Spend the money on short term big money contracts so we don't get fined for underspending. Try to get vets that are known for their mentorship. Ime, while tough, will need other vet players to be an extension of his voice. Also, the guys we sign will need to be willing to play bench minutes, guys like H. Barnes, Brooke Lopez, Jeff Green, D. Rose, K. Love, Austin Rivers, Draymond Green, Pat Bev, Seth Curry, Bruce Brown Hell, I wouldn't even mind a Westbrook if he came off the bench since apparently he's a great teammate.
I actually don't see any great FA options. I don't think we're getting Kyrie, Harden, or Lopez. Those are fantasies. So if we want a veteran PG to help Amen, then that would be one of these guys: FVV D'Angelo Russell Beverley Westbrook Schroder Gabe Vincent Jevon Carter Tre Jones Kendrick Nunn Cory Joseph DJ Augustin I'm not in love with any of those names. I guess FVV could work, but I'm not excited about it. Looking at FA Cs, there's also not much: Vucevic Wood Mason Plumlee Naz Reid Dwight Powell Thomas Bryant Who of these is both good enough to help, but also not so good that he expects to start? Reid seems like he could be a good option but he's young so he might want to be featured more prominently somewhere. Possible SF FAs are: Middleton Brooks Crowder Oubre Torrey Craig Ingles Watanabe Middleton would be great if he weren't broken. But I think he might be. We keep getting linked to Brooks so I guess that's the safest bet. It's possible our FA acquisitions are just Bev, Brooks, and Plumlee. That would be.... depressing. So, prepare yourselves.
Jabari in year 3 should be something to behold. He should have put on quite a bit of muscle by then.. definitely looking at a 20/10 player
Regardless of what free agents are acquired or trades made, the key change is coaching. I don't mean to pile on, but Silas was one of the worst coaches I have ever seen at any level. At times he looked completely lost. His interviews were cringeworthy. Pro level coaching will be a huge improvement. To use a builders analogy, you can have a collection of some of the most expensive and beautiful materials stacked up on an empty lot, but it takes a master builder to create a house worth living in.
This really makes the most sense. I’ve got a post somewhere in here about it. We can give them salary relief and players while solving some of our own needs. This not getting done would reek of incompetence.
Everyone uses the Rockets as leverage. If brooks is connected to Houston it means he’s not coming here.
We had / have "three bullets" in the gun that will set the future of this era. 1.) One was last night in the draft 2.) Second is our Cap Space Window (2 years) 3.) Third is cashing in the Nets Picks Now, we still don't know what we have from the draft. Could be gold, could be nothing. It's only potential at this point, and we cannot rely on that. All these guys could hit and things could work themselves out, but it would be foolish to take that as granted. For now, we proceed as if none of these guys will pan out. This is a CRITICAL step, and will lay the foundation to set us up for our last shot. Eventually, the next real prize will demand a trade (Morant, Doncic, whomever), and we must be good / enticing enough to end up on the acceptable trade list. With free agency, we have a huge bullet, and only two chances to shoot (this offseason and next, before extensions kick in), but nothing to shoot at right now. Locking up a bunch of mediocre players, long term, is not the way to go. FVV, Brooks, Bruce Brown, Middleton, D'angelo Russell, Vucevic, Kuzma....None of these guys are key pieces to a championship team and players like this can be had easily in trade. If you can't get Draymond or Harden, IE legitimate difference makers who would help establish us as a "destination", we need to kick the can to next offseason when more true impact players are available...Brown, Annuoby, Siakim, Murray, Sabonis. We will be able to sign two guys if we wait, or one if we nab Harden or Green. I'd personally look to overpay guys, who can help you win this year, but only for one year. - Brook Lopez, one year BIG money. - Eat Lowry's contract, get a small asset. - Eat Harris' contract, get a small asset. - Olidipo, Bullock, Fournier etc. Asset management is still the name of the game.
Its going to be interesting to see how Stone navigates the free agent needs in what they say is shooting and obvious size(rim runner/protector) to back up Sengun Hopefully Stone can upgrade his free agent portfolio as he has done in getting a upgrade in HC(on paper) and working his way thru 3 yr tank draft where gets a B+ What's next after that is basically the same being the roster is basically 23 and under, so even with the possibly added vets/shooters it will still be a rough learning to win process, which is why they better wisely bring in vets who will impact but still embrace the homegrown rebuild and try to at least get one of those last play-in spots I expect all the rotational players to improve and take a leap into being more consistent in production which should lead to many more competitive games and possible w's
If a 35 year old center can't accept a bench role for more money then he has a Dillon Brooks sized ego.
