NBA Contender's Picking Up Free Agent's Before Playoffs

With all the buy-outs taking place across the NBA a few playoff contender's are adding the new free agents to their squads just in time for their playoff runs.

Michael Hickey - US Presswire

The Los Angeles Clippers have added two players that will definitely help their team. The Clippers have picked up Glen "Big Baby" Davis who was bought out by the Orlando Magic, and they were also able to pick up former All Star Danny Granger, who was bought out by the Philadelphia 76ers after being traded from the Indiana Pacers in the Evan Turner trade.

The Clippers have set a tone across the NBA that they are prepared for battle with any team out there with these two key additions, and should make for a long playoff run with 1st year coach of the Clipperes,  Doc Rivers.

AP Photo/Tony Dejak

The Oklahoma City Thunder were also working on adding some strength to their second team as well with the pick-up of veteran SF Caron Butler. Butler reached a buy-out with the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday and was being coveted by both the Thunder as well as the two time defending champion Miami Heat. Butler ultimately decided to roll with the Thunder and informed both teams Friday morning.

Butler brings some help to a Thunder team that has relied heavily on Durant and are working on getting the rust off of Russell Westbrook. He is great with one-one-one defense and is able to knock down shots from mid-range to the deep three.

The Clippers and Thunder both made huge moves to help them thru the next couple months and they set themselves up for a great looking playoff run for both. These two teams have a very good chance to meet each other in the Western Conference Finals and these additions may be the difference in who wins and who go's home.

*This is a not a contender team but worth noting.
The Sacramento Kings are also in the works on signing PF Royce White to a 10-day contract. If you don't remember, White was originally drafted by the Houston Rockets last season but because of his anxiety and fear of flying caused a bunch of issues for the Rockets. He was traded to the 76ers and later released before the season started. White has yet to play in an NBA regular season game but has high hopes for his chances in Sacramento and hopefully can get his fears under control without the threatening of a lawsuit like he did with the Rockets.

The Eastern Conference is also in the works for some free agent pick-ups.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

The Chicago Bulls are working on signing PG Jimmer Fredette, another buy-out free agent leaving the Sacramento Kings Thursday. They are still only in talks at the moment but the deal could break within the next 24 hours.

Adding Fredette to the Bulls would a great addition. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is well regarded as a defensive minded coach but has been able to let scoring point guards flourish in his system with Derrick Rose, Nate Robinson, and DJ Augustin. The pick up would bring another scoring option to the table for the Bulls who are only averaging 98.3 points per 100 possessions, which has them ranked 28th overall and could certainly use another shooter on their roster.

(Getty Images)

The New York Knicks had reached buy-outs with a couple of their players as well earlier in the week. The Knicks released PG Beno Udrih and SF Metta World Peace on Monday. Udrih was picked up as soon as he hit the waivers by the Memphis Grizzles who were looking to grab Fredette once he hit waivers but they realized that transaction would not go thru so they decided to grab the veteran PG as their backup to Mike Conley.

World Peace has yet to sign with a team and the talk around the NBA is that he has nothing left to offer a team. Time will tell in his situation but he does have the leadership skills to be able to help a young team thru the in's and out's of championship basketball having won the NBA title with the LA Lakers in the 2010 season.

Here are the current standings for the playoffs if they were to start today 2/28/2014

Eastern Conference:

1. Indian Pacers (44-13)
2. Miami Heat (41-14)
3. Toronto Raptors (32-26)* This has to be the surprise of the season thus far.
4. Chicago Bulls (31-26)
5. Washington Wizards (30-28)
6. Brooklyn Nets (27-29)
7. Charlotte Bobcats (27-30)
8. Atlanta Hawks (26-31)

Western Conference:

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (43-15)
2. San Antonio Spurs (41-16)
3. Portland Trail Blazers (40-18)
4. LA Clippers (40-20)
5. Houston Rockets (39-19)
6. Dallas Mavericks (36-23)
7. Golden State Warriors (35-23)
8. Phoenix Suns (33-24)

There is still a lot of basketball to be played and with some key free agent pickups to a few of these playoff teams we are going to be in for a great end of the NBA season and an even better NBA playoffs.

Follow me on Twitter - @therealrikrok89

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