Not any better then what ours would be, plus Howard and Harden just aren't on Griffen and Paul's level.
What level are Paul and Griffin on? These dudes haven't even been to the nba finals let alone the round before that.
teauge is the one guy I've been wanting from FA for the longest, If we strike out on the big names, I'd like to see us try to get some assests from ATL, Horford/Milsap, (either one is fine with me, perfreably horford as he's a better shot blocker) Korver (always loved him; yes if parsons is the deal breaker, lets send him packing. Korver is just as average as a defender but a MUCH better shooter: We need 3 point shooting to win a title) Lou Williams (nice spark plug of the bench, can play the 1 or the 2, our bench was garbage last year which led to major minutes from Harden.) Jeff Teague (assuming they are ready to play Mack/Schorder we should check the availabilty of this kid anyway, imporving shooter, Defensive PG, Play making, not looking to score.)
A higher level, Paul and Griffen just had better seasons the Howard and Harden. They led their team to a better record and the second round. So what if neither been to the finals? Nash never made it to the finals and mario chalmers has, does that mean something?
How do you think Clipps can free up 20M of capspace without getting 0 salary in return? Anybody can fill up their roster with vet mins, the problem is clearing the cap to sign that player. De Andre Jordan 11.4M? Reddick 6.8M? Teams don't walk around with large holes in their capspace, in fact most team are over the cap (and under the tax threshold), meaning any trade they do should match salaries up to a certain amount. That's why the news that the Rox have trades in place that gets rid of both Asik and Lin is making the rounds, dumping max salaries while getting 0 back in return isn't an easy thing to do.
Well just as we could dump Asik, Lin, Motiejunas and Jones, the Clippers could dump Jordan who just came of a great season and Reddick who (although injured) also played well and is valued around the league. Plenty of teams will have cap space one free agency starts. Boston, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, Dallas, Utah.... im getting tired of naming the teams lol, all of the city's i named + more will have like 6-15 million in cap space.
The "solid" player Minny may want to build around is Pau Gasol. I'm sorry but Gasol and Rubio makes too much sense for Flip not to be considering it. Not to mention Marc is a free agent next summer. Hence the desire for Minny to unburden themselves from Martin's deal so they have the cap space to get Marc. For Minny to be able to clear cap and sign Pau to a 3/30 or 4/40 deal they've got to unload Martin or Chase now along with the expirings of Mbah A Moute, Shved, and J.J. Barea to get the cap space to go after Pau. Lakers' interest here? Probably just trying to pick up assets. The Klay Thompson to LA for #7 could probably be morphed into Pau (re-signed) for David Lee. This would accomplish the same thing for Minny as long as they got GS to swallow up Martin's contract. ----------------------------------------- This is similar to what I've been proposing all along. If we could move Asik to a 3rd team (Philly) for a pick that would yield Minny a young SG (Stauskas/Harris, etc), then we could take back Martin and those expirings to give Minny cap space to go after Pau. I really think we're in the running for Love. And I wouldn't be surprised if Morey went all in to get him even at the expense of missing out on Lebron because of the salary and age difference.
There's a difference between the 2 because we only need to dump Asik/Lin those only amount to 15M combined and these can go on separate deals. On the other hand Jordan is worth 75% of that combined amount just by himself, not to mention Reddick and the other dudes they need to drop. Just look at the link below, it says that if somehow the Clips managed to drop Jordan, Crawford, Dudley and their own pick without taking any salary in return, they will have approx 6M to sign Lebron James: http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....pursue-lebron-james-if-he-becomes-free-agent/ Plus, have you ever considered how hard it is to find takers for 6+ people in a limited timeline? They need to find takers for Jordan, Reddick etc. all at the same time and before all these teams use up their cap, you can't do it piece meal and trade Jordan, Reddick and the pick today, Dudley tom. If you trade away Jodan, Reddick and the pick and then you can't find a taker for Dudley you won't be able to sign James and just gutted your roster. And they need to do all this just to make a pitch to James, LBJ won't wait around for the Clips to sort everything out and get assurances from everybody they won't use their cap or whatever. The Clips will have to risk like when the Rox amnestied Scola without knowing if DH will sign with them or not. Except in our case, Scola is just 1 player, the Clips will be gutting their team and their pick and might end up with nothing.
One additional point. In a worst case scenario Houston can throw in a draft pick to get a team to take Asik or Lin. LAC doesn't have the resources to pay teams to take that many players.
Just plain not true. Beverley is 2nd team all-defensive team. Canaan and Daniels are young and elite 3 point shooters. TJones has great athleticism, and a few 30+ point games. Consider what our "vet min" players brought to the table this year.....nothing. Clippers would be no different. The team you proposed would get destroyed defensively....like one of the worst in the NBA. And if the Clippers can get to $20 million, we can more easily. Just trade TJones for a lotto protected 2015 1st (don't kid yourself...he's worth that).
I don't know if you noticed, but Jordan just came off a fantastic career season, teams will jump at the chance to get him. Completely healthy (played all 82 games for 2 seasons straight), super athletic, 7 footer, only 25, who averaged 10.5 points 13.5 rebounds 2.5 blocks 1.0 steals shooting 68% from the field with only 1.5 turnovers in 35 MPG. 11 million is market value at most, he's almost underpaid with the sparsity of centers in the league. He could easily be traded to a team like the Jazz, Suns, Mavs, Wizards, 76'ers, bucks or the cavs. For nothing but cap space and picks in return (yes they would get a first rd pick or 2) JJ reddick is a fantastic shooter on a 7 million contract, teams will also be looking to acquire him as well, you through in a couple of second rd pick's with him and he's as gone, Dudley's easy to move, Crawford's easy to move, Barnes is easy to move... It's a lot of trades but all doable, even more so then trading Asik, Lin, Jones and Motiejunas IMO. But whatever I don't even think Lebron goes to the clips, just saying it wouldn't be nearly as impossible for them to clear space as you think it is.
Going after Melo and LeBron does not discount us from plan C which is Love next year if the first two names fall through. That is the genius of Morey.
You are saying this assuming that Love doesn't get moved this year right? Just asking because I don't think anyone is going to trade for love(besides Sacramento where we know he won't go) w/out a guarantee that he is re-signing
How many of these teams will opt not too commit salary this summer if LeBron, Carmelo, Bosh, Wade, etc opt in and become free agents next summer. It certainly has to help the Rockets when dealing with Parsons offer sheet, guys like Lowry, Sefolosha, Hawes, etc using Lin/Asik cap space and/or the MLE/BAE. Can the Rockets grab a max player next summer if say Lin is dealt but Rockets use the salary on Lowry for 8 mil per and Parsons for 6-7 mil. Asik is dealt but Rockets use the MLE for a suitable reserve center or he just expires. Is there flexibility to spend 15-20 mil this summer while still shedding one of the additional poison pill contracts in full. That would be a rough estimate of 50$ mil in payroll and that could shrink with non-guaranteed contracts not being picked up and a few rookie scale contracts being moved. Maybe 42-43 mil?
Love is actually Plan A this year if LeBron doesn't let Morey know before the draft that he is definitely coming. That is the only way Morey passes up on the opportunity to make a huge push to acquire Love on draft night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>A team I'm hearing to keep a close eye on in the Kevin Love sweepstakes: Houston. If Morey misses on LBJ as expected, Love is a big target</p>— Jon Krawczynski (@APkrawczynski) <a href="https://twitter.com/APkrawczynski/statuses/481509412100902912">June 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
