Was thinking about LMA. What are they chances that he's following the Melo blueprint (I.E. Using free agency to force his current team's hand)? I just really can't make sense about why people are saying that LAL is the frontrunner if his whole narrative for leaving POR has been about wanting to win. I understand that LAL could potentially add another star next year, but that's not definitive. If he wants to be in a position to win now he has plenty of better choices.
Yes, Toronto could make a lot of sense. However Uriji probably wouldn't accept a package of junk, non-guaranteeds, and just and unproven Llull. You'd have to throw in other assets, probably our 2016 first rounder, and/or perhaps one of our rookies. Other teams I think might possibly be a fit.... NEW ORLEANS - They've got Eric Gordon on an expiring and they already know he's leaving. He's dead money to them. Will knock down a bunch of 3's but he isn't re-signing there. He's dead money to them. Great spot up shooter on an expiring contract that could be very, very useful offensively alongside Harden. MIAMI-if Goran walks. Or maybe even if Goran stays and we can help them dump salary by taking on contracts like Chalmers (another good fit next to Harden and an expiring contract) and a player like Josh McRoberts (a stretch 4 that would be DMo insurance if we had to let DMo walk in free agency next summer to sign somebody or we wanted to trade DMo as part of a package for a nice starting PG). SPURS-as part of a deal taking salary away from them so they can sign LaMarcus. We could either trade non-guaranteeds and Llull's rights for Patty Mills or we could execute a sign-and-trade for Cory Joseph using Llull's rights and a non-guaranteed salary. In fact, if I were Morey, instead of trying to sign Llull, I would make noise about putting a chunk of the MLE on the table in an offer sheet to Joseph. Here the Spurs are trying to figure out how to either sign LaMarcus outright or trade for him and then they get this news that we're going to sign Joseph to a substantial offer sheet. They're hamstrung kinda like we were last summer chasing Chris Bosh. They'd have 3 days to decide whether to match Joseph's offer sheet or he walks away. I would think it would be relatively easy to engage the Spurs in sign-and-trade talks for Joseph due to the fact they are chasing Aldridge. And I would think that Llull's rights plus non-guaranteed salary would be enough to get that deal done. Of course, this is all based on my like of Joseph's game. I think he could be a very undervalued star level player, especially if he is locked in for the next 3 years or so. However, I may be all wet and Morey not be viewing him through the same lens analytically that I am. I just happen to really like this kid and I think he's a tremendous fit. And if we could get him in a sign and trade then it opens up a whole new world for us with the MLE, including being able to match an offer in McDaniels. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those are just a few possibilities I see with trading Llull's rights. And I feel highly motivated to keep McDaniels. I simply can't see wasting assets like that. I can't see letting McDaniels walk.
Even with llull we can leave a little of the mle for harrell. I dont think he will do what kj did because morrey doesnt give hinkie specials to second rounders. But i dont know him well enough. From watching a little of him pre draft he didnt seem to be a kj type of player personality wise. Kj is a goner. Cyber said so. He will probably take up most of the mle alone to sign. I think indy , philly and if they can trade jj brooklyn will offer him. Maybe denver and portland too. Hes a good investment for teams looking to add young talent with upside without giving any assets. So i regard kj as already sunken costs.
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And even if he's not the better player, the gap will be pretty small IMO. I think it would be a better use of resources to shore up a different position.....like PG.
I won't quote the entire BBHallolic post, but if Miami wants to dump McBob and Chalmers in a deal, I'd be happy to do it in order to take on Justice Winslow. I actually think McBob is an interesting trade target for the team anyway. LMA and Love are not happening, so improvements are going to come with incremental upgrades. Adding better rotational players behind starters can make us better in lieu of upgrading the starters.
You're delusional. McDaniel has done nothing to earn full MLE money. That's more than Towns will get. And Llull will expect the full MLE to offset his huge buyout. Write your own scenario but at least keep it realistic.
