I'm pretty sure Jae Crowder would be available and might be worth pursuing if Aminu leaves in FA (or even if not).
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27008970/mike-conley-trade-puts-utah-finals-contention From Lowe: Also:
That’s what I thought as well, Crowder hasn’t been a good player since Boston. His stat line last season is pretty putrid... 12/5/2 (rounding up) on .399/.331/.721, rather just keep Aminu, at least we wouldn’t have to give up an asset to retain him. Aminu at 9/8/1 on .433/.343/.867 and already knows the team..
I'd rather have Crowder+Korver than ET. But it's not worth giving our first round pick up for. If they bite on a second go ahead and do it. If not shop for other deals. I'm hoping we see an ET deal before training camp, there are lots of vets tanking teams don't care for that we should be able to flip him for.
We don't know how much Aminu is going to cost or if he even wants to stay though. He could sign elsewhere and there isn't anything we can do about it. Plus some are ignoring that it might open up the Full-MLE for Hood.
Would you rather have Aminu back with no Hood or Crowder filling in for Aminu with Hood back too? Edit: I realize it's not the only way to do things.
What? Letting Aminu walk might give us the full MLE? Is that what you are saying? If so why is there even a discussion. If a full MLE gets us Hood then I don't hesitate. I thought it was no Aminu plus another player had to be moved.
Not quite how it works, I'll break down the math for everyone later. Getting Crowder not only makes Aminu expendable but if we use my example of ET going out with Crowder and Korver coming in we save $3.3 million making it a little easier to possibly slide under the hard cap if we used the Full-MLE. Roughly from the top of my head in my car: We'd be at $124.7 with Dame CJ Nurk Leonard Harkless Korver Crowder Collins Simons Trent Skal Layman's QO/Cap Hold That's 12 Add $9+ million for Hood and we're at $134 million with the expected apron at around $138 million. Add $1.8 million for pick 25 and we're at $135.8 million with 14 guys. That gives us just enough money to sign Layman to about $3 million unless he takes his QO which might work out better and then sign someone to the minimum for the 15th spot. Like I said it's super close but that extra little $3.3 million makes it possible without dipping too much from Aminu's production. Even better if we were able to sign Hood for like $7 million a year instead of the Full-MLE and were then able to sign a RoLo or another backup big too.
They must love Conley because Allen was born to wear a Utah Jazz uniform. Maybe I’ll hate him less in Memphis, doubt it.
