Until Roy's knee or talus flames up again and Paul sprains another ankle. Remember, these are the Frail Blazers we're talking about.
NOH wants to save money they're not gonna take back Harris when the whole goal is to play Collison who is cheap. Nets can't afford to take back Paul AND Okafor either I don't htink and still hope to be players in the FA market, rumor has it their planning to go after Boozer.
Look at it this way. If the Hornets can get the third pick they can draft Favors or Cousins (assuming the Sixers pass on both) so they don't need LMA ... especially when they already have David West who is just about the same caliber. They don't need LaMarcus and there's nobody at 10 with as much potential as Favors or Cousins.
I actually think the smart move for a team that's not going to compete for a championship and is up against the cap is to trade their star player along with an ugly contract and get young, cheap talent and draft picks.
The draft is a crapshoot, and Aldridge is a sure thing. At that point, they can dangle West or Aldridge and get another player at a position of need. Or, they could play small ball and put LMA at the five. Collison, Rudy, Batum, West and Aldridge is a hell of an uptempo lineup.
If you can get CP3 isn't that better than anybody you could chase in free agency? And while Okafor is not exactly all-nba, he's still pretty serviceable at 14/10 per36 and would be able to compliment Lopez somewhat given Lopez's ability to hit jumpers from the baseline or high post. NOH wants to save money, but it's not like Harris is totally overpaid, he makes about 8 or 9 million a year. This deal does save the Hornets a lot of scratch and it puts them below the luxury tax line which means they become a tax reciever instead of a payer.
Feel like Portland's alleged offer is the best out of all the offers that are known right now, but still probably not enough. It'll take a sweet deal to get it done.
It's like biazarro world is happening. KP on the hot seat about to get canned, never thought that would happen. CP on the verge of being traded from NO, never thought that would happen.
Have to agree here. We definitely need to go all out for CP3. Go big or go the fuck home. LMA + Pryzbilla +Miller + high level pick is better for NOH because then Collison is the starting PG and their front line is set. + mega cap savings.
Still don't see why NO would want Harris when they have Collison. Do they then flip Harris/Posey for Miller/Joel?
I think you guys are looking at this wrongly... Aside from trading CP3 to a team with cap space, they're going to have a $74M-ish payroll next year, and have CP3 and Okafor signed up long-term for LOTS of money. If they trade Collison (on the hook for about 8M over the next 4 years) with one of the contracts, they have to take back at least 80% (9M or so if Okafor's the one going out)...unless a team's under the cap. And if a team's under the cap, why would they want to use it on Okafor? HOWEVER, if NOH traded, say, CP3 and Okafor for LMA, Batum, and our EC's (if we can get a lotto pick)...they reduce the 89M they owe CP3 and Okafor over the next few years to 15M in expirings this year (6M of which is insurance cash) Batum's el-cheapo rookie contract, and they have LMA at a reasonable price for cheaper and longer than Okafor to couple with a lotto pick. Assuming they're stuck with West, Posey and Peja until they expire, they can build around LMA, Collison, Batum and the lotto pick for around 16-20M a year (depending on how high the lotto pick is), rather than CP3 and ?? for around that same amount.
Bulls could do Deng for CP3 and Okafor. Deng matches Okafor's salary, CP3 is absorbed with the Bulls' cap space. NOH out = $27.75M, NOH in = $11.5M, saving them $16M this season - they don't have to way a year for contracts to expire. Bulls are an example - any team with the cap space can do it.
