It would be nice if we could land a premier free agent like Aldridge, but I don't see guys like that considering us. In time they might consider us if we start winning, and want to play with a star like Cousins. Maybe at that point the top free agents will consider us, but to be honest, I think even with a new arena and winning team we'd end up paying the next tier down premier money to get them here.
Which Big Name Free Agent to Target?
- Thread starter twslam07
- Start date
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...l-could-command-more-than-12-million-per-year
Looks like understanding, what's in store this off-season, is spreading more and more.
Looks like understanding, what's in store this off-season, is spreading more and more.
I was thinking more towards Jordan than anyone else. On paper, they look great (besides their bench), but they have been ousted early out of the playoffs every year and this year they completely collapsed. Jordan may or may not want out, but I would try at the very least. Reddick might be a possibility and would certainly upgrade our SG spot exponentially compared to what we had last year, but he is not a very good defensive player (bball IQ is there, so team defense would probably improve).
it will be interesting to see how the pace and space movement evolves under a new salary cap and with greater competition for the services of players that are likely to thrive in such systems. when 3&D roleplayers don't cost too much, it gets rather easy to load up on outside shooters. now, i like demarre carroll a lot, but if contemporary nba trends push teams to overspend on roleplayers--adjusted for future salary cap inflation or not--that talent is going to spread out across the league, and it will likely get a lot tougher to build rosters with an emphasis on the kind of quality outside shooting that pace and space systems require...
if guys like danny green and demarre carroll are snagging $12 million per or more, i'm wondering how many teams will be in a financial position to stack themselves with players who can rain hellfire from deep after the salary cap stabilizes in a few seasons. pace and space is certainly a tantalizing new trend for a great many franchises, but as with all things, the market will dictate how viable pace and space systems remain. early adopters like san antonio, houston, golden state, atlanta, etc. are certainly seeing the benefits, but the entire nba is going to be chasing three-point shooters in the wake of these nba playoffs, and plenty will simply try to poach them from the teams who are already benefiting from increased outside shooting...
more to the point, if there's one thing we all know about nba owners, it's that they love to overspend on talent, no matter how shortsighted it might be to throw more than $10 million a year at a roleplayer...
if guys like danny green and demarre carroll are snagging $12 million per or more, i'm wondering how many teams will be in a financial position to stack themselves with players who can rain hellfire from deep after the salary cap stabilizes in a few seasons. pace and space is certainly a tantalizing new trend for a great many franchises, but as with all things, the market will dictate how viable pace and space systems remain. early adopters like san antonio, houston, golden state, atlanta, etc. are certainly seeing the benefits, but the entire nba is going to be chasing three-point shooters in the wake of these nba playoffs, and plenty will simply try to poach them from the teams who are already benefiting from increased outside shooting...
more to the point, if there's one thing we all know about nba owners, it's that they love to overspend on talent, no matter how shortsighted it might be to throw more than $10 million a year at a roleplayer...
@carmichaeldave
"Continue to hear that the Kings are very intrigued by Wes Matthews. Don't know what's there, but chatter keeps surfacing. Keep an eye out."
https://twitter.com/CarmichaelDave/status/605600799557689346
"Continue to hear that the Kings are very intrigued by Wes Matthews. Don't know what's there, but chatter keeps surfacing. Keep an eye out."
https://twitter.com/CarmichaelDave/status/605600799557689346
Would love Matthews in Sac. Experienced guard, a really good defender and a good shooter. Although there will be some question marks surrounding his achilles tear, I wouldn't mind offering him a lot of money. Just what the Kings need: a hard-nosed experienced player who defends his position well and who can shoot the ball at a really good clip. With that being said, I think the Blazers will be eager to bring him back.
The thing is, I'm not sure we need to trade down to dump Landry. We can always stretch him which saves us ~$3.5 in cap space or we can trade him and lower the protection of our 2016 pick to get rid of him.
