Thursday Therapy: Moratorium Madness

Good morning, and welcome to the Therapy couch. How glad are you not to be a fan of the Dallas Mavericks today? If you weren't around for yesterday's shenanigans, DeAndre Jordan, who had verbally committed to sign with the Mavs, got cold feet and decided to return to the Los Angeles Clippers. If only it were that simple. Afer ESPN's Marc Stein broke the news in the morning, there were mamy emojis; a possible hostage situation; and Blake Griffin winning twitter for the day. SBN has all the hilarious details for you. It was a wonderful day to be on Twitter.

While that madness was going on, there was also actual basketball happening in Target Center. The Timberwolves held an open scrimmage last night, and it sounds like it was pretty incredible. Over 15,000 people attended a Wolves event in July, which beggars belief. Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine impressed, and great fun was had by all. I know John and Key were both there, so I'll leave further details to them.

Now that free agents can officially sign their deals (as of 11pm CT last night), some clarity should come about financial details around the league. I'm particularly interested in the dollar figure on Kevin Garnett's new contract, which hasn't been seen anywhere yet, as it may have been dependent on the final cap numbers, which were released last night as well. Below, I'm going to list my five favorite free agent signings of the period.

5. Nemanja Bjelica, Timberwolves, 3 years/$11.4m

Bjelica's deal makes the top five nearly on value alone. Sure, there may be questions about his translation from Europe to the NBA, but Bjelica was this season's Euroleague MVP and he agreed to come over for under $4 million per year, less than nearly every free agent signed for more than the veteran minimum this offseason. This is a remarkable steal for the Wolves, even if Bjelica is only a passable NBA player.

4. DeAndre Jordan, Clippers, 4 years/$88mil

If only because of the extensive analysis all over the internet of how utterly screwed the Clippers were going to be without him, the eleventh hour save by Doc Rivers and several of his players has to make the top five. Jordan's best spot was always LA, and the Clippers had no way to replace him if he left for Dallas. The Mavs now have to pick up the pieces and find someone to use all this cap space on.

3. Demarre Carroll, Raptors, 4 years/$60mil

I will be the first to admit that I'm a huge Carroll fanboy. I loved everything he brought to the Hawks throughout the regular season, and was thrilled to see him shine for portions of the playoffs. Carroll should be a great fit in Toronto, bringing great defense and just enough offense to a Raptors team that should once again be in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. If used well, he should be able to take some of the load off of Kyle Lowry and Demar Derozan.

2. Lamarus Aldridge, Spurs, 4 years/$84mil

This signing felt written in stone since the first time I heard the rumor that the Spurs were interested. It makes too much sense, and flirtations with the Suns, Lakers and several other teams aside, how do you say no to the Spurs?

1. David West, Spurs, 1 year/$1.4mil

Speaking of which, West taking the minimum over $12 million is still the most outrageous, greatest, Spursiest thing to happen this deadline. They just don't stop.

Last thing, this update comes to you from the Colorado-Utah border. I'm most of the way to Las Vegas to cover Summer League live and in person for you all. The Wolves start tomorrow evening at 7:30pm CT against the  Lakers! Happy Thursday!