Free Agent SF Options

#61
Sam Amick ‏@sam_amick
Indiana did not offer a max deal, and Hibbert is now leaning to Blazers unless Pacers match. One other unnamed team offered max.
 
#64
Apparently, Minny has offered Batum a 4 year deal in the $45-50million range.
No way the Maloofs match this offer. Realistically, I believe our only hope to get a real SF is to be partner of a team that wants to dump salaries. Marion for pretty much nothing for example. I'd do that, even if he is not a shooter, but at least he is a great defender and more important will force Evans to play SG.
 
#66
No way the Maloofs match this offer. Realistically, I believe our only hope to get a real SF is to be partner of a team that wants to dump salaries. Marion for pretty much nothing for example. I'd do that, even if he is not a shooter, but at least he is a great defender and more important will force Evans to play SG.
Our best way of getting a SF is via trade with Thornton being our best trading chip. A pre scorer with a very reasonable contract so he would be attractive to other teams. He is signed for the next 3 years which means you get a pretty good player for a fairly good contract.

There is no way we will spend money on a SF this trade period. Another hope is that Outlaw just might re-discover his old form at which point he becomes a serviceable option on a reasonable deal. I might be hoping for the impossible here but he did play well towards the end of the year and he did have a broken wrist on the shooting hand before the training camp so it would have taken a while to get over that and get the shooting motion back. Not that he ever was a good shooter.
 
#69
Our best way of getting a SF is via trade with Thornton being our best trading chip. A pre scorer with a very reasonable contract so he would be attractive to other teams. He is signed for the next 3 years which means you get a pretty good player for a fairly good contract.

There is no way we will spend money on a SF this trade period. Another hope is that Outlaw just might re-discover his old form at which point he becomes a serviceable option on a reasonable deal. I might be hoping for the impossible here but he did play well towards the end of the year and he did have a broken wrist on the shooting hand before the training camp so it would have taken a while to get over that and get the shooting motion back. Not that he ever was a good shooter.
I agree 100%. I was thinking the same thing. Outlaw played decently at the end of the year, when the team looked a little more balanced. I wouldn't give up on him yet. I also agree we have no chance of signing any good FA, and it's not a news for me, unfortunately.
We can only hope to trade for a SF, or, like I said, to be partner of someone looking to dump salary (something like Beasley to Minnesota, like I said in another thread).
 
#70
I agree 100%. I was thinking the same thing. Outlaw played decently at the end of the year, when the team looked a little more balanced. I wouldn't give up on him yet. I also agree we have no chance of signing any good FA, and it's not a news for me, unfortunately.
We can only hope to trade for a SF, or, like I said, to be partner of someone looking to dump salary (something like Beasley to Minnesota, like I said in another thread).
The only problem is that we are not in the position to take on salary in a salary dump trade. We have owners who are bot able to spend so they will always hover around the minimum and try and put together a team. We are becoming the new Clippers where talented players get drafted and then when they are up for first "real" pro contract, they go somewhere else.

If we are getting someone it will have to be via trade where we send contract the other way. Otherwise it just is not happening unless its for the cheap.
 
#71
No way the Maloofs match this offer. Realistically, I believe our only hope to get a real SF is to be partner of a team that wants to dump salaries. Marion for pretty much nothing for example. I'd do that, even if he is not a shooter, but at least he is a great defender and more important will force Evans to play SG.
I like Batum, but I just dont think he is worth that kind of money. That being said, I don't think Hibbert is anywhere near worth a max contract. I'm glad to see that the new CBA is getting teams to offer better salaries to players.
 
#73
Wes Johnson will become available for peanuts when Batum comes over. He might be a risk free option if you want to move, say, Hayes. Johnson would be an ultimate roleplayer since he doesn't like to dribble so he won't ask for the ball. Also he has a team option for 2013/14 so if the experiment failed you free up cap space.
P.S. Johnson didn't look good for Adelman so it seems there's little talent indeed.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#74
Wes Johnson will become available for peanuts when Batum comes over. He might be a risk free option if you want to move, say, Hayes. Johnson would be an ultimate roleplayer since he doesn't like to dribble so he won't ask for the ball. Also he has a team option for 2013/14 so if the experiment failed you free up cap space.
P.S. Johnson didn't look good for Adelman so it seems there's little talent indeed.


