game. And we've never seen DeMarcus Cousins (or Ben McLemore, for that matter) with a pass-first point guard. Vasquez is certainly a pass-first point guard. Legitimately, his numbers look like Rajon Rondo lite, right down to the poor jump shooting. (Vasquez's value would go up if his shot frequency went down, though it's worth noting he's currently more efficient on threes than twos overall because of the added point on makes from beyond the arc. His 34 percent from three is the equivalent of 51 percent on twos.)

Both guards are really aggressive, but in different ways: Vasquez is aggressive in making plays (see those turnovers, too?) and Thomas is an aggressive scorer. Both do the other thing pretty regularly (Vasquez can score and I.T. can pass), but the priorities are different. Why? Because, in my opinion, the skills are different.

Because of all this, as the roster stands now, I think Vasquez will end up the starter but Thomas (if he isn't traded) will be a valuable bench option. The mystery component in the discussion is defense: I honestly don't know enough about Vasquez on that end, and frankly we've only seen Thomas on Keith Smart teams, so we don't know enough about I.T. on that end either. Size matters in defense, and Vasquez is about 10 inches taller than I.T. But that's not the whole equation, so clearly that's an unknown. One more note in the comparison: Vasquez is a better rebounder, and the Kings need rebounding.

But I think in the end, it makes more sense to see a playmaker like Vasquez try his hand with Cousins and either McLemore or Marcus Thornton in the starting five. I actually think I.T. and Landry would be a fierce pick-and-roll combo off of the bench, and we know Thomas is a helluva sparkplug in any role.

The real question is how Pete D'Alessandro and crew handle this when both Vasquez and Thomas become restricted free agents in 2014, provided I.T. is retained. A big part of Thomas's draw is his contract value (dirt cheap). That's what makes the presence of Ray McCallum (who appears to be an I.T.-type scoring point) all the more intriguing. Thomas is more valuable as a trade asset the further from free agency he is. (Why? RFAs like I.T. will sign smaller contracts than someone like Tyreke Evans, so the team taking him -- assuming the Kings don't match -- would more easily be able to fit him under the cap or within a cap exception without giving up an asset.) So, now and approaching the trade deadline will be the best times to deal I.T. if you're going to deal him or let him go in a year when he hits the market. If McCallum shows in Summer League, preseason and early in the season that he can replicate much of what I.T. does, and if Vasquez is handling the starting job well, that'd could open the door to flipping Thomas for an asset at the deadline.

Of course, Jimmer (under contract through 2014-15) could do that too, freeing up an I.T. trade. But every indication has been that Fredette is not long for this franchise. We'll see.

(Cue the I.T. trade rumor that makes this entire thing irrelevant.)

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs brought back Manu Ginobili and Tiago Splitter, and added Italian marksman Marco Belinelli as well as forward Jeff Pendergraph who had played for the Pacers for his first four years in the league. They could still re-sign Gary Neal and DeJuan Blair, if they decide to. Not an extremely exciting free agency period for the Spurs so far but when you get to the finals, you don't do much more than tinker.

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks got a great deal when they signed Paul Millsap to a two-year, $19 million dollar deal and have also added DeMarre Carroll. They drafted two high upside foreigners in Brazilian center Lucas Nogueira and German point guard Dennis Shröeder. Some tough decisions are ahead, as Jeff Teague is still a free agent and Zaza Pachulia leaving creates a hole, but the Hawks are having a solid off-season so far despite Josh Smith bolting to the Pistons.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics have a new coach, Brad Stevens formerly of Butler University. So the question is, how does Rajon Rondo react to having a young, inexperienced coach? Who knows.

The Cs added Kelly Olynyk and Colton Iverson through the draft and with the additions of Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries and Marshon Brooks could battle for one of the lower seeds in the West. Or they could trade away their remaining valuable assets (Brandon Bass, Courtney Lee) for picks or younger players. I honestly have no idea what the Celtics are doing.

Brooklyn Nets

The Nets received Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Celtics and are about to sign former draftee Bojan Bogdanovic to back up The Truth after their talks with Kyle Korver fell through.They have also filled out the whole at back-up PG with Shaun Livingston.

In the draft the Nets selected Mason Plumlee, who should give them some good defense off the bench next to Andray Blatche, who re-signed with the team.

Charlotte Bobcats

The Bobcats will sign Al Jeffersonto a three-year, $44 million contract and will re-sign Josh McRoberts to a two-year, $6 million dollar contract. The best you can say about those moves is that they are designed to be short term moves. Al Jefferson won't be able to carry a pretty weak and extremely young Bobcats supporting cast to the playoffs on his back, and being mediocre is the worst thing that can happen to them, unless their first round pick, Cody Zeller is really a star in the making. So far, I'd say the best decision the Cats made seems to be amnestying the disappointing Tyrus Thomas.

