When i think about the off-season moves this team can make, I am pretty impressed with how flexible we are. We may not have the best assets or the most desirable contacts , but we we do have a pretty wide range of contracts and assets. Making a move for a 3rd star is always been Morey's goal... as it should be. We have multiple combinations of contracts that add up to his " opt in" salary. Gordon is probably our most valuable contract ( outside of harden lol) and along with nene ( who is likely to retire and at the very least is expiring) is the exact type of package every team in the league wants. We can add pick if we have to , but shouldn't have to . The thing here is that we probably prefer to keep Gordon. Clint's contract is about the same amount per year. He is another one of our more valuable contracts. Say butler only would come here if he gets the current max. Moving Cp3 isn't out of Morey's logic if he thinks Butler is an upgrade at # 2. Moving Cp3 is a move that has been discussed hotly here. I'll just say that i think that its possible to move him. I think the fact that he only has 3 more years left is potentially less risky than signing another 40 million dollar player for 4 or 5 years. Cp3 is what he is at this point. He's not a #1 , and he can be a #2 at times, but is more like a 2.5 , meaning his play is starting to fluctuate a bit more. Here's the thing... I don't think he falls below a # 3 for the rest of the contract. His skills are too high and even if his body breaks down more, during the regular season the intensity level is low enough that he can operate as a solid # 3 at all times. Do you wanna pay 40 million for that.. ? No, but i can see a team being in a situation where that's an OK move/ step. A young team with developing stars could benefit from his experience and would help them post a stronger regular season. This in turn gives their developing players better playoff experience. You can go over the cap to keep your own stars if their deals expire , and after 2 years of Paul his contract becomes and expiring. Maybe a situation pops up where another declining star becomes available but hes still better than Paul and the other team prefers to have the shorter contract. A lot of "Ifs" But here's the thing. We have the range of contracts and assets to make a bunch of different moves happen if the situation lines up. I think , in general, in the NBA .. things lining up is fairly rare... so its best to have the flexibility to make as many different moves as possible. In the end, the price may be too high because, for example, while we do have access to our draft picks.... those picks will likely not be that great. We don't have that many assets that are great for their category. Although Eric is a pretty nice piece, and Clint is above average for his contract. I dont know if anything will come to fruition. But i think there are exciting scenarios that exist to really change it up. And we are in position to be players if the price is right. That in and of itself is impressive GM'ing. When you add Shumpert's crazy possibilities in it gets a little silly haha.
