Has Morey found a taker(s) for Jeremy Lin? (Speculation on possible deals)

Thomas is a very good player ..... for his size. But he's not a long-term starting caliber point guard in this league. He's too small. Sacramento does not want him as a starting PG. They'd gladly take him as a plug off the bench for the right money.

Sacramento wants a legit starting point guard. And Lin may be one of the best starting point guards they can acquire for basically nothing but dead salary. And that would in turn give them leverage with Thomas. Thomas wants a starting role and Sacramento doesn't want him as a starter. See the problem?

 

While I think Melo most likely doesn't pick up his option I can see the possibility of him picking up his option. I don't think that's quite a done deal. Melo ideally wants to win championships and he'd like to be in NY or LA. It's not happening in NY so he's most likely going to force his way out. Phil will have done an incredible sales job if he gets Melo to opt in and stay or opt out and re-sign there long-term.

The possibilities of Melo opting around and being traded are there however because Melo may decide to play out the current deal and then re-assess after next season...especially if Lebron and Co. all re-up for another go around. If those guys all re-up in Miami then Melo may not opt out and hope to reconvene his free agency in 2015 along with Lebron.


The leak came from Morey even if Fegans is the one that gave it to Woj. Wake up man. Morey is the decision maker here. Only way that decision gets out is Morey lets it out. Woj isn't going to press with something that Fegans just makes up. Morey may have told Fegans and Fegans told Woj. Doesn't matter the trail it went through to Woj. What matters is the source. Morey is the source. And here's the kicker. The ONLY WAY Parsons gets paid this summer is if Morey can acquire that third superstar or at least have deals agreed to to acquire that third superstar signed on a long-term deal this summer. That means Melo or possibly Lebron or Bosh signed to a long-term deal. That's the only way Parsons makes it to restricted free agency this summer. Parsons won't get restricted free agency if there is not a 3rd superstar acquired and he won't get to restricted free agency if there is a superstar acquired with only 1 year left on his deal. So Morey and Fegans are mostly aligned here. Fegans undoubtedly wants to get a deal done and Morey wants to get his own deal done.


If Morey goes through with restricting Parsons, it will be because there is already a deal done. The deal(s) will already be consumated before July 1 or they will be announced as done to be consumated after the July moratorium when the salaries change and/or draft picks signed, etc. etc. But it will be a done deal.

Morey will not restrict Parsons and pay him this off season if he does not have a deal or deals in place to land a 3rd superstar or at a bare bones minimum land enough assets and expiring/non-guaranteed salary by moving out players and current assets that he knows he can generate a sign-and-trade next off season. And the second part is an extreme long shot.

 

Most of my scenarios don't have Asik and Lin traded to the same place. I think it is most likely they go separate directions with the possible exception of a team like Philly.

You're talking about Lin to Philly. Philly ain't interested in Lin. They perhaps MIGHT take Lin if we gave them Asik and a pile of other assets. Philly wants Asik without Lin ideally or POSSIBLY with Lin if they can get enough assets to build their team out.



But good points. And we are working our ways towards what I think Morey will do to try to acquire Love.

 

I do believe the Sixers rumor but I'm convinced the Sizers are wanting to get Exum plus whomever falls of Wiggins or Parker. Exum has superstar potential. Doesn't mean he'll be a superstar. But he's the kind of talent that a lottey team has to take a shot at if they can get him. I think Orlando understand this and if Exum is on the board at #4 I think Orlando gobbles him up and never looks back. If that happens, there is simply no motivation for Philly to go after #5.

However.....if Philly throws caution to the wind and drafts Exum at #3 and then Orlando is staring at Wiggins or Smart THEN I think there may be the possibility of a trade to Orlando. Orlando can either take Smart as their pick if they really like him (I doubt it. Just not the right fit with Oladipo.) or they could take Wiggins and try to move him to the 3 (another mistake since Wiggins has ideal size for SG) or they could be staring at a mother lode trade from Philly with Philly giving them MCW, #10, #25 (from us) plus possibly another asset for #4 where Philly can then take Wiggins.

Or if Philly takes Exum and Orlando passes on Wiggins for Smart then a trade could possibly unfold with Utah at #5 involving other pieces along with #10, #25, etc. that would allow Philly to land Wiggins at 5.


This is why I listed Philly as a possible destination for both Asik and Lin together. And I think it's probably the only real scenario that I can think of right now where we could ship off Asik and Lin together.

However that trade would essentially have to be a two-part trade with the picks exchanging hands on draft night and the actual players (Asik/Lin/Jones/DMo) being traded after the moratorium when Philly has the cap space to take them in.

The deal would essentially be Asik/Lin/#25/whatever other assets to Philly for cap space. Philly would need #25 and perhaps DMo and/or Jones to snag the pick they are likely trying to get so they can draft both Wiggins and Exum.

or

The deal could be announced on draft day with a future consummation date after the July moratorium. This would require everybody to draft the players the other team needed and hold them for 30 days after signing them to complete the trade. And this is also a possibility that would give Morey maximum flexibility to morph the trade into something even better.

 

Generates 2 separate TPE's in the amounts of $8.374 million and $1.4 something million.

 

You must be a New York Yankee fan. (What have you done for us in the last 10 minutes? Booooooooooooooooooo.)

 

There are several team that will gladly take Asik into their cap space (or exception) for nothing or possibly for a decent draft pick.

Lin is the player that we will have to send out assets with to get a team to take on....unless we find an ideal situation.

I listed Sacramento first in my possible list of destinations for Lin. I think that is a distinct possibility.

 

If Morey did not want that public.....it would not be public fins. He would have simply not told a single soul. Not Fegans. Not anybody in the front office. Nobody. But Morey did tell it. Because he wanted it to be public. Morey is not stupid enough to intentionally give an agent leverage. There's no way around it. Morey leaked it and he leaked it for a reason. It's all a part of the game.

 

That is one possibility for Lin.


The other possibility for Lin is to trade him for a player that can more easily be combined with Asik and moved away. That's why I brought up Derrick Williams. Ending contract. A little over $6 million instead of $15 million. It'll be much easier to move a guy like Derrick Williams out with Asik than it will be to move Lin out with Asik.


Here's another scenario.

Let's say Morey knows that he can move Lin for Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova makes $7.9 million a season but he's owed for 2 more seasons plus a $400,000 buyout in 2016 ($16.2 million total). Milwaukee, not really having a place for Ilyasova any longer and needing a point guard could trade Ilyasova for Lin straight up.

Once again, Ilyasova is more likely to be moved with Asik to a different team for nothing. OR....Ilyasova could be a piece to trade for Love or Melo directly. Specifically Love. Rubio needs shooters around him big time as Minnesota becomes Rubio-centric with the departure of Love.

On the other hand if we are stuck with Ilyasova and can't move him...he is serviceable for a season...and if we want to play in 2015 free agency we can either use his salary outgoing to generate a trade or we could, under the worst circumstances waive him and spread his cap hit over 3 seasons and still create max space.

Now...Lin for Ilyasova is not something that Morey would likely do before July 1 UNLESS he had a team willing to take Ilyasova off our hands. But after July 1....if we can't get our 3rd superstar....then this is a real possibility.