Hope the Bulls pick up on this lesson for the years to come. It's been a recurring theme this summer. Article 1 (speaking of Aldridge): Article 2 (a bitter Mavs writer speaking of DeAndre Jordan):
Isn't it a little misleading to say that chasing free agents is a low-odds proposition? It feels simplistic when the Heat and Cavs (times 3) and Celtics have been the Eastern Conference champions over the last six years. Your odds of landing a top tier free agent may be low, but it also seems to often form an essential component of contending teams. Hell, if the Bulls are contenders its only because they went out and landed Pau Gasol last year. Also if you're a middling team like the Bulls, what other options do you have besides hoping you strike gold in the latter half of the first round? That's an even lower odds proposition.
Transforming from losing team -> solid team -> contending team is hard and relying on free agency is the worse of the three ways (free agency, drafts and trades) to rely on for transformative talent. Krause wanted a big three built on free agency; more teams end up like that than like the Heat.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/14/phil-jackson-says-knicks-need-to-be-competitive-before-big-name-free-agents-will-consider-them-as-a-destination/
First off, in order to chase top-tier free agents you need to get yourself WAY under the salary cap. Only crap teams can do this season after season and it does them little good since top-tier FAs don't want to go to crap teams. Good teams get themselves into the FA hunt once every 3-5 seasons. A lot has been written about why elite FAs go where they go, but for the most part, elite FAs stay where they are. Lebron James has been this generation's exception. He's the best on the planet and he's moved twice in the past 5 seasons, but has kept it to two teams. LMA was the prize of this summer's FA class and he did change teams. Who was the second most impactful FA who changed teams this summer? I'm sure it'll come to me. Ever since the CBA created the concept of "max contracts" and gave the advantage to a FA's current team (1999), free agency has clearly lost its luster. Still, if you're a NBA GM, free agency remains one of the key ways to change the direction of your team. It can't be ignored.
