Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

And Barnes has Klay and Draymond. He's playing with better players and still struggling. Neither have been good in the postseason. They both have faults and flaws.

 

QFT! Goodness. We won 17 games last year. The marketplace and the economics of the league are going to change dramatically this summer. Everyone is going to get paid and outside of Lebron and KD, we can argue about all day about who deserves the max and who doesn't, but the landscape of the NBA have changed and the salary cap is going up not just this year but the year after; as far as players, we need a talent infusion. I don't care if it's Harrison, Ezeli, DeMarcus, or whatever; don't worry about what fits and what doesn't. Improve the team through free agency and if you see a trade that improves us, make it, too.

 

Sensible plan by GT from LG, IMO.

I would max any of the following guys, in order of preference, then move on to the vets on 2-year deals next.

Max Guys

1) Kevin Durant
2) Hassan Whiteside
3) DeMar DeRozan
4) Chandler Parsons
5) Harrison Barnes
6) Nicolas Batum
7) Kent Bazemore
8) Al Horford
9) Mike Conley

High $$$, Short Term Vets

1) Dwyane Wade
2) Luol Deng
3) Pau Gasol
4) Dirk Nowitzki
5) Deron Williams
6) Joakim Noah
7) Nene

I'm going down that list of 16 in order if I'm approaching FA this year.

 

Yes we need talent. Period. Getting someone like DeRozan, Whiteside, Barnes, even if we overpay is gonna alleviate a lot of the pressure off our young guys who aren't ready for that kind of pressure. If we were actually good I'd say okay you can't just max out everyone, but we're at the bottom of the league and we NEED to get someone. Who cares about fit? Give me some NBA talent right now.

 

@Lakers2015 @RandleROFY i'm not arguing that one is worth the max over the other. All I was contending was the fact that Barnes has more question marks than Derozan. I think they both have flaws but Barnes age, defense, and Shooting %s are far more satisfying.

 

I don't agree with that at all. Barnes shoots 46 percent compared to DeRozan who is at 44, but the big difference is DeRozan is the #1 option on his team. Him and Lowry essentially carried them to the playoffs. Barnes is a role player so his percentage should be better. Is his defense better? Sure, but I don't think he's some lock down guy. Draymond and Klay are the lockdown ones on that team along with Bogut. Not trying to dump on Barnes here I like him, but DeRozan is the clear better player. Yes he sucked in the playoffs, but so has Barnes and one guy has a lot more on his shoulders and has still produced at an All Star level this year.

 

Gotcha. I didn't mean to come off too aggressive in my post. My apologies. Either way, I have this strange feeling that if we get this pick, Cousins will be a Laker. If we remember last year, Vlade, the new appointed GM didn't have an understanding of the CBA. I don't know if Sacramento or the Lakers initiated the call, but reportedy Vlade wanted the number 2 pick, Clarkson and Randle. The Lakers were probably only offering the pick in exchange for Cousins, IMO. I think Vlade might have been totally out of his element, and the owner for the Kings is a nut job; he was wavering back and forth.

Fast forward; Sacramento hired a very savvy executive; you can probably have a conversation with him unlike Vlade, and he has an understanding of the CBA. That said, because I'm reading reports that Sacramento might be more inclined to part with Cousins, I think those conversations take place if the lottery balls come our way. It might take more than the number 1 pick, though. I'm just speculating, and I don't even want Cousins. I think he'll be in play, though, if we keep our pick.

 

I know I'm a few pages late to the discussion regarding EZ...

I like him, but not for that kind of coin. I'm all for Luke bringing along some familiar faces with him to accelerate the process of implementing a system, BUT he's not worth that not in any CBA. I like him and his game, but there's not much the separates him from the rest of the pack of that tier of FA bigs (Noah, Mahinmi, Biyombo, Zaza).

 

Weez - that's exactly my point. I know what we're getting with DeRozan and I don't think it's the best for this team. We don't need someone with basically Kobe's usage rate on an even worse shooting percentage. That's not conducive to the offense the Warriors are running! It's simple. You can't teach an old dogs new tricks. Now I don't think Barnes deserves a max but that's not up to me.

@Lakers2015 agreed with what your saying. But what im saying is DD is a poor #1 option. We can do better than him, even if it means waiting for 2017 or pulling a trade off. Does that make sense? There's no reason Barnes can't turn into our version of Klay. DD will not be that guy. He's a mediocre #1 option.

 

I'd go for demar, Barnes, Whiteside, keep the pick (only top 2) keep young talent, waive Nick young, trade Lou for something, jc 6th man.

Boom

 

It's not cherry picking or a small sample size. It's his stats from the playoffs. It is what it is.

 

A lot of good discussion the past couple pages.

I think what we do will depend on the draft pick, if we keep it, I would expect a lot of big things free agency. If we lose the pick I think we sign one max player, one or two solid role players and then round out the roster with vets and one year contracts to save a max for next off season.