Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

I've been consistent: gimme DeRozan. The only thing struggling in the playoffs might (but 99% sure it won't) is drive his price down minutely.

Good coaches make good things happen with good players. Say what you want, but DeRozan is a two-time All-Star for a reason. He's not "Lou Williams" he's not "Nick Young". I understand he's not perfect, but he's a good player and we can't afford to be turning away good players because of reasons.

A lineup of Russell/Clarkson/DeRozan/Randle/Pick and Roll Center can work just fine. The offense is about motion as well as shooters. Ball AND man movement is something DeRozan can do.

Is he the first and only choice? No. Some days I still prefer Barnes, but some days I realize Barnes hasn't done a damn thing to deserve 21 million dollars. We'll see what happens, but I certainly am not turning my nose to DeRozan.

 

Exactly my concerns as well, not to mention the fact that has been so disappointing in these playoffs.

This isn't the NBA draft where you are looking just for the best talent available. It's free agency and you are committing to this player for a max contract for a significant number of years. You better be sure he's a good fit as well.

 

I wonder if the front office is looking at Golden State and saying to themselves, "Why bother wasting money on this mid-tier guys who will get max deals this summer, when no matter what we do, GS will own this league for the next 2-3 years." There is a part of me that dreads giving up ANY of our young pups because even trading for Butler and signing Durant and let's say Whiteside isn't enough to put us in their league.

 

All signs point to them doing the opposite actually and hoping our young guys are ready to step up when the GS dynasty ends.

 

So you're saying the exact opposite in that they ARE going to hold onto all our guys? Or that they are going to trade them all? I'm saying that they are thinking about just punting and not committing a lot of money to guys that aren't really stars and just hoping our young guys step it up in about 4-5 years and battle yearly with the Timberwolves.

 

I thought your point was you were worried they'd trade all the young guys. I don't think they're looking to trade any honestly. They might move the pick for a veteran, but what I'm seeing and reading is that they like the Young Four and want to build around them.

 

No. I was kind of saying that the front office may not sign anyone and wait for the core to develop rather than sign people like DeRozan to 1/3 of our cap. I can see why my first post was confusing as I followed up what I thought the front office might be thinking with me dreading them doing the opposite of that.

I'm not sure I would be that upset if we punted. I think getting a real coach in here and signing a couple solid veteran free agents would be enough to make me happy. Horford or Deng to 3 year deals or something like that and then wait to fight it out in 4-5 seasons with Minny.

 

As I said in the NCAA/draft thread, if our pick ends up being #3, we should trade it for one of Philly's 3 centers. They are all 3 better than what we could draft at #3, but Philly has to move one or even two of them so they might except at Hield or Brown or Dunn for Noel swap. But as I said, I was on the Biyombo train big time, but he might get max money at this point, and he is NOT worth max money. Watching Ed Davis in the Portland series and seeing he's locked in at less than 7 million per REALLY stings right now.

 

Even with the cap jump, he's not worth more than 12-15 per season to me. I don't think he's good enough to be a full time starter on a championship team unless he has studs everywhere else on the court. So paying your backup or half of your center platoon 20% of your cap is a little asinine to me. I know people will have money lying around this offseason, but what if Randle and Russell make huge strides and Durant and Westbrook wanted to team up here next offseason, but we signed a bunch of dudes like Bazemore and Biyombo to 20 million dollar deals? It's not impossible. As long as our young pups are who we think they are, we don't NEED to go out and sign mediocre talent for gobs of money. If our young pups aren't who we think they are, it doesn't matter anyway.

 

I don't know. I think Durant signs a one and one making him and Westbrook free agents the same season (next offseason). They have to know that their team is pretty much stuck where it is and OKC can't go over the cap. It's why I think there is a really decent chance we could lure them both here next offseason as long as Russell and Randle (and maybe Clarkson as well) make some big strides. If Biyombo is the ONLY big free agent we sign, a 2 year max with an option on the third year is something I could get behind, but we would need to have the cash to sign Durant and Westbrook to max deals the next offseason. It's why I'd rather flip that 3rd pick for Noel. He would be up for his qualifying offer and his cap hold would be low.

 

I don't think "punt" is the right word, but I could certainly see the Lakers paying short-term HIGH dollar contracts. One of the candidates there could be Biyombo.

At this point I'd be shocked if he gets anything below 18 million a year. Sounds nuts I know, but the numbers this summer are game changing. I could easily see him getting 2/40 million or something like that.