This scenario has more to do with keeping Hickson and actually strengthening our bench. I understand that his numbers aren't stellar in terms of "starting caliber"; but he doesn't have to end games. There have been plenty of teams that use a player like Dalembert to start and finish with an entirely different group. This season, Dalembert is averaging 5.9 points, 57% shooting, 5.2 boards and 1.4 blocks in 15.8 minutes. If he is giving that type of production next season; that would leave a lot of minutes for Leonard (time for development) and Hickson (keep him happy). I think Dalembert would suffice long enough for Leonard to fully develop and take over the starting role. If Brass has high hopes for Leonard; this would be a smart move, IMO.
That's fine too. I was looking at this season and Dalembert is averaging around 16 minutes. That gives more time to Leonard to develop.
It's not the "OMG move"; but it could be if we have a player able to start, retain Hickson and still develop Leonard.
OR take away 2 minutes for Dalembert and add 2 to Leonard. Gives 16 minutes to Dalembert and 20 to Leonard.
FYI, we can't use both cap space and the MLE. If we use cap space, the only exception we can use is the room exception, which is $2.652M.
Not even close. If we really wanted Dalembert at $20M/3 years, we'd probably be better off getting him with a sign and trade for Freeland. I imagine the Bucks wouldn't complain about that too much.
Yeah that's really not that bad of an option. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bxyz9hj and this could happen this season actually before the trade deadline. The advantage would be a shed of cap space as well. We would have his bird rights too; so we could hold off on signing Hickson and Dalembert until we can grab that free agent. Basically we would have 17 million free; retain Hickson for 7 million so we have his Bird rights; sign Jack for about 8 million; sign Hickson for 8 million and resign Dalembert for 5-6 million.
All in all, were we to get (and extend) Dalembert to man our starting center spot while we groom Leonard, I think we'd be better off attempting to obtain something of value for Hickson in a sign-and-trade, rather than keeping him as a very expensive backup.
Personally I think we should have him already signed and wait for the next great talent dump. He will produce and our team would be pretty decent this time around. Hickson at 8 million isn't as bad as some think. If a player comes along next season before deadline; we will have a decent piece under contract to offer.
Jack is a fringe-starter next year. I think he may find a team that gives him a chance to fight for the starting job.
Retaining Hickson is not a priority in my opinion. He's going to be too expensive to be a backup on this team and I just don't see the point of committing all that money to a guy who really can't start for this team. What he provides is appreciated, but his game is pretty replaceable for less money.
And who are these prospective replacements? I'm not saying I disagree, but who did you have in mind when you posted that?
He's been advertising the renounce hickson and make a 11-12 mil offer to pek. Then use mid mle for a role player.
No specific name right now, I haven't looked at the free agent list, but there's always somebody. Aside from free agency, if there's a power forward prospect in the draft, in our range that's one way to go or possibly bring back a guy in a trade. My point is that because Hickson gives up almost as much as he produces, even if you found a guy with less gaudy raw stats, but who played better team and position defense, you'd probably be able to maintain your level of play as a team but spend a little less money to get there.