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls added two wings, one through free agency and one in the draft. Mike Dunleavy Jr agreed to sign a two-year, $6 million contract and will join Tony Snell as the only two new faces so far. The Bulls re-signed veteran center and former Spurs Nazr Mohammed and will waive Rip Hamilton after a disappointing stint as a Bull. So far there are not a lot of rumors floating around about the Bulls but as long as they get Derrick Rose back, healthy and ready to go, they should be a threat in the East.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs are looking for big men that can shoot, from the look of things. After selecting Anthony Bennett with the first pick in the draft, they will sign Earl Clarkto a two-year, $9 million contract. They could also add 19th pick Sergey Karasev to provide some wing shooting and will have combo guard Jarret Jack running their second unit. If Varejao and Irving are healthy, the Cavs could challenge for a playoff spot.

Detroit Pistons

After drafting Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and striking out on Iguodala, it was almost certain Joe Dumars was going to do something stupid. Once Calderon signed with the Mavs, it was inevitable. So obviously he signed Josh Smith, who is a great player but makes absolutely no sense on that roster right now, to a huge contract. Let's hope that he doesn't trade Greg Monroe next, for the sanity of our DBB brethren.

Indiana Pacers

These guys are having a great off-season. They drafted forward Solomon Hill, locked up David West and will replace the below average Tyler Hansbrough with Chris Copeland. The 29-year old forward had a very good season with the Knicks and will sign a two-year, $6 million dollar contract. The signings basically make Granger trade fodder, probably for the shooting guard the Pacers need.

They also added Donald Sloan as a third point guard behind George Hill and free agent C.J. Watson. The Pacers finally have a bench and could be scary next season.

Miami Heat

Birdman, probably. Whatever.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks drafted Greek swing man Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nate Wolters, which is a risky but promising haul. But then they started striking out on every free agent. So they went and signed O.J. Mayo to a three-year, $24 million contract and Zaza Pachulia to a three-year, $15 milllion contract. Look, I don't dislike Mayo but what's the plan here? Sure, Ellis is probably gone and Jennings' future is hanging in the air, but why not take that as a sign you should rebuild? And with Gooden, Sanders, Udoh, Ilyasova and Henson why target Zaza?

Update: Now the Bucks are closing in on a deal with Carlos Delfino because it seems they are actually aiming for that 7th seed.

New York Knicks

I like Bargnani more than the average person but the trade is still a little weird. Sure, Novak and Camby were not contributing, but a couple of picks on top? It seems like too much. And now Mike Woodson will have to find another way to hide a bad defensive forward in his schemes.

On less baffling news, the Knicks re-signed Pablo Prigioni and J.R. Smith and drafted Tim Hardaway Jr. They will be good next season but likely not a real threat.

Orlando Magic

The Magic, who totally won the Howard trade, aretanking rebuilding and have no problem being terrible for one more year. It paid off last season, as they drafted Victor Oladipo with the second pick in the draft. And next season they can rid themselves of Hedo's contract. So don't expect them to make moves now.

Philadelphia 76ers

The Sixers are also rebuilding, after trading All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams are good pieces to start with and there could be more moves coming in Philly to clear the decks and get ready for a full on youth movement. The first one came already, when the Sixers acquired Royce White and Furkan Aldemir from the Rockets.

Toronto Raptors

After refusing Joe Dumars' proposal of Villanueva and Stuckey for Rudy Gay, the Raptors have been quiet. They signed former Nugget Julyan Stone, a 6-6 defensive specialist that hasn't had success so far and seem pretty content. They have a mediocre, but not terrible roster, and will likely add a big man to make a push for the playoffs. Masai Ujiri knows it's all about the long game, and it will take some time to clean Bryan Colangelo's mess.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards had a good off-season. They drafted their small forward of the future in Otto Porter, got a good back-up point guard in Eric Maynor and re-signed Garrett Temple (remember him?) and Martell Webster. They are probably done now but all those moves made sense. This is a team that wants to get to the playoffs and I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Western Conference

Dallas Mavericks

Apparently, having Mike James start at point guard is not ideal. To make sure that doesn't happen again, the Mavs signed Jose Calderonto a four-year, $29 million contract. Then they signed Devin Harris after already drafting Shane Larkin and Ricky Ledo and signing Israeli guard Gal Mekel. They will have Dirk, Shawn Marion and Vince Carter back along with Jae Crowder and Bernard James. They still have time to put together a better roster than that but it seems unlikely they make the playoffs, unless they sign Andrew Bynum and he pays off.

Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets went from dark horse contender to low seed/lottery team in record time. Their GM left, they fired George Karl, who had just won Coach of the Year, and now their biggest star, Andre Iguodala bolted. Even their starting center Kosta Koufos is not longer with the team.

