1) Bring in a 3rd star Trade: Paul George, Carmelo Anthony We don’t have the assets for PG, unless we flip Capela. Boston can better our offer. Unless PG demands to join Houston, it's a long shot. Anthony wants to leave the Knicks. I doubt he gets bought out. An Anderson package could do it, but the Knicks would ask for future 1st and 2nd rounders. Anthony should be gettable. FAs: Millsap, Ibaka, Gallinari, Hayward, Griffin Packaging Anderson with the NGs is enough salary to offer full max via a S&T for Hayward or Griffin. Hayward has not shown interest in Houston. Griffin is likely to resign with Clippers and he clashed with Paul. Ibaka and Gallo do not move the needle. I like Millsap a lot, but can’t see us offering more than 3 years / $80m. Result: Anthony or Millsap are feasible, but won’t be surprized if we strike out. Anthony is more likely. Getting him whilst keeping Ariza, Gordon and Capela would be great. 2) Nail key rotation players If we keep Clint, Ariza, Gordon, we need to find back-ups at guard, SF/PF & C. We have these assets: BAE: That seems destined for Nene, hope he is happy coming back at this level MLE: We need someone that plays both SF & PF, plus addresses the weaknesses of our star signing. Eg if we get Anthony, our MLE should bring defense, if we sign Millsap we should favour 3-point shooting. Options are Gay, Ingles, Tucker, James Johnson, Jerebko, Miles, Moute, Mirotic, PPat, Gibson, and Ilyasova. Gay, Tucker and Johnson bring much-needed athleticism. Gay likely gets more than the MLE. Johnson is my choice if we get Anthony; Miles or Ingles if we bring in Millsap. NGs: Some of the NGs may be packaged in a trade for a star. Eg Anderson for Antony requires us to add $1m in salary; a S&T for Hayward/Griffin will include all NGs. If we sign a star at $25m (eg Anthony or an FA happy to take less) we have $6-8m in NG salary for a separate trade. FA options for a S&T include Evans, Galloway, McLemore, Reed, Foye, Waiters, Shabazz, Sefolosha, Collison. Trade options for redundant / unwanted players include DJ Augustin, Belinelli, CJ Watson, Barbosa, Bjelica, Hezonja, Stanley Johnson, Koufos, Zeller, Barton, Arthur. I’d rather go for an athletic wing for two reasons: a) our starting 1-4 are either old and/or on the slower side, b) it’s easier to bring in 3rd string C/PG with vet minimum. Will Barton or Shabazz fit well next to Anthony, Belinelli fits nicely next to Millsap. Barton is a great add, and we can attach a 2nd round pick or two to our NGs. Result: Nene, James Johnson, Barton and Gordon as our key bench players. 3) Hit the vet market Remaining needs are a 3rd string C and a veteran PG. C: Options include Zaza, Speights, McGee, West, Lee. A lot depends on who GS brings back. McGee would feast on lobs and he can protect the rim, but he may want more. PG: Felton, Jennings, D Williams, Lawson, Brooks are available. Lawson quietly had a come-back year, maybe we get luckier second time around. Felton wasn’t bad either. Result: McGee and Lawson as our deep rotation. Final Roster (best case scenario) Starters: Paul/Harden/Ariza/Anthony/Capela Bench: Lawson/Gordon/Barton/Johnson/Nene/McGee/Hartelstein/D-leaguers
Wouldn't mind Felton either, but Lawson showed some of his old spark at the end of last season. If his troubles are behind him, he would be a solid 3rd stringer.
Op, Scratch everything that has to do with a player being signed and traded here. We don't want the hard cap. Consider deals where we use Anderson to facilitate another team's sign and trade. For instance, consider Millsap to New Orleans. Consider trades that keep us above the cap without getting hard capped. Consider trades where we give the Knicks a pick for melo (maybe not even a first), we send Anderson elsewhere, throw in non-guaranteeds and we get Melo while Knicks get cap space. Consider the way trades merging the acquisition of Melo with another star....George or possibly another pending free agent. Merge their salaries and our salaries you get me umpf out of the trade rules.
Let me redo that for you: CP3 / Harden / Gordon Ariza / Sefolosha (full BAE) Melo / Patterson (full MLE) Capela / Nene (non-bird exception)
Apologies if you posted it somewhere else, but what do you envision something like that would look like?
HIT THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET Still would take a look at DELFINO, NAVARRO, RODRIGUEZ........ those guys. Dun mind GUSTAVO AYON.
Basically a team with cap space that has no chance of going to the playoffs and they need to get to minimum salary. Kings and Hawks are possibilities. And there is another team that I won't mention. And yes, in aware the kings asked for two first rounders. But that was then. When they figure out nobody is coming and they gotta use the cap space, the price will change. I still think Sacramento, Atlanta, New York, Indiana, and at least one other team are a possibility here. Indy, for instance, may take him along with Gordon in return for George and Big Al. We could then move Big Al out much easier. The Knicks might take him for Melo. And then let him play 4 while they grow and flip him later. ATL may take him in a snt of Millsap to the Pels while we take back pieces to help Pels clear cap. And then there's at least one other team that we might get to take Anderson in exchange for something at a different date. That's the best I can do for now.
Good write up. I also read til Ty Lawson exhaled on you. I look forward to seeing the development of Zhou Qi as he's going to be on the roster, jumping back and forth to RGV. I would include Jennings as a stronger possibility to make the final roster, as he's apart of that LA inner circle and plays in Drew League with James (Though not a fan of his on-court mood swings imo). I hope the cards fall with us getting Millsap at PF, pairing him with Ingles or Johnson.
When you look at this team as currently constructed our weakest link is paint/rim protection and rebounding. I have no doubt we are after two guys. But I dont believe for one second we are after both Melo and Paul together. It's either Melo or Paul and a big time rim protector/rebounder. Gotta look past all the this player don't like that player and this player likes that player stuff for the moment. Winning cures all that crap. So if we had to start the season today, we'd probably run out Paul Gordon Harden Capela (maybe a healthy Nene) Ariza We've replaced Bev and Anderson with Paul and Gordon. Yes we're short in the bench but that ain't a problem. But the greatest need I'd still interior defense and rebounding. If we got that monsta in the middle, our own Gobert (no he's not coming) that witted dominate the board and rim defense (no Capela does not do that) then we'd really give the dubs a run. So, in my opinion, we are after one of Melo/George and a dominant big. We want George and a dominant big. But if Indy can't get it together we're just as likely to trade for Melo and a dominant defensive big (and before you ask, no, Noah ain't that guy either.).
In Maury's press conference he mentioned an 11 million dollar TPE. Is that in conjunction to the 3.5 mil BAE and 8 mil MLE? When did it become something that could happen. Morey: We were talking about a potential July S&T. We expected it to be in July. They reached out to us about the possibility of a trade earlier. We jumped at it. Smart by the Clippers. Win-win situation where we can acquire Chris early. It allows us to have our exceptions in FA. Full MLE, biannual, ...we were able to give ourselves a TPE in the $11M range. In a year we're going all in, it's important to have all resources. As far as filling out the bench, Korver and Dunleavy are both FAs for some 3pt shooting. I think Zbo wouldn't be bad off the bench, his numbers weren't bad last year and he may be ring hunting. He's not really the run and gun, but now that we have CP3, he would help give us a different look in the 1/2 court.
