I know this season just started but because it has started so well and the potential I see I am already thinking of who we can add next summer to make us a contender as quickly as possible. At this time my number one choice is HASSAN WHITESIDE He is a UFA next summer and I think he would be a perfect C for this team and he fits in nicely age wise as well. He is a two way player and great shot blocker as well as a great pick and roll guy. Assuming he's not a knucklehead I think with him we could become a contender much more quickly, if he has another good year we are probably looking at 15-20 mil per, given that Monroe or Kanter was in that price range and we went after them I think Whiteside is the better player and fit for us, again assuming the knucklehead exclusion. Can we attract a C like this to Portland is the Q.
I remember really wanting us to take Whiteside in the 2010 draft. Obviously it has taken him a while to put it together but I saw a ton of potential in him. There's no way to know if we would have taken him but unfortunately he was drafted right before we selected Armon Johnson. I'd love to have him.
Looking down the list of free agents in 2016, there aren't many that I'm very interested in. Kevin Durant (duh!), Al Horford, and Hassan Whiteside are about the only ones that even interest me at all (only looking at unrestricted). I'm guessing that the Blazers look to improve the team thru the draft and trades rather than free agency.
2016 Free Agents Code: PLAYER POS AGE FROM TO 2015 CAP HIT STATUS Kobe Bryant SF 37 LAL TBD $25,000,000 UFA Joe Johnson SF 34 BKN TBD $24,894,863 UFA Kevin Durant SF 27 OKC TBD $20,158,622 UFA Dwyane Wade SG 33 MIA TBD $20,000,000 UFA Roy Hibbert C 28 LAL TBD $15,592,216 UFA Eric Gordon SG 26 NOP TBD $15,514,031 UFA David Lee PF 32 BOS TBD $15,493,680 UFA Al Jefferson C 30 CHA TBD $13,500,000 UFA Joakim Noah C 30 CHI TBD $13,400,000 UFA Nicolas Batum SF 26 CHA TBD $13,125,307 UFA Nene Hilario PF 33 WAS TBD $13,000,000 UFA Al Horford PF 29 ATL TBD $12,000,000 UFA Luol Deng SF 30 MIA TBD $10,151,612 UFA Mike Conley PG 28 MEM TBD $9,588,426 UFA Rajon Rondo PG 29 SAC TBD $9,500,000 UFA Jeff Green SF 29 MEM TBD $9,200,000 UFA Ryan Anderson PF 27 NOP TBD $8,500,000 UFA Brandon Jennings PG 26 DET TBD $8,344,497 UFA O.J. Mayo SG 28 MIL TBD $8,000,000 UFA Ersan Ilyasova PF 28 DET TBD $7,900,000 UFA Marvin Williams PF 29 CHA TBD $7,000,000 UFA Greivis Vasquez PG 28 MIL TBD $6,600,000 UFA Gerald Henderson SG 27 POR TBD $6,000,000 UFA Bradley Beal SG 22 WAS TBD $5,694,674 RFA Jamal Crawford SG 35 LAC TBD $5,675,000 UFA Courtney Lee SG 30 MEM TBD $5,675,000 UFA J.J Hickson PF 27 DEN TBD $5,613,500 UFA Mirza Teletovic PF 30 PHX TBD $5,500,000 UFA Zaza Pachulia C 31 DAL TBD $5,200,000 UFA Dion Waiters SG 23 OKC TBD $5,138,430 RFA Chris Kaman C 33 POR TBD $5,016,000 UFA Jonas Jerebko PF 28 BOS TBD $5,000,000 UFA Chase Budinger SF 27 IND TBD $5,000,000 UFA Chris Andersen PF 37 MIA TBD $5,000,000 UFA Timofey Mozgov C 29 CLE TBD $4,950,000 UFA Trevor Booker PF 27 UTH TBD $4,775,000 UFA Jason Smith PF 29 ORL TBD $4,300,000 UFA Mario Chalmers PG 29 MIA TBD $4,300,000 UFA Jared Dudley SG 30 WAS TBD $4,250,000 UFA Jordan Hill C 28 IND TBD $4,000,000 UFA Ian Mahinmi C 29 IND TBD $4,000,000 UFA Raymond Felton PG 31 DAL TBD $3,950,313 UFA Harrison Barnes SF 23 GSW TBD $3,873,398 RFA Marreese Speights C 28 GSW TBD $3,815,000 UFA Steve Novak SF 32 OKC TBD $3,750,000 UFA Matt Barnes SF 35 MEM TBD $3,542,500 UFA Evan Turner SF 27 BOS TBD $3,425,510 UFA Andre Drummond C 22 DET TBD $3,272,090 RFA Randy Foye SG 32 DEN TBD $3,135,000 UFA Meyers Leonard C 23 POR TBD $3,075,879 RFA Norris Cole PG 27 NOP TBD $3,036,927 UFA Jerryd Bayless PG 27 MIL TBD $3,000,000 UFA Anthony Tolliver PF 30 DET TBD $3,000,000 UFA D.J. Augustin PG 27 OKC TBD $3,000,000 UFA Luis Scola PF 35 TOR TBD $2,900,000 UFA Maurice Harkless SF 22 POR TBD $2,894,059 RFA Udonis Haslem PF 35 MIA TBD $2,854,940 UFA Kirk Hinrich SG 34 CHI TBD $2,854,940 UFA Brian Roberts PG 29 CHA TBD $2,854,940 