BRK, PHI, DEN and PHX still have a lot of cap space left. Maybe he just doesn't want to go there....don't blame him.
Sure. Maybe they also didn't even call him with an offer though. He could have most likely signed for longer (in years) so I think this is him pulling a Meyers and betting on himself.
the risk for Hark this yr is minutes, if he does not get that many and takes the QO, his payday may not be so good
It's a risky move to take QO as we will almost definitely start Turner at SF and will also have Aminu and Crabbe (will get minutes at SF) in our rotation so Harkless might struggle to get minutes. $9M a year could be a good deal for both sides in this case, I'm pretty sure teams will not be as generous as they are this year with contracts in 2017 because additional cap space will only be around $13M instead of $25M. Rotation players will be back to $10M a year, effectively less than 10% of cap, and Harkless would be better off remaining at Portland than heading off elsewhere. I like him a lot and would like him to stay but realistically he's not worth $15M or anything near that.
Although I agree with your point, I am not so sure Aminu will get that many minutes at SF. When Stotts was interviewed during game 1 in Vegas, he seemed to indicate that Aminu would be playing PF exclusively. I could have heard that wrong, but was happy to hear him confirm where they would play him most. But that still only leaves about 48 minutes at SF for Harkless to share with Crabbe and Turner. The best case scenario for him and the Blazers IMO, is for Turner to play about 30 minutes in the back court with either Dame and CJ. (Dame 34, CJ 32, ET 30) and let Harkless and Crabbe divvy up the 48 at SF. Certain opponents and end of game situation would make Terry deviate from that, but as a general rule it would get them their needed minutes.
I don't really see Dame or CJ playing under 35 minutes per game. Dame has averaged exactly 35.7 minutes per game in each of the last two seasons, and he averaged 35.8 minutes per game in 2013-2014. Stotts is extremely precise in how many minutes Dame plays. CJ averaged 34.8 minutes per game last year, so they're both right around 35 minutes per game. I think We can play CJ exclusively at shooting guard and let Turner take the backup point guard minutes. PG: Dame (35) / Turner (13) SG: CJ (35) / Crabbe (13) SF: Turner (17) / Crabbe (17) / Harkless (12) PF: Aminu (30) / Harkless (18) C: Ezeli (25) / ??? At this point I'm not sure what our big man rotation will be.
I think I prefer Crabbe at SG than SF, likewise I prefer Turner at SF than PG. I think Turner, Lillard and CJ will play in the same line up very often.
Not strictly free agency related but I just realized that Millsap has a player option for third year next Summer which he'll likely decline so there's a good chance we could get him - Atlanta have already lost Horford and might want to make their team younger. An offer of Aminu + Plumlee could be tempting for them, Aminu is much cheaper and would also provide a stretch 4 option for them. A trade of Crabbe + Plumlee we could only throw at them after the turn of year, and it'd basically be a 6-month rental for Millsap so not that tempting. The downside of that is that it'd just be a one-year rental, next year you'd have to give him the max and we will not have the max to offer to him...
Devon Booker. Man in that first game, he looks like a future MVP. I saw Pre injury Derek Rose in him big time.
He's going to be amazing, was a great pick at last year's draft. A lot of last year's draft class looks top notch - Towns will probably be the best player in the league at one point and will have a long and successful career, Russell looks solid even if immature, Okafor's post up game is the best the rookie had for a while, Porzingis is one of the best young 4s the league has had, Mudiay is a very solid point guard, Booker will be a star, Winslow has great potential at forward and Myles Turner has incredible talent too. Great draft class. Admittedly we have some players in top 10 that still have to live up to their potential: Hezonja, Cauley-Stein (looks unlikely to be worth a #6 pick in that draft class), Kaminsky, Johnson.
Market for Harkless is bone dry. Would not surprise me if he took the QO now. I would have been shocked two weeks ago if anyone said he would take the QO.
Maybe teams weren't as sold on his resurgence, or maybe his asking price is ridiculous. The guy was a basically thrown away by the Magic for nothing. We were able to get some good production out of him, and I'd love to bring him back because I think he has a lot of potential, but I'm starting to wonder what numbers he's looking for. If Leonard signed for 10 million a year, what are we offering and what is he asking?
Zach Lowe mentioned earlier that we could have squeezed Meyers for a lower amount if needed. I think we're doing that with Moe. The downside with taking a QO for Moe is if he gets buried in the rotation. He wouldn't even be able to produce as much as he did this year. Has to be a calculated risk if he truly wants to go that route, vs taking a cheaper deal (for probably longer term) with us.
And I just don't think he has shown enough to warrant a big investment by a team. You look at Crabbe, and you can track his progression. He has gotten better every single year. Harkless has stalled at times. The Magic basically gave him away. He showed flashes last year, but there were times when he was out of the rotation completely.
I still believe that Cauley-Stein should be good. Maybe he'll be like Marcus Camby - look like a bust for the first half of his career, but by the end of it be a valuable defensive anchor.
I hope so. I predicted like 4 years ago that he would be a better NBA player than Noel. Just once, I want to be right, darn it!!
7 mins ago – via Twitter ChrisBHaynes Chris Haynes: Free agent guard Raymond Felton reaches agreement with Clippers, league sources inform @clevelanddotcom. So will they have Felton and Crawford...........