I’d add Poeltl to that center list, but point taken that this FA class is crap and we are likely to miss out on the cream of the crap. that’s why I’m interested in an approach that preserves some of our cap space for next year’s free agents. while I think there is some flexibility on the kind of veteran point guard we need, given that we just spent the #4 pick on one, there’s less flexibility filling that defensive center role. As u point out, there just arent many options behind Lopez, and teams typically don’t trade those kind of players. i think we have to go all in on Lopez. Big money 2-yr deal. There is a price at which he can’t refuse. And he’ll always be movable in that 2nd year. He’s one of the few centers that can be on the floor with Sengun because of his ability to shoot the 3. Even if we have to do something crazy like 2 yrs $56 mil, it’s still probably worth it to upgrade our D and solve our rim protecting problem. I think u try to solve the point guard problem through trade. We have the assets to get a good point guard: KJ, Tate, TyTy, Christopher, 2024 Brooklyn pick, several 2nd rounders; even KPJ. We just need our GM to do his job and cut a deal. Monte Morris for example would be great and should be available. we can fill in shooters on cheaper deals. Try to preserve some cap space for next year.
I would like to sign older player/mentors to short term deals. We now have at least 1 high profile young guy at each position. I would like to give each a chance to grow into a centerpiece for us. Brook Lopez definitely meets this criteria. I don’t think he is a pipe dream. He should be able to get, if we are willing to spend. He can help us win while showing our young group how to be a pro. FVV doesn’t necessarily fit - he probably wants a 4 year deal. He will help us win but he will also make it more difficult to develop Amen and force us to make a decision, if Amen works out. I‘d be fine with going this route, but I‘d be more comfortable with someone like Chris Paul (if GSW cuts him or gives him away for cheap which I doubt). Now we already have a log jam at SF after drafting Cam. I would go with what we have here and give Tari and Cam most of the minutes. KJM and Tate would need some minutes as well if they are still here. We also need to do something with our young guys in which we have less faith. Trading them for picks or a veteran PG or C would be ideal, but maybe also hard to do. This will be owning the most interesting FA periods in recent memory…
Lol we talked tons about it. It was not like the organization was 100% behind him. This was 50% percent on Fertitta. Russell WB also on Fertitta. They set him up to fail also, he was not a rebuilding coach, not even head coach material. He wanted to coach Harden, fair enough, but Tilman went cheap there, could have had someone like Adrian Griffin instead of him. Why do they hire a scape goat type of coach....in the first place......I know tanking.
With all due respect this is one of the strangest things I’ve heard here in a while. You don’t know if they’ll pan out but you’ve invested… so obviously you treat them as though they will pan out with hard work unless/until they bust. You drafted guys to be leaders in some way, if you make them into role players you are creating the conditions for them to fail. Star-minded players whether they suck at being stars or great at it: they all suck at being role players when they’re kids. If you tried to turn Michael Jordan into Scottie Pippen he would fail. If you tried to turn Lebron James into PJ Tucker he would fail. If you tried to turn Jokic into Adebayo, he would fail. This is not a logical test you’re setting up. You're just acting on a false belief they won’t pan out and shoving them in a small role hoping they surprise you. That’s lazy. Franchises great at developing draft picks always have more faith in their players than the average opinion. Spurs believed Kawhi would pan out. Warriors believed Curry, Draymond and Klay will pan out. Nuggets believed Jokic and Murray would pan out. None of those guys proved they are worth the max at 21 years old but the organization believed in them and they paid the faith back in spades. Those players are special in their prime, our players will not exhibit their prime qualities until they’re in their prime. There was no instance where Jokic showed you he’s capable of defensively and offensively dominating 4 consecutive playoff series. We drafted 9 players to act like they have no chance of panning out? Why? Your team controlled players are the core, not the bonus. Why play an imaginary game where you treat them like they won’t pan out? Why didn’t we trade down and draft role players? Why do you have such a panic mindset about our future? I see it so consistently in your posts. There’s no green grass for you except on the other side. It’s not even statistically possible that none of 9 draft picks becomes a star. There’s no FA that comes to save us, because guess what… players like that have organizations that believe or believed in them. It’s not the right approach at all. Scientifically speaking it gives them the worst shot at panning out. The way to accelerate their growth is to treat them like you’re sure they will pan out if the work is done. There’s a coaching staff that can do that, if it’s not Ime then the problem is in player development not in all 9 picks.
Damn dude you read my mind about his post haha I think Nook’s wife is middle eastern and that’s a very middle eastern thing to say. Maybe her influence on him. In the Middle East when your dad is pissed, he tells the mother “Look at what YOUR kids are doing”