UFA Kevin Seraphin PF 25 NYK TBD $2,814,000 UFA Tyler Zeller C 25 BOS TBD $2,616,975 RFA Leandro Barbosa SG 32 GSW TBD $2,500,000 UFA James Johnson PF 28 TOR TBD $2,500,000 UFA Terrence Jones PF 23 HOU TBD $2,489,529 RFA Andrew Nicholson PF 25 ORL TBD $2,380,593 RFA Donatas Motiejunas PF 25 HOU TBD $2,288,205 RFA Evan Fournier SG 23 ORL TBD $2,288,204 RFA Jared Sullinger PF 23 BOS TBD $2,269,260 RFA Aaron Brooks PG 30 CHI TBD $2,250,000 UFA Tony Wroten Jr. SG 22 PHI TBD $2,179,354 RFA Steve Blake PG 35 DET TBD $2,170,465 UFA Ramon Sessions PG 29 WAS TBD $2,170,465 UFA Beno Udrih PG 33 MEM TBD $2,170,465 UFA Gary Neal PG 31 WAS TBD $2,139,000 UFA Miles Plumlee C 27 MIL TBD $2,109,293 RFA Festus Ezeli C 26 GSW TBD $2,008,748 RFA Kent Bazemore SG 26 ATL TBD $2,000,000 UFA Ryan Kelly PF 24 LAL TBD $1,724,250 UFA Lance Thomas SF 27 NYK TBD $1,636,842 UFA Louis Amundson PF 32 NYK TBD $1,635,476 UFA Solomon Hill SF 24 IND TBD $1,358,880 UFA Brandon Rush SG 30 GSW TBD $1,270,964 UFA Boban Marjanovic C 27 SAS TBD $1,200,000 RFA Chris Copeland SF 31 MIL TBD $1,150,000 UFA Garrett Temple SG 29 WAS TBD $1,100,602 UFA Jon Leuer PF 26 PHX TBD $1,035,000 UFA Donald Sloan PG 27 BKN TBD $1,015,421 UFA E'Twaun Moore SG 26 CHI TBD $1,015,421 UFA Hassan Whiteside C 26 MIA TBD $981,348 UFA Robert Sacre C 26 LAL TBD $981,348 UFA Tyler Hansbrough PF 30 CHA TBD $947,276 UFA Amar'e Stoudemire PF 32 MIA TBD $947,276 UFA Gerald Green SG 29 MIA TBD $947,276 UFA Metta World Peace SF 35 LAL TBD $947,276 UFA Jared Cunningham SG 24 CLE TBD $947,276 RFA Charlie Villanueva PF 31 DAL TBD $947,276 UFA Dewayne Dedmon C 26 ORL TBD $947,276 UFA Kendrick Perkins C 30 NOP TBD $947,276 UFA Richard Jefferson SF 35 CLE TBD $947,276 UFA Sasha Vujacic SG 31 NYK TBD $947,276 UFA Ishmael Smith PG 27 NOP TBD $947,276 UFA Anthony Bennett PF 22 TOR TBD $947,276 RFA Ronnie Price PG 32 PHX TBD $947,276 UFA Ian Clark SG 24 GSW TBD $947,276 RFA Matt Bonner C 35 SAS TBD $947,276 UFA Allen Crabbe SF 23 POR TBD $947,276 RFA Josh Smith SF 29 LAC TBD $947,276 UFA Pablo Prigioni PG 38 LAC TBD $947,276 UFA Troy Daniels SG 24 CHA TBD $947,276 RFA Isaiah Canaan PG 24 PHI TBD $947,276 RFA Luc Richard Mbah a Moute PF 29 LAC TBD $947,276 UFA Ray McCallum PG 24 SAS TBD $947,276 RFA Marcus Thornton SG 28 HOU TBD $947,276 UFA Mike Miller SG 35 DEN TBD $947,276 UFA Tayshaun Prince SF 35 MIN TBD $947,276 UFA Rasual Butler SF 36 SAS TBD $947,276 UFA Jason Terry SG 38 HOU TBD $942,276 UFA Toney Douglas PG 29 NOP TBD $924,987 UFA Chuck Hayes PF 32 HOU TBD $913,843 UFA Phil Pressey PG 24 PHI TBD $897,126 RFA Tim Frazier PG 25 POR TBD $845,069 RFA Markel Brown SG 23 BKN TBD $845,059 RFA Jordan Clarkson PG 23 LAL TBD $845,059 RFA Corey Jefferson PF 24 PHX TBD $845,059 RFA Cleanthony Early SF 24 NYK TBD $845,059 RFA Langston Galloway PG 23 NYK TBD $845,059 RFA Tyler Johnson SG 22 MIA TBD $845,059 RFA Tarik Black C 23 LAL TBD $845,059 RFA James McAdoo SF 22 GSW TBD $845,059 RFA Dwight Powell PF 24 DAL TBD $845,059 RFA Marcelo Huertas PG 32 LAL TBD $525,093 RFA Cliff Alexander PF 19 POR TBD $525,093 RFA T.J. McConnell PG 23 PHI TBD $525,093 RFA Jordan Farmar PG 28 LAC TBD - UFA http://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/
I read some article that MIA doesn't have Whiteside's full Bird Rights and can't go over the cap to sign him. Normally that would be an issue but, you are right, with the cap going up MIA is going to have plenty of space according to the graph half way down this page: http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/10/16/9529643/nba-free-agency-2016-salary-cap-space-billions
I guess if you realistically think we have a shot at guys like Drummond or Durant... There's a bunch of RFA and guys that most likely won't want to come here.
Problem is deciding what position we need. Or maybe not. Really we just need the best 3rd option regardless of position. The guys I think could be our 2nd or 3rd option don't seem all that get-able though. One guy I like (under the radar guy) regardless though is Vasquez.
