Rating the good deals and bad deals on Day 2 of NBA free agency

ByKEVIN PELTON
July 2, 2016, 4:00 PM

— -- Note: This story will update throughout the day.

More NBA free agents found new teams on Saturday -- or decided to stay home for big dollars.

To look back at Friday's best, worst and craziest deals, click here.

Team-by-team analysis of the major and minor deals:

Atlanta Hawks

1. Agreed to sign center Dwight Howard to a reported three-year, $70.5 million deal (Friday)

2. Agreed to sign forward Kent Bazemore to a reported four-year, $70 million deal (Friday)

I wrote about Dwight Howard's fit in Atlanta and whether he would be an upgrade over Al Horford here.

Hours after agreeing to terms with Howard, the Hawks brought back Bazemore, one of their two starters still on the market. The combination leaves them out of cap space to re-sign Al Horford, the other -- and far better -- of those two players.

Yet Atlanta still isn't out of the running for Horford. The Hawks only have to shed enough salary to fit his relatively small hold ($18 million, far less than the $26 million-plus he can and surely will make next season on a max contract) under the cap.

Trading Paul Millsap for a player making $5 million or less would get them there. So would trading Tiago Splitter and Thabo Sefolosha and waiving Mike Scott.

Still, it seems unlikely Atlanta made these moves assuming Horford would come back. If he leaves, the Hawks have taken a step back this offseason while also reducing their flexibility. Millsap can opt out next summer, and his large cap hold will swallow up much of Atlanta's potential cap space.

If Horford is gone, the Hawks will probably regret not blowing things up at the trade deadline and getting something in return for him.

Los Angeles Lakers

1. Agreed to sign center Timofey Mozgov to a reported four-year, $64 million deal (Friday)

2. Agreed to re-sign guard Jordan Clarkson to a reported four-year, $50 million deal (Friday)

3. Agreed to sign Luol Deng to a reported four-year, $72 million deal (Saturday)

I assessed the odds that the Mozgov deal works out for the Lakers here. Later Friday, I wrote about how Clarkson's contract isn't optimal for L.A. and its cap space in 2017.

After the Lakers agreed to a deal with Deng on Saturday, I projected their 2016 playoff chances

New Orleans Pelicans

1. Agreed to sign forward Solomon Hill to a reported four-year, $48 million deal (Friday)

2. Agreed to sign guard E'Twaun Moore to a reported four-year, $34 million deal (Friday)

I wrote about Hill's fit in New Orleans here.

The Pelicans made their second big move later on Friday, signing Moore away from the Chicago Bulls. A combo guard, Moore emerged as a quality contributor for the first time in his career last season. Having never previously shot better than league average from 3-point range, Moore shot 45.2 percent on 104 attempts, which earned him a starting spot.

Moore is unlikely -- naturally -- to keep up that kind of shooting, and even with all the 3s, his true shooting was only league average. So despite his value as a secondary ballhandler (and emergency backup option at point guard) and defender, I suspect this will probably be a small overpay.

Still, both Hill and Moore improve the Pelicans defensively, and if they shoot as well as they have at times, they'll be two-way players on a team badly in need of them.

Depending on what happens with the contracts of Luke Babbitt (partially guaranteed) and Toney Douglas (non-guaranteed), New Orleans has a few million left under the cap, which might be earmarked for re-signing restricted free agents James Ennis and Tim Frazier.

Phoenix Suns

1. Agreed to sign forward Jared Dudley to a reported three-year, $30 million deal (Friday)

Dudley, who first found his footing in the NBA with the Suns, is headed back on one of the better values of this free-agent season. I'm not sure whether the market just wasn't there for Dudley, at least on a three-year deal, or he took less money to return to a desirable market.

Either way, Dudley offers veteran leadership while also contributing as a stretch 4. The development of lottery picks Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss could push Dudley to a smaller role (or perhaps even lead to a trade) down the road, but for now his addition allows Phoenix to bring the rookies along slowly.

Utah Jazz

1. Agreed to sign forward Joe Johnson to a reported two-year, $22 million deal (Friday)

After targeting Dudley, Deng and Hill and watching each go off the market, the Jazz moved quickly to reach an agreement with Johnson.

My read is that the third year was a big negative for Utah, which sees a world where Derrick Favors, Rudy Gobert and Gordon Hayward will all be making max money in 2018-19 -- when Dante Exum would also be starting a possible extension.

Johnson is an interesting fit with the Jazz. Given that Utah was looking primarily at combo forwards, I wonder if they see Johnson filling that role, which is probably better for him than playing exclusively on the wing at this stage of his career. Johnson is strong enough to defend bigger opponents, and the decline in his quickness isn't a concern against them while his shooting is also more of a plus.

Between Johnson and George Hill, the Jazz have added a lot more shooting this offseason to go around a young roster while maintaining flexibility for when their young stars start making more money.

Utah still has almost $14 million in possible cap space, but the roster is close to full, other than maybe another big man to compete with Trey Lyles and Jeff Withey for bench minutes. The Jazz could use the remaining space to renegotiate and extend the contracts of Favors and/or Hill.