Neil was wrong and so are you. It's horrible to think Allan Crabbe was a resource - he wasn't. Neil figured that out, and got out of the contract for the low price of stretching Nicolson. Apparently you never did. Neil likely also figured out, too late, that Biebs is not an asset. If someone offered us a 2 mil player, I'd happily stretch that player out too to get out of Biebs. Would you? Or do you think that that would be "horrible management of the cap."
He signed those contracts to put himself in this predicament in the first place. Put it this way. Would you rather have ACs expiring contract in a yr and his production or deadcap of 3 mil for 4 more
The whole idea of us using the TPE seemed almost impossible for me the very minute we decided not to offer Ed Davis a contract. He went to Nets for $4.4million, we weren’t even going to pay this much for a back up big who was good here for the last three seasons. It didn’t seem plausible we would then go and take on someone who makes two or almost three times that and isn’t even that good (you don’t get very good players for cap space alone). The names thrown around were not worth anywhere near the price we would have to pay with taxes on top.
Except that part of the Ed decision was getting more shooting on the court and developing Collins. I agree I can't see them using the TPE on another PF/C, but if the right wing came along, then maybe. It would have to be really amazing though because they wouldn't want to pay the extra and they would have to kick Baldwin off the roster. That seems unlikely to me.
Collins could still get more minutes than last season. We are left with two bigs right now basically, Swanigan and Leonard can’t play.
I don't disagree with what your saying. I am guessing at what they are trying to do. Ed was great on defense, but he did clog the lain and likely made it more difficult to run the offense the way they would like. Swanigan and Leonard are both raw--well one is raw, the other is overdone--but Swanigan can pass, shoot from distance and take up space for defensive rebounds. I wouldn't think it is out of the question that he couldn't contribute this year. Additionally, I would assume they are still thinking of Aminu as the starting PF, with Collins rotating of the bench. Then, the only way you would need another big is if one of the three gets injured.
Paul Allen knows that the only advantage we have is his money. Unfortunately the CBA makes it much harder to exploit that advantage than it used to be. It's more risky and more expensive. You take your chances where you can. If spending $20 million gives you the option of possibly adding an impact player and also clears a roster spot for somebody else that we want to try out then it seems to be worth doing that to Paul Allen. As long as Paul Allen is OK with it I'm OK with it. That's chump change compared to what he'll be willing to spend if we can get into contention. Of that I am certain. I have no doubt that if Olshey could have used those resources to bring in a player that would vault us into contention he would have done it.
But if those guys could hit shots we'd have won some games. We now have more guys who, if healthy, will hit more of those shots.
It looks to me like Neil has been instructed to avoid the apron unless we can compete for a title. In the meantime, gather as much young talent as you can through the draft and trades to keep us as competitive as possible now and into the future. In which case yes, letting the TPE expire is a financially motivated decision. But it's a decision that might be made because it may hurt our chances of competing in the future.
2016 was a uniquely bad year for overpaying free agents - everyone did. FAs are underpaid this year because of that. It's not just Neil, it's leaguewide.
Remember this lol. I get not using the entire TPE, but youre telling me there’s literally NO ONE looking to dump a contract that would help us on the court? Fucking con man, I bet we could’ve found someone better than Stauskas.
@Scalma ...it's really all of our faults for even hoping to think that Olshey would do something other than bargain shop due to his own overspending. Either that, or believe he could pull something off.
damn, every time I see your name as the last post in this thread, I'm hoping for some sort of positive update about targets, haha. I need to stop
seems like it already started with his quotes a week or so ago about the tax ramifications of it, no real difference maker, not worth the cost for what's available, yadda yadda.
I understand what you’re saying and agree to an extent... I hope the next time I release a buggy product my customers understand it was their fault for expecting me to do what I said I would do...
Olshey could've easily said "We have our TPEs, which could be valuable depending on what other teams are looking for or offering. They might go unused if we can't find a deal that makes sense, which is a definite possibility, but we'll be diligent and aggressive in terms of looking for deals including our TPEs to improve our team this summer"...
