2016 Rumor Mill: Trades and Players to Watch

We're just going to differ on this. I know its not a popular opinion but this is just how I feel regarding Barnes or Demar. Lord knows I'll be watching Demar like a hawk this year because I want him to prove me wrong.

 

Thank you for posting this

 

Psh now it's cool to want Demar Derozan. I wanted him this summer and was told mostly that it was a bad idea.

 

"Can't shoot."

 

Last few years, or even earlier this season, do I want Derozan, probably not, but this isn't then. I've seen how bad we suck, the cap is going up, and we desperately need talent. You sign talent now and worry about it later. We need to get back to respectable before we get back to good or great. Even if Derozan didn't work out, he's an asset, a trade piece, where we have almost none of that right now. We need some Eddie Jones/Van Exel talent before we can get to Shaq and Kobe, gotta start somewhere. I don't even hesitate to sign Derozan, he's pretty much all-star caliber, and then as mentioned we still have another max contract to give, and a little left over. You add 2 very good players to Russ, JC, Randle, Lou, Nance, maybe Bass if he stays, maybe Hibbert as a backup, you've got something building.

 

Yup, sign me up. The sample size for Whiteside has gotten big enough for me now. 12 points, 11 boards, and 4 blocks. Put him next to Russ and JC and see those PPG go up too.

 

Oh definitely I agree. Barnes is a guy I think fits almost perfectly. Athletic, can play good defense, can create just a little bit, and can shoot well from outside. I love his fit going forward with our young guys. However, as an RFA I don't have much confidence that he'll make it out of GS and I think the Lakers will shoot for two of the UFAs first.

I think the Lakers get one. They've got simply too many options and too much money to miss on absolutely everyone. I think we'll get the one guy (Derozan is still a solid bet) and then we won't see a big scramble for anyone to come join him.

 

I was thinking the same thing. With the cap jumping sooooo much this season, I think there will be more than 1 or 2 teams that end up doing the "pay out the difference to the other players" thing.

 

The minimum will be set somewhere near 80 million dollars. We'll have to spend 50-ish million just to get to the minimum.

The way I see that resolving though is giving a large chunk to Clarkson and letting that be one of our major chunks. Then we'll still have roughly a max slot the next summer as well.

The key though is getting SOMEONE this summer.

 

Oh. I know what our plan is. I'm just commenting on wcsoldier's comment about getting to that minimum. If we strike out on the major players, we may end up spreading the wealth. I think there may be a few teams that have to do that just because there will be so many teams struggling to find someone to pay 20 million to. It's not just us. If Kobe wasn't retiring I'd just say, we strike out on everyone, Kobe gets a massive one year deal. But it is conceivable that we won't come close to the cap minimum. Derozen, Horford, Whiteside, Durant, Batum, Conely...who else is out there we would entertain giving a contract large enough to get to the cap minimum?

Not saying it's what I want or anything, it's just an interesting offseason with the cap jump that may see a few teams finish below the minimum.

 

Ryan Anderson I hear could get close the max.

There's guys like Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Al Jefferson, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, and Jeff Green who could work their way into big paydays.

Others that could get bigger money than you'd think or maybe could be had for better value who knows?:

Evan Turner, Luol Deng, Brandon Jennings, Roy Hibbert, Jamal Crawford, Zaza Pachulia, Joe Johnson, Timofey Mozgov, Jeremy Lin, JR Smith, Eric Gordon, David Lee, Dwayne Wade, Chandler Parsons, and Greivis Vasquez.

There's also Restricted guys like: Andre Drummond, Harrison Barnes, Bradley Beal, Terrance Jones, and of course Jordan Clarkson.