WAY more than we'll be able to pay him, I'm quite sure. Yeah, it's possible that NO could S&T him to us, but what assets would we be offering that would be worthy of them taking on a bunch of dead weight salary? I guess best case scenario, Moe/Zach combine for a little over $15M next year, which would be enough to facilitate a S&T for Randle at $82M/4y. Of course that would hard-cap us at the apron, and both he and the Pels would have to be amenable to such a deal, but laying out the numbers, it does seem feasible.
Maybe do both? ET/Leonard to CHI, Harkless/Zach to NOP, Porter and S&T Randle to Portland? Lot of moving parts there, but if all parties were on board, that'd basically be a salary neutral deal for Portland, and leave us with a Dame/CJ/Porter/Randle/Nurk starting 5 (once healthy)--and admittedly almost no bench.
What’s the downside for a team like New Orleans taking on an expiring or two? They would not only get an asset from Portland (look at past S&T deals, they wouldn’t be getting someone of Zach’s caliber, more like our pick) but they could also theoretically flip those expirings again at the deadline for another one. If I was rebuilding I’d be all over it. Portland took on Varajao for a pick.
I almost certain that Collins not going anywhere and when was the last S&T in the NBA so that probably won't happen.
Let’s say the Pelicans took on Meyers and Moe. They’re not only expiring, but they’re also still relatively young. They’d get their bird rights, and could keep them long term if they wanted to.
Just feels like a waste of cap space for them. Yeah, I guess it could make sense if they have no interest in being FA players this summer and just want to kick their space down the road for another year. Aside from that though, it seems like a late first is paltry compensation for $20M in players with little-to-no room for growth. I mean, if they're going to pay that money, why not just overpay to keep Randle?
Fair point. Maybe they'd want ET as a savvy vet who can throw lobs to Zion? Cue the "ET and Jrue are best friends!" reprise...
With Stotts signing an extension, Randle would be an awful fit on this team. Stotts would put him in the corner and expect him to launch 3's. Plus his defense is very average. Fit combined with having to do a sign-and-trade and the consequences of doing so make Randle a hard pass from me.
So ask yourself why Chicago does this? They traded cap relief for Porter, now they're trading him for expirings? Even though Porter played really well with them?
True, I kinda cut the Felicio portion of HJ's post out of my follow-up, which essentially removes Chicago's incentive. Oh well--back to the drawing board...
We aren't getting Porter from Chicago. Chicago's FO is famous for being cheapskates, but they OKed the deal for Porter, and Porter ended up being better than they expected.
He tried to turn Aldridge into Dirk. Then initially tried to do the same with Leonard. And Collins now. There's not much creativity.
The thing about Porter is he has a player option after next season, essentially making him an expiring. Does he want to stay in Chicago? That’s almost a rhetorical.
Aldridge was arguably the best power forward in the league under stotts, and if he wasn’t, he was definitely in the top tier. So even if that was his philosophy, and it was as basic as you claim, it worked. There’s nothing about Leonard that says he belongs in the post, I don’t care how big he is. He gets boxed out by wings. As for Collins, TBD, but he doesn’t look like a banger either, so I would love it if he turned into another Aldridge.
I wasn’t even asking if he’s going to opt in, I was asking if he’s going to re-sign with Chicago. He’s not gonna opt in because he can get paid on the open market. A lot of teams will have money next summer. He might not get $28M per, but it’ll be close. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he got the max.
I know what you were asking, and implying he doesn't want to stay in Chicago is a stupid assertion. No one is paying Otto Porter 28 million on the open market. If you extrapolated the best version of Otto Porter he still wouldn't be paid 28 million dollars. The only reason he got this stupid contract in the first place is because he was an RFA and the Nets were doing Nets things. Unless he suddenly turns into a super-star, he's not opting out of 28 million guaranteed. If you're saying he's not gonna want to stay in Chicago well, that's a stretch. He played well there, they have a young core of pretty good players, and they're in the east. You have no idea if they will play well next season, or if winning even matters to him. He was willing to go to the Nets, and the Nets were a dumpster fire when he signed that contract. If you're saying Chicago thinks he is going to opt out and leave them....that's also a stretch. They literally just traded for him, and he's got another year guaranteed. In this scenario flipping him for expirings makes no sense because if they believe he's gonna opt out then he's already an expiring himself.
