Which Big Name Free Agent to Target?
- Thread starter twslam07
- Start date
Just as a guide to Kings resources this summer.
I won't talk about specific players, but rather about the string of events, that will allow Kings to give out/take back most money, which should hopefully correlate with the quality of incoming players.
I make 2 assumptions:
a) starting 5 is back (not necessarily as such though) given that their value to the team and/or perceived value on the market vs value to the team and/or money it takes to replace them in their role, even if you can get pure cap space for the player, make their trade unlikely. I assume, that Boogie, Rudy and Darren are back as #1, 2 and at least 3b options, while Ben is good as backup SG/passable as a starting one (my personal opinion, he will be a solid starting SG after another summer of hard work) and JT is good to be 3rd big.
b) Kings draft at #6.
1. Kings use $8.5 million of cap space. It can be used to absorb salary of the same or lower amount. It allows Kings to give contracts of 1 year in length and can be split in parts, so Kings can for example give $5 and $3.5 million 2-year contracts with player options for second year. It beats MLE handily for players looking to return to the market in 2016, since those must have 2 guaranteed years at least (at least 3 overall with PO possible for the last year).
2. Kings use Landry and Stauskas to absorb up to $14 million in incoming salary. Can be used on acquiring a player(-s) via S&T or on already existing contract. Package is likely to be perceived to have negative value on the open market, so additional incentives might be needed, though some teams might look ahead to next summer, when there will be so much money on the market, that even outrageous deals won't look that bad, if they are attached to a contributing player and 1-year in length. Question is whether Carl is still that.
3. Kings use 3 non-guaranteed contracts of Mccallum, Stockton and Moreland to absorb up to $4 million. Can be used on acquiring a player via a S&T or on already existing contract.
4. Give an FA Room exception of $5.7 million over 2 years. Player option for 2nd year is possible. This looks perfect for retaining Casspi as he can opt out next year and receive up to MLE money from Kings.
This is most ideal way for Kings to go through off-season.
Any trade, that happens, before Kings can use cap space, and involves getting back more salary than sending out turns possibilities 1. and 4. into just an MLE contract ($5.8 million), which is obviously much less valuable, than giving $12.3 million to 2 or 3 players.
Assumption b) is obviously not set in stone, since even Kings admitted, they might trade down. In that case amount of cap space in 1. will be bigger (dropping to #9 gives about $0.5 million more) plus I would assume Landry would be exchanged for much friendlier contract - hopefully a bit bigger 1-year deal as that would allow to give out more salary via 2, even if it negates cap space gains at the same time.
I won't talk about specific players, but rather about the string of events, that will allow Kings to give out/take back most money, which should hopefully correlate with the quality of incoming players.
I make 2 assumptions:
a) starting 5 is back (not necessarily as such though) given that their value to the team and/or perceived value on the market vs value to the team and/or money it takes to replace them in their role, even if you can get pure cap space for the player, make their trade unlikely. I assume, that Boogie, Rudy and Darren are back as #1, 2 and at least 3b options, while Ben is good as backup SG/passable as a starting one (my personal opinion, he will be a solid starting SG after another summer of hard work) and JT is good to be 3rd big.
b) Kings draft at #6.
1. Kings use $8.5 million of cap space. It can be used to absorb salary of the same or lower amount. It allows Kings to give contracts of 1 year in length and can be split in parts, so Kings can for example give $5 and $3.5 million 2-year contracts with player options for second year. It beats MLE handily for players looking to return to the market in 2016, since those must have 2 guaranteed years at least (at least 3 overall with PO possible for the last year).
2. Kings use Landry and Stauskas to absorb up to $14 million in incoming salary. Can be used on acquiring a player(-s) via S&T or on already existing contract. Package is likely to be perceived to have negative value on the open market, so additional incentives might be needed, though some teams might look ahead to next summer, when there will be so much money on the market, that even outrageous deals won't look that bad, if they are attached to a contributing player and 1-year in length. Question is whether Carl is still that.
3. Kings use 3 non-guaranteed contracts of Mccallum, Stockton and Moreland to absorb up to $4 million. Can be used on acquiring a player via a S&T or on already existing contract.
4. Give an FA Room exception of $5.7 million over 2 years. Player option for 2nd year is possible. This looks perfect for retaining Casspi as he can opt out next year and receive up to MLE money from Kings.
This is most ideal way for Kings to go through off-season.
Any trade, that happens, before Kings can use cap space, and involves getting back more salary than sending out turns possibilities 1. and 4. into just an MLE contract ($5.8 million), which is obviously much less valuable, than giving $12.3 million to 2 or 3 players.
Assumption b) is obviously not set in stone, since even Kings admitted, they might trade down. In that case amount of cap space in 1. will be bigger (dropping to #9 gives about $0.5 million more) plus I would assume Landry would be exchanged for much friendlier contract - hopefully a bit bigger 1-year deal as that would allow to give out more salary via 2, even if it negates cap space gains at the same time.
So if we waive landry we have 11.4 mill available.
