So much of this is going to depend on how serious he is about leaving (did he and his agent tell everyone he's going to the Lakers, don't trade for me), does he get on an All-NBA team giving him the option for that super-duper, crazy max with Indiana, and then us getting our pick. If all three break our way, we will probably be able to get away with giving up only the pick and like Clarkson since the Pacers will have zero leverage. That gives us all our other pieces to flip for other players.
Finding a way out of both Mozgov and Deng's deal (but especially Deng's) will be something that could really make or break this summer too. I wouldn't love stretching Deng, but we could do that and clear enough room to guarantee enough room to sign a max player. Again though, a max player is extremely unlikely to sign here without a trade. There's so many moving parts to this thing.
We have the contracts to make two trades actually. Black is a real attractive deal since it's almost 7 million non-guaranteed. That Corey Brewer expiring is nice too. We can trade for George and Butler and still keep that max slot available. A top 3 pick, Clarkson and Black is only 1.5 million off. That gives Indy a top pick, cap relief and a nice 6th man at a reasonable contract under the current CBA. If George is intent on walking and other teams are scared to trade for him, that's a decent return for Bird.
Yeah you can. Butler at SG and George at SF. Butler has spent a lot of time at SG throughout his career - including 67, 57 and 65 starts at SG the three seasons prior to this.
That's all possible, but shedding those contracts makes it MORE possible. Right now, we'd have to juggle kids around to make it work. Say you trade Top 3/Clarkson/Black/2019 1st for George (I'm not positive Indy takes it, but that's fine). Then you have Russell, Randle, Ingram, Zubac, Larry Nance Jr., George, Brewer, Nick Young (cap hold), Deng, and Mozgov, plus a little cap holds gets you to roughly 84-85 million. Say you are able to convince Chicago to take Randle/Ingram/Brewer/Hou 1st for Butler but let's just say it. That still leaves you with: Russell/____ Butler/Nick? George/Deng Nance Jr./____ Zubac/Mozgov and that's about 87 million after cap holds. We're looking at around 14-15 million to spend. Mozgov would be a passable backup Center to me, but Deng is killing us. If Deng was off the books we'd have exactly a max offer to give.
The statement made was: "Butler and George play the same position. Can't have both." That Ingram is considered our future small forward isn't relevant to that particular debate about those two and their ability to play with each other. Unless you phrased it "shouldn't have both" in reference to a potential glut when combined with Ingram - which honestly would be a good problem to have because I don't think we'd be complaining about having too much talent. If the Lakers can get those two and still keep Ingram, then Magic/Rob are geniuses. As for Butler/George playing the exact same game, that's fine by me. I don't particularly see a problem with having two guys who are really good at scoring, shooting, passing and defending.
nah, i want someone who does at least one of those things terribly to help balance the guy that does everything well. #teambuildingabeerstyle
Well we can always re-sign Corey Brewer and just make sure he is always playing alongside George or Butler.
Well if that's your counter-argument against having two versatile All-Stars in their prime, then I guess you win.
Butler and George are two similar players. George is a little bit bigger and a better defender. Butler is a better facilitator. You'd play George at SF and Butler at SG. That said, they can totally play together. Heck, maybe some parts of their games will be amplified cause they don't have to focus so much at something else the entire game.
If we're going to build a big 3, I'd love for 2 of them to be versatile 2 way players like PG & Butler. The 3rd star should be the #1 option. A Westbrook, AD, maybe even Cousins. Competing with the firepower in GS is going to be tough. I like our odds significantly better if 2 of our 3 best players play D like PG and Butler.
As much as the thought of Butler AND George seems fine & dandy, I just think we'd have to give up too much to land Butler anytime in the next couple of years. He's under contract for another year beyond PG at lower old CBA dollars. Plus, though they're all great-to-elite assets, there is some redundancy with PG, Butler, & Ingram all on the roster. It'd be a pretty good problem to have, but I think if we're able to get PG in the fold, we'd then be better served chasing Boogie, Westbrook, or another elite player that has less overlapping skills to what we'd already have on the roster at that point.