In is Darrell Arthur, form the Koufos trade, and rookie Erick Green. I'm sure the Nuggets will try to add someone else or at least retain Mozgov and/or Corey Brewer but it doesn't look good for the former Moonmen unless Gallinari becomes a bona fide star, which is unlikely.

Update: The Nuggets are going to sign J.J. Hickson for the MLE. With Faried and Darrell Arthur, I don't see where he fits.

Golden State Warriors

Speaking of Iguodala, he signed with the Dubs for $48 million over four years. that's a big upgrade at the wing but they lost Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry and now don't really have a bench. They can still make some small signings but it would be hard for them to replace that bench scoring. Still, a good team just got better.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets signed none other than Dwight Howard to anchor the paint. They will now have to figure out what to do with Omer Asik but they should have no problem finding a trade partner. They also added Omri Casspi for cheap and are bringing back Fransico Garcia. That's a nice little roster, right there. One that could get a top-four seed in the West, if things go well.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers had a very productive off-season. They got themselves two very good wings in J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley. It cost them Eric Bledsoe, however, and while they will add Darren Collison, the loss might be felt. Oh, Matt Barnes is also likely returning and they drafted Reggie Bullock, so they are the opposite of the Bucks: a lot of wings and no bigs.

Update: The Clippers have re-signed Ryan Hollins. They still need another big because Hollis just isn't very good.

Los Angeles Lakers

Since Dwight Howard left, the Lakers are facing a hard decision. Build a good team and wait for Kobe or tank the season? Both approaches have their downsides, but they are not winning a chip anytime soon, which means the Lakers should probably tank. But they have Steve Nash, MWP and Pau Gasol under contract along with a couple of solid role players. So apparently they are tryig to get the old gang back together, contacting Lamar Odom. Whatever they decide to do, it will be hilarious to watch.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies had an even more boring off-season than the Spurs had. They traded their back up power forward for a back-up center, re-signed Tony Allen and stretch-4 Jon Leuer and drafted Tony Mitchell. It really doesn't seem the Grizzlies got better but we will have to see them play before making that call.

Minnesota Timberwolves

After drafting Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, the Wolves added Kevin Martin and re-signed Chase Budinger to rain threes off Rubio assists. They will also likely re-sign Nikola Pekovic and could have a very dangerous offense and a deep bench. On defense, though, they could struggle mightily unless they work a way to bring back AK, which is unlikely. Still, this seems like the year the Wolves get back to the playoffs.

New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans added Jrue Holiday on draft night and Tyreke Evans through trade. That's some serious fire power. Those two guys (and Jeff Withey, who was part of the Evans' trade) will join Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon and the rest of gang to make the Southwest division even tougher. The Pelicans re-signed Al-Farouq Aminu but still need a shooter at the three to truly be scary.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder not only failed to add a significant player but they lost Kevin Martin. They better hope Jeremy Lamb is ready for prime time and Steven Adams doesn't bust because the Harden trade is getting worse by the minute.

Phoenix Suns

The Suns added blue chip prospect Eric Bledsoe and will now have to find a way to make a back court featuring him and Goran Dragic work. They also added Alex Len through the draft and are looking at shooters like Anthony Morrow to round off the roster. They will be bad this upcoming season and hope Wiggins falls on their lap.

Porland Trail Blazers

The Blazers were the third team on the Evans-for-Vazquez trade and acquired center Robin Lopez for their trouble. They also made a lot of smaller moves to fill out their previously terrible bench with veteran point guard Earl Watson and shooter Dorell Wright. When you add those guys to C.J. McCollum, you get a serious upgrade. Good off-season for these guys. Maybe LMA stays, after all.

Sacramento Kings

The Kings were about to sign Iguodala until they weren't any more. So they lost Tyreke Evans but added pass-first point guard Greivis Vazquez to get 7th pick Ben Mclemore some open looks. They also signed Carl Landry, who was with them before joining the Warriors. All they need now to have a normal season is a small forward who can shoot.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz are in full rebuilding mode, having let go of Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson in free agency. They also lost DeMarre Carroll and Earl Watson and facilitated the Warriors acquisition of Andre Iguodala by absorbing the contracts of our old pal Richard Jefferson, Andris Biedrins and Brandon Rush for draft picks. The Jazz drafted intriguing prospects Trey Burke and Rudy Gobert but will very likely be awful yet entertaining next season.

* * *

As always with these trackers, I'll try to update it if something major happens. If you hear something, post it in the comments. For a great list of all free agents (available and signed) go to PeachTree Hoops' excellent, and constantly updated 2013 Free Agent Signing Board.

Coming into this summer, Kings fans were looking forward to the draft and Free Agency. There was hope that the Kings could finally address the Small Forward situation, re-sign Tyreke Evans and maybe add a defensive big man. In various interviews, Pete D'Alessandro, the new Kings GM, cited passing and shooting as Sacramento's biggest offseason priorities, particularly at the PG and SF positions.

