Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

John Ireland says his source said that Atlanta won't max Horford.

 

Yup. Exactly.

 

The mood went down from Broussard's tweet and ding's article because the Lakers free agency strategy for the past couple years has been to sacrifice all to get the top free agent. Those sources, and recent history, suggest that the strategy will not work this year again because the top free agent likely will not even give the Lakers a meeting.

We will probably have Groundhog Day next year at this time with Westbrook.

 

I'd take him too. Broussard's comment on him is that he is 30yrs of age and therefore would want to win now. So he may not be inclined to come to a young team. He didn't say which team he would try to go to because you know Broussard wouldn't know anyways. Ha

 

Can not max Barnes. He is not a max player. Max Whiteside is worth the risk. If Toronto doesnt max Derozan, I would guarentee he is coming to LA if LA gives him the max. If the Lakers get DD and Whiteside. It's a huge win for the offseason and everyone can eat (bleep) out there.

 

I do too but Horford will want to go to a team that will have a shot at a title right now.

 

I think it's a $30MM difference between a max 4yr vs max 5yr contract. I can't see a player leaving $30MM on the table. I now think the lakers would max Derozan if Toronto doesn't. Frankly, I'll take anybody that can shore up a position on this young team. Still looking forward to a fun season, can't be worse than the Scott era.

 

If we do strike out on all of those "top" tier FAs, going to be very interesting to see how we spend this amount of cap.

 

Lakers are gonna need some luck still. If Heat cant give Whiteside the max and Toronto the same with Derozan, I see the Lakers coming out with a bang July 1 with max contracts for both. The good thing is, they are only 4 year contracts so Lakers aren't strapped for almost a decade with a bad contract if they don't perform.

I am not too worried really. If Russell and Ingram turn into All-Star's, it's game over for the league.

 

Mason & Ireland are discussing this topic right now. Mason thinks that anonymous quote from Ding's article "I can't believe Dirant would not talk to us" is desperate and "embarrassing". Ireland is combating Mason's view. Both think Jim would likely have made that statement. No one knows for sure though. It's a good discussion.

 

That's interesting. They'll probably try to talk him into taking less and improving the team elsewhere.

 

which championship contending team has max money to throw at him?

he's 30 and this will be his last major contract...we have a legit shot at him and like TRD said, i prefer him over Whiteside


we dont need a Wade to police Al Horford...he also doesn't tweak one if his knees or shoulders every other week like Hassan...at 30, he can provide good veteran leadership, be a great locker room presence

and with Luke's system, he provides a 5 that can stretch the floor and hit the 3