Keep/dump?

[magnifier661]

So the cap hold on hickson and maynor would put us around cap. So having 5.8 mil available to grab one free agent would be our other move?

So basically getting gortat and Gordon for Leonard and Matthews; then resign maynor and hickson. Then use the mle to get one more player; preferably a sg?

 

[RR7]

In this scenario; we wouldn't have good free agent money to grab a high profile free agent correct?

Correct. We'd use up our space with Gortat and Gordon, so it'd leave us with the MLE and our pick.

 

[magnifier661]

Correct. We'd use up our space with Gortat and Gordon, so it'd leave us with the MLE and our pick.

I still like it. Hickson is a very capable combo backup at pf/C and he will be getting significant minutes to stay happy. Maynor is a decent backup for Lillard and the money left over could get us that back-up sg

 

[RR7]

So the cap hold on hickson and maynor would put us around cap. So having 5.8 mil available to grab one free agent would be our other move?

So basically getting gortat and Gordon for Leonard and Matthews; then resign maynor and hickson. Then use the mle to get one more player; preferably a sg?

Not even the cap holds, but just the additional salary added from Gortat over Leonard, and EG over Freeland and Wes. It takes a big risk on EG, for sure. Maybe it's not worth it. If we didn't use the MLE, it'd still give us the potential to use cap space NEXT offseason as well, if we didn't bring Gortat back.
It'd upgrade our scoring to where you might not necessarily need a scoring 6th man off the bench. LMA, Lillard and EG can all get you 20 any night. Batum can as well. Maybe you start Lillard/Batum/Claver/Aldridge/Gortat
and bring Maynor/EG/Hickson as your 8 man rotation.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Not even the cap holds, but just the additional salary added from Gortat over Leonard, and EG over Freeland and Wes. It takes a big risk on EG, for sure. Maybe it's not worth it. If we didn't use the MLE, it'd still give us the potential to use cap space NEXT offseason as well, if we didn't bring Gortat back.
It'd upgrade our scoring to where you might not necessarily need a scoring 6th man off the bench. LMA, Lillard and EG can all get you 20 any night. Batum can as well. Maybe you start Lillard/Batum/Claver/Aldridge/Gortat
and bring Maynor/EG/Hickson as your 8 man rotation.

EG is not a happy camper now. If you trade for him then you start him. Although I am not opposed to starting Claver in other scenarios. He is the type of role player that I think plays better with other starters. He does a lot of little things without needing to shoot.

 

[RR7]

Maybe so, who knows. You can tell him he shares touches with the starters, or he's free to chuck and win 6th man awards. Right now, I think he's unhappy because he wanted out of N.O., for whatever reason.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Maybe so, who knows. You can tell him he shares touches with the starters, or he's free to chuck and win 6th man awards. Right now, I think he's unhappy because he wanted out of N.O., for whatever reason.

If you are trading for someone who is paid MAX then you start him.

I can only think of guys who are over the hill still on MAX contracts that don't start.

I think EG is way too big of a risk personally.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I just don't know about Gordon anymore. I was vocal with my desire to try to sign him last summer. But that was before drafting Lillard. I am not sure if he is the best back court mate for Damian. He does not attack the basket enough for me. I would prefer Ellis over Gordon.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Would definitely be high risk, high reward. However, if we sent Matthews and Freeland for Gordon, see if Phoenix would do Leonard for Gortat to help their rebuild along. We can package Jeffries and Sasha's non-guaranteed deals to make it work. We'd fill out our starting lineup, use up our cap space, but still have the MLE to use, I believe. Can retain Hickson and Maynor as bench pieces if we so desired, and throw the full MLE at a scorer off the bench.

Lillard/Maynor
EG/FA/Barton
Batum/Claver
Aldridge/Hickson
Gortat/Hickson

Have the MLE and our lotto pick still to use. Go BPA with the pick, maybe another big off the bench?

That is a lottery team when Gordon goes down AGAIN with another injury.

