Still holding out hope that Crawford gets traded, but here's the roster as it stands. Who do you guys think will be the starters? 1. Aldridge 2. Felton 3. Matthews 4. Nolan Smith 5. Luke Babbitt 6. Kurt Thomas 7. Joel Przybilla 8. Nic Batum 9. Chris Johnson 10. Greg Oden 11. Craig Smith 12. Elliott Williams 13. Memo Okur 14. Shawne Williams 15. Jonny Flynn 16. Hasheem Thabeet 17. Jamal Crawford First of all, unless another trade is done, we need to cut two players. I'm thinking Felton and Oden. Just get them out of here. I wish we could cut Crawford but the guy would definitely be on our cap this summer if we did that. That leaves us with 15. My starters would be: Flynn Matthews Batum Aldridge Thabeet I want to see what Flynn can do in a pick and roll with Aldridge. That's the only reason not to shut LMA down for the season for better draft position. I also want to see what Chris Johnson can do. Bench rotation: Babbitt Nolan Smith Pryzbilla Craig Smith Basically the rest of the season is about evaluating Flynn, Babbitt, Nolan, and Thabeet. I don't have high hopes for Thabeet, but I still think Flynn could be a good player in the league with the right system. I just really want to keep him away from Nate.
Okur's still injured, isn't he? I would cut the guys with expiring deals that have the greatest likelihood of having their cap holds released this summer. Those would be Felton and Okur.
With only 2 players good enough to actually be considered starter material, does it matter? This lineup will not play better than the one we just had. I'd sit LA and Nic and play the rest equal minutes the rest of the season as a sort of "who do we keep?" training camp.
I don't think those guys put cap holds on your salary... isn't that only restricted free agents? They're both UFAs so I don't see why they would take up space when they are free to leave as they wish. I think cap holds only apply when you've tendered a qualifying offer.
Well, in essence that's what I'm saying, but I want to see how Flynn does with Aldridge and Batum. I still have hope that Flynn has the potential to be a PGoTF and I want to see what he can do with our best players.
It looks like Okur is out for the year. I am curious as to who we are starting at center. Does Aldridge move over now? My guess would be: Aldridge Felton Matthews Batum Przybilla or Craig Smith
There's always a cap hold for any free agent. Check out Sham sports--best place to see this kind of stuff. Shows that Felton's cap hold this summer would be 130% of his prior year salary--about $9.8M--unless released, and Okur's is set to be 150% of the prior year, or about $16.3M. Clearly, neither of those holds will be retained, so there's no point in keeping either player on the roster for the remainder of the year.
Well you're probably right, those will be the guys who are cut, but I don't see how a UFA has a hold on your salary... I've never heard of a team having to release a free agent. Hmmm.
It's to prevent teams from circumventing the salary cap by resigning a UFA through bird rights after using cap space to sign other players. Check out the Coon CBA FAQ.
So they basically ahve to renounce their bird rights... can't that be done on July 1st when free agents can sign with teams?
Sure, but why wait? There's absolutely no chance that either one will be retained, so why not cut them now?
I would move Batum from SG to PF. Yeah crazy how that sounds but Camby is gone at center and we have legit players to slide in at SG but nobody ready for fulltime duties as a big minute per game starting PF. Felton Crawford Matthews Batum Aldridge That would be my starting 5. I would reduce Aldridge minutes closer to 30 and see if he can increase his per minute production. I would pull Felton early to get a longer look at Nolan playing extended minutes. We can re-evalute after 5 or so games. I know some fans will say start Nolan or start Flynn or Craig Smith right away but I think its better to give a young player extended minutes off the bench to build their confidence and get them used to longer periods of play. If you start them and they fail it can crush their development. Think if Nolan had the criticism on him as a rookie that Felton is dealing with today? It might take him years to fit in as a productive piece of an offense even if he had the ability.
