Free Agency has started !!
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That's normally not an event to be !!'d around these parts. Free agency is how the rich teams get their advantage over the poor ones. The draft is equal for everyone. Trades are equal for everyone. Free agency...favors teams not like us. 
I'm just hoping we can at least keep our own (JT, TWill) this time.
I'm just hoping we can at least keep our own (JT, TWill) this time.
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I think we all know that the Maloofs won't be spending much over the salary floor, but it will be interesting to see where free agents land, especially Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Eric Gordon and OJ Mayo.
It'd be nice to pull off some trades to get a decent SF to defend the perimeter/hit the 3 and a true PG to pass the ball to all these scorers.
The delirious side of me is hoping that we can take on some salary via trade (to address our needs at the 1 and 3) and then amnesty Salmons...
It'd be nice to pull off some trades to get a decent SF to defend the perimeter/hit the 3 and a true PG to pass the ball to all these scorers.
The delirious side of me is hoping that we can take on some salary via trade (to address our needs at the 1 and 3) and then amnesty Salmons...
My worry is we match on a JT offer of 7-8M, which given the Maloofs are too poor to amnesty Salmons means we don't have enough to lure a decent FA, and we instead blow all our remaining cap space on a scorer who doesn't fit and severely handicaps us going forward.
As I felt in Dec, our FO/ownership failed us last off season, Chuck/Outlaw/Salmons severely hurt our flexibility, and now I'm almost praying we just don't F it up again. Guarantee they'll be a few angry fans when they see players signing elsewhere for affordable contracts.
As I felt in Dec, our FO/ownership failed us last off season, Chuck/Outlaw/Salmons severely hurt our flexibility, and now I'm almost praying we just don't F it up again. Guarantee they'll be a few angry fans when they see players signing elsewhere for affordable contracts.
Ken Berger: The Rockets "badly" want to retain Dragic, source said, and have been trying to move Kyle Lowry to give him the starting PG job he wants.
I'd still go after Lowry who needs to be moved a quickly so Dragic can sign. I'd try it without MT, and maybe offer Cisco's expiring or future draft picks, maybe a protected 1st rounder. But Hou needs to dump him, everyone knows, and they probably won't get much as they're against the clock.
I'd still go after Lowry who needs to be moved a quickly so Dragic can sign. I'd try it without MT, and maybe offer Cisco's expiring or future draft picks, maybe a protected 1st rounder. But Hou needs to dump him, everyone knows, and they probably won't get much as they're against the clock.
If we're going after Lowry then I think Thomas must be included. We can't play Thomas and Lowry on the floor together because we would be way too undersized on the floor. So that means Thomas would only get minutes when Lowry comes off which isn't much at all. I think Houston would like Thomas. They have Dragic at PG but at 6'4" he is capable of playing some SG which means they could be on the floor together.
You've got to love organizations that value interior defensive presence
https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/219334933389381632
https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/219335569380098048
https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/219334933389381632
https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/219335569380098048
This already is frustrating to watch.
1) Seeing team put a premium on defending with Hibbert/Asik offers.
2) Seeing the market value for bigs being set and JT will most likely get a substancial offer.
3) Even a team like Minn is rumored to be after Brandon Roy, Jamal Crawford, Greg Steisma and Batum. That's aggressive and wanting to improve.
1) Seeing team put a premium on defending with Hibbert/Asik offers.
2) Seeing the market value for bigs being set and JT will most likely get a substancial offer.
3) Even a team like Minn is rumored to be after Brandon Roy, Jamal Crawford, Greg Steisma and Batum. That's aggressive and wanting to improve.
It would mean something to us if in fact we were going after Batum or are willing to spend the type of money to get Batum. Since we are scrapping the bottom of the barrel, it doesn't really affect us in any way. If we can keep JT and T-Will, I would be satisfied. Address our gaping hole at SF with a good player there, then I am ecstatic. Sign a shot blocker to man the middle and I just might explode from excitement.
I don't think the offer Asik just got is an indication of what JT could demand. Defensive bigs are more valuable (not for the Kings anyways...), and their value is very high. JT is not a defensive big, so this may not affect his offer. I think we should look at a player like Bass and see what he gets, to have an idea of JT's value.
