Been pretty up and down. Lots of games in the 20s and below. Several in the 50s and above. Either way, I think the Asik trade sheds some light on what Morey thinks of Anderson........a good player, but not good enough.
Yep, same. I also recall that he was having a pretty good year, carried the team a few times while Gordon, Evans & Jrue were having a brickfest. Think the jury's still out on that one.
I hate the contract amount of Bosh, but as a player, I still think he would be a fantastic fit as 3rd wheel here. Does he make us a very, very serious contender for 4 years? I think so. Acquire Bass for TPE (give a 2nd + Lull) Wait until trade deadline: Flip Bass + salary (Paps and Terry?) + a talent (Jones or Motie - no point keeping both if we are getting Bosh) for Bosh. No need to give them a pick, they can see that what they have isn't a contender, and Miami wants to be a contender. Gives them a chance to exit a big contract, and be FA players for both of the next 2 summers (ie, max contract available this summer, and max space available again the following summer)
The deadline is for the ability to trade that player before the February deadline. That plus the comment that Morey is looking for best-available-player means that he is not trying to fill a current need. Just the best value asset he can get for the trade deadline. People getting all excited about who we are going to get is just a waste of time. The real player we want won't come until the trade deadline.
10 and 11? What if they aren't in the EC playoff hunt in late January? Pickup a talented young big man, and be major FA players, OR, pay Bosh for 4 more years. Didn't they only keep him so they would remain 'relevant' in the Eastern Conference? Everyone else is on a 2 year deal. So could retool immediately in the FA class of Aldridge/ Marc Gasol. Then swing for the Durant fences the following summer. Miami TEND towards major plays, so I wouldn't put it past them?
Not so. The strategy is clear to me here as of Woj's tweet. It matches up with what I've been thinking regarding always being opportunistic. This team is close. We all know it. And if we know it. Morey knows it. We are very close to being able to legitimately go for the ring. And Morey is ready to hit the luxury tax button to turn this team into a top contender this year. The opportunity lies in salary dump style trades. Such as Rondo/Wallace or Lopez/Garnett or possibly Melo or possibly some pile of salary from Denver or Detroit or Charlotte....teams that as we push towards the deadline realize it's time to get cheap since they are going to be lottery-bound. The opportunity with Boston and Rondo is obvious. But the catch up until now has been he might not fit in the locker room, etc. Well, that was waaaaaaay back there just a few short weeks/days ago when we didn't know what this team had in them. But now we know. We know DMo is a prime time rotation piece that can hold down the middle when Dwight sits. We know Canaan can flat-out ball. We know Bev is Bev. We know Ariza fits like a glove. We know Kostas is coming. We know Black is improving in his garbage man role and is actually playing very effective pick-and-roll defense for us. We know the core is here. And one more great player and a side piece or two just may be enough to do the trick. So back to Rondo...he's expiring. We are probably going to be able to package together a decent package of expiring contracts plus a couple young players plus a future first round draft pick (maybe 2) but not the Pelies pick and not DMo....and we can take back Wallace with Rondo. Nobody is likely to give Boston more than that for Rondo. They simply aren't in a position to take the risk of doing so. But we are. We can take the risk of bringing in Rondo for the balance of the season and see how it works out down the stretch. It either will work and Rondo/Harden/Dwight will figure it out and get along. Or it won't work out and at the end of the season it will be clear that Rondo has to move along. Well...guess what....we'll be able to let him walk. We've still got the Pels pick and DMo and Bev. Or we'll be able to sign-and-trade him in a more likely scenario to a contender where he wants to go and win. Maybe Charlotte at that time or even the Pelies or perhaps even Dallas, etc. The point is we wouldn't be stuck with him if we traded for him at a price that didn't cost us our future trade/free agent flexibility. ------ Same thing with Brooklyn. We could afford to take on Lopez and the $30 million he is owed this season and next and even take on Garnett. (A little more complicated than Rondo/Wallace but doable just the same.) Denver - McGee the salary dump. Plus either Gallo or Mozgov or possibly Lawson Detroit - Smith, Jennings, Drummond for expirings and the Pels pick (since they'd have to give up Drummond to get a deal done) Charlotte - Lance, Henderson, Zeller for expirings/Terrence/future first (not Pels pick). Big Al is hanging there too. With a player option on next season. Knicks??? - What if all hell does break loose there between PJax and Melo and what if Melo does an about face and realizes he not only isn't winning a championship this year but not anytime soon and he hates the triangle and begs out. Look....there's no better landing spot for Melo if he wants to go to a contender and nobody is going to offer the Knicks more than we would for Melo to be our starting 4. And...on top of that I believe Melo has a no-trade clause. We send Knicks expirings, the Pels pick, Terrence, etc. and bring Melo on board. I'm sorry but Bev/Canaan, Harden/Daniels, Ariza/Garcia/, Dwight/DMo/Black, and Melo/DMo is going to flat-out annihilate the 3-point shooting record books. I'm not saying Melo is going to change his