Some SFs and how much I'd offer:
Al-Farouq Amino (8-10mill)
Wesley Johnson (5-7mill)
Jared Dudley (7-10mill)
Luc Mhab a Moute (5-7mill)
I'd put Dudley/Aminu at the top those 2 would be extremely solid gets.
PGs available: that we can get
Brooks, Barbosa, Watson, Sloan, Lin, Joseph
Some SFs and how much I'd offer:
Al-Farouq Amino (8-10mill)
Wesley Johnson (5-7mill)
Jared Dudley (7-10mill)
Luc Mhab a Moute (5-7mill)
I'd put Dudley/Aminu at the top those 2 would be extremely solid gets.
PGs available: that we can get
Brooks, Barbosa, Watson, Sloan, Lin, Joseph
I think Vlade will try and bring in a Karl guy to help smooth things over and I think it will be Aaron Afflalo, not Lawson.
Lawson would cost us Darren Collison and Vlade really sounds like he wants DC to stay a King.
I think that Afflalo could be had on a 3 year 27-30 mil or 4 year 32-36mil contract.
He provides a veteran Karl player that knows his system and give the Kings a legit SG to start until Ben or Nik steps up their game, also making one of them expandable in a trade.
Once Ben or Nik matures into a starter, Afflalo can move over to 6th man role, like Andre Iguodala.
Starting Lineup:
PF WCS / Moreland / Landry
SF Gay / Casspi?
C DMC/ JT/ Sim
SG Afflalo / Ben / Nik
PG Collison/ A. Miller? /McCallum
Lawson would cost us Darren Collison and Vlade really sounds like he wants DC to stay a King.
I think that Afflalo could be had on a 3 year 27-30 mil or 4 year 32-36mil contract.
He provides a veteran Karl player that knows his system and give the Kings a legit SG to start until Ben or Nik steps up their game, also making one of them expandable in a trade.
Once Ben or Nik matures into a starter, Afflalo can move over to 6th man role, like Andre Iguodala.
Starting Lineup:
PF WCS / Moreland / Landry
SF Gay / Casspi?
C DMC/ JT/ Sim
SG Afflalo / Ben / Nik
PG Collison/ A. Miller? /McCallum
Prob right. To be honest for the price casspi is a value. Afflalo and stuckey would add needed depth
Collison, stuckey, ray
Afflalo, Ben, nik
Gay, casspi
JT, Landry,Moreland
Cousins,WCS
That's much improved in areas we need improvement.
Solid backup pg check
Veteran two way SG check
Rim protecting defensive big check
Collison, stuckey, ray
Afflalo, Ben, nik
Gay, casspi
JT, Landry,Moreland
Cousins,WCS
That's much improved in areas we need improvement.
Solid backup pg check
Veteran two way SG check
Rim protecting defensive big check
The single best signing would be Rondo. Since he makes DC an EXCELLENT bench leader, which is exactly what our bench needs. That one move kills a lot of birds. It puts more shooting on the bench. It improves perimeter D, greatly improves both our starting lineup and our bench.
After that... all we need are a small collection of role players, which are easy to obtain once you have Rondo. He brings so much more that just a very good starting point guard to our situation. It makes us a destination team. Instantly.
We'll need some defense at the back up SF, and more shooting. But you go for the big time PG... all day every day, especially one with the passing and defensive ability that Rondo has.
After that... all we need are a small collection of role players, which are easy to obtain once you have Rondo. He brings so much more that just a very good starting point guard to our situation. It makes us a destination team. Instantly.
We'll need some defense at the back up SF, and more shooting. But you go for the big time PG... all day every day, especially one with the passing and defensive ability that Rondo has.
Way too many question marks about Rondo at this point in his career for us to sign him. His terrible shooting is just one of them and that would kill our spacing and put more pressure on Cousins.
Also if he decided to be anything like Dallas Rondo, you got another potential time bomb on your hands! Not something this team needs more of!
Also if he decided to be anything like Dallas Rondo, you got another potential time bomb on your hands! Not something this team needs more of!
The problem with Rondo is either the fit is snug, or we're trying to fit a square into a triangle. No in between with him. You still run the risk of implosion if things go awry with him and Cousins. And though he makes up exponentially with his intangibles, the lack of outside shooting and poor FT% in addition to his post-op decline is just a major turn-off for me. You either have deadly shooters around him, or it's not gonna work out.
Some FAs I'd target are:
-Afflalo - 29 y/o, so technically at his prime. Knockdown shooter, able to take you down & post you up and a competent defender with low TOs.
-Aminu - 24 y/o. Tenacious defender, very scrappy, excellent rebounder and not as much of a zero on offense, as seen in the post-season. A perfect guy to have on our team.
-Asik - 29 y/o. I know we drafted WCS, but nothing is ever guaranteed with rookies. Asik will give you a giant Turkish dog to play C next to Cousins. Good bball IQ, good defender, solid shot blocker and can get 10/10 with his eyes closed...even with AD on the floor.
