I also doubt we can get Gasol, but he would be perfect. He's skilled, smart, tough, and a high character guy. He plays both sides of the floor and he is a team first guy. He also has a game not based on athleticism, so he will age well.
Gasol is my pipe dream. I'd love to have Marc here in P and G but I don't see him leaving Memphis. LMA is a guy I really like as well but I just don't see how he fits here. He's not a 5. We've got a lot of guys a lot cheaper who can fill out the front line and if we pick up a big in the draft I think we are sitting pretty there. But I wouldn't mind LMA that being said. Guy is outstanding.
I'm noting it mostly because I'd laid out a few scenarios, saw max deals, and had to write them off as pipe. If this frees up even a million or two it makes a world of difference.
Possibly. However, the Lakers usually field a team that operates over the salary cap even if minimally, historically. If they acquire a max level-player, salary cap be damned, they'll put together the best roster possible irregardless of being fiscally responsible.
To the cap space gurus: With the recent news about LMA, is it possible to get both him and Middleton?
So with LMA's actual number being 18.1, we'd have more like 5.6M left in your scenario. Find a team willing to take on Young's 5.2M and we're hopefully in the ballpark to land Middleton. Then still try to get Mo with the Room Exception, 2.9M I believe. I'd love to have the flexibility to keep Ed Davis, but overall I'd be really happy with that offseason. Add LMA, Middleton, Mo Williams, top 5 pick, #27 pick. With some luck we stay healthy and the young guys contribute. Could easily see a playoff run and a very attractive core for the 2016 FA class to join.
^ I don't think that's enough for Mo Williams after the season he's had. I also think we'd have to unload the #27 to get someone to take on Young's salary too. I like where your head is at though.
Short answer: no. Any offer we'd make would be around 4-6 million which would be way too small an amount and he wouldn't even sign the contract.
Short answer - Possible, but very unrealistic and definitely not worth it Long answer - It would take a firesale on our part to land both of them. We would have to trade #27/Young for nothing, Kelly/#32 for nothing and let go of Brown/Sacre. Clarkson (.9) Kobe (25) Randle (3.1) Black (.9) #4 pick - 3.4 million 8 cap holds - 4 million Total - 37.3 million Add in LMA @ 18.9 - 56.2 Add in Middleton @ 11 - 67 million It's just not going to happen. We'd dump 3 assets down the drain (2 picks, Young) for absolutely nothing in return, just for the CHANCE to offer LMA a max deal and Middleton 11 million, which the Bucks would be sure to match.
Either your scenario has us stealing Middleton and having cap room left after to use this exception or you are confusing it with something else... Clarkson (.9) Kelly (1.7) Randle (3.1) Top 5 pick (3.4) Top 27 pick (.9) LMA (18.9) Kobe (25) Black (.9) 4 cap holds - 2 million Total - 57 million Throwing an offer of 9-10 million at Middleton (To have room to use the exception) isn't going to cut it.
Kobe - 25 Young - 5.2 Randle - 3.2 Kelly - 1.7 27th pick - 1 Clarkson - .9 Black - .9 J. Brown - .9 2 Cap Holds - 1 Total - 39.8 Aldridge - 18.9 Middleton -10 That equals 68.7 million. The only scenario that sees us with enough room to grab both LMA and Middleton is if we dump Kelly and lose our top 5 pick in the lottery. LMA/Black Randle/Room Exception Player/Cap Hold 1 Middleton/Young Kobe/Brown Clarkson/Cap Hold 2/27th pick Not a terrible team, but unless Durant is coming the next season to replace Kobe, that team won't win a title. This is why I'm not sure LMA is a good player to go after. I like Love with Randle at the 3 better. Maybe draft Upshaw with our 27th pick if we lose the top 5 pick.
Not sure what you mean about the exception, if we dip below the cap to create cap space to sign free agents, then spend all of that cap space, we get the Room Exception 2.814M next season). If an offer starting at 10M doesn't get us Middleton, we should use the 27th pick to dump Kelly and create an additional 2.8M between the 2(minus cap holds). That leaves us able to offer Middleton a deal starting around 12-13M. His max is 14M I believe, so I don't see how it takes more than that, if it even takes that much. We then try to get Mo with the RE, if it isn't enough it isn't the end of the world. Clarkson looks good enough to atleast split the PG minutes, we don't need to sign a true starting caliber PG in my opinion.
Based off this season, Clarkson is a true starting caliber pg. His PER was almost 17 this season, and that was with him playing very sporadic minutes for the first half of the season. I think we have our starting pg already. The question is should we go after LMA? Honestly, he's not a true center. He'll be on the wrong side of 30 before he plays his first game with us. Love is better choice, IMO, and I think he's cheaper as well.
Unless we draft Winslow/Johnson. Then we...well, I don't know what we do then.If certain sources are to be believed, Monroe is going to the Knicks (not that I'm devastated over that). We're kind of back on the Aldridge/Gasol/or even DeAndre Jordan train if we do that.
JSM mentioned potential back issues with Love in one of these threads. I would still be happy with him and/or Aldridge. I suppose if I had to pick I would prefer Aldridge. Let him play 5 and Randle at 4 and draft Winslow or Johnson.
I'll tell you though, I think this aspect is overstated. What did the FO do? They rewarded Pau with an incredible 3 year 20 mill per extension after he brought us another championship. That very next year, at the start of the extension, Pau started acting weird and went limp on us during Phil's final season. He disappeared in the playoffs and he phoned in much of the year. Yes, we did trade him after we saw that for Chris Paul. It wasn't our fault that Stern and basketball reasons happened. That was a low blow by the NBA and put us on awkward footing with him from then on. Granted Mike Brown didn't use Pau right and Pringles was a straight out jerk to him, but that wasn't the FO's doing per se. We didn't trade Pau for peanuts to whomever, and at the end of it all we still offered him a contract to accompany Kobe's final years for more than anyone else! So I don't see how we "mistreated" Pau in any kind of way. The dude underachieved after getting the big extension and while he was professional in the sense that he kept on with us after the Paul trade got nixed (look at what happened to Lamar Odom's psyche), he still whined and griped all the way through the end of his extension. Marc Gasol would be treated with huge respect here by the FO that had drafted him to begin with.
