August 29, 2018

In the summer of 2016, the L.A. Lakers, armed with cap room, tried to make a free agency splash. They signed centre Timofey Mozgov from the Cleveland Cavaliers to a four year, $64 million contract, and followed it up with signing Luol Deng from the Miami Heat to a four year, $72 million deal.

They then almost immediately changed plans. Both players got out to slow starts and then never really sped up; in their first seasons, Mozgov averaged only 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 54 games (52 starts), while Deng averaged 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 56 games (49 starts). Designed to be veteran help alongside D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Jordan Clarkson, the pair both struggled to get going throughout and recorded career-worst years.

The Lakers shifted their direction pretty much immediately after this. They revamped the structure and personnel of their front office, and opted to up their standards when it came to the players they were pursuing. In the midst of an uncharacteristically long playoff-less streak, the team decided, explicitly, to target only the game's very best in free agency. No more Mozgovs. [...]

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June 29, 2018

Timofey Mozgov
C - 7’1, 275lbs - 31 years old - 8 years of experience

Were it not for the contract, Mozgov might be struggling to remain an NBA player any longer. As the game - and particularly the centre spot - have sped up around him, he as an individual has slowed down. And considering he was never quick anyway, that is a bit problematic.

Size is size, and Mozgov’s sheer presence still makes him an effective rebounder. He does not rebound out of his area especially well, but luckily his area is quite big, and he can be relied upon to grab some caroms whenever he is in. Beyond that, however, his usage tails off.

Mozgov was always somewhat useful as a post target and finisher, and still can somewhat do this. But his turnover rate is up to 23.7% now as the game has sped up, and while he took advantage of the liberating endorsement of three-pointers that is Atkinson basketball and hit a few himself for the first time in his career, this does not look like becoming a thing for him going forward.

Defensively, whereas once he was a rim protector, the aforementioned pace problems are limiting his impact around the basket on that end too. Mozgov can still defend the post one on one, but that is no longer much needed, and his rotations on the interior are slow. The rotations to the perimeter are slower to the point that they don’t really happen. And the foul rates are a testament to the problem.

Going forward, barring some big uptick in his skill level or speed at an advanced age, Mozgov looks to be a limited minutes situation player. And one with limited impact at that.

Player Plan: Two years and $32.72 million remaining, all guaranteed. It was known that this would be a big burdensome contract when taking it on, so using assets to be free of it would be counter-intuitive. Might smart for the next 12 months, though. [UPDATE: Trade to Charlotte pending, and they really will struggle to afford it.]

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June 29, 2017

Timofey Mozgov
C, 7’1, 275lbs, 30 years old, 7 years of experience

Everything's down. Mozgov's true shooting percentage is down, his free throw rate is doing, his rebounding rate is down, his blocked shots rate is down, and his turnovers are up. His main value was a pretty good mid-range shot, but given that his effectiveness at defending the rim is down and his body type is not suited to defending the perimeter, this one facet does not offset what he takes away. Mozgov was shut down, didn't like it, and being on the wrong side of 30 might well just be a backup on a star's contract going forward. Still, Brooklyn can afford it.

Player Plan: Three years and $48 million remaining, the last year of which is a player option that he should be assumed to be exercising. It wasn’t too long ago that Mozgov was good. But whatever he offers on the court in the near future will have to be quite a lot to every make that contract good. The contract, and the decision to ab-sorb it, was merely means to an end.

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December 13, 2013

[...] With one exception: the date becomes Jan. 15 if the player is a Larry Bird or Early Bird free agent who re-signed with his over-the-cap team and received a raise greater than 20% in the first season of his new deal in the process. This applies only to Brandan Wright, Timofey Mozgov, Tony Allen, Nikola Pekovic, Chase Budinger, J.R. Smith and Tiago Splitter.

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April 10, 2010

- Timofey Mozgov

Mozgov is still with Khimky, which means he's been a Euroleague player. Because of Khimky's tooling-up for the Euroleague campaign, he has had to share the centre spot with Robertas Javtokas, and that means backing him up. But Mozgov still produces when he plays, as well he should, because he's awesome. Mozzy averages 7.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in 18 minutes per game in the Russian league, 13.1/6.0/4.1 in the Euroleague, and 20.4/10.9/5.5 in the VTB United League. We'll ignore the foul rates for now.

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