-Beverly - 26 y/o. Not as a starter over Collison, but as a guy who will abuse opposing PG's...on the defensive end of the floor. Isn't a one-trick pony either. Is a high % 3pt shooter and will burn you if left open.
-Brewer - 29 y/o. Mmmm. More defense. 3-pt shooter. And more defense. Would love him here.
-Butler - 25 y/o. You throw the kitchen sink at him and I still don't think we'll have enough to lure him in. But hey...can't leave him off the list.
-M. Gasol - Ala Butler, can't leave him off the list.
-D. Green - 25 y/o. It's going to be interesting how GSW will maneuver their salary to keep him, but I'd give it a shot to snatch him. No explanation needed if you watched the Finals.
-B. Knight - 23 y/o. Would mean we would be trading Collison. Another Kentucky guy to further build the Sacramento Wildcats. Better 3pt shooter than Collison and is also a solid defender. Has yet to reach his prime and has already showed flashes of breakouts.
-K. Leonard - 24 y/o. Another kitchen sink guy. Spurs will match, but maybe we can sort of devise a plan....eh, not happening.
-R. Lopez - 27 y/o. A serviceable big who will give you excellent post-defense and shot blocking.
-W. Matthews - 28 y/o. Crapshoot here. His FA process will be a battle of the wills. Reports are that he's looking for a $15mil/yr deal, which, after his ACL injury, is a bold position to take. Excellent defender and great 3pt shooter who do wonders to our team.
-Middleton - 23 y/o. All around player and is bound to get even better. Too bad he's also bound to get re-signed by Milwaukee.
-Seraphin - 25 y/o. Hustle guy that if given the minutes, could easily be the bench piece of 20-25 minutes for us. Can block, defend, and hit a short J to keep the defense honest.
-Shumpert - 25 y/o. Excellent defender and can spread the floor with the outside shot. I fear that teams with capspace will overpay him though...
-Shved - 26 y/o. If he can buy in as a back-up PG, would bring instant offense with solid D. A 6'6 guard that can alternate at the 1-2 spots would be a luxury for us.
-L. Williams - 28 y/o. Circa Bobby Jackson. You may not even need anybody on the bench who knows how to score if you have him on the floor.
Some FAs I'd target are:
-Afflalo - 29 y/o, so technically at his prime. Knockdown shooter, able to take you down & post you up and a competent defender with low TOs.
-Aminu - 24 y/o. Tenacious defender, very scrappy, excellent rebounder and not as much of a zero on offense, as seen in the post-season. A perfect guy to have on our team.
-Asik - 29 y/o. I know we drafted WCS, but nothing is ever guaranteed with rookies. Asik will give you a giant Turkish dog to play C next to Cousins. Good bball IQ, good defender, solid shot blocker and can get 10/10 with his eyes closed...even with AD on the floor.
-Beverly - 26 y/o. Not as a starter over Collison, but as a guy who will abuse opposing PG's...on the defensive end of the floor. Isn't a one-trick pony either. Is a high % 3pt shooter and will burn you if left open.
-Brewer - 29 y/o. Mmmm. More defense. 3-pt shooter. And more defense. Would love him here.
-Butler - 25 y/o. You throw the kitchen sink at him and I still don't think we'll have enough to lure him in. But hey...can't leave him off the list.
-M. Gasol - Ala Butler, can't leave him off the list.
-D. Green - 25 y/o. It's going to be interesting how GSW will maneuver their salary to keep him, but I'd give it a shot to snatch him. No explanation needed if you watched the Finals.
-B. Knight - 23 y/o. Would mean we would be trading Collison. Another Kentucky guy to further build the Sacramento Wildcats. Better 3pt shooter than Collison and is also a solid defender. Has yet to reach his prime and has already showed flashes of breakouts.
-K. Leonard - 24 y/o. Another kitchen sink guy. Spurs will match, but maybe we can sort of devise a plan....eh, not happening.
-R. Lopez - 27 y/o. A serviceable big who will give you excellent post-defense and shot blocking.
-W. Matthews - 28 y/o. Crapshoot here. His FA process will be a battle of the wills. Reports are that he's looking for a $15mil/yr deal, which, after his ACL injury, is a bold position to take. Excellent defender and great 3pt shooter who do wonders to our team.
-Middleton - 23 y/o. All around player and is bound to get even better. Too bad he's also bound to get re-signed by Milwaukee.
-Seraphin - 25 y/o. Hustle guy that if given the minutes, could easily be the bench piece of 20-25 minutes for us. Can block, defend, and hit a short J to keep the defense honest.
-Shumpert - 25 y/o. Excellent defender and can spread the floor with the outside shot. I fear that teams with capspace will overpay him though...
-Shved - 26 y/o. If he can buy in as a back-up PG, would bring instant offense with solid D. A 6'6 guard that can alternate at the 1-2 spots would be a luxury for us.
-L. Williams - 28 y/o. Circa Bobby Jackson. You may not even need anybody on the bench who knows how to score if you have him on the floor.