Also, Gortat is ok defensively, but Hickson is literally a sieve

 

[illmatic99]

It's as if you guys have forgotten the agony of losing all these players to injuries over the past 6 years. EG at with like 50mil/3yrs left on his contract is not worth it. The risk far outweighs the potential reward.

 

[craigehlo]

I would prefer Ellis over Gordon.

I would too, but he would be more difficult to obtain. While Ellis' shortcomings have been discussed at length, I think adding him to this lineup with Lillard would FINALLY get this team running the floor.

EG is massive risk, but one that's worth taking for a team that's been a futile as the Blazers have been.

 

[RR7]

That is a lottery team when Gordon goes down AGAIN with another injury.

Also, Gortat is ok defensively, but Hickson is literally a sieve

Probably so. Just throwing out an option involving EG, since he was mentioned. I don't know I'd do it. I think off the bat on paper, we're a better team, and one, with the right improvement from Lillard, that can realistically contend. Depending on the MLE, we'd actually have cap space next off season. Gone are the days of the 6-7 year contracts crippling you for half a decade. EG's contract wouldn't really hamper us from adding other pieces if he missed a handful of games each year, And he'd be a large expiring deal when Aldridge is a free agent, giving us the opportunity for a quick on the fly rebuild if need be.

 

[zonasotahomer]

we would gladly take mathews off your hands

 

[Pinwheel1]

I would too, but he would be more difficult to obtain. While Ellis' shortcomings have been discussed at length, I think adding him to this lineup with Lillard would FINALLY get this team running the floor.

EG is massive risk, but one that's worth taking for a team that's been a futile as the Blazers have been.

Holy shit I just saw that EG will average 15 million a year over the next 3 years. No fucking way would I touch that.

Ellis will become a UFA. I think he will opt out this summer. He is set to get 11 million next year, so his new contract will be at least that much for another 3-4 years.

 

[BigGameDamian]

I still like it. Hickson is a very capable combo backup at pf/C and he will be getting significant minutes to stay happy. Maynor is a decent backup for Lillard and the money left over could get us that back-up sg

Hickson has already said that if he didn't want to go somewhere where he can start and be a building block it would be a lie. So that pretty much tells me that he's leaving and I'm OK with that.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Hickson has already said that if he didn't want to go somewhere where he can start and be a building block it would be a lie. So that pretty much tells me that he's leaving and I'm OK with that.

I agree. He will get offers for the MLE from a lot of teams. A few who will pay more. He will have options. I have already counted him out and I see no reason to think we will be able to use him in a trade. Possible yes, but I would not count on it.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I would take a risk on Gordon if he checks out physically. But I would not have the doctors who check out Roy and Oden be the ones to do the checking...
It's unfortunate that he's got one of those sulky faces that you just want to punch, and that he seems to be trying to sulk his way out of N'Orleans. It's also unfortunate that he has called out exactly one GM in the league by name and it happens to be our current GM.
Still: the difference between the Hornets when he played and when he didn't was so startling that he's worth a risk. But not by giving up much. Can we just absorb him into our capspace? He'd be better than any FA we could attract.

 

[RR7]

I would take a risk on Gordon if he checks out physically. But I would not have the doctors who check out Roy and Oden be the ones to do the checking...
It's unfortunate that he's got one of those sulky faces that you just want to punch, and that he seems to be trying to sulk his way out of N'Orleans. It's also sulky that he has called out one GM in the league by name and it happens to be our current GM.
Still: the difference between the Hornets when he played and when he didn't was so startling that he's worth a risk. But not by giving up much. Can we just absorb him into our capspace? He'd be better than any FA we could attract.

Depending on the final cap numbers, we might be able to fit him into our cap space. We'd renounce everyone else to do so. We'd need to fill our starting C spot and remaining bench spots with the 2.5 million room exception and minimum salaried guys.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Depending on the final cap numbers, we might be able to fit him into our cap space. We'd renounce everyone else to do so. We'd need to fill our starting C spot and remaining bench spots with the 2.5 million room exception and minimum salaried guys.