So it comes as no surprise that the signing of Carl Landry to a 4 year, $26 million contract comes as a shock to most. In Landry, the Kings have acquired a very efficient big man scorer who does nothing to help Sacramento's defense, passing or rebounding. This doesn't seem like a need, particularly since the Kings are still left with a gaping hole on the wing after a failed pursuit of Andre Iguodala and the trade of Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans. Kings fans are intimately familiar with what Carl Landry brings to the table, because he was a Sacramento King not two seasons ago.

So what gives?

First, let me start by saying that should Sacramento not trade one of their other big men (Jason Thompson, Chuck Hayes, Patrick Patterson) this move is perplexing.

Second, the Carl Landry Kings fans saw in 2010 and 2011 is not likely the same Carl Landry Kings fans will see in 2013 and it is because of two people: Mike Malone and Tyreke Evans.

When Carl Landry first came to Sacramento, the Kings plugged him in at Power Forward next to Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson and he impressed us with his scoring. However, there was a big problem that wasn't readily apparent until the following season. Paul Westphal wasn't utilizing Landry's strengths, which is right around the basket. Instead, Carl was shooting more and more jumpers, particularly from the 16-23 foot range, a.k.a the worst shot in basketball. Take a look at the following table.

Stats taken from HoopData's Shot Location Database.

In his two seasons in Sacramento, Landry shot a higher percentage of his total attempts as 16-23 foot jumpers than any other time in his career. He also shot the fewest attempts of his career at the rim. It was also the only time in his career that his number of attempts from 16-23 feet were more than the number of attempts he shot at the rim. There was a bit of a carryover in this trend when he was traded to New Orleans at the trade deadline of the 2010-11 season, but that was remedied in his next full season in New Orleans, as you can see an uptick in rim attempts and a decrease in 16-23 foot jumpers.

Last year in Golden State, Landry upped his rim attempts to almost half of his total attempts, which does marvels for his efficiency, as he's consistently in the 70-75% range at the rim. He did shoot almost a quarter of his shots as 16-23 foot jumpers but that's much better than the 32-35% in Sacramento. Mike Malone saw Landry in action in both New Orleans and Golden State so he should be able to make better use of Landry's talents.

One reason the Kings had Landry shooting so much jumpers was the simple fact that the Kings were still utilizing Tyreke Evans as a featured scorer in the offense and that meant someone would have to stand outside to create a semblance of spacing. In his four years in Sacramento, 47.3% of Evans Field Goal attempts came at the rim, and that doesn't count all the times Evans was fouled attacking the basket. A team with Evans as a featured scorer needs to surround him with shooters, and so Landry wasn't near the basket as often.

Losing Evans for Greivis Vasquez was definitely a talent loss, but it also might be better for the whole team in terms of fit and offensive spacing. We should hopefully see an increase in attempts at the rim for Carl Landry and even DeMarcus Cousins with Evans gone. If Ben McLemore is able to adapt quickly, that's someone who will help spacing immensely with his outside shooting touch. With Landry's addition as a likely bench reserve and Vasquez as a pass-first Point Guard, Sacramento should see an increase in offensive efficiency.

Sacramento still has a lot of work to do to fill other gaps in their team. Small Forward is still a mess, and with Landry the Kings probably have one too many rotation bigs. But Rome wasn't built in a day and I have a hard time seeing how the Kings might have gotten worse so far this year. Different, but not worse. I won't and can't go as far as to say they've gotten better yet. A lot of that depends on Mike Malone, Ben McLemore and DeMarcus Cousins.

This offseason is far from over, and I doubt we have seen the last of the moves Sacramento will make.

The Los Angeles Lakers and free-agent center Chris Kaman have shown mutual interest in each other, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

With the departure of Dwight Howard to the Houston Rockets, the Lakers now have a huge void in their frontcourt. The Lakers have had preliminary discussions with Kaman, and the veteran big man would like to play again in Los Angeles. Kaman spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Clippers.

Kaman averaged 10.5 points and 5.6 rebounds last season with the Dallas Mavericks. Kaman did have a few issues with how he was used in Dallas, but in general, he's a reliable big man that would fill a need for the Lakers.

Kaman made $8 million in Dallas last season, so he would be taking a rather sizable pay cut if he joined Los Angeles. The Lakers can offer Kaman the taxpayer mid-level exception starting at $3.18 million.

The Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and New York Knicks have also reportedly shown interest in Kaman.

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Prada: How Morey got his man

• Ziller: Lakers need a miracle

• Josh Smith signs with Detroit | Iguodala to Golden State

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

UPDATE: Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution also chimed in on the rumors this morning, though at this point it doesn't sound like he knows much more than the rest of us.

I hear that there are many Monta Ellis rumors. I would say at this point they are just rumors. Some of them don't make sense to me. I don't see the Hawks using much of their remaining cap space on one player - but I could be wrong. I'm also not sure that Jeff Teague going to the Bucks in a trade could happen. Stay tuned on those fronts.