Wes Johnson is a flop, but if you are suggesting him as a way of dumping a bad contract that's always of interest. Particulalry when your owners are selling the seat cushions for petty cash.
 
#76
The only names im interested in on the list that was given earlier is George, Batum, and Kleiza. Batum is out of our price range. Theres no way we'll be able to get George away from indiana. Especially since theyre probably going to lose Hibbert this offseason. That leaves me with Kleiza. I like Kleizas game but hes not going to fill any defensive holes for us. Which brings me to the conclusion that we're best off sticking to our guns lol.
 
#77
Pacers are absolutely matching Hibberts max imo, so I don't really see the Blazers letting Batum walk like that anyways.


Not that any of this is in regards to us, as none of these guys is willing to come for a pack of Hubba Bubba cherry flavor.
 
#78
Pacers are absolutely matching Hibberts max imo, so I don't really see the Blazers letting Batum walk like that anyways.


Not that any of this is in regards to us, as none of these guys is willing to come for a pack of Hubba Bubba cherry flavor.
I don't think its a given that Indy matches Portland's offer considering that they are reportedly talking to Kaman.

This free agency confirms one thing for me, if you are lucky enough to have a franchise big men that is a dominant 2-way player, you have got it made. Marc Gasol and Roy Hibbert both got max for being skilled big men that can block shots, but neither is a franchise player. DeAndre Jordan got $11 million per season, Omer Asik $8million :eek: ....in other words if your franchise big men is not a shotblocker not only do you have drop a max contract on him, but you also have to pony up around $10million on a shotblocker to cover up his weaknesses.

It's an expensive business building a contender. Some of this pain we can look forward to until we get new ownership that is not tightening purse strings. One thing is obvious in all this, despite the new CBA, rich will always be rich and poor will always be poor.

This is why Paul Allen can afford to drop a max contract on the table for Roy Hibbert and Maloofs are selling picks for some extra cash.
 
#79
I understand it would have been great to have Batum here, but I can't really blame Petrie for not making such a nonsense offer. Batum is getting too much, no way he deserves all that money. Same thing for Hibbert. In my opinion, only a franchise player should get the max. Hibbert is not a franchise player, at least not yet. He's a nice piece, but no way he could be "the guy". We can't compete on the FA market considering those prices, so right now, just give me a Dorrell Wright or a James Singleton, and I would be pretty happy. Best case scenario, AK47. I'm not expecting anything more from the Maloof, but at least we would get a real SF.
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
#80
I don't think anybody should be assured of a job or minutes going into camp. The one exception is Cousins, if only because there really isn't a center on this team to give him competition. If Evans think he can be a point guard, then give it a try during camp and preseason; see if he's transformed himself. Let him fight it out with IT and Jimmer. Let Salmons, T-Will, Outlaw and Garcia fight it out at the 3. Let Tyreke, Thornton and T-Will and Jimmer fight it out at the 2. Same holds for Thompson, Robinson and Hayes and Whiteside at the 4.

The thing that gets me about last year's team is the massive underperformance of Salmons, Outlaw and Hayes. At the least, Smart needs to get two out of these three to turn it around. They all had embarrassing performances for the most part last year (Salmons had a stint off the bench where he looked good) and I would think they all would want to redeem themselves. It would be nice for once if this team have some players play over their respective heads rather than far under...
 
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bajaden

Hall of Famer
#81
I don't think anybody should be assured of a job or minutes going into camp. The one exception is Cousins, if only because there really isn't a center on this team to give him competition. If Evans think he can be a point guard, then give it a try during camp and preseason; see if he's transformed himself. Let him fight it out with IT and Jimmer. Let Salmons, T-Will, Outlaw and Garcia fight it out at the 3. Let Tyreke and T-Will and Jimmer fight it out at the 2. Same holds for Thompson, Robinson and Hayes and Whiteside at the 4.

The thing that gets me about last year's team is the massive underperformance of Salmons, Outlaw and Hayes. At the least, Smart needs to get two out of these three to turn it around. They all had embarrassing performances for the most part last year (Salmons had a stint off the bench where he looked good) and I would think they all would want to redeem themselves. It would be nice for once if this team have some players play over their respective heads rather than far under...
I can't argue with any of this. Competition breeds excellence, and let the best man win. One of my favorite quotes is "Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard."
 