Man oh man the new CBA doesn't seem to have slowed down the crazy offers at all. What that means for us as normal is that we just have to keep our head down and concentrate on just trying not to lose any of our own guys until the frenzy is over. Then like a lowly scavenger we can come creeping out afterward to see if we can't steal some leftover scraps.
Asik -- 3pts 5rebs -- $8mil
Hibbert -- 13pts 9rebs -- MAX
Batum -- 11pts 4reb -- $12mil
and so it goes. The good news is if this keeps up by the end of the summer John Salmons won't have a bad contract anymore.
Asik -- 3pts 5rebs -- $8mil
Hibbert -- 13pts 9rebs -- MAX
Batum -- 11pts 4reb -- $12mil
and so it goes. The good news is if this keeps up by the end of the summer John Salmons won't have a bad contract anymore.
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Realistically we knew Batum was going to get $12-14 million a year which means Minnesota has actually set the low end here. He's the exact combination of production and potential that every team is looking for. Whoever ups the offer to 4 years and $56 million is going to sign him. I've known this for months and still advocated signing him. The advantage for us is that we already have Robinson, Evans, Cousins, Thornton, and Thomas which means we really only need one player -- specifically a SF -- to start making some noise next year and lead the march back to relevance. If you can't bite the bullet and overpay a bit for potential, than you're just not competitive in this league.
Because of age and injury concerns, Gerald Wallace should be a little cheaper. In the $8-10 million per year range sounds about right to me. 4 years at $40 million is a reasonable offer for him and he's not restricted like Batum. But that would require Geoff to go out and sell Wallace (a) on playing in Sacramento -- which might be a tough sell since he's an east coast guy with a family and (b) that Evans/Cousins/Robinson is the foundation for a young playoff team. Petrie has never struck me as a particularly good salesman in the past. So our dreams of solid production at the SF spot are probably going to have to come via trade. Igoudala is probably best-case scenario for us and they did just draft Moe Harkless who duplicates a lot of his skills. Then again, he's got one year left so they might just hang onto him and trade him for picks at the deadline.
[Doing a little quick salary cap math -- Cousins gets a max extension in two years, Evans probably gets a deal close to Batum's with a 5th year because of the bird rights, and Robinson is on a 4 year rookie deal so giving Batum $14 million a year shouldn't affect our ability to re-sign Cousins or Evans provided Salmons gets amnestied and the Maloofs will allow for player salaries to meet or slightly exceed the salary cap. Yeah, I know, I'm laughing at that one too. Trying to rebuild with broke owners sucks! Hmm, since Lowry is still on the trading block, trading Thornton for Lowry would be one way to save some cash.]
Because of age and injury concerns, Gerald Wallace should be a little cheaper. In the $8-10 million per year range sounds about right to me. 4 years at $40 million is a reasonable offer for him and he's not restricted like Batum. But that would require Geoff to go out and sell Wallace (a) on playing in Sacramento -- which might be a tough sell since he's an east coast guy with a family and (b) that Evans/Cousins/Robinson is the foundation for a young playoff team. Petrie has never struck me as a particularly good salesman in the past. So our dreams of solid production at the SF spot are probably going to have to come via trade. Igoudala is probably best-case scenario for us and they did just draft Moe Harkless who duplicates a lot of his skills. Then again, he's got one year left so they might just hang onto him and trade him for picks at the deadline.
[Doing a little quick salary cap math -- Cousins gets a max extension in two years, Evans probably gets a deal close to Batum's with a 5th year because of the bird rights, and Robinson is on a 4 year rookie deal so giving Batum $14 million a year shouldn't affect our ability to re-sign Cousins or Evans provided Salmons gets amnestied and the Maloofs will allow for player salaries to meet or slightly exceed the salary cap. Yeah, I know, I'm laughing at that one too. Trying to rebuild with broke owners sucks! Hmm, since Lowry is still on the trading block, trading Thornton for Lowry would be one way to save some cash.]
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