Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

Whiteside.

For me, when 2 guys are really close (and they are REALLY close, these 2) give me the guy who is special at one thing.

And Whiteside is VERY SPECIAL at his one thing.

 

Whiteside, but only after his knees check out. Very impressed with young Biyombo though

 

I'm tempted to go Biyombo if only for the "B****Slap Biyombo" meme anytime he blocks a shot

 

Isn't Biyombo 31 years old?

 

He is 23.

 

No way. But maybe he has that Motumbo fountain of youth going for him.

 

He doesn't look old to me:

 

Does anyone know how much the Mid Level Exception is going to be this summer?

I think what's difficult is trying to put a price on some of these players without regretting overpaying them in a few years.

For example, Ian Mahimi is a decent Center who is a free agent. Ideal for a backup big but good enough to be your starting center in stretches where your primary starting center gets injured. If he were a free agent last summer... He probably gets the Mid Level Exception (approx 5.5mil) or up to maybe 7mil, depending if a team wants to overpay a bit.

What would decent, role player type guys that are usually considered MLE caliber get in this summers free agent environment?

 

Houston, especially if they hire MDA.

 

mahinmi will get twice that, minimum. I'm guessing 15 per for 4 years.

 

Anyone else see Ron Artest face similarity in this pic?

 

He looks more like a young Carl Lewis to me .

 

Runs the floor like him comparatively speaking for NBA big men. Yeah I can see that too. What I don't see is thinking he looks like he's 31. That's what LeBron looked like when he came out of high school. Looking better theses days.

 

I have a very specific way of looking at cap room. My two prime goals are to get the best player of the choices while not impacting the ability and flexibility to improve from there, including keeping the ability to acquire a star, max player down the road.

I avoid the philosophical "he's not worth that much money" argument. No one except the surefire max guys are worth philosophically what they will command. Thus, in that environment, they are what they are. The cap environment sets worth, and the possession of the better talent trumps the possession of cap room, provided you can get the room when circumstances dictate.

Similarly, I don't fall for the "he's not worth twice as much as the other guy" argument. Within the parameters I set above, the better player is worth overpaying than the lesser, or combination of lesser players.

Let's use biyombo at 20 million. Is he twice as good as a guy I can get for 10? Or betier than 2 guys who I can get for that in combination? That's the wrong question. If he's better than either guy than I am improved when he plays. And if they platoon at his spot, I am offsetting being better when he plays by getting more minutes from them. But what are my existing alternatives to the second guy combined with biyombo in total? Probably better. And since I have more room than talent, I would rather have the two best guys at 20 (deng and biyombo) than say guys who are 3/4 as good at half the price plus some place holder for the difference.

Omar Little . Mod on LG. Analysis on cap room and spending . Food for thought.