A Look at the Free Agent Pickups

As the date for released players to be eligible for the playoffs has passed, there are a number of names that have emerged as the dust settles. Now names have been shuffled around the league, moving to teams going into the playoffs and looking for more help, among those names are; Mikki Moore, Stephon Marbury, Drew Gooden, Joe Smith, Luther Head, and Stromile Swift. Moore and Marbury we already know have both begun their short tenures in Boston, trying to replace the lost talent of former free agent signings, PJ Brown, James Posey, and Sam Cassell. Moore has been averaging 4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 13 minutes of play, and has many people wondering whether or not he'll really make a difference. Marbury is more of an lockerroom question than anything he'll do on the court. Though I question where his minutes and shots will come from upon the return of Tony Allen, or if Doc Rivers will play small with a Starbury/Eddie House backcourt, in his two games with Boston, he's averaged 4 points, 1 rebound, and 2.5 assists (on 2.5 turnovers) in just over 12 minutes.

The big names now making their moves are Drew Gooden, who has reached terms with the San Antonio Spurs, and Joe Smith, who looks to be heading back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. While I can also talk about Luther Head going to Miami or Stromile Swift signing with the Suns, I don't think they'll be as big of an impact on their teams' chances at a ring as Gooden and Smith.

Let's look first at Drew Gooden:

Kelly Dwyer from Yahoo!'s Ball Don't Lie does a good piece about how Gooden will make the Spurs better. Aaron Stampler from Pounding the Rock is not so impressed. I might be on the wagon that's on the more optimistic side, so I'm going to have to agree more with Dwyer than with Stampler on this one. I think Gooden and Duncan next to each other will be solid, especially as Duncan has taken more to playing away from the basket this year, if you look at his shot charts, he's shooting that 15-18 foot wing jumper pretty well. There's a trade off of who takes the brunt of the low post. I think the additional plus of understanding a team defense that is pretty much identical to Popovich's really helps Gooden too, especially given that he's not a great man defender. Dwyer does a pretty good job of summarizing Gooden's game so I won't get into it too much.

For your reference, here are Gooden's per 36 numbers as compared to those players whose minutes he might eat (i.e. any big not named Duncan on the Spurs):

Per 36 Minutes

Rk	Player	Season	Age	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
1	Matt Bonner	2008-09	28	58	45	1384	5.3	10.2	.515	2.4	5.0	.487	0.3	0.4	.714	2.0	5.4	7.4	1.7	1.0	0.5	0.8	3.5	13.2
2	Drew Gooden	2008-09	27	32	27	944	6.3	13.8	.460	0.0	0.1	.000	3.3	3.8	.869	3.2	7.4	10.6	1.7	1.0	0.5	2.3	4.0	15.9
3	Fabricio Oberto	2008-09	33	44	11	587	3.1	5.3	.586	0.0	0.0		0.9	1.7	.556	3.3	4.1	7.4	3.2	0.4	0.6	2.0	4.7	7.2
4	Kurt Thomas	2008-09	36	56	7	950	3.9	7.8	.498	0.0	0.1	.000	1.0	1.2	.844	2.9	7.1	10.0	1.9	0.7	1.6	1.0	4.2	8.8

If we break down the numbers, he endsd up being something of a cross between Kurt Thomas and Matt Bonner. I think it'll give Pops a lot of flexibility with his roster and how he wants to adjust the frontcourt, making it difficult to match up against. The biggest question is the severity of the injury that has sidelined Gooden thusfar, and then maybe his suspect defense.

Joe Smith has played with this Cavs team before, and the only difference is Mo Williams, so Smith is definitely going back to familiar stomping grounds. He made the Eastern Conference Championship run with LeBron and co in 2007 so he's pretty familiar with what he has to do. However, if you note from the 2008 postseason, one thing that everyone always gave Joe Smith a hard time about was how he was such a horrible defender. I don't know that that has changed that much, Cavs are the same defensive team with an improved offense. However, I don't know that Smith was brought in for his defense but more for his offensive skills at the PF slot, which is something Cavs still lack.

Let's look at the per 36s of the Cavs bigs:

Per 36 Minutes

Rk	Player	Season	Age	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
1	J.J. Hickson	2008-09	20	52	0	640	5.3	9.9	.540	0.0	0.0		2.4	3.5	.677	2.5	5.8	8.3	0.5	0.6	1.6	2.2	4.2	13.1
2	Joe Smith	2008-09	33	36	3	691	5.2	11.4	.454	0.1	0.2	.500	2.0	2.8	.704	2.8	5.7	8.5	1.3	0.5	1.4	0.8	3.8	12.4
3	Anderson Varejao	2008-09	26	59	20	1632	4.1	7.8	.521	0.0	0.0	.000	2.5	4.0	.624	2.5	6.4	8.9	1.3	1.1	1.1	1.3	3.9	10.6
4	Ben Wallace	2008-09	34	53	53	1273	1.9	4.3	.437	0.0	0.0		0.7	1.6	.431	3.7	6.2	9.9	1.1	1.4	2.1	0.9	2.2	4.4

Joe Smith is an obvious improvement offensively over Varejao and Wallace, and he has the veterancy that Hickson lacks, which becomes crucial during playoff time. For this season at least, it's easy to say that Smith was the best available option. While personally I would've gone with Gooden, I think that Smith is a better fit on the team and will help the Cavs. While Smith won't be stopping Kevin Garnett any time soon, he'll definitely add a little bit of a punch in scoring, and fills a need, especially with Ben Wallace out with his broken leg.