I expect Monroe to be our #1 target; regardless of LMA's decision. There is no point in talking to LMA; we've already been talking with him for 9 years so he knows everything about our situation. I think we have a real good shot at Monroe though. He has mentioned being on a winning team is important so that gives us a big edge over New York and Los Angeles. I expect it comes down to us or Milwaukee.
DeMarre Carroll and Al-Farouq Aminu are my guess for #2 and #3. Defensive wings are so critical in today's game. Atlanta will likely have to pay Millsap the max and even after cutting and renouncing all their other players that only gives them $7 million to offer Carroll.
Aminu can play small ball PF and again is a great defensive option at SF.
I think we have already told Wes we will give him a good offer but not $15 million so go out and shop yourself first. When other teams have cold feet he eventually returns here for $9 million; either on a long term deal nobody else will give him or a short deal where he has bird rights and can get a huge raise next summer.
The one big positive of Aldridge potentially leaving is that it gives us $20.1 million extra to spend on free agents. Compare that to a team already over the cap like the Clippers with DeAndre or the Nets with Brook. We could afford Monroe on the max, Carroll at $10 million, Wes at $9 million, Aminu at $6 million and still have the room exception for Freeland. Thats a much deeper team than anything we can put together with Aldridge.
Monroe/ Kaman / Freeland
Leonard/ Plumlee/ Vonleh
Carroll/ Aminu/ Crabbe
Wes/ Hendo/ Pat
Lillard/ CJ/ Frazier