Now here's the original story:

If you're one of the many Bucks fans who were hoping for a clean slate in the backcourt this summer, we may have a glimmer of hope for you.

While the smart money to date has been on the Bucks eventually re-signing restricted free agent guard Brandon Jennings, ESPN's Marc Stein reported late on Sunday night that the Hawks and Bucks had discussed a potential swap of young point guards:

Sources briefed on the situation told ESPN.com that the Hawks and Bucks have in recent days discussed a sign-and-trade deal to land Brandon Jennings in Atlanta and send fellow restricted free agent Jeff Teague to Milwaukee to reunite with former Hawks coach Larry Drew. ESPN.com reported early in free agency that the Bucks, at Drew's behest, had interest.

If those sign-and-talks progress to the serious stage, sources said, Atlanta would inevitably have to rescind its longstanding interest in Ellis, knowing he and Jennings realistically couldn't play together again given how poorly they functioned as a backcourt duo in Milwaukee last season.

As background, the weekend rumormill had the Hawks and Ellis reportedly zeroing in on a new deal worth as much as $10 million annually to bring Ellis to Atlanta, but Monta has reportedly had other suitors including the Nuggets and Kings. Good luck to any team forking over that kind of change for Monta, who despite his immense talents has never quite figured out how to translate that into any sort of consistency in the "efficiency" and "winning basketball games" departments.

Both Jennings and the Bucks let their mutual interest be known at the outset of free agency, but since then there's been little talk of progress and even less of interest in Jennings from other teams. Meanwhile, Teague has voiced frustration over the Hawks' unwillingness to engage in substantive negotiations, while Atlanta also just drafted 19-year-old point guard Dennis Schröder.

A fresh start could be a good thing for all parties, though there may also be a fair bit of grass-is-always-greener mentality at play. While Teague has steadily improved in each of his four seasons in Atlanta and has proven a significantly better defender than Jennings, he doesn't have Jennings' ability to take over games and doesn't have the look of a guy who will ever be a top 5-10 point guard. Though he has a nice in-between game and is capable of spectacular finishes around the rim, he's mostly a spot-up guy from outside (35.8% on only 3.0 attempts) and gets to the line rather rarely. In total that has made him a lower-volume, moderate efficiency scorer, though he's also become increasingly adept as a distributor (7.2 apg last year) under the tutelage of new Bucks assistant Nick Van Exel.

The biggest impact for the Bucks would likely be on the defensive end, where the Bucks were an almost incomprehensible 9.2 pts/100 possessions worse with Jennings on the court a year ago after suffering an even worse 10.8 pts/100 dip in 11/12. Here it's not even so much what Teague does right (he was about neutral by those metrics), but what Jennings has been doing so terribly wrong. And don't blame Jennings' defensive issues on his pairing with Ellis, either--Monta actually had a net positive impact overall and his defensive impact was only -2.0 pts/100. The strange part is that Jennings' opponent numbers and defensive Synergy stats aren't nearly as tragic, but for whatever reason the Bucks over the past two seasons have been a terrible team when he's on the court and a good one when he's off it. All that would understandably be enough to satisfy Bucks fans desperate for a more reliable, defensively capable option at point guard, but don't expect Teague to be a savior either.

As for the probability of a deal actually happening? Well, it's not clear from Stein's report how likely this is to progress to something serious, or if it's merely a scenario that the teams have thrown around. So while it says something that both sides would even find it worth exploring, four sides would have to be in agreement here: the Hawks would have to prefer Jennings and be able to work out an agreement with him, while the Bucks would have to prefer Teague and be able to work out an agreement with him. Then both sides would have to still feel the same way after they've agreed to contracts and come back to make the final deal happen (which I'd guess would likely just be a straight swap).

Note that this would also seem to force both teams to ante up their offers rather than sit back and wait things out, which could increase both guys' valuations from a salary-standpoint. That's one part of this that should make both fanbases a bit wary. Depending on the final value of the deals, it seems feasible cap-wise so long as both teams remain far enough under the cap, but with rumors flying fast and furious it's worth remembering that things change quickly. But that's the fun, right?

ESPN.com's Marc Stein reports that the Sacramento Kings are involved in the bidding for free agent guard Monta Ellis. (Shout out to zzbolt for the FanShot.) Stein reports that the Kings are trying to ship Chuck Hayes and Jimmer Fredette to the Cleveland Cavaliers to open up enough space to "sign Ellis comfortably," whatever that means. Monta opted out of an $11 million contract for 2013-14.

If I were asked to describe Ellis relative to a current King, I would call him a worse, more aggressive Marcus Thornton who can pass but has less interest in playing defense.

