Challenge: Choose an NBA team. Think about the team’s strengths and weaknesses during the 2011-12 season. What needs do you think the team should be addressing in free agency?
- If the team has already signed a free agent, how would you evaluate the fit of the signed free agent with the team’s needs? If you agree with the signing, why do you think it was a good move? If you disagree with the signing, which player should the team have signed instead?
- If your team has not yet signed any free agents of note, who should they be chasing?
- Please support your response with an analysis of the team’s strengths and weaknesses and how the particular player fits in with those strengths and weaknesses. Feel free to focus on players acquired through trades as well.
Every team has plenty of strengths and weaknesses offensively and defensively. Which will you choose to focus on?
One strategy may be to look for clusters of related weaknesses. For example, did your team struggle to rebound the ball, offensively and defensively last season? Did they also allow teams to score at the basket fairly easily? If so, then perhaps your team should be looking for a strong power forward or center to control the interior.
Did your team struggle to score last season? What were the team’s specific offensive weaknesses? Did they lack a player who could make outside shots? A player who could attack the basket and draw fouls? A player who could create shots for their teammates? If so, then perhaps your team should be looking for a player with offensive skills in those areas.
Keep in mind that a single player will likely address only some (not all) of your team’s needs. That’s fine, but it’s up to you to decide which areas are most important to upgrade for next season, and which player would make the biggest difference.
________________________________________________________________________________
More Hints:
- List of Free Agents – List of restricted and unrestricted free agents eligible for consideration
- Data Resources - Links to statistical websites that may help in answering Challenge #2
- Getting Started with the Challenge – A guide for beginning to locate statistics, helping you choose and support an answer for Challenge #2
- Digging Deeper - Available 0n 7/11/12 – Some more complex variables to consider in selecting your answer, and providing supporting evidence
