Fine, but let's see what shakes out from OKC first. They seem to be in salary shedding mode and Russ is gonna get moved soon. Might be some shots there to pick up better players. Do we still have a Swanigan TPE?
Luxury tax is calculated at the end of the season though. They can still reduce the roster salary through midseason moves. Moving Whiteside or Bazemore at the trade deadline for less salary can change the bottom line significantly at the end of the season.
Man talk about slim pickings. The center market has really dried up. Joakim and Monroe are the only guys left I’d play any sort of significant minutes. Monroe is a poor mans Kanter. He really wouldn’t be a bad addition for the minimum. Everyone already knows how I feel about Noah. As for point guards, Lin is the most proven. Besides him, there are maybe two options imo (Grant, Burke) unless they wanted to take a shot at a younger guy (Mason) but that wouldn’t make too much sense since Simons is still in the developmental phase himself. Cheick Diallo is still available though...
Burton, Nader, and Diallo are the only players that fit. None of those guys really make sense to pursue though.
Maybe he just wants more money because I’d be surprised if multiple teams weren’t willing to give him the minimum.
With regards to the NBA? I don’t know, but he plays for the biggest team in Europe, so he’d probably have to get paid to come back. He signed an extension couple years ago. Don’t know about any out clauses but I believe it expires after next season.
I'm sorry and this isn't necessarily directed at you but it's really frustrating when people throw out trade ideas like this without explaining how we can do that. Unless you're willing to trade Nurk or CJ in a deal for Ibaka the only two players that work are Whiteside and Bazemore. Why would Toronto do either of those? If they were willing to do say Bazemore and a future 1st, then we have a huge hole on the wing again.
I was thinking Baze + a first at the deadline for Ibaka. It would be contingent on Trent/Simons turning into rotation players so we have injury insurance. We'll have Hood/Hezonja/Little/Trent on the wings. Is it really a that huge of a hole if we can come up with a rotation of Ibaka/Collins/Whiteside/Nurk up front going into the playoffs?
Deadline is different to me than when you say get in on deals for a 3-way. So if you're talking about later in the season sure but I assumed you were talking about taking advantage of rebuilds right now. I think Bazemore and Whiteside will be with us at the start of the season but definitely available in trades at the deadline. Hopefully it's for a star.
Yeah, after looking into this more I think we stick with the current 13 man roster unless its clear an addition would be playing minutes. Paying $5 million plus for a 3rd/4th string injury insurance only option doesn't make sense. We can pickup that type of player during the season if need be, and only have to give 10 day contracts.
This is a couple days old, and it’s coming from a politician, but I believe it. Why stay in the nba on a minimum, when you could go to Asia and cash the fuckkkk in?