What is your Realistic Target for a taxpayer MLE free agent this offseason.

exactly. if we trade for jimmy, under the hard cap we can use the $5.7M TMLE, and we can fit house non-bird rights ($2M) if he doesn't get a better offer. the rest are vet minimum guys. assuming ego/capela are moved in a S&T for jimmy, i know the obvious choice in to use the TMLE on a center (and they probably will in that case) but i would consider other options because i think we can get serviceable centers for the vet minimum. we don't need expensive centers in our system since they're not asked to do much. i'd rather use the TMLE to go after guys that can score and defend in that price range like markieff, carrol, curry, pope, ellington, mudiay, scott. i think these guys are more talented for the money than the centers available for the TMLE.

give me a combo forward like carrol to split the minutes with jimmy and tucker. sign a vet minimum centers like koufos and KOQ who morey's been after. or luke kornet who fits the 3's and blocks mold. sign house to his non-bird $2M. round things out with a vet backup PG for the minimum like jarian grant.

i think a more realistic opening day roster (assuming a S&T for jimmy) would be something like:

KOQ-Kornet-harty
tucker-carroll-clark
jimmy-house
harden-green
paul-grant-ponds

 

What sucks is that even if we don't get Jimmy, we're in a similar situation, use the MLE and you can't match House if he gets paid or sign any other guy unless he takes the minimum. Some of the guys you named here are probably minimum guys, Koufos, Kornet, Grant, but i don't see them playing much, especially in the playoffs.

 

grant would be the most likely. he's basically the vet minimum austin rivers. 6-5 combo guard, solid handles defense and shooting. but yes probably the minimum guys aren't good enough to play in the playoffs. i'm not concerned so much with losing house since he couldn't earn playoff minutes either. but he would add to our regular season depth if we could keep him.

if we don't get jimmy i'm all in on using the full NTMLE and hard capping us anyway. we need to add the best player we can. while we have an MVP in his prime and a wide open conference. the alternative is to get a lesser player with the TMLE, sign shump to a large 1/yr deal and hope for a trade later. i'd rather have someone like lamb to start the season than hope to make a deadline deal halfway through the season. another alternative if we miss on jimmy is to trade ego/nene/NG guys for love. start with a starting lineup of paul-harden-tucker-love-capela. we'd be over the apron so we can't use the NTMLE to hard cap ourselves. we can use the full TMLE to add a decent 6th man like markeiff, carroll, curry, ellington etc.

so option A is jimmy who gives us the most star power but we would have the least depth. option B is love which is a combination of star power and depth. option C is standing pat and using the NTMLE which probably gives us the most depth.

 

Tbh i'm really torn on Love, would still be some sort of third star but i don't think it's really worth losing Capela and Gordon, for me it's all in on Butler or just keep the same team although i don't think it would be great at this point, but eh, maybe another deal for a very good player could be there going forward...

 

same boat here. gordon and capela is worth giving up for butler. but I can't say the same for Love.

 

@Vivi @YOLO but remember that there is no hard cap when trading for love. we would just have to meet the minimum outgoing salary for love. gordon/nene/NG contracts are enough. add a pick or whatever. the cavs get cap space and a a pick, and gordon who can be flipped for additional assets. you can put a team of paul-harden-tucker-love-capela and still have the TMLE to add a 6th man. depending on how much tax tilman wants to pay we can also sign shumpert to a sizable 1yr deal to trade him and another pick at the deadline for a 7th man. we can keep house as #8. we wouldn't be able to use the NTMLE because that would hard cap us and this starting 5 is already over the hard cap. i have to say i think this trade could be worth it if we miss on butler.

 

Not with an MLE but maybe if they divide it up between a couple players, morey will probably end up with babyneck chandler

 

You know, one of the reasons I've cringed when Deandre Jordan has been mentioned as a Capela replacement is his free throw shooting, but check out his percentages from last season. Not too bad:

2018-19 w/ DAL: 68.2% in 31.1min per game in 50 games
2018-19 w/ NY: 77.3% in 25.9min per game in 19 games

The previous year with the Clippers he shot 58% and all years before that he never was above 50%

 

Tbh now i don't know the excact numbers but i trust you. I mean, if we can get him by only moving one starter (Eric or Clint) that may not be a bad idea, especially if we can either replace Clint with DeAndre or if Eric is not extending his contract, but i think it would still require to also move Hartenstein, Clark, and i really like those guys, i know this may sound picky but eh...so yeah, overall i'm still not convinced but i reconize it may be a good move.

