Sorry, man, but Ed has to go. Not because of his play, which has been great, but because 1) we likely can't get under the tax without trading an expiring, and he's our biggest. 2) we likely can't get a starter without giving up an expiring, and he's our biggest. My heart wants to keep Ed, too, but my head says he has to go. If need be, @HCP will fill in for me at Mt. Tabor, as I live out of town.
I predict Ed Davis will be dumped for a mid-second round pick, Vonleh for a low second round pick and Turner will be packaged with a pick to bring back a former lottery pick who is disgruntled and/or a bad fit with his current team who needs a change of scenery. Ok, I lied, the last one is just wishful thinking.
Ya'll are dreaming. There are currently 7 teams above the tax line. These teams are all looking to reduce salary (unless it's a major upgrade). Additionally, there are another 8 teams that are within $0-$3M of the tax. These teams may take on expiring contracts or may be willing to swap parts - but most likely not much. Half of the NBA teams are closed to being capped out financially. I'm predicting a very slow trading deadline.
Honestly, there are several teams that want to dump players for cap space, but I don't think there are very many teams wanting to trade space for a player. Besides, it would make Olshey look like he made a mistake. He took it on the chin with Crabbe, don't think he'll do it again. Instead, I'm guessing that Neil uses Ed's contract as part of a larger deal where we end up with a player he can point to and say how much potential he has.
As time goes on I’m more and more sure that these are the guys that will, or at least aggressively looking to be, moved: Harkless Leonard Napier Vonleh I think Davis is our easiest path to getting under the tax, but I also believe the team likes him too much. He should also be affordable in free agency, so it’s a little different than the Plumlee situation. I can’t see him getting $10m per from anyone. Losing Napier is going to suck, but I think it’s for the best. He deserves to start, and he should net us wing help or a nice draft pick. Don’t care what we get back for Meyers or Moe as long as we save enough to get under the tax. Vonleh can stay, I like him, but I also wouldn’t mind trading him as long as it’s for another talented player. I wouldn’t dump him for nothing. That’d anger meee
CLE wants Favors, maybe something can be done with Meyers to UTA involving Hood I dont want Hood here, but given hes been mentioned here, Im just throwing it out there or Ed Davis for that matter
By the way, also says in the article that they also have made batum, marvin williams, and dwight howard available
Who are they building around? Their best players are old. They have a bunch of very mediocre guys in their mid-20s with little or no upside. Their only young player of note is Malik Monk, and he hasn't shown much. Walker is their best trade asset, by far. He's good, and on a VERY team friendly contact. I just hope he stays in the East and doesn't end up someplace like DEN, UTA or LAC. BNM
The only reason that guy still has a job is he was able to lock up Kemba Walker on a very team friendly deal before Walker broke out and before the new TV contract created the huge spike in the salary cap. Their payroll is only $5 million less than ours, but they are 7 games under .500 in the East. Nobody is going to want to take on Dwight's contract or Batum's contract, so he is forced to trade his best, and only underpaid player. BNM
Trades are going to be really hard to come-by. All but 5 teams are projected over the cap next year. Of course not all of those are in luxury tax-area but a lot of teams are. https://basketball.realgm.com/analy...Available-2018-Cap-Space-For-All-30-NBA-Teams There are very few teams that are going to want to take on salary like we are hoping happens.
That actually makes trades more likely imo. Look at Portland for example. We don’t have cap space. So what’s our best way to upgrade the roster? Trades. As long as teams stay under the luxury tax, they’ll be open for business.
POR goal (or even mandate) is they have to send like 3.5 MIL more out in contracts then they get back. There are quite a few teams that don't want to add 3.5 MIL to their payroll as it will push them into Luxury Tax area themselves. This limits our trade options to about max of 17 teams vs the normal 29 you have the option of contacting. And then you have to figure some of those 17 may be willing to deal but not for the specific players we want to send out. The teams that decide to be buyers are going to have many teams eager to deal. Basically they get their pick of a premo deal. You have to really try hard to make it worth their while to pick you over another team looking to cut space.
If the hornets actually trade Kemba, they could/should be a team interested in Napier. I don't know what a trade would look like, but I'd be interested in Jeremy Lamb. Lamb for TPE? Then Napier for a pick?