So LMA has past his prime, so what evidence do you have besides those general age numbers you posted? You like numbers so much...... what about LMA stats over the years? Where is the decline after the 27,4 years? DMO is not even close to being as good as LMA at playing the game of basketball IMHO
any word out there on Pat Bev? I know we have the right to match any offer he gets this summer... but (from my understanding) are we gonna let him walk? Just curious.
Nope. The gap is already large and will continue to be so. At 25 Aldridge averaged 22/9/1 while shooting 50% from the field and 80% from the line. They are not even remotely close.
Yikes man, 450 posts in less than a week?! Ease up! Who we put in/out of a S&T with Portland really doesn't matter, IMO, especially if he's willing to walk to LA who will have the necessary cap room to sign him outright. The question will become does Portland want an entirely fresh start, i.e. open cap room, or do they want to try to get at least 1 or 2 decent prospects? If it's a mutual split, I'd think they will go the latter. The only guy that would tie up cap room and wouldn't be a major benefit to a team starting over is Ariza, but they would EASILY be able to flip him. All Houston needs to do is come up with a S&T that fits the $$$ criteria.
That's assuming we actually want to bring over Llull though. You say that KJ McDaniels hasn't done anything to earn the full MLE.....Llull has yet to step foot on an NBA court. What has he done to deserve the full MLE? Be the second best PG on his Spanish team next to someone that already washed out of the NBA? Is that what it takes?
Wow. No need to get offensive if you dont agree with me. We will find out pretty soon anyway. towns is on a ROOKIE contract. These are bellow market value. If he didnt have this restriction imposed upon him by the cba you can bet there would be better 30 teams eager to pay him full mle money and more. What did llull and kpap amd mirotic did to deserve the mle when they hadnt even played a minute in the nba. Nothing. Its a team investment betting on the guy to improve while locking him up for 3 years. Its a declining contract in value because of the cap rise. But yes. You can call other names anyway.
Way to just post stats in a vacuum man. Awful post. LMA posted that line playing >10 minutes MORE than DMo per game! At 28 MPG, DMo was also shooting 50% from the field, including a ridiculous 37% from 3, grabbing 6 rebounds with 2 assists and 12 points. That's a damn good stat line, and one that if you were to extrapolate out to the minutes Aldridge was playing, would be a lot more comparable.
I bet he signs late summer after he sees what we do in the offseason.... But if he doesn't I have no problem trading his rights. He's nearly 30 and isn't getting any younger and no one has an accurate read of what he brings to the table on an NBA team. People are projecting backup quality stats to near all star stats. Regarding the above comments about LMA and efficiency - both LMA and Motiejunas posted career highs in 3 pt percentage (D Mo with larger sample), but LMA is also a better rebounder despite playing further from the rim. Surprisingly neither player is very impressive by most BPM measures. However, LMA shines by RPM (4th best PF) while D Mo sits at #24, similar to his BPM measures. By most accounts RPM is a better correlate of skill than BPM. D Mo has a higher TS% mostly due to where he takes his shots. But adding another jump shooting threat also opens the floor for Harden and Howard to be more efficient. To wit - LMA shoots an elite 70% at the rim (compared to D Mo's excellent 64%) but then out shoots D Mo almost everywhere else on the court except short range (45% vs 50%) and 3 (1% difference). But the added value of the mid range compared to a 5% decline in short range. In addition he has fewer assisted shots meaning that 1) he can create his own shot or 2) maybe his efficiency increases further as he gets assisted shots at the rim or as a roll man. Overall there's very little case for D Mo being a better option than LMA. Can D Mo improve? Sure. But doubtful that he can play at an All Star level. Is LMA a sure thing? Sort of. It's not clear that he can provide enough extra production to justify a max salary and possibly the loss of Ariza. But in a vacuum LMA is always going to be a better option. Not gonna take up more space but because of the volume and efficiency of 3's (and even better rebound rate) Love is equally tantalizing... He takes a hit in ORPM but is at least as good a defender and better rebounder and might be an even better fit in terms of the space he creates. I think we have a slim chance at any major FA so we should get used to D Mo getting big minutes (which is fine) but LMA would be a nice fit.