For instance, we could do a trade similar to this one:
Bulls Get: Robert Covington, Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas
Bulls Give: Taj Gibson, Kings' 2016 1st round pick (top 10 protected)
Sixers Get: Carl Landry, Kings' 2016 1st round pick (top 3 protected)
Sixers Give: Robert Covington
Kings Get: Taj Gibson
Kings Give: Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas, 2016 1st round pick (protection lowered to top 3)
Bulls Lineup:
PG - Rose/Hinrich
SG - Butler/Stauskas/Snell
SF - Covington/Snell/McDermott
PF - Gasol/Mirotic/McDermott/Thompson/Bairstow
C - Noah/Gasol/Thompson
Sixers Lineup:
PG - Wroten/Canaan
SG - Thompson/Sampson
SF - Grant/Robinson
PF - Noel/Landry/Aldemir
C - Embiid/Sims
Kings Lineup:
PG - Collison/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore
SF - Gay
PF - Gibson/Moreland
C - Cousins
If we kept our pick at #6, this would give us $14.25 mil in cap space. If we want to waive McCallum, Stockton, & Moreland, we would have $15.31 mil in cap space. I'm not sure how much a guy like Matthews will cost to bring here, but it's definitely going to take the majority of our cap space.
If we're able to give 36 mil over 3 years with an option at the end of his 3rd year, we would still have around $2.8 mil in cap space to work with. I say we use the remaining cap space to bring in another big man (Cole Aldrich would be one of my top choices). Then you sign Casspi to the room exception while offering vet minimums to guys like Miller, Turkoglu, & Gooden.
PG - Collison/Miller/McCallum/Stockton
SG - Matthews/McLemore
SF - Gay/Casspi/Turkoglu
PF - Gibson/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Cousins/Aldrich
Or if you want more cap space, we should be able to easily dump Thompson's contract. However, I consider him a valuable piece so I'm not sure I'm okay for trading him for just cap space. It would have to be contingent on signing a very good player if we were going to dump Thompson. But if you dump Landry using the 2016 pick and dump Thompson for a future pick, we would have $19.9 mil in cap space. If we waive McCallum, Moreland, and Stockton, we would have $20.9 mil in cap space. That definitely gives the FO a lot more to work with. However, Sacramento has not been the best at luring free agents and after such a dysfunctional season from our ownership, I find it hard that we'll get many FAs knocking on our door, but we shall see.
A team of Collison, McCallum, Stockton, McLemore, Stauskas, Gay, Cauley-Stein, Moreland, & Cousins with $19.9 mil in cap space could be very interesting at the start of next season. The only problem with that core is that only 3 of them are reliable vets at this point. The FO would have their work cut out for them to bring aboard talent that produces at a high level consistently.
Even if you do strike out on a big name player like Matthews or Green, you can go after maybe 3 or 4 guys to sure up the rotation while you have your young players develop in the background. Joseph, Belinelli, A. Johnson, & Ajinca/Aldrich could all be interesting targets.
PG - Collison/Joseph/Miller/McCallum (Stockton waived)
SG - McLemore/Belinelli/Stauskas
SF - Gay/Casspi
PF - A. Johnson/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Cousins/Aldrich
There's a lot of different paths we can take this offseason. It'll be interesting to see which one our FO chooses.
EDIT: Who knows? If there's a possibility and we cut our salaries so we have $20.9 mil in cap space maybe we make a play for Gasol. I know it's a total and complete pipe dream and will not happen, but it's 2:00 AM and I'm feeling crazy.
If we were to use the entire cap on Gasol, this would be our roster:
PG - Collison/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore/Stauskas
SF - Gay
PF - Cousins/Cauley-Stein/Moreland
C - Gasol
Then you add Casspi with the room exception and Miller, Turkoglu, Gooden, & Hollins on vet minimum deals and you have this roster going into next season:
PG - Collison/Miller/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore/Stauskas
SF - Gay/Casspi/Turkoglu
PF - Cousins/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Gasol/Hollins
Then the next season we should have $15-$20 mil in cap space to improve our depth (and SG position if need be).
