[Free Agency] Projecting their new contracts

Lopez: $12m-15m -- Teams pay a premium for capable centers and RoLo is certainly an above average center who is just now entering his prime. For reference, a 30y/o Gortat landed himself a 5-year deal worth $12m/per. The market is set.

Matthews: $12m-15m -- Jeff Van Gundy is convinced that Wes will get a $14m-15m deal. It's safe to assume that Wes is going to more than double his current salary.

Neil's priority is obviously LMA and has a plan already in place. How do we keep all of our FA? Teams are going to try and pull a Mark Cuban and throw stupid money. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Wes landed a deal similar to Chandler Parsons.

I think we're going to have to choose between guys and I think the solution is to ship Batum out. My idea:

To Detroit: Batum | 2015 1st rounder
To Portland: Monroe | Singler

Monroe is looking for big money but with this move we'll have wiggle room to try and work things out. If anything, it's a move to shed Batum and lock up Wesley.

Neil pitched a plan to Monroe and his agent about playing with LMA and RoLo but it sounds like Neil is the one who backed out as he didn't want to give up a certain player - Batum? Also, Singler is a very capable stopgap with Crabbe waiting in the wings.

 

gots ta move batum for something capable, and soon.

also, roytoy will have nothing to post about anymore, and that may be the best reason.

 

I never thought I'd say this.. ever. Batum has been my least fav player on the roster after year 2 of him on the roster...
But I don't know if the Blazers can get rid of Batum.
He's the one other person in the starting lineup that can create for others off the dribble.
Wesley isn't exactly the best passing two.
But that's not what is asked of him... maybe he is a better passer than he's shown because of lack of opportunity...
With Crabbe being where he is.. that it makes Batum moveable.. But Crabbe has also shown he's not strong enough to guard bigger players. He's been ate alive in the post.
I think trading Batum now would hurt the team more than help. Crabbe is still a year or two away from having the body size to prevent being abused in the post.

But I'm becoming more and more worried the Blazers will lose 2 of the current Starting 5 in the offseason.

 

I've seen Crabbe do well on the perimiter and can handle up to the elbow... from there, help defense should arrive.

But, yeah, Batum has just worn a lot of people thin and i think he's the most practical expendability option we have.

 

It seems to me like Monroe could be had without giving up Batum. I would try to move Batum for something else. Maybe Jeff Green.

Batum for Jeff Green and Zeller

Monroe for Robinson/CJ/1st

Dame/Blake
Wes/Crabbe
Green/Barton
LA/Monroe
Kaman/Monroe/Zeller (until Rolo comes back)

The problem would be that we'd have some major free agents this summer.

LA
Monroe
Wes
Rolo

That's potentially somewhere in the 65 million range with just those four players.

 

Gotta keep Batum. When we play teams with two stars, we need both Batum and Wes to guard them.

 

I just looked and if we trade for Monroe, the most we could offer is 7 mil with cap holds. Would he stay for 7 mil?

The rest of the players aren't concerning because Allen will pay, even in luxury if we have a winning ball club

 

No he certainly would not. So Monroe is out if we don't acquire bird rights. I suspect someone will give him close to a max deal.

If that's the case, I would LOVE to get Jared Sullinger from Boston with Jeff Green.

Batum/Robinson/CJ for Green/Sullinger/Bradley?

Is Boston giving up too much in that scenario?

 

This. Batum's defensive impact is seriously underrated. Furthermore, if Batum would just spend an off-season working on his post game it would do wonders.

 

That's the problem with Monroe. He signed the Qualifying offer, so if he's traded he loses his bird rights. If Portland waited until summer and do a sign and trade, then you have bird rights available.

 

Don't you feel like it's always a case of "if Batum would do this...."

 

Batum with a post game would easily make him worth his contract

 

I don't think Neil would max him. He's valuable, but we're already going to be spending huge money on Dame/LA/Wes/Rolo and if we keep Nic, he'll be getting paid as well the summer after this one.

 

I don't honk he's worth max anyway. He hasn't proved he can be a franchise player. If some team is stupid enough to offer max, then we need to stay away from him even being an option.

 

Hahahaha

 

I agree

 

I don't understand this fallacy about needing to get rid of Nic in order to keep our other players. Nic isn't a free agent and he's not eligible for a new contract / pay raise. All our players who will be free agents are restricted, so we can keep them regardless of whether Nic is on the team or not. We don't need to shed Nic's salary in order to keep LMA, Rolo, and Wes.

 

Wes will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. I can see teams lining up to give him a huge payday as he's better than Parsons at 3-pt shooting and much better at defense. With that said, Wes is an invaluable player to our team. He is the heart and our team defense effort begins with him. He's a keeper!