Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

I do like Evan Turner's point forward ability. Allows the bench to still run the offense while playing two scoring guards in JC and Lou.

How much money do we still have after Mozgov, JC and the qualifying offers?

 

So I wake up and bam! We sign...Mozgov?...at 4/65?

I'm a few pages behind but how is this good for us?

 

Value. Needs. Last year team option.

Whiteside decided on Heat. Noah got $18 from NY. And we're really not getting looks from anyone else.

We're not waiting on anyone anymore, and building around our kids based on fit.

 

Eh okay. I know he was beastin in the finals last year when they went to him then injuries hit. Hopefully he gets back to that level and makes him worth the money. At least he's somewhat of an upgrade over Hibbert. The team option makes me feel a little better. Yeah it does make sense to just round out the team with pieces instead of swinging for the big fishes. Not that we had a chance with them anyway.

 

Let's go for Chandler Parsons, now for the rest of our money. Not really a fan of his brittleness but from what I learned. yesterday is that we are no longer the NBA glamour franchise. No one wants to play here because everybody are cowards like Dwight. (looking at you Demar you p****)

Hopefully the lure of curvy Hollywood blondes prove more enticing than Portland Wesen

 

Sounds like Parsons and Conley are trying to team up in Memphis.

 

Damn it.

 

This is really misrepresenting our complaints.

Take last year for example. IIRC we didn't have that much room other than one max. We were upset that we tied up our the vast majority of our cap space hoping for Aldridge instead of pushing harder for some of the second tier guys like Monroe, Millsap, Lopez, Middleton, etc. Those are the kind of building blocks we wanted. Imagine if we had Middleton under his current contract. $15 million for a defensive SF who put up 18 points a game on 45% from the field and 40% from 3? Yes, please. Maybe if we gave up on Aldridge and called Middleton up immediately to max him out, he would've came on board.

Nobody was advocating to drop our pursuit of Aldridge to rush into locking up Kosta Koufos at 4 years/$44 million just because we needed a starting center and were paranoid what other centers might get. As it turned out, Koufous's value was quite a bit cheaper than that. (Although I admit, ironically if we did hypothetically pay Kofous above market value last year, we'd probably be better off now ... so maybe that's what we'll be thinking about this Mozgov signing next off-season)

And as it turned out, another starting caliber center became available in a dump. Hibbert was a disappointment, but at the time, we were excited. We brought up advanced stats that showed how great he was of a defensive anchor. We loved the idea of a 7 footer who didn't need the ball in his hands and had a chip on his shoulder. We loved the idea of a big man who was a professional and great teammate with a good work ethic. Kinda like what we're doing now...

And if Hibbert wasn't available, there were cheaper signings if you wanted to turn a back-up C into your starter. Biyombo, Ajinca. People like that. If they dried up, would we really have been worse off this past season letting Tarik take over?

LIke I said, you're misrepresenting our complaints over the past few years. Back to this current off-season which is obviously a different scenario:

I think Mozgov is a serviceable starting center at best. At worst, he's going to be an expensive back-up with bad knees. I firmly believe we could've gotten him for cheaper if we waited to see how things shook out. At least wait and see what the price tag would be for Biyombo. And if we lose that gamble with Mozgov taking the deal we gave him with another team, oh well. I'm confident we could've gotten someone just as potentially effective in a dump. Or if no centers are available in a dump and we see the centers starting to get locked up, THEN you move in for a guy like Zeller, Mahinmi, Leonard, Pachulia, Plumlee, etc who you'd still probably get at a better value than this Mozgov deal.

I know it's not the worst thing in the world because we still have plenty of cap room and we filled a need.

But I really think we could've gotten him for cheaper and I'm wary about his injury history and the fact that he completely fell out of Cleveland's rotation. Moreso than getting Mozgov cheaper, I think if we wanted to rush into locking up a center, there were other options out there that had higher upside than Mozgov at a similar or cheaper price level. I would've rather had Zeller at $8 - 12 million. I'd probably even be happier playing slightly more for Plumlee or Mahinmi than we gave Mozgov.

I guess we'll have to see how these other guys get paid and who else we pick up though.

 

I like Tarik, but he's not as good as Mozgov when he's healthy. He doesn't have near the size, near the overall the offensive game (even though Mozgov is far from great), the overall defensive ability, and because of his big body not the screen setter.

 

Tarik's MUCH more mobile than Moz is and when teams run a small ball lineup, he's an ideal center to play.

He just plays at 100% all the time and works hard. He rolls, he finishes, he plays defense.

 

i agree on Tarik and I'm still a big fan of his, but he has not shown he can be counted on as your starting C. Mozgov has done that. He had down year which has been documented in this thread, but the guy has proven to be a very serviceable big and should fit in perfectly with what we're doing.

 

We're not playing small all the time though. I like Tarik, but he's simply not a starting center or even close. Mozgov is when he's healthy. Black isn't a great defender. Neither is Mozgov, but he's definitely superior when healthy. Look at how much of an impact he had on the Cavaliers when he got there. You think Black could've been had that type of impact? Hell no. With all due respect he's a backup center at best. Mozgov if he gets himself right is a starting center and a solid one at that.

 

I'm sure mitch had reached out to agents to get feelers on players and when whiteside, etc. said no thanks, they had to go to the next guy. Mozgov was it. Throw some extra money at it to get the deal done asap and thats it.

Yeah, not the sighning we were expecting but we were not getting anything better. So what if we overpayed, we're not hitting the cap ceiling anytime soon too.

 

I'm not certain the Lakers really wanted Whiteside. I think journalists were throwing that out there.

Personally, I didn't want the Lakers to pick him up because he is a headcase and has maturity problems. I think he would have been a horrible influence on the kiddos.