There are a number of good points in _holic's post but I wanted to highlight this one. The tactic of *taking on salary* as a team building tool. _holic says not doing it is not very Morey-esque and he is right. This is where TILMAN steps in, and does not want to put the LT for *extra salary.* Even though it is a TOOL to get a better player later on. If this is the kind of thinking that is going to handcuff Morey, we are in big trouble.
This is where my initial point came from that we should be taking back 2Pat in the deal. He wasn't a good player last year, but he's at least been a playable guy. They have no reason to want to keep him, it would have helped them with the LT and he would have been a useful mid range expiring to aggregate later.
Guys consider this hypothetical........ Let's say OKC did NOT trade Jerami Grant to Denver. Then when the Rockets make the RW trade they have the chance to *add in* Grant to the deal. (that long athletic front court player we covet!) BUT...it puts the Rockets into the LT!!! (oh noes!) And then Tilman deems *Jerami Grant* not a *marquee name* worthwhile to put us in the LT, and thus make sure he isn't included in the deal! THIS.....is the type of thinking that is beyond scary to me.
My educated (amateur) guess: Tilman was indeed open to taking on more salary to add another player, otherwise why did the trade take so long to complete? HOWEVER, his parameters of what he was willing to do were so narrow that it made the job effectively impossible. Iggy, RoCo were deemed not good enough, but if Morey had come back with another big name he would have done it.
See, I believe this take. Would Tilman go over the LT for Jimmy Butler? I believe he would. But there are GOOD players like Jerami Grant, RoCo....guys like that, that I wonder if Tilman would NOT deem *marquee* enough to go into the LT. This is the BIG problem. *HIGH LEVEL ROLE PLAYERS* are difference makers at the margins. But Tilman does not see the VALUE of that player as it relates to the COST of the LT.
Kaboom I wouldn't describe RoCo/Winslow as at the margins however. Those are primary pieces on the same level as Tucker.
Because players like Roco and Jerami Grant can help us win more games but they do not help sell more tickets and they don't increase national media coverage.
I am pretty confident this is the case. Tilman has said before he would go into the tax for the right player. The problem is likely his definition of "the right player". He is still a new owner, so there are growing pains but his handling of everything from the media, to the coaching situation to player acquisition has left a lot to be desired.
This is a bad time to be Kirk Cameron. Harden's window is closing fast. Should have been looking at Family Matter's instead.
Isn't this kind of a loaded question? I don't think there's any such thing as an available player whose team couldn't price us out. But putting that part aside, I also don't really like to do the whole armchair GM thing. I'm not a GM, I'm not on the phone with other GM's, and I don't like to try to assume I know what they're thinking and play pretend with their motivations. I only know players that have been reported available, so Covington obviously and then Kevin Love are the two that make sense. Maybe neither of those guys were available for the right price, like you said, but then there are other guys who may have been available. Another name that has come up is Crowder, logically it makes sense that Memphis would be willing to let him go and take on salary in exchange for draft picks because they're in that stage of team building where they want bad contracts and want a ton of picks. Maybe I am underestimating the difficulty of getting a trade done. I just believe that Morey would have found a deal somewhere that would improve our team, if he was allowed. I think it's likely Tilman did not give him the green light due to financial concerns.
Could also be that this is the first time Daryl has dealt with a brand new NBA owner, or encountered these $$ issues, and he's going to ride it out for a while and see what happens. I don't see him pandering, but at the same time, Tilman is the owner and Daryl is the employee who's job it is to carry out his boss's wishes. If Tilman overrides Daryl's suggestions enough or continues to put money over titles, that could cause him to look for employment elsewhere.
Excellent point! I know all of my friends who buy planes are cheap. Seriously, nobody except an airline would buy a brand new 767. It just doesn't make financial sense. If he had bought an old-as-hell executive jet, that would be a little more disconcerting. Look, we all knew Tilman stretched himself thin to buy the team. None of this should come as a big surprise. A disappointment, sure, but not a surprise.
It is just terminology. I consider guys like Tucker as *high level role players*. My tiers Role Players: Rivers, Green, House High Level Role Players: Gordon, Tucker All Stars: Harden, Westbrook High level role players to me are guys that are very impactful but are not all-star level. I don't throw out the term "stars" cavalierly.
Just between thee'n'me, I'druther a solid piece over a big name: RoCo is solid, Jae is solid. Iggy is...an old name. I haven't learned to trust TF tho other than his stentorian nature his stewardship seems reasonably similar to LA's, but whoever heard from Owner Alexander? That said, I can accept TF not paying the king's ransom in salary+taxes+assets to acquire AI. However, someone pretty solid needs to be plugged'n'played, or might he already be in the House? Or Clark the quark? I can only hope, right...
I left him out specifically because I did not want your opinion of him to taint the gist of my main point.
Is that when DLo goes to the Knixies for 1 or 2 of their 4s? Portis and/or Knox just feel like Dubs-2-B...