I am not a fan of Ellis in any form, no matter how else the Kings roster changes. It's not an issue of Ellis replicating Thornton, necessarily -- it's an issue of Ellis being a player that hasn't traditionally helped his team. His career True Shooting percentage is .526, and he averages about 19 shooting possessions per 36 minutes. That's Monta Ellis. That's terrifying at the pay rate Ellis is likely to command.

The Hawks are also pursuing Ellis, and may have a sign-and-trade with the Bucks in play that would send Jeff Teague to Milwaukee. Stein isn't convinced Cleveland will take on Hayes because he cuts into future salary cap space; a trade of Hayes and Jimmer for nothing would open up an additional $8.1 million in cap space, giving the Kings $14 million remaining.

The Sacramento Kings are trying to clear cap space in order to sign free-agent guard Monta Ellis, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

The Kings currently have about $6 million in cap space, which is almost certainly not enough to sign Ellis. The 27-year-old opted out of an $11 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks for next year, and he likely won't take that much of a discount, especially for a non-contender like the Kings. Stein reports that Sacramento has been shopping Jimmer Fredette and Chuck Hayes to the Cleveland Cavaliers to help carve out more space.

The Cavs may not want to take on Hayes, as he's owed over $11 million the next two seasons and would cut out cap space in the summer of 2014. Fredette may be a more palatable option because he is essentially just a $2.4 million expiring contract.

The real question may be why the Kings would want to sign Ellis in the first place. Sacramento didn't want to pay Tyreke Evans, and he's younger and arguably better than Ellis. Bringing Ellis in could possibly stunt the development of No. 7 pick Ben McLemore, while backup shooting guard Marcus Thornton replicates some of what Ellis brings to the table. Ellis likely makes the Kings better, but not enough to be an actual contender out West.

The Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets have also shown interest in Ellis, although other moves could take them out of the running. The Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks are discussing a possible sign-and-trade swap of Jeff Teague and Brandon Jennings, while the Nuggets may be close to acquiring Randy Foye.

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Prada: How Morey got his man

• Ziller: Lakers need a miracle

• Josh Smith signs with Detroit | Iguodala to Golden State

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

The Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz are in three-way trade talks centered around Andre Iguodala and Randy Foye, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.

Iguodala recently agreed to a four-year, $48 million deal with the Warriors, but executing a sign-and-trade with the Nuggets would create more cap flexibility. Golden State would be able to sign 2013 first-round pick Nemanja Nedovic while also preserving the full mid-level exception.

The sign-and-trade would create a $12 million trade exception for the Nuggets, who would have up to a year to use it. Denver would also receive Foye in a sign-and-trade transaction from Utah. Foye would be signed to a three-year, $9 million contract with a team option on the third season.

In exchange for facilitating the deal, the Jazz would receive a future second-round pick from Golden State.

Teague-Drew reunion on tap?

Larry Drew has gone from the Atlanta Hawks to the Milwaukee Bucks, and now there's a chance that his old point guard will follow him. The Bucks and Hawks have discussed a possible sign-and-trade deal for restricted free agents Brandon Jennings and Jeff Teague.

It first appeared earlier in free agency that the Bucks would surely bring back Jennings. But because of Drew, Milwaukee has shown serious interest in Teague. SB Nation's Bucks blog Brew Hoop is receptive to the idea, but the move really wouldn't be much of an upgrade:

A fresh start could be a good thing for all parties, though there may also be a fair bit of grass-is-always-greener mentality at play. While Teague has steadily improved in each of his four seasons in Atlanta and has proven a significantly better defender than Jennings, he doesn't have Jennings' ability to take over games and doesn't have the look of a guy who will ever be a top 5-10 point guard.

The talks haven't advanced to the "serious" stage as of yet, but if a deal is pulled off, it could have an effect on other moves. For instance...

Where's Monta going?

The Hawks have been negotiating a deal for Ellis, with a salary number around the $10 million per year mark. However, if the Jennings-Teague swap occurred, Atlanta would almost certainly be out of the running. Jennings and Ellis didn't work out well in Milwaukee, so a reunion in Atlanta likely wouldn't happen.

The Sacramento Kingshave also shown interest in Ellis, and they're currently trying to clear out cap space to make a run at the guard, much to the dismay of SB Nation's Kings blog Sactown Royalty:

I am not a fan of Ellis in any form, no matter how else the Kings roster changes. It's not an issue of Ellis replicating Thornton, necessarily -- it's an issue of Ellis being a player that hasn't traditionally helped his team. His career True Shooting percentage is .526, and he averages about 19 shooting possessions per 36 minutes. That's Monta Ellis. That's terrifying at the pay rate Ellis is likely to command.

The Kings have been shopping Chuck Hayes and Jimmer Fredette to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but it seems unlikely that the Cavs would bite on both players.