For instance, we could do a trade similar to this one:
Bulls Get: Robert Covington, Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas
Bulls Give: Taj Gibson, Kings' 2016 1st round pick (top 10 protected)
Sixers Get: Carl Landry, Kings' 2016 1st round pick (top 3 protected)
Sixers Give: Robert Covington
Kings Get: Taj Gibson
Kings Give: Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas, 2016 1st round pick (protection lowered to top 3)
Bulls Lineup:
PG - Rose/Hinrich
SG - Butler/Stauskas/Snell
SF - Covington/Snell/McDermott
PF - Gasol/Mirotic/McDermott/Thompson/Bairstow
C - Noah/Gasol/Thompson
Sixers Lineup:
PG - Wroten/Canaan
SG - Thompson/Sampson
SF - Grant/Robinson
PF - Noel/Landry/Aldemir
C - Embiid/Sims
Kings Lineup:
PG - Collison/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore
SF - Gay
PF - Gibson/Moreland
C - Cousins
If we kept our pick at #6, this would give us $14.25 mil in cap space. If we want to waive McCallum, Stockton, & Moreland, we would have $15.31 mil in cap space. I'm not sure how much a guy like Matthews will cost to bring here, but it's definitely going to take the majority of our cap space.
If we're able to give 36 mil over 3 years with an option at the end of his 3rd year, we would still have around $2.8 mil in cap space to work with. I say we use the remaining cap space to bring in another big man (Cole Aldrich would be one of my top choices). Then you sign Casspi to the room exception while offering vet minimums to guys like Miller, Turkoglu, & Gooden.
PG - Collison/Miller/McCallum/Stockton
SG - Matthews/McLemore
SF - Gay/Casspi/Turkoglu
PF - Gibson/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Cousins/Aldrich
Or if you want more cap space, we should be able to easily dump Thompson's contract. However, I consider him a valuable piece so I'm not sure I'm okay for trading him for just cap space. It would have to be contingent on signing a very good player if we were going to dump Thompson. But if you dump Landry using the 2016 pick and dump Thompson for a future pick, we would have $19.9 mil in cap space. If we waive McCallum, Moreland, and Stockton, we would have $20.9 mil in cap space. That definitely gives the FO a lot more to work with. However, Sacramento has not been the best at luring free agents and after such a dysfunctional season from our ownership, I find it hard that we'll get many FAs knocking on our door, but we shall see.
A team of Collison, McCallum, Stockton, McLemore, Stauskas, Gay, Cauley-Stein, Moreland, & Cousins with $19.9 mil in cap space could be very interesting at the start of next season. The only problem with that core is that only 3 of them are reliable vets at this point. The FO would have their work cut out for them to bring aboard talent that produces at a high level consistently.
Even if you do strike out on a big name player like Matthews or Green, you can go after maybe 3 or 4 guys to sure up the rotation while you have your young players develop in the background. Joseph, Belinelli, A. Johnson, & Ajinca/Aldrich could all be interesting targets.
PG - Collison/Joseph/Miller/McCallum (Stockton waived)
SG - McLemore/Belinelli/Stauskas
SF - Gay/Casspi
PF - A. Johnson/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Cousins/Aldrich
There's a lot of different paths we can take this offseason. It'll be interesting to see which one our FO chooses.
EDIT: Who knows? If there's a possibility and we cut our salaries so we have $20.9 mil in cap space maybe we make a play for Gasol. I know it's a total and complete pipe dream and will not happen, but it's 2:00 AM and I'm feeling crazy.
