Your winners and losers from the NBA's 2015 free agent turn (Ball Don't Lie)

[Yahoo! Sports - NBA -]

It seems a bit daft to declare a set of winners and losers after less than a week of the NBA’s official offseason, but after a few dozen free agent agreements and quite easily the busiest first day in the league’s free agent history, one can’t help but stand back and take stock. Presuming your spine is straightened out after hours of bleary-eyed staring at Woj’s Twitter account . Because more happened in the first week of July than will happen between now and October, I think it’s best to start judging. So it goes: Winners LaMarcus Aldridge The league’s last great unknown struck a bit of blow for himself in this offseason. This was in place even before he decided to sign with the San Antonio Spurs. LaMarcus Aldridge turns 30 later in July. He hasn’t exactly acted as a basketball martyr thus far in his career in Portland, the team has made the playoffs five times since he’s come on board, but he’s rubbing up on the edges. Aldridge has watched has several team saviors came on board while he slogged away – Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Damian Lillard – with little payoff as the team has only made the second round once. [ Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball ] He’s now doing what sports fans both ardent and ambivalent always beg players to do. He turned down tens of millions of dollars to play for a team with bigger winning potential than his current outfit in Portland. By the time of that decision LaMarcus had already dismissed the Los Angeles Lakers for being too showy – too full of ‘Kazaam’ and not enough actual money spent on basketball know-how – and the Knicks despite their big offer and Manhattan storefronts. LMA is still going to make his tens of millions, but he’s also giving up money for a chance to win. This is the sort of thing sports talk radio callers demand, it’s playing out in real life, and despite his early-July ubiquity too few are talking about it. On top of all that, despite being waved at by maximum offers in the literal first minutes of the negotiation process on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Aldridge took his time. He sat through meetings. He waited nearly a week, an eternity in this climate, to consider his options. The man that several teams, coaches and front offices deemed too soft to build a team around utilized tact, poise and reason before clinging to the best franchise in sports. All while getting his money. This is how you work things.

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