If we could fit his nearly 15 million dollars into cap space, then we could offer any UFA or RFA the same amount. There has to be someone else we would rather have. Even if they were not worth 15 mil

 

[magnifier661]

If we could fit his nearly 15 million dollars into cap space, then we could offer any UFA or RFA the same amount. There has to be someone else we would rather have. Even if they were not worth 15 mil

I don't think that scenario is good though because having that "15 million" would require us to renounce Hickson and Maynor. We wouldn't have their Bird Right's; and wouldn't be able to resign them because we would be over cap. Well maybe Maynor since he would probably except a little under MLE.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I don't think that scenario is good though because having that "15 million" would require us to renounce Hickson and Maynor. We wouldn't have their Bird Right's; and wouldn't be able to resign them because we would be over cap. Well maybe Maynor since he would probably except a little under MLE.

Oh I know. I was just saying that if we really could come up with 15 million, we would have better options to spend it on. Of course none of us would agree on who that would be, but there would be options. I like Gordon, but 15 mil a year with his health history is awfully risky.

 

[illmatic99]

We'd need to fill our starting C spot and remaining bench spots with the 2.5 million room exception and minimum salaried guys.

Rice referenced the mini MLE last night during the broadcast too. Can you clarify this? Wouldn't we have to waive all our exceptions to get to that max 13mil capspace?

 

[RR7]

Rice referenced the mini MLE last night during the broadcast too. Can you clarify this? Wouldn't we have to waive all our exceptions to get to that max 13mil capspace?

The mini exception is an exception for teams with cap space, so we wouldn't have to waive that one. It's from the new CBA.

 

[illmatic99]

Gotcha. That makes sense.

 

[magnifier661]

Oh I know. I was just saying that if we really could come up with 15 million, we would have better options to spend it on. Of course none of us would agree on who that would be, but there would be options. I like Gordon, but 15 mil a year with his health history is awfully risky.

It's absolutely risky; but it's pretty obvious we need that explosive SG that can create his own shot. There aren't many others out there with this type of capability. Monta Ellis is another one.

 

[Pinwheel1]

It's absolutely risky; but it's pretty obvious we need that explosive SG that can create his own shot. There aren't many others out there with this type of capability. Monta Ellis is another one.

So the two that are available that we keep coming back to are 6'3" or smaller. Ellis and Gordon. Shit we have a 6'3" guard already that is almost just as good as either of them. Maybe we just go out and land another really good PG. I am told on this board that it is the easiest position to fill.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

If Gordon is healthy (big if) he's way better than Ellis. He's a good defender because he's wide and solid, and he's a much more efficient scorer. Ellis is a poor man's Iverson: cult hero but actually inefficient ball-hog.

(I was a big Gordon doubter because of his size, but like I said, the difference he makes to teams when he plays is amazing. Not so with Ellis.)

 

[magnifier661]

So the two that are available that we keep coming back to are 6'3" or smaller. Ellis and Gordon. Shit we have a 6'3" guard already that is almost just as good as either of them. Maybe we just go out and land another really good PG. I am told on this board that it is the easiest position to fill.

I actually like finding a defensive SF that can post up better. Then I would move Batum to SG. Then our D improves drastically. I could imagine the long arms of Batum creating huge problems for other SGs.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

If we could fit his nearly 15 million dollars into cap space, then we could offer any UFA or RFA the same amount. There has to be someone else we would rather have. Even if they were not worth 15 mil

If NO wants to get rid of him (more specifically: his contract) maybe they'd take Freeland back? Along with $3M PAM and our 2020 first rounder?

 

[Pinwheel1]

If NO wants to get rid of him (more specifically: his contract) maybe they'd take Freeland back? Along with $3M PAM and our 2020 first rounder?

I am sure we could make it work, but it still comes down to do we want to pay him 15 mil per year. Or do we want to pay someone else 13-15 mil a year. On the plus side he is only 24 years old and is a a very good shooter. (Despite his stats this year) On the negative side he is short, often hurt, and way over paid.