Cavs have interest in Bynum

The Cavs can be added as a potential suitor for oft-injured big man Andrew Bynum. Cleveland still has a boatload of cap space, and if Bynum's knees check out, a lucrative one-year deal could be put on the table. For now, the Cavs would likely not want to commit to Bynum for any longer than a year in order to save cap space for the summer of 2014.

There's always risk with Bynum, but SB Nation's Cavs blog Fear The Sword doesn't see much risk at all. They explain that a clause in the CBA called "Exhibit 3" would help mitigate most of the risk and if Bynum pans out, he would be a strong addition to a team with a lot of young talent.

Knicks still hoping to sign Brand

The New York Knicks showed interest in veteran big man Elton Brand at the outset of free agency, and they're still hoping to acquire him, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. The Knicks currently have $1.7 million left on their taxpayer mid-level exception, or they could offer a minimum contract. The Cavs and Chicago Bulls also expressed interest in Brand earlier in free agency. In addition to Brand, New York is still targeting Dahntay Jones, Sebastian Telfair, Will Bynum and Aaron Brooks.

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Prada: How Morey got his man

• Ziller: Lakers need a miracle

• Josh Smith signs with Detroit | Iguodala to Golden State

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

The Sacramento Kings are reportedly looking to clear cap space in order to make a run at free agent shooting guard Monta Ellis, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

Sources say that the Kings, meanwhile, have been shopping the likes of Jimmer Fredette and Chuck Hayes to the Cavaliers to create the requisite salary-cap room to try to sign Ellis comfortably. Hard to see Cleveland wanting Hayes, whose contract runs through 2014-15 and thus potentially cuts into Cleveland's reserves earmarked for a free-agent run at LeBron James next summer. Fredette's $2.4 million salary is a virtual expiring deal.

The same report indicates Jeff Teague might be unavailable to Detroit as the Bucks and Hawks explore the possibility of swapping restricted free agent guards Teague and Brandon Jennings.

That means the Pistons must set their point guard sights a little lower, and at this point should probably focus on anyone with long-range shooting (I have a feeling this is going to be a theme of all my posts until the trade deadline).

Fredette does not have the ability to displace Brandon Knight as the starting point guard but he's young (24 years old), on an expiring contract, and would cost a minimal amount of assets (perhaps just a future second rounder).

Fredette has never been much of a point guard, and even played off the ball quite a bit, but the long-range shooting he tantalized with at BYU did rear its head in his second season with the Kings. Fredette shot nearly 42 percent on 156 attempts from three last season. Bynum, meanwhile, shot 31 percent on half that number.

In this scenario Detroit would be forced to ride the BK7 point guard experiment for the third consecutive year (at least to start the season), but Jimmer would effectively replace Will Bynum and maybe Kim English in the Pistons rotation.

The Sacramento Kings made what appears to be curious free-agent move, inking power forward Carl Landry to a four-year, $27 million contract. Unless another move is made to clear the frontcourt logjam, this signing makes little sense, and I'm not even sure it's such a great signing once that second move is made.

It goes without saying that Landry duplicates a lot of what Sacramento currently has on its roster. The Kings already have DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes under contract. Of the five, only Patterson does his best work outside the paint. One has to think a trade is coming, because finding playing time for all five of those players is going to be impossible.

Landry had a really good year with the Warriors last season, but I think a lot of that had to do with how he was deployed. The Warriors used him as their third big man, playing him occasionally with one of their centers, but more often with fellow power forward David Lee. Fifty-four percent of Landry's minutes during the regular season (out of 1,876) came with Lee also on the court. Meanwhile, only 29 percent of his minutes (555 out of 1,876) came alongside Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Andris Biedrins. Using him with other shooters, along with great chemistry with Jarrett Jack, allowed Landry to operate closer to the basket, which plays to his strengths.

Duplicating that dynamic in Sacramento is going to be tough, even with a trade. Too many jumpers doomed Landry's first stay in Sacramento, and I worry the same thing could happen again. Unless Landry is paired primarily with Patterson, he's going to have to share the frontcourt with a non-shooting big man. While he could develop solid pick and pop chemistry with new acquisition Greivis Vasquez, he'll have to be placed further on the perimeter to give space for everyone else. Mike Malone surely understands how Landry impacts games given his experience working with him in Golden State, but he's going to have to be really creative with his lineups to put Landry in the same position to succeed.

The best thing you can say about this deal is that Landry is a good player and the Kings need more good players, regardless of position. Thompson and Patterson still have some value to be flipped for other pieces, so it's probably not fair to say with a degree of certainty that the frontcourt logjam will be there on opening day. Pete D'Alessandro studied under Masai Ujiri, the Dean of Flipping Tradeable Average Contracts For Better Pieces, and is probably trying to do the same thing here.

Still, after passing on re-signing Tyreke Evans, I think the Kings should have used the money left over on someone who fit the current roster better. And if they follow through on their rumored interest in giving Monta Ellis a big-money offer, then I'm even more confused.

