Let's just assume that Neil doesn't make any trades this season, we finish third in the west, and make it out of the first round but get knocked out in the second round. We have the full MLE. Our roster will essentially be the same. The only potential free agents we have are Mo - player option Crabbe - team option Robin - team option Earl Watson - UFA The rest of the team is locked up until 2015-2016. I think we can assume the team will pick up the options on Crabbe and Lopez, and it's hard to say if Mo will stick around, but most of the team will remain intact. Your assets are the full MLE No draft picks because Charlotte got our pick in the draft. Who would you try to sign? Would you try to convince Mo to stick around? http://www.hoopsworld.com/2014-nba-free-agents Couple names I like: Nick Young (he has a player option) Spencer Hawes (would require the full MLE, maybe more) Ramon Sessions (I think he'd be fun to watch next to Dame) Paul Pierce (I can't imagine he's going to get a huge payday) Rodney Stuckey (dude is probably going to get paid) Steve Blake (I've always said Blake would be a nice backup point guard) Jordan Hill (another guy that's probably going to get paid) Marcin Gortat (hard to gauge what he's going to get on the market) I think we should target a vet center that can score. I like Hawes or Gortat. I'd also really like to see us pick up either a vet point guard like Sessions or maybe Andre Miller, or a vet wing like Pierce. I'm not sure what Pierce is going to get, but he's exactly the kind of guy that I would love see coming off the bench for us. Maybe we could do a sign-and-trade for Hawes, and then use our MLE on someone like Sessions or Pierce. Our bench would be pretty solid with Sessions, CJ, Wright, Freeland, and Hawes. Any other suggestions?
I'm not sure if we will want to sign any free agents for more than one or two years. This team will be up against the luxury tax the following year trying to hold on to all the starters.
Paul doesn't give a shit about the luxury tax if we're contending. This is Paul mother fucking Allen we're talking about here. S.P.A.M.
I'd look overseas for a backup PG. He's having a bit of a down year, especially with his outside shooting, but this guy is an NBA player. Iirc, Memphis made a run at him this past summer. [video=youtube;_CXTSpxy8Z8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CXTSpxy8Z8[/video]
NO,NO,NO,NO,NO, No more euro point guards or euro's who think their point guards. They all think they are Magic Phuckin Johnson or Oscar OMFG Robertson when all they are when they hit the NBA is a giant turnover machine. Batum can at least pass but he goes for the flowery assist instead of the easy lay-up or dunk and sometimes that ends up in a turnover. Fernandez and Rodrigez used to do the same thing except they would travel to hand the ball to the other team in order to look like Magic phukin Johnson. So no please I beg of you no more euro point guards a real center who can pass yes.
Assuming C.J. McCollum returns this season and is somewhat useful our biggest need is at backup big man. Spencer Hawes would be a spectacular pick up. I figure he'll get some real big boy money with the way he's playing this year. Centers near the 15/10 mark tend to get PAID!!!
Both Lowry and Hawes are unrestricted this summer. My idea of getting both this season before deadline makes even more sense. My idea was: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ml69r8n We send out Barton, Mo, wright, Leonard. We receive Lowry and Hawes. Toronto gets Young and Philly gets all 4 of the players we trade. Philly would do it because they will lose Hawes anyway. Leonard, Mo, Barton and Wright will help with Philly's tank, while they have young players to rebuild with. Toronto does it because they will most likely lose Lowry as well, they get back young on 3 years. But let's say we could only pull one off... We could land Lowry with Claver, Barton and Leonard. Or we could offer Leonard, claver and Barton for Hawes. Then in the summer, we use our MLE to grab the other player. If we do manage to get both, we would have the bird rights to sign them for good contracts. We may need to offer Freeland or T. Rob (maybe even both) to give more talent out though.
It costs Paul Allen 20 million a year to maintain his yacht, do you really think he'll be squeamish about increasing the payroll if the team is a true contender for a championship? There is no doubt in my mind that he'll kick down for the talent when the time comes. He has even said as much, and so has Olshey.
Wes Johnson backup to guard. Wes & Wes as our 2's. He has went from draft bust to awesome role player. He is blocking shots like a young Dwayne Wade right now. In the range of centers like Andre Drummond. He plays good perimeter D & makes his 3pt shots. Perfect for Stotts system. Still young at 26, great long term option for the bench. I'd much rather having him play 2 guard minutes than either of Mo/Lillard/CJ. Keep Lillard at the one & get him a proper backup... Kirk Hinrich to replace Earl Watson as the 3rd PG(assuming CJ will play here when Lillard is out w/Batum staying in as point forward) aka "veteran wiseman". He has experience with mentoring young talented PG's like Rose, Wall & Teague. He could also still play in a pinch, last year in the playoffs he(and Noah) dominated Deron Williams.
I am all for Hinrich but he is not a 3rd PG the dudes leadership and defense make him an ideal back up PG.
Ramon sessions, gortat, obscure European point guard, I'm glad things never change around here even four years ago they all were very average people still wanted them they haven't even done anything gortat may be OK.... Not a game changer though. Paul Pierce would be awesome off the bench though he would eat in to CJ's minutes though. hoop fam
I think it's more of a function of people obsessing about him for the last 3-4 years. There are 5 to 6 of these guys. Guys like him and Hawes are looking to get paid big too hoop fam
I'm not a huge fan of Gortat but I'm looking at free agent centers this summer. He's one of the only UFA centers. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