#82
I can't argue with any of this. Competition breeds excellence, and let the best man win. One of my favorite quotes is "Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard."
See, the problem here is that this is basically what Smart did last season and it didn't work. He started the best 5 players and we were undersized.

IT - MT - Evans massively outplayed all the other PGs, SGs, and SFs on the roster. I know Kingster didn't include Evans in the SF cluster, but realistically he IS in that group. He's just as big if not bigger than Salmons and Terrence, and much stronger than Garcia and even Outlaw. Maybe he shouldn't be in contention for the SF spot, but Smart would include him in there and I would understand why.

This is why I think we need to get, via trade or through free agency, a player that would PUSH one of these players to the bench. It's the only way Smart can justify benching one of them without pissing them off, because the players behind them AREN'T stepping up. They aren't challenging those three at all. Go get Dorell Wright, go get Kirilenko, go trade for Iggy, even Jared Dudley would help. Get someone who made some sort of NBA impact over the past two seasons to push our better players, because right now there is a huge gap between the starters and the bench guys.
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
#83
See, the problem here is that this is basically what Smart did last season and it didn't work. He started the best 5 players and we were undersized.

IT - MT - Evans massively outplayed all the other PGs, SGs, and SFs on the roster. I know Kingster didn't include Evans in the SF cluster, but realistically he IS in that group. He's just as big if not bigger than Salmons and Terrence, and much stronger than Garcia and even Outlaw. Maybe he shouldn't be in contention for the SF spot, but Smart would include him in their and I would understand why.
Probably a Freudian slip that I didn't put Evans at the competition for the 3; also for Thornton, who I didn't put in competition anywhere (a trade?):D. After last year, I just find it very hard to believe that we'll see much of Evans at the 3 this coming year.
 
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#84
Probably a Freudian slip that I didn't put Evans at the competition for the 3; also for Thornton, who I didn't put in competition anywhere (a trade?):D. After last year, I just find it very hard to believe that we'll see much of Evans at the 3 this coming year.
Not to mention Petrie is apparently working with Evans on his midrange game... patterning it after Westbrooks. Maybe a move back to point?
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#85
Not to mention Petrie is apparently working with Evans on his midrange game... patterning it after Westbrooks. Maybe a move back to point?
If he gets the midrange down, I'd say the move is more likely to the 2 and Thornton will be the odd man out. Even with a midrange game, Evans still needs additional skills for the point.
 
#86
If he gets the midrange down, I'd say the move is more likely to the 2 and Thornton will be the odd man out. Even with a midrange game, Evans still needs additional skills for the point.
This is what I'm hoping for but until we move Thornton I'm not banking on it.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#87
Not to mention Petrie is apparently working with Evans on his midrange game... patterning it after Westbrooks. Maybe a move back to point?
My post did make mention that Evans should be able to compete at the point and the 2. In the NBA, it's let the best man win. Nobody should be annointed with minutes or starting positions on this team, other than, as I said, Cousins, who for practical purposes really has nobody to compete against. That also means that if you don't win the starting job, you shouldn't ***** if you come off the bench.
 
#89
What about Derrick Williams? Wolves have been trying to unload him. Pretty sure he is a tweener and looking at his stats it would say he is not a great shooter, although the games I saw him in last year he looked pretty good. He is a big athletic guy who could play the 3. Not sure why the Wolves are giving up on him so early. Thoughts?
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#90
What about Derrick Williams? Wolves have been trying to unload him. Pretty sure he is a tweener and looking at his stats it would say he is not a great shooter, although the games I saw him in last year he looked pretty good. He is a big athletic guy who could play the 3. Not sure why the Wolves are giving up on him so early. Thoughts?


thoughts are...I TOLD YOU SO!!! :p

Seriously though, tweeners are trash. And Minny has been shopping this particular tweener all over the league for the past few weeks. And tellingly, nobody is biting. As much as I might have had an interst before all that, the fact nobody is biting, and Minny is selling so hard, raises some big red flags for me. Yeah, I thought people were foolishly overlooking the tweener thing when he was drafted (not ot mention his apprently enormous misplaced ego), but he was still the #2 pick. I would still give him a shot just based on that. But nobody seems terribly interested right now, including his own team even after they cleared Beasley. It gives you pause. #2 picks seem to be on a real down swing ever since Durant. Thabeet, Turner, Williams...not a starter amongst them right now.
 
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