I don't think there's anyone actually in that picture. But I smile knowing you thought about us enough to take a blurry picture on purpose.
Layman is not a bust. Just a big disappointment but then again we shouldn't be surprised on that either. 47th pick for a reason.
I know this is extremely unlikely to happen but, would would it actually take to be able to sign PG to a reasonable deal this summer? A first attached to ML, Swanigan attached to ET, AND Harkless for nothing? Could there be teams out there that could actually help make that happen? And can you sign PG before you extend the qualifying offers to Nurk and Bazz? Of course there is the sign and trade option but what the hell could we offer OKC in a sign and trade that they would actually be interested in? They’re already about to pay 26 mil to Melo next yr.
Breakdown: Sign and trades aren't possible if you are over the tax apron after the trade and you get hard capped so that is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY! Cap Holds for free agents: Nurk $8.842M Napier $7.084M PC: $1.839M Davis: $12.07M There is absolutely no way to get these off the books unless you renounce them as free agents or sign them for less. Napier and Davis hopefully could be re-signed for less but to realistically sign PG we'd probably have to let those two go. So that leaves $10.7 million if you want to keep Nurk and PC as restricted free agents. If your complete fantasy world unrealistic trades (since there might not even be teams that could even take on that salary even if they wanted to) of Leonard, Turner, and Harkless were actually possible here is where it would leave us (also assuming Swanigan, our 1st round pick, and Layman were gone too): Current guaranteed salary is $110,456,026M Minus all those guys it would be about $80 million including the cap holds for just Nurk and PC. Plus we'd have 5 roster spot holds since there would only be 6 guys under contract is another almost $3.5 million so $83.5 million as a rough estimate. So giving away Turner, Leonard, Harkless, Swanigan, Layman, Napier, Davis, Baldwin, and our 1st round pick gives us about $19 million in cap space (assuming a $102 million cap) if Nurk and PC waited to re-sign. Max contract for 7-9 year players (George would be going into his 9th year) is estimated to be about $30.3 million. So even after doing all that WE STILL COULDN'T SIGN PG! Crazy huh? We'd also have to trade Aminu for nothing and then let Nurk walk. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in? We'd be at the cap number with just Dame, CJ, PG, Zach, and PC on the roster any only the room exception and minimum contracts to add to that. All our trade exceptions would go bye bye too. I think we can all agree this isn't going to happen.
If someone doesn't work out, they're a bust. Why does there have to be a qualifier on where they're picked? Or do we intend to pick people that won't work out? He was picked, he was given a roster spot, and he hasn't really shown much. So far he has been a bust.
I think the ONLY way this happens is if Paul George tells OKC "sign and trade me to Portland, or I walk for nothing". OKC won't want to give him up for nothing only a year after trading a young all star and another decent young player for him. That would be especially embarrassing if IND finishes 3rd in the East and OKC is 6th, or lower, in the West. Talk about losing a trade! Which is why I think we need to beat OKC in the final regular season game to sweep the season series and then ideally meet and sweep OKC in the first round of the playoffs (or at least 4-1). Paul George needs to feel that he is the missing piece that would put POR over the hump to contend for a championship and that that's a MUCH better option than staying in OKC or joining the lottery bound youngsters in Los Angeles. This is the prime of his career, which happens to coincide with the prime of Damian Lillard's career. BNM
Team success is a huge factor. If we had the best record in the NBA for the season, Dame would probably win MVP.
