[ official ] 2016 summer moves

We could definitely re-sign him, we just couldn't go over the cap. If we were to use space to max out someone like, say, Dwight Howard, there wouldn't be much left.

 

Why would he do that?

Its likely his last big deal. I think he gets more than that

 

One thing we've got going for us, I don't think Meyers and his new wifey are going to want to uproot and move somewhere else. But with that said, if I have to choose between Meyers and Harkless, I choose Harkless.

 

Havent completely crunched the numbers, but if we renounce everyone but meyers, crabbe and harkless, id think we would still be in the ballpark of a dwight deal

 

We need to renounce one of Meyers or Harkless to have enough for a Horford max which is close to 26 million. Howard's max is 30 million but still only requires renouncing one.

 

For some reason I thought McDermott was a free agent this year. I forgot that this was only his second year! I really like his game....

When looking at the problems of this team though.... I think it needs better defense, more spacing, and more "easy buckets".

Whiteside solves two of those problems. If we can get him, there's a bunch of great 3pt shooters in the free agency class that we could get for a reasonable price. And we have something on our bench. So maybe we could wait til next year to see if we really need to sign another 3pt shooter.

 

Why even post this? Durant's not coming here. His team where he is at is already better, they can pay him more. We aren't a destination. We already passed on him in the draft

 

Ya, that interview was a great one for him. Not sure if he swayed my opinion of him completely, but it made me think a bit

 

This is a great point. Chief is fine, just not as a third scorer. Harkless is fine, just not in a huge role. Plumlee is fine as well, just not in as big of a role as he is in either. No one should be hating on these guys, and saying we need to upgrade those positions doesn't mean we want to get rid of those players. It simply means it's better to have an all star small forward and Aminu backing him up than Aminu at small forward with Conaughton backing him up. Or whatever....I know he doesn't back him up

 

Why wouldn't you renounce the injured guy?

 

I think our pieces are better than their pieces. Were better with KD that they are right now.

 

Here is our cap situation. Note I took this from Blazer50 on the RealGM forums, but its a good measurement of what we have available:

Thus the Blazers will have around $25.5 million if you keep Harkless, Crabbe, and Leonard's cap hold, but renounce Hendo.

Here is what a Max contract for a 9-year vet (ie. Horford) would look like, courtesy of myajc.com:

http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/ba...-set-to-be-free-agent-what-a-max-contr/nrKkp/

So the Blazers would be short about 400k. We can get that 400k by waiving one of Alexander or Montero. Varejao's stretch hit in this scenario hurts because his salary is what is causing us to have to waive a player, but I have to imagine Olshey went for it because if we have to waive one of the rookies it is akin to getting a 1st round pick for them (and who wouldn't do that?).

Releasing one of Meyers or Harkless would give us ~ 7 million in additional cap room (7.6 for Meyers and 7.2 for Harkless). That would give us the option of offering a max contract to a 10+ year vet like Howard or using that additional 7 million on another player.

Neil has a lot of flexibility to work with. I imagine we offer the QO to all our RFAs and if we need the money to sign someone else we can always rescind it later.

EDIT: Also something very important to point out. It is definitely no coincidence that we are operating with just enough cap room to offer a 7-10 year MAX. If you aren't impressed by Olshey's and co.'s cap management skills before you should be now. Even the little things like Aminu's and Davis's declining contracts are what is helping us get to the magic number. It's little saavy moves like this that makes you understand that management has organizational foresight. We are really in great hands with Olshey and I am so ecstatic that we have organizational stability after years of shoddy management.

 

I think the only position where we are better than they are is at SG, where CJ destroys Soup Juggler

Westbrook>Dame
Kanter, Adams, Ibaka> Plumlee, Davis, Kaman, Injured guy
Obviously Durant over whoever.

 

I'm coming around on Howard. I think he's going to be hungry next season to prove people wrong and win a championship. If we could sign Howard, I'd try to trade for someone like Millsap using Plumlee and Vonleh. Worst case, I'd try to snag ZBO.

 

Amen; if Memphis blows it up I like the idea of signing ZBo to a welcome home contract; he's all those things and also dangerous on the court for 20 minutes.

 

Kinda wish we had Kanter right now.

 

He would have made a huge difference.

 

Mostly though I hope Neil or Paul don't get impatient. That they always go for the right guys for two or three years from now instead of throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping to somehow beat this year's Golden State team.