And btw Love seems pretty clearly considered a bad contract at this point, if i move Clint for him i want some assets back from the Cavs.

 

yeah i wouldn't move clint for him but gordon/nene/hart/clark/and the rest of the NG guys. maybe a pick. i would rather overpay love than overpay ego next summer. love is a different level of player altogether. again, not my ideal scenario but i'm willing to acknowledge it as a legit option that would improve our team.

 

Fair enough.

 

all depends on this rumored clint to boston trade. maybe its part of the butler deal, with smart/gordon/Cs pick going to the sixers. either way i'm looking into FA centers a lot more since the clint rumors started heating up.

 

that a tough one. I;m not sure i would want to over pay love who's health has been on the decline the last 3 seasons whereas EG has been steady since his time here. durability counts significantly. KL makes $30 mil per. I dont expect EG to get that

 

@TheSteinLine
The Orlando Magic are preparing a four-year offer believed to be in excess of $90 million to their All-Star center Nikola Vucevic in hopes of completing a deal shortly after Sunday's opening bell in free agency, league sources say

Bamba available?

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27076686/seven-big-questions-heading-nba-crazy-free-agency

Who falls through the cracks?

There is a ton of cap room, but there is also a crazy number of free agents and not a whole lot that differentiates some of them. We are going to take stock on July 10 and say, Wait, wait: Why did Player X get $15 million when Player Y got only half of the taxpayer midlevel exception -- less than $3 million? Why did that guy get the minimum while that other guy got $4 million?

There are tiers. Stretchy power forwards are in short supply; Nikola Mirotic and Marcus Morris are going to get paid. (Morris is my favorite candidate for a "What the Hell Happened?" contract.) A few wing shooters stand above the rest, and will probably require cap room and salaries north of $10 or $12 million (and in some cases, well north of it): Terrence Ross, JJ Redick, Lamb, Beverley, Bogdanovic, maybe Danny Green.

Beyond that? It's wild. What is the market for, say, Wesley Matthews? Garrett Temple? Avery Bradley? DeMarre Carroll? There is very little Carroll buzz. Would you rather have him for one of the baby midlevel exceptions -- $4.8 million for room teams, $5.5 million for tax teams -- or Morris at $15 million? If Utah could somehow snag Carroll as Jae Crowder's replacement for $4.8 million, they could hang onto Derrick Favors instead of waiving him to open cap space for a pricier stretch power forward.

(Utah and Favors -- whose $17.6 million deal for next season is non-guaranteed until July 6 -- have entered into a very delicate dance. Teams are waiting to see if Utah waives Favors. A team with room -- maybe Sacramento -- could claim him off waivers and land a good center on a nice one-year deal.)

Who wants Trey Lyles? Remember him? What about Rondae Hollis-Jefferson? Teams who wait out the initial frenzy are going to find lots of interesting buy-low candidates. Executives and agents expect a lot of players will end up splitting the various midlevel exceptions.

There is no science to this. If one team lusts for a particular fringe guy, they might go for him early with a deal in the $8 million range. Some team might love Noah Vonleh's upside and splurge. That shoves three or four other guys into the "sharing the midlevel" tier. There is a lot of Maxi Kleber buzz. There is minor Alex Caruso buzz. There are murmurs of a Luke Kornet market above the minimum. As always, there is zero Ed Davis buzz.

Go early, and a smart bet in the $8-10 million range on a young player could net a value long-term contract. For those who don't covet anyone specific, waiting will probably have its rewards.

 

If Redick will ask for 10/12M again, Gordon has to be a great target for the Sixers, for that same salary he's a much better player and 4 years younger.

If they let Redick go, take back Gordon, resign Harris and sign Horford they could roll out:

Embiid
Horford
Harris
Gordon
Simmons

Getting Gordon and Horford out of Butler wouldn't be a bad outcome for Phila imo.