IT = Rumor of 3/24 offer from Pistons
- Thread starter John Galt
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I'm not surprised by the interest level. I'm just skeptical about the 8/24 offer. First, it was reported before teams were even allowed to start negotiating. Second, there have already been reports from at least the Mavs that IT's agent is blowing up their interest in him. Finally, Bruski is reporting it and when it comes to all things IT, his superfan's reports should be viewed with caution.
Exactly. If Rondo does end up walking, we would have approximately $31.4 on our books next season (Cousins, Landry, Thompson, Stauskas, & McCallum). That gives us $35 mil in cap space. If we're able to move Landry for a better fitting piece or more cap space we would be in even better shape ($41.6 mil in cap space).
Depending on who opts out of their contracts you could be looking to sign guys like Rondo, Dragic, Irving, Afflalo, D. Green, W. Matthews, Shumpert, K. Thompson, Gay, J. Butler, K. Leonard, W. Chandler, Aldridge, Love, Asik, M. Gasol, D. Jordan, & R. Lopez. Depending on how the season goes, we could resign Rondo and Gay and sign a guy like Jordan or Gasol to be that shotblocker we've been longing for. It might be a long shot, but this trade still gives us the ability to remain relevant.
Depending on who opts out of their contracts you could be looking to sign guys like Rondo, Dragic, Irving, Afflalo, D. Green, W. Matthews, Shumpert, K. Thompson, Gay, J. Butler, K. Leonard, W. Chandler, Aldridge, Love, Asik, M. Gasol, D. Jordan, & R. Lopez. Depending on how the season goes, we could resign Rondo and Gay and sign a guy like Jordan or Gasol to be that shotblocker we've been longing for. It might be a long shot, but this trade still gives us the ability to remain relevant.
That's not the only reason...
There are at least four reasons to do a sign-and-trade:
1) To prevent the original team from matching an offer sheet on an RFA by sending them some sweetener
2) Because you don't have the cap room to actually make the signing in the first place, so you need to send something back
3) Because you have a piece you don't want that the S&Ting team does want
4) Since teams can sign their own free agents to larger and longer contracts, to be allowed to give the player a larger contract than you could by a direct signing
If Detroit is interested in a sign-and-trade, it is likely under scenario #3 as they look to dump Josh Smith.
Since Boston does not have enough cap space to sign IT, if they are to be looking at him it would most likely fall under scenario #2. But I would not immediately assume that Rondo would be the returning piece. Yes, it's odd that Boston is looking at IT with both Rondo and Smart, but they may be looking at Smart as a defensive SG and I do find it hard to believe that Boston has completely given up on Rondo. But, you never know. It's not like they've got a whole bunch of other assets that we'd want.
There are at least four reasons to do a sign-and-trade:
1) To prevent the original team from matching an offer sheet on an RFA by sending them some sweetener
2) Because you don't have the cap room to actually make the signing in the first place, so you need to send something back
3) Because you have a piece you don't want that the S&Ting team does want
4) Since teams can sign their own free agents to larger and longer contracts, to be allowed to give the player a larger contract than you could by a direct signing
If Detroit is interested in a sign-and-trade, it is likely under scenario #3 as they look to dump Josh Smith.
Since Boston does not have enough cap space to sign IT, if they are to be looking at him it would most likely fall under scenario #2. But I would not immediately assume that Rondo would be the returning piece. Yes, it's odd that Boston is looking at IT with both Rondo and Smart, but they may be looking at Smart as a defensive SG and I do find it hard to believe that Boston has completely given up on Rondo. But, you never know. It's not like they've got a whole bunch of other assets that we'd want.
Boston has about 50M committed to salary next year with their draft picks. Cap is 63M. Boston wants Avery Bradley back. He could command 10-12M/Y. Even if it's a bit less, that leaves almost no chance of signing IT outright in free agency. They'd have to move a big contract in order to bring IT in which allows them to give IT what other teams might offer.
Humphries expired and they'll need to use some of their cap space to fill the PF spot too. That plus re-signing/matching on Bradley means if they want IT, moving Rondo's contract to us for IT/Ben makes some real sense.
Ainge looks like he wants a Smart/Bradley/IT guard core, and his first call being to IT suggests that. It at least suggests Ainge is looking for a Smart/IT PG platoon and doesn't see Rondo there longterm. I'm actually not sure how he can get that core together without moving Rondo to us.
Humphries expired and they'll need to use some of their cap space to fill the PF spot too. That plus re-signing/matching on Bradley means if they want IT, moving Rondo's contract to us for IT/Ben makes some real sense.
Ainge looks like he wants a Smart/Bradley/IT guard core, and his first call being to IT suggests that. It at least suggests Ainge is looking for a Smart/IT PG platoon and doesn't see Rondo there longterm. I'm actually not sure how he can get that core together without moving Rondo to us.
It would be difficult, that's for sure. With a triple platoon of Rondo/IT/Smart, someone would be getting the short shrift and neither of those three would be getting all of the minutes they want unless they wanted to play Smart as an undersized SG in a platoon with Young (assuming they drop Bradley to sign IT instead), which is really not what got Smart drafted with the 6th pick. Trading IT + Ben to them allows them to then use whatever money they have freed up to either resign Bradley or go after a big man to bolster their line-up.