If we were to use the entire cap on Gasol, this would be our roster:
PG - Collison/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore/Stauskas
SF - Gay
PF - Cousins/Cauley-Stein/Moreland
C - Gasol
Then you add Casspi with the room exception and Miller, Turkoglu, Gooden, & Hollins on vet minimum deals and you have this roster going into next season:
PG - Collison/Miller/McCallum/Stockton
SG - McLemore/Stauskas
SF - Gay/Casspi/Turkoglu
PF - Cousins/Cauley-Stein/Gooden/Moreland
C - Gasol/Hollins
Then the next season we should have $15-$20 mil in cap space to improve our depth (and SG position if need be).
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If healthy Matthews might be my #1 SG prospect in the entire NBA for our team. But after 5 years in Portland (its been 5 years already? how time flies) you would think we'd only be able to steal him away if we were less risk averse than the Blazers (or anyone else) and dumped a full size contract on him recovery from Achilles unseen.
I think if a big named free agent is willing to sign with the Kings, I would not be surprised to see the Kings trade Thompson+Landry+Nik with our pick just to get rid of the cap space. We'd probably get a decent player in return or a lower 1st rounder. I think we can get at least a future 1st or 2nd for Thompson. He's a valuable trade chip. Landry+6th pick would be a nice package to move down. Maybe to like 8-9? while hopefully getting a solid vet in return. Or we can trade Nik+Landry.
We have many options to clear cap space.
I think your scenarios are nice. I think we should really try to rid ourselves of bad contracts.
If we can dump Landry, Thompson, and Nik without any incoming value, our cap space is around $24million. If we decide to keep Nik, it'll be around $21million. This is taking account our draft pick already. If we want, we can offer Wesley Matthews a 4 year $52million set up like $10.5million $13.5million $15.5million $12.5million TO
We'd have around $13.5million to spend.
Darren Collison/Jeremy Lin/Ray McCallum
Wesley Matthews/Ben McLemore
Rudy Gay/Omri Casspi/Francisco Garcia
Brandan Wright/WCS/Eric Moreland
Demarcus Cousins/Samuel Dalembert
hmm who says we don't make 8th seed with this?
Kings are in a decent position next year to make a lot of nice moves.
We have many options to clear cap space.
I think your scenarios are nice. I think we should really try to rid ourselves of bad contracts.
If we can dump Landry, Thompson, and Nik without any incoming value, our cap space is around $24million. If we decide to keep Nik, it'll be around $21million. This is taking account our draft pick already. If we want, we can offer Wesley Matthews a 4 year $52million set up like $10.5million $13.5million $15.5million $12.5million TO
We'd have around $13.5million to spend.
- Sign Brandan Wright to a 2year $16million
- Sign Jeremy Lin to a 3 year $12million deal. (I think he'd take the deal if he wants to be back in the bay area again)
- Resign Casspi to a 2year $3million deal
- Sign Sammy D. to a vet min deal
- Sign Francisco Garcia to a vet min
Darren Collison/Jeremy Lin/Ray McCallum
Wesley Matthews/Ben McLemore
Rudy Gay/Omri Casspi/Francisco Garcia
Brandan Wright/WCS/Eric Moreland
Demarcus Cousins/Samuel Dalembert
hmm who says we don't make 8th seed with this?
Kings are in a decent position next year to make a lot of nice moves.
How long does it take to fully recover from Achilles rupture?
Kobe had similar injury and never fully came back, granted he is a lot older than Wes. Achilles injuries are really bad for basketball players because of all the jumping.
He may not be fully back until the All-Star break. Can the Kings really risk that in this make or break season for DMC?
I think we have a better chance to sign someone with ties to George Karl, such as Aaron Afallo or Kosta Koufos in Free Agency.
Kobe had similar injury and never fully came back, granted he is a lot older than Wes. Achilles injuries are really bad for basketball players because of all the jumping.
He may not be fully back until the All-Star break. Can the Kings really risk that in this make or break season for DMC?
I think we have a better chance to sign someone with ties to George Karl, such as Aaron Afallo or Kosta Koufos in Free Agency.