http://www.sbnation.com/2016/5/12/1...-cap-space-patient-damian-lillard-cj-mccollum Interesting opinion. A lot of the names that I've seen thrown around here. I was looking up Teletovic, Jared Dudley, and some other guys like that the other day and pretty much thought the same thing, we already have that in Meyers. Hopefully we don't have to spend too much money on him, cause his 3pt shooting is nice.
Waiting a year isn't an option. Once Dame's new salary and the new salaries of other guys we re-sign kick in, there won't be money available to make a run at a max-level FA for years. It's now or never...well, at least, now or never in Dame's success window.
I wonder if those comments from dame about not letting anyone change the culture was about anyone specific? Maybe even Howard? Who else could change it besides durant or lebron? "The most interesting option is actually an unrestricted free agent. Miami's Hassan Whiteside proved that he can occasionally draw a double team in the post and create space by diving to the basket off ball screens. He's a beast on the boards and his impact on team defense is catching up to his gaudy shot-blocking numbers. He's also just 26 years old, so in theory, he could grow with McCollum and Lillard. On the court, he's a great fit to upgrade Portland's center position. But there are still questions. Will he be willing to defer on offense as much as he did this year once he gets paid like a star? He did accept coming off the bench and improved his free throw shooting this season, so he could be more mature and ready to put in work than he was in the past. Or, he could have just been smart enough to not cause problems in a contract year."
Yup... the cap space is definitely a "now or never" situation. With Dame kicking in, and then CJ/Plumlee next summer, and most likely Crabbe/Harkless and possibly Meyers.... there won't be any room left.
I'm gonna let it bake but I'm also gonna go out and buy the big scoop of ice cream I'm putting on top.
BGD only cares about big names anyways. He should become a Mavs fan I'm sure he would enjoy Mark Cuban's decision making.
2016/17 Salary or Projected Lillard - $21,597,000 Aminu ---$7,680,965 Davis -----$6,666,667 McCollum$3,219,579 Vonleh ---$2,751,360 Plumlee---$2,328,530 Varejao---$1,984,005 (stretched) Leonard-----$7,000,000 Harkless-----$7,000,000 Crabbe-------$7,000,000 Montero--------$874,636 (non-guaranteed) Alexander------$874-636 (non-guaranteed) Total-----$68,977,378 If the cap is $92,000,000, that leaves just over $21,000,000 to sign 4 players. That is also guesstimating what Meyers, Mo and Crabbe get and that number could be smaller. Regardless, , if you are signing someone of any value, they will come in and take minutes from the top 9. So who do you want to sign and whose minutes go away? If it's someone in the front court, does that mean Vonleh gets no minutes to develop at all? Neil has the cash to go do get an impact player but it's tough to get big names here and whom do you fit into this group that wants to show up early, work out extra, have dinners with the team etc?
Evan Turner has always interested me. Boston wants to keep him for the same reason we might want him....But at what price? "Turner's 10.5 points per game isn't particularly impressive, but it was enough to make him the leading scorer on a deep Celtics bench. His primary instinct isn't usually to score, but he's the only one on this team, outside of Isaiah Thomas, capable of creating his own shot when he needs to do so. One of Turner's most valuable assets is his versatility. He can guard multiple positions and fill a variety of different roles on the other end of the court. Often times the Celtics entrusted him as the primary ball handler when Thomas wasn't on the court, as he was the team's best option to run the offense when their All-Star point guard needed a breather." http://www.celticsblog.com/2016/5/1...rs-value?_ga=1.136300089.920848576.1400884431
I really like Turner.... but he's not a good shooter. He's a HORRIBLE three point shooter. 24% for the season and 21% for the playoffs. http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4239/evan-turner People complain about Aminu and Harkless, but he makes those two look like Steph Curry.
What do you mean to sign 4 players? You have 11 players in your projection (not counting Varejao). And if we sign a big man, I could see us not resigning Leonard..at least not at 7 mil. And speaking of Vonleh, he had a lot of developmental minutes this year and did not show any improvement. So I don't care about giving him minutes. 3rd point, why is Ed Davis contract 6,666,667 rather than 6,666,666.66? If I were him, I'd have sacrificed those 44 cents (really 22 cents after taxes), in order to get a better number.
I am thinking as him more of a replacement for Henderson. I think we view Terry's offense as 3 pt oriented, but as CJ, Hendo and LMA have shown, the mid range shot is effective as well. Neither Aminu nor Harkless excel at it, but apparently Turner is getting better at it...... "Turner is a jack-of-all-trades. He doesn't dominate in any particular area, but he's solid in pretty much all of them. The one area he struggles with is his outside shooting, but he's deadly from mid-range and quietly produced an efficient season, shooting a career-high 45.6 percent from the floor."