mind. But....the possibility is there. Minnesota Timberwolves - another lottery bound team that needs to shed payroll and has pieces (Rubio/Brewer, etc.) that could turn us into a championship team. I don't know if they'll finally figure out that it would wiser for them to break down their high salary guys, pick up some extra picks and go to the lottery and grow as a young unit. But there's a possible opportunity here. Pacers - small market team always struggling to make money. They're probably out of it in the East. So....deadline comes around, they know they are going to the lottery.....do you think they'd turn loose of David West if they could dump George Hill and get back expirings and a youngster or two? And would we be willing to take on George Hill's contract? Well, if we had that Pelies lottery pick to use to shuffle Hill's contract off with if we needed to then no problem. Pelies - Here's where it really gets interesting. Think about this one for a moment. Eric Gordon (salary dump) and Ryan Anderson (stretch 4) Both players have a year left on their contracts. If Pelies miss the playoffs and don't wind up top 3..guess what.......they're bringing back this same bunch and now they've got to re-sign Asik or let him walk. Let's say they have to give him 4/48 to keep him. Well......guess what? They're tapped out and over the cap, so no free agents besides the MLE. And bring back the same bunch as this season. Solution? Trade us Gordon and Anderson for expirings and Terrence/Dorsey et. al. And what we get out of it is all protection removed from the pick they traded to us for Asik. That way they can at least re-sign Asik and have cap space to really go after a great free agent or two in 2015, guys that will help them be better. Plus they get a good SF from us in Kostas anyways. Oh, by the way.....if this goes down close to the deadline don't you think there will be multiple teams at us hard for that unprotected lottery pick??? ----------------------------------------------------------- There are going to be major opportunities at the trade deadline involving salary dump scenarios. It's a matter of which one pulls the trigger. This is why Morey is wanting to add a contract right now. No doubt he wants to add an expiring contract. Because he's already sniffed out multiple opportunities at the trade deadline.
Deeks has the most accurate salaries but he's not keeping his site up to date right now. Eric Pincus at Basketball Insiders is doing a phenomenal job on his salary information. I really like his stuff because you can see what exceptions a team has available including trade exceptions, and even how much cash they have left to spend in trade. So for my time right now, I'm using basketballinsiders.com http://www.basketballinsiders.com/orlando-magic-team-salary/ We can't get Frye into the TPE until next season when his salary comes down to the amount we can fit into the TPE.
I was getting ready to say that. I'm not sure what the Bucks would trade him for, but I would see him as being available. The Pelicans pick might be too much in some people's eyes, but I think it is pretty close to a fair value for him. He would fit great too imo.
I agree with Clutch's assessment. Rondo? I think the Celtics made it pretty clear they consider him an important piece to any rebuilding model they are currently considering. Bosh?? The guy passed on Houston twice. Does anyone think Riley is going to have a knee-jerk reaction to any struggles they might go through this season? You don't sign a guy like Bosh to a max. deal and then trade him away the same season. Besides, no matter who could cobble together the right pieces for that exchange, Bosh made it pretty clear he wanted to stay in Miami for both himself and his family. He will definitely have a say in his future with the Heat. Daniels as part of a deal? Who knows. I'd say he might be experiencing the "sophomore wall," except he didn't have enough playing time last season for it to be his freshman year. One thing is clear about McHale. He is impressed by desire, work ethic and toughness. Black is the perfect example of how to get playing time under McHale. True, if Howard hadn't been injured he might not have gotten as many minutes as he's getting, but he made the team over Adrien, despite the sigh of regret by many here. (Dorsey already was signed to a 2-year deal.) So the bottom line is, if we don't see Daniels getting a better shot at being in the rotation, it's most likely he hasn't impressed enough in practices, and/or with the limited playing time he has gotten this season. IF any deal gets done it will, most likely, be because other GM's are making calls to the Rockets, rather than the other way around. And given the unexpected chemistry and play of our current "backups," any deal would have to enhance and not disrupt that. And finally, until we have all our starters back we still don't know how the Rockets will look in that costume, now that the backups have blossomed a bit.
a slow footed defender who needs to improve his shooting at 29yo. so basically he is who he is and a decline is coming sooner than later. also red flags with his recent run ins with the law he might be a functioning alcoholic.
Everything between Rondo and Ainge is posturing. Rondo wants a 5-year deal with a NO-TRADE clause so they can't shuffle him off to nowhere. Ainge wants to give him a 5-year deal but doesn't want to give him that no-trade clause because it is too much control. Ainge would like to keep Rondo and also like to be able to trade him in the future. So there's the rub. Ainge may keep him and just deal with the madness. Or Ainge may decide to trade him at the deadline for whatever he can get for him. NOTHING has been decided by Ainge about Rondo.
