Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

Didn't your read? Simmons will serve as ball boy for a year if Byron is coach.

 

Don't know if you want Whiteside? I mean cmon now. Sometimes I feel like fans would see Larry Bird as a free agent and say "yeah but his defense isn't great".

Give me Whiteside, the 27 year old who has 31 more blocks than the next closest person in the league, who is 7th in rebounding, who is 11th in PER (higher than Drummond), 10th in true shooting percentage, 3rd in effective field goal percentage, and nearly doubles the next closest block percentage of Rudy Gobert (more than doubles Hibbert's).

I'll take that kid any day of the week and he might honestly be my first call when FA opens.

 

Reasons I'd be hesitant about Whiteside, his attitude and his only playing this well for less than a year. Does he regress when he gets paid/is he another one year contract player? Do those legit questions really boggle the mind? I don't think they should, players' value is more than numbers on paper.

 

This is his second year doing it now and he's better than he was last year. You could ask those same questions of Jordan Clarkson too, but I'd still take him no question for whatever the price tag is this summer.

 

It's only been one year, almost to the day, since he started playing for Miami. That's not enough for me. Where was he before that? I'm not saying I don't want to go after him, only that I'd absolutely have concerns and consider those when going after him. He is better than Hibbert, but is he the team player, locker room presence and leader that Hibbert is? I don't know. And again, he hasn't been doing this long, one year, and when you give a guy a max deal who has been doing this a year you are taking a risk. It has burned many other teams. The Clarkson comparison is fair, but JC wasn't invisible his first 2 seasons, this IS his 2nd season. I just think we serously need to consider fit and other factors with this team, not throw money at whoever is putting up the best numbers only.

 

I don't know man I'm kind of okay throwing money his way... At 27 even if he regresses, he's young enough to move. Just like this summer the Bucks got Monroe who is young enough where they can move him if they have to because he's been a little disappointing thus far.

I just want talent man. I'm sick of watching a talent-less team. I'd rather be the Clippers who have a bunch of talent but are going to fail again this year in the playoffs than be competing with the Sixers for a third straight year. I'm sick of it all. Give me talent and I think we can say pretty definitively now that Whiteside has talent. Not to mention that with under six seasons on his resume his max is only 4/96.26 compared to longer term veterans (say Al Horford) who would be 4/134.77 million dollars.

I know there's some risk there, but just given what I've seen if he regresses a bit we'll end up with Hibbert and I'd be okay with that outcome. You're right personalities matter and it remains to be seen if he would fit with the young guys, but honestly it remains to be seen if Hibbert fits personality wise to the young guys as well. If we get a more talented person who doesn't fit in, I'm down with that. I like Hibbert a lot, but so far I'm not sold he's the guy we should be counting into our future plans at the Center spot.

 

All I said was I have legit questions and concerns about Whiteside. Like Zen said, I'm not sure, I don't see being unsure about a player as mind boggling, but whatever. That said, a lot about him will probably be answered the rest of this season. I said I'm not saying I don't go after him, because you're right real, we need talent, I have said the same thing all season, but I still keep a close eye on him in all areas, even other than basketball.

 

True. I know Whiteside is known to be a meathead. I don't know if he's a knucklehead or not though. Still, that'll be true for anyone we sign. It's up to Mitch to be thorough and conduct a solid background check.

 

Whiteside vs. Hibbert - if it saves us millions and allows us to spend elsewhere, Hibbert becomes more attractive.

 

Everyone makes mistakes. But, sometimes getting cut also makes a player push harder and get to that next level. We also gave Gerald Green a shot at one point, but if he was the player he ended up being with Phoenix when he was here we wouldn't have cut him. Took him a long time to become that player. Maybe he didn't have it for all that time yet, or maybe it took all those different stops fo him to finally get it.

I only say this because I think Mitch and whoever is with him are pretty good at judging talent. Clarkson was a fantastic pick, and Nance Jr looks smart this summer too. Also most late draft selections we do cut don't seem to amount to much elsewhere so we usually hang onto the good ones. Every team lets go of good players that benefit other teams, Tarik Black was one of those for us, f****** B0ron just doesn't f****** play him.