Bamalawdawg

Pay cut, ouch.

So he counts against the cap whether he is cut now, or convicted and dismissed from the NBA? Good thing we have the exception left if things get weird. Obviously his potential dismissal would only occur after this season if he maneuvers the legal system as one would suspect. Barring some miraculous outcome for Scott I don't foresee ATL picking up that 2017 option. I wonder if they are willing to pay him $3 mil to just sit this year to avoid legal action from the players association. They want all contracts to be honored no matter what. Don't know of another precedent for narcotics possession under this CBA

Josh Smith will get the vet minimum somewhere. Maybe he'd like to fight with Moose for minutes

Don't get me started on Paul. If Paul gave two turds about the franchise or the present team be would have taken 3 mil less over the 2 years his non option contract runs and have given the team he ability to spend an additional 7 mil or so on free agency this year. Paul was going to play for the most money he could get, and has no loyalty to ATL. Paul is passing through ATL on his career. Don't forget it.

Check out the Grantland article on ESPN on 3 point shooters. We will miss his defense, but I'm a lot less worried about his scoring and 3 point shooting. 119 of his 120 3s were assisted. I'm certain THJr and Holiday can make those shots. His shot chart is unique. He has shots in the paint (61% shooting) and 3s (99% assisted). That's basicly it.

They shouldn't be cap screwed since they were signing everyone with space. Hat would have been the worst, if they were filling up to the cap and then using bird rights. Maybe you see Dallas as sellers for a tank year and a run at Dwight, Durant or Horf.

Wonder if this is a vet minimum deal? Or the cap exception? I'd be less excited about him on a 2 year $5.6 mil deal

I mean IF we were going to offer a first, maybe we take the risk of leaving it unprotected. Perhaps that gets them to bite. Though we would hope it would be a bottom 5 pick and worth little.

Ok, Dikembe and Eaton were exceptions. Edy still runs like he has sandbags strapped to his hips though. But he isn't unathletic like some of these giants, his hands are quick like Kevin Love, and it makes him an exceptional defensive rebounder. Can't wait to see how he does in summer league. He was OK last year, but from his overseas performance this season compared to prior you can see sure evidence of improvements. Would love to see high efficiency play splitting minutes with Muscala, who should dominate playing down to Summer league quality play.

Unprotected 2016 or 2017 first for him? That's better than a lottery protected from a terrible team that becomes seconds.

He'll probably sign with the Spurs

By the way, on the topic of Taveres, IMHO the quality of basketball in Spain is quite high, but overall talent is poor. If you compared it to an average major conference like the SEC you'd see a lot more talent in the SEