I wouldn't give Batum a max contract. He will get paid, though, if he has a productive year. Next year, should be solely about upgrading our SF deficiency.
We also need a starting center as well if Hibbert doesn't pan out or decides on somewhere else. Options.
I honestly don't think we're going to get Durant. I hope I'm wrong. I also think DeRozan stays in TOR and Horford stays in ATL. Our biggest move next summer could be re-signing Hibbert (or another rim protector) and getting someone to play the 3.
I am holding out on that right now. I want to see if we can find a defines role or Hibbert on this team moving forward. More importantly, I want to see if Upshaw can keep his head on straight, be productive, and be apart of our center rotation.
I'm thinking re-sign Hibbert and go after Batum probably. Or better yet, we could see a trade go down at some point this season that flips our needs around a bit. Another name that could be interesting is Parsons if he's healthy. Just on his ability to recruit guys, I'd like to talk to him
The cap goes sky rocketing and the free agent class is a little lack luster. We have the luxury of going after a max player while going after other FAs as well. Centers: Roy Hibbert Joakim Noah Al Jefferson Nene Al Horford JJ Hickson Timofey Mozgov Andre Drummond (R) Tyler Zeller (R) Festus Ezeli (R) Hassan Whiteside Power Forward: David Lee Ryan Anderson Terrence Jones (R) Chris Anderson Amare Stoudemire Miles Plumlee (R) Erson Illyasova Small Forward: Kevin Durant Nicolas Batum Jeff Green Danilo Gallinari (R) Luol Deng Micahel Kidd-Gilchrist (R) Harissson Barnes (R) Evan Turner Danny Granger Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant Joe Johnson Dwayne Wade OJ Mayo Bradley Beal (R) Jamal Crawford Courtney Lee Dion Waiters Poing Guard: Mike Conley Rajon Rondo Brandon Jennings Damian Lillard (R) Jordan Clarkson Beno Udrih Gary Neal Ramon Sessions FA if Opt Out: Chris Paul Dwight Howard Demar Derozan Chandler Parsons Dirk Nowitzki Jeremy Lin Pau Gasol Lebron James Mo Williams Deron Williams Lance Stephenson Brandon Bass Kevin Martin Arron Afflalo Some of the interesting names. Only a few players worth maxing but some solid guys.
We really need to fix some holes on our teams, especially at the 2 and 3 positions. Sadly, I don't see much potential through free agency unless we make some trades or get Durant. Durant is obviously the biggest free agent next year. Aside from him though, we need some solid role players who can defend, create plays off the ball, and/or knock down open shots. Our options are very limited though. DeRozan's an okay player, but does he fit the description that I described? I don't think so. He's probably going to get paid a lot more than we'd be willing to dish out. Also, is he really worth any more than Batum, who would probably fill our needs a bit better? Then, there is Horford and Conley. I like them both. I really like Conley, but we don't really have a roster spot for him unless we trade away Russell. We can probably use Horford, but once again, unless we're trading away Randle, our main needs are at the 2/3 spots. At those positions, this is the list I see: 1. Durant - The only superstar in this free agency. He also fills a position of need. 2. Parsons - 2nd best option. Also, he comes with the added bonus of magically convincing big free agents to join his team. 3. Batum - probably our 3rd best option 4. DeRozan - not the best fit 5. Henderson - Not that good. 6. Beal - Restricted 7. C Lee - He will be 31 8. H Barnes - Restricted 9. Turner - Just sucks 10. Lamb - Restricted
Durant? Yes, make a pitch. Make it a good one unlike the bombs that we reportedly have presented. Now, will he consider us? Probably. Will he sign? No. He stays in OKC...my take. There is no player out there other than Durant that can be the "face" of the franchise. Take solid vets that can make the team competitive, develop the kids and go from there...
I don't see us signing Durant. I see us trying but I don't see it happening. This team will show improvement but 35 wins is about the ceiling and quite a bit has to go right for that. OKC will be in a position to improve with the new higher cap and their starting point will be a lot higher than ours. I'd love it if we added a couple younger names that we scout up rather than just go for the "franchise face" again and again. The Hibbert acquisition was a good one for us but I don't believe for a minute it was strategic from an ownership perspective other than getting to the minimum contract amount and having some upside from the move. We will see. If he plays great and we don't re-sign him until after we wait 3 weeks on Durant will be the test. I think getting Williams was going to be a swap for Swaggy as a scorer off the bench. Problem is that we can't get rid of Swaggy it seems. I still don't see any real strategy of building a team other than "all in" for the next franchise player. I really hope that one of our youngsters takes a leap this year. Maybe then they will concentrate on building a team.
Strategy for next summer is to make the right selection with the 1-3 pick we will likely have. Seriously, barring injuries to Kobe and another key player like Hibbert/Williams/Bass I don't see that happening. If Kobe has a very good year and stays healthy, they have a decision to make there but I don't see another big or even medium contract for Kobe regardless of what he does this season. If he can adjust his game like Pierce has done, maybe move to SF, play inside more and be more of a play maker and take waaaay less be I don't know if his pride can stomach that. Pierce did a 3 year 10 mil deal with the Clips. I think Kobe should look to something along those lines but go year to year or options on each year. The Lakers rewarded his loyalty already, as well as they could based on the financial climate of the NBA. Really, it's time and he should move on just based on the recent injuries. Everyone next year is going to be looking for a payday. It's going to be tough because so many teams are going to be wagging paper in player's faces. And, they are saying the cap will probably reach 108 mil in 2017. Clarkson has to be resigned, with the cap increase and assuming he continues to do well, his agent is going to want a bounty for him. The center issue may resolve itself as a number of things may happen. My personal hope is that Upshaw develops and we can get Hibbert back on a reasonable deal for maybe 2-3 years. That all depends on the performance of each. I won't at all be surprised to see Boogie's name and the Lakers continue to be thrown around from now, until the deadline or/if until a deal happens. In FA, I don't see how there is any other way to see it, you've go to go all in on Durant unless he indicates he won't leave or come here. Get Westbrook to return home to LA the following year. They both come to LA and work out in the summer already.
If Hibbert proves himself, re-sign him. Go after Durant with all you got. This team is made for him. If not, try to find another wing to carry the load, but we need someone to lead the team, instead of Kobe. Our young guys are way too inexperienced for that. Other than that, find solid role-players, fine-tune the team. Just continue building the team, basically. If we don't get Durant, we're not going to become a feared team overnight. Durant would help us immensely.
Assuming we have enough for 2 1/2 MAX Slots, I throw the max at Harrison Barnes as soon as possible. Yeah Warriors likely match, but at least force their hand since we don't have the same issue as this offseason where it would tie up all our money for 3 days waiting. Worth a shot.
Yeah I think the steps are fairly simple. Re-sign Hibbert to a reasonable deal if he plays well enough. If not, go after Noah. Blitz Durant with everything we've got, bring along Kobe and Magic to sell what it means to be a star. Bring at most ONE exec for a short business presentation. Bring in your new analytics department. Do everything quickly and smoothly. Practice it once for God's sake. After that move on to guys like Batum, DeRozan, Parsons if he is able to recover. We need a wing. I think we can get away with less than max on Batum and Parsons. In that case, bring in another solid veteran PF if Bass opts out.
Yeah, I think you pretty much covered everything. Next offseason will determine our future: are we going to be n instant playoff contender or at least a fun "pretender" team, or are we going to build more slowly and wait for our youngsters to explode?
We will target him, you have to. But he won't come here. If he leaves, he goes to DC or Miami. After that, get Parsons (if healthy) or Derozan. I'd go after Horford, if we're looking for help up front. Can play either spot with any combination of bigs. Even if you add him to the Hibbert and Randle front line, no one's PT would suffer. I'd consider Noah if he returns to form and stays healthy next year, but only if Hibbert leaves. Otherwise you're ridiculously limited offensively.
I hope we actually pursue a NBA level small forward. Just about anyone is better than what we've been seeing at that position. This is why the Nance pick is sticking out to me. Why go after a hustle guy there? That's the type of pick you make when everything else is addressed. We have a massive hole at SF going forward. I hope we just pass on the Durant drama and concentrate on filling in the team around what we have. He will be looking for an instant contention spot and even if everything goes fantastic for us this year we will still be a 35 to 38 win team with 5 or 6 key open positions to fill.
There's really no question, we will go after KD first. The question is who is the 2nd max player we target along with KD and who is our backup plan at SF if KD stays or goes to Washington. For me, it's really going to depend on what we see from our young guys. For instance, if Russell is still struggling by the end of the season, I go after Conley. JC I have no doubts about, he will be our SG after Kobe. If Randle struggles, there isn't much we can do, as there isn't much depth at PF in next summer's FA class. I know many will point to Horfort, but I don't trust him to stay healthy. What's going to happen with Hibbert? If he has a season like his good years in Indiana, he'll get max offers starting at 25M or more. I believe having his rights will allow us to make our signings and then go over the cap to keep him, but we will have to keep his cap hold on the books if that's the case. If he struggles, maybe we go after Noah. Backup plans at SF if KD doesn't come, Batum would be a great piece but not for the max. Other than that it's mostly RFA's that we probably won't even bother with. Harrison Barnes and MKG top the list. Honestly, I'm not expecting much out of 2016 FA. I think we go all in for KD. If we don't get him, we make half hearted pitches to the Conleys, Horforts, Batums. Mitch ends up pulling a trade out of his sleeve, we sign a few more gems like Lou, and we wait for the next FA class with multiple franchise players in 2017. Curry, Westbrook, CP3, Biff, Ibaka just to name a few. With a clearer outlook on our young guys, Kobe's future, our C situation, I expect this to be the season we finally land a big name FA.
As we found out this year, having max cap space doesn't necessarily mean that you "sign" someone. We can also absorb a big contract in a trade. My expectations are that we go all in for Durant and wait it out while he shops his services for 10 days or so. Twitter will be ablaze as will a 3 to 4 hundred page thread here. In the end he will stay home IMHO. They will have money as well to better their team. I hope we get creative and go another route but if anything Mitch and the owners are consistent... they want a new face of the franchise before they fill in the holes with any contracts that cannot be cleared easily.
First of all the league needs to see if his career is going to be jacked up by his foot. There is a LOT of concern about that.
