Official: Free Agency and MLE options thread

So...three players OUT (Ed Davis, Pat Connaughton, Shabazz Napier), and four players IN (Simons, Trent Jr, Stauskas, Curry) so far.

Better shooting team/bench. More playing time for Collins and Swanigan. But no improvement to our starting lineup.
Tick tock. Wonder what move is next.

PS - we've got 16 players counting Baldwin and Papa-G. Someone has to go before season starts. Who will it be?

 

POR, MIN, and HOU are the three western teams that unequivocally got worse so far this offseason. NO is borderline for me. Other 11 teams all improved.

We need more than cuts to our 15th/16th men.

 

If you're counting draft picks, it's impossible to know how much better any of those teams got.

 

It's a crude estimation, but adding a guy like Luka or Ayton obviously will improve the team. I don't think it's much of a stretch. Just gonna go down the list:

GS-- added Cousins, lost McGee-- it just isn't fair.
OKC-- added Noel, who should be much better without Carlisle
UTAH-- added Grayson Allen, getting back a healthy Exum lost no one -- minor improvement
SA-- added Belinelli, lost no one, probably getting back Kawhi
DEN-- replaced Wilson Chandler with Michael Porter Jr.
LAC-- added a bunch of draft picks, replaced DeAndre with Gortat, getting back a healthy Bradley
LAL-- nuff said
SAC-- added Bagley, who looked damn good in his SL game, lost no one of significance. They'll probably be last in the conference this season, but will show tangible improvement for the future.
DAL-- added Luka and DeAndre, lost Noel
MEM-- added JJJ and getting back a healthy Gasol/Conley.
PHX-- added Ayton, Ariza, lost Ulis

 

I think Portland got better on the perimeter. I don’t see who Eds replacement is though.

 

JJJ from Memphis looks really really good!

 

I mostly agree with you, but these are as likely to be worse this year as they are to be better.

For Denver - We do not know if MPJ will translate to the NBA as a rookie, or even if he can play this year.
For the Clips - We will have to see if Gortat can give then what Deandre gave them, they are basically replacing a center that gave them ~20 PER with one that had ~15 last year with the same USG% - on paper, this is a downgrade.

 

My point is that you are projecting every draft pick to pan out. It never quite works out that way though.

 

That's fair. Still doesn't take away from the fact that as of now, we are currently a worse team on paper than we were last year. Our rookies are more of an unknown entity than the blue chip lotto prospects. I don't expect either of our guys to contribute til year 3 or 4. The only real hope for internal improvement will come from Collins.

Not really.

Only the top guys. Their addition certainly will not make their teams worse.

 

WAKE UP NEIL!!!

 

Swannigan

 

Pretty much. And Zach. Caleb is a bruiser who can make a shot. Difference is, Ed was magic close to the basket, Caleb has yet to show he can get a shot off against anyone. But Caleb can make an outside shot. So we'll need to balance inside - outside with the big men. Part of the reason Zach will be playing closer to the basket maybe? Now that kid's got some nice footwork.

 

Yeah I don’t know about that one. After watching him in the g league I’m 50/50 on his future in the nba. We’ll see though and hope he proves himself.

 

I didn't say it was an improvement, and i'm probably more like 40/60 on his future, but I'm pretty sure Blazer Brass has this in mind.

 

I don't think we got worse.

Seth Curry "on paper" looks better than Pat because he started 42 games the year he got hurt.

Is Baldwin equally as good as Napier? His minutes did increase at the end of the season.....

Are we better at PF with Collins starting vs Aminu? I am hopeful they will at least try it. If not then Zach can take Ed's 19 minutes at back up center. Which comes to our only loss .....Ed. But if Nurk can improve and play more minutes in the 4th we could actually be better. Collins can also play center against small ball teams.

Trent, a player who was a top 15 kid coming out of HS and went to a "Blue Blood" college, is a pretty well known blue chip prospect.....more so than some taken ahead of him who are also drafted for "potential". He and Simons will have as much impact as any other rookie on the non lottery teams from last year. (Which is very little)

 

That's what people said last year.

 

Jeez Neil, hurry up and trade for Butler, Love or Kawhi already.

Tic toc

 

Or?! Why not and?!

 

Of course. Anything less would be total failure.