GRADE: C-

More from SB Nation:

• Howard picks Rockets | Prada: How Morey got his man

• Ziller: Lakers need a miracle

• Josh Smith signs with Detroit | Iguodala to Golden State

• The NBA's top 90 free agents | All NBA free agency news

• Grading the NBA free agent deals

Frank Zanin, who rose from an intern to assistant coach under Billy King in Philadelphia, then followed him to the Nets, has been named an assistant general manager, King has announced. He'll work closely with King and Bobby Marks, who's also an assistant GM. Marks had been recruited by the Kings for a similar job but decided to stay in Brooklyn.

Zanin, whose elevation had been expected, is one of several front office promotions announced just before the Nets took the floor vs. the Miami Heat in the Orlando Summer League. Among the others: Matt Riccardi was promoted to Basketball Operations Manager, Sean Sweeney to Video Operations Manager; Scott Sereday to Statistical Analyst and Brennan Blair to Video Coordinator. All have been working with the team. Sereday had been a statistics consultant for the team, working 40 hours a week. Blair had been a basketball operations intern.

Zanin began his NBA career in 1999 as a video intern with the 76ers, and then was hired as the team’s video coordinator the following season, a position he held till 2003, when he was promoted to advance scout/assistant coach. In 2006, Zanin began a two-year tenure as the team’s pro personnel scout. When King joined the Nets, he brought Zanin with him, first as a scout, then as Director of Player Procurement. Team officials gave him credit for his role in restocking the Nets roster last summer.

• Nets make series of promotions - Tim Bontemps - New York Post
• Billy King and Nets Announce Front Office Promotions - Moke Hamilton - SNY Nets
• Nets announce front office moves - Rod Boone - Newsday

The Milwaukee Bucks may be hesitant to give Brandon Jennings the contract he seeks, but it's becoming less likely the team simply lets him walk for nothing. After reportedly discussing a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks last week, Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times says the team may be warming up to the idea of giving Jennings a deal worth $12 million annually.

Considering that the market for ball-dominating guards is expensive as usual, retaining Jennings may ultimately be the easiest thing for the Bucks to do, even after exploring the possibility of acquiring Jeff Teague from Atlanta in the aforementioned deal. Brew Hoop wonders if both guards could benefit from the change of scenery, but it's unclear how serious those talks are. As Milwaukee weighs all its options regarding its star player, here's the latest from around the league.

Bynum to meet with Mavs, Cavs and Hawks

The recruiting of free agent center Andrew Bynum began in earnest Monday as he met face-to-face with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the first of three meetings scheduled for this week. The Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks will also get to make their respective pitches to Bynum, ESPN's Marc Stein reports, as the market for his services finally seems to be heating up with Dwight Howard out of the picture. Without many other teams boasting cap space, these appear to be the three primary suitors for Bynum at the moment, though the Mavericks are really the only one with a major opening in the middle.

Kings interested in Ellis

The Sacramento Kings can't afford Monta Ellis right now, but Stein says the team is looking to clear payroll to offer the guard a lucrative contract. After the 27-year-old opted out of the remaining $11 million owed to him by the Milwaukee Bucks, it's likely the Kings will need much more than the current $6 million they have in cap space. By dealing players like Chuck Hayes and Jimmer Fredette, Sacramento could come much closer to offering Ellis the kind of contract he's looking to get. With that said, Tom Ziller of Sactown Royality says, "I am not a fan of Ellis in any form, no matter how else the Kings roster changes," so expect some serious backlash from fans if a deal goes through.

Kaman signs with Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers signed a former All-Star to replace Dwight Howard on Monday, but it's probably not what fans had in mind. The club reportedly agreed to a one-year, $3.183 million contract with free agent Chris Kaman, giving the team an adequate stopgap but certainly not the kind of post presence Los Angeles has become accustomed to having. By giving Kaman their whole taxpayer mid-level exception, the Lakers don't have much more room to add pieces this offseason without shedding salary.

Timberwolves extend formal offer to Pekovic

The Minnesota Timberwolves have always been expected to retain restricted free agent center Nikola Pekovic, but the team didn't offer him a formal contract until recently. Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune says the offer, which is worth roughly $48 million over four years, was extended to Pekovic on Friday, with a decision from the big man's camp expected sometime this week.

If Pekovic ultimately decides to sign an offer sheet elsewhere, the Timberwolves will have the right to match, making it likely the two sides figure something out unless he decides to simply accept the qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency next year.

Clippers talking with Jamison

The Los Angeles Clippers and free agent Antawn Jamisonhave discussed a one-year deal that would give the veteran another shot at winning his first title, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

The folks at Clips Nation absolutely hate the idea, going so far as asking the club to "not put a giant blemish on" its offseason by signing Jamison. Fortunately for the crew at Clips Nation, it appears as if the team has enough talented players on the roster to minimize whatever impact Jamison might have.

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