That's all well and good. And you might well be right but what I am saying is that history suggests that teams doing the signing and trading get peanuts back. This might be the case where Ainge sees value in shipping Rondo and we are a willing taker even without the extension.
Our main problem is that aside from the Cousins and Rudy contracts, majority of our money is tied up in a bunch of no productive PFs which leaves very little for us to invest into our backcourt. Its a hugely unbalanced roster and salary cap. If we get Rondo back for IT and some other filler (I doubt its Ben without extension from Rondo), then we might be able to follow up with another deal to address the PF spot.
Of course all this depends on a) IT choosing Boston, b) Boston willing to do sign and trade, c) Boston willing to ship out Rondo
That's a lot of variables which makes it more unlikely to happen. They could well have other deals in the works that clears cap room for them
Our main problem is that aside from the Cousins and Rudy contracts, majority of our money is tied up in a bunch of no productive PFs which leaves very little for us to invest into our backcourt. Its a hugely unbalanced roster and salary cap. If we get Rondo back for IT and some other filler (I doubt its Ben without extension from Rondo), then we might be able to follow up with another deal to address the PF spot.
Of course all this depends on a) IT choosing Boston, b) Boston willing to do sign and trade, c) Boston willing to ship out Rondo
That's a lot of variables which makes it more unlikely to happen. They could well have other deals in the works that clears cap room for them
S&T's almost never bring back equal talent, let alone superior talent like is being suggested here. And we need Boston to not only cooperate, but everyone else not to. IT has no reason to help us move him to Boston. If the Heat or the Mavs or somebody comes back with a better offer than Boston, we lose any potential deal. Its a narrow window here.
People really need to understand this because the Rondo/Dragic/Bledsoe suggestions are really far fetched! I could maybe see IT for Smith as Detroit is desperate to get rid off that contract but people will be really disappointed with what we get for IT.
At some point we need to decide to stop bleeding talent!
At some point we need to decide to stop bleeding talent!
I'm not the greatest IT fan, but I think we need to match the offer if it's up to 8/yr. For all his weaknesses, IT has talent. And we can't just let talent walk. If we could get Rondo in return, that's a different story. But as many people said, that's a pipe dream. S&Ts never bring back equal talent. So, if we can't get equal value, my opinion is that we need to match the offer and keep IT.
K
The Pacers made a massive mistake getting George Hill @8mill per season who at the time was a much better all around player than Thomas, I'm sorry but 8 million is nearly double of what he should be earning, unless the role player your signing is really solid at everything say a Wes Mattews you don't give them anymore than 4-5 million. Isaiah Thomas is not and will never be that people need to realise the PG position will for as long as basketball exists be the most stacked position meaning you can find cheap talented players who can do the job while looking for a defensive big (which we can't seem to get).
Good PG's at this stage literally grow on tree's, if anything if you don't have a decent PG it says more about how poor your recruiting/trading/drafting is than anything else. You don't need to pay a one way sparkplug when there are so many more overall talented/bigger PG's out there. This is also why I would not really do a trade for Rondo at this stage either simple due to the surplus of talent at the PG spot. It's more important we find a big man to compliment Cousins before we even think about doing anything else how that is not the #1 priority I don't know.
Good PG's at this stage literally grow on tree's, if anything if you don't have a decent PG it says more about how poor your recruiting/trading/drafting is than anything else. You don't need to pay a one way sparkplug when there are so many more overall talented/bigger PG's out there. This is also why I would not really do a trade for Rondo at this stage either simple due to the surplus of talent at the PG spot. It's more important we find a big man to compliment Cousins before we even think about doing anything else how that is not the #1 priority I don't know.
IT for Josh Smith makes no sense.
We have plenty of contracts to dump off that have far less value than Thomas would. If that's what Detroit is asking, I want no part of it.
Only way I get anywhere close to Smith if is we are the ones dumping our junk on them, not the other way around. IT isn't junk.
We have plenty of contracts to dump off that have far less value than Thomas would. If that's what Detroit is asking, I want no part of it.
Only way I get anywhere close to Smith if is we are the ones dumping our junk on them, not the other way around. IT isn't junk.
indeed. it strikes me as so unlikely that the kings would be able to snag a true impact PG like rondo/dragic/bledsoe in a sign-and-trade for thomas. i might leave open the narrow possibility of rondo, just because he's been connected to kings trade rumors on and off for the last year, but it's still just a lotta hopes-and-dreams. more to the point, this is why i was damn near certain that PDA would trade IT before the deadline last season; if he didn't, he'd be forced to let the market dictate how much the kings would inevitably overpay to match contract offers for thomas (and i've always maintained that some damn fool team would throw too much money at thomas), or he'd be be forced to take less than market value for thomas in a sign-and-trade. at the deadline, there might have been a shot at getting something that resembles value for IT. instead, PDA is now jammed between a rock and a hard place...
If thats genuine and they match.... man... I'll lose it.
https://twitter.com/JaredZwerling/status/483972369372172288
https://twitter.com/JaredZwerling/status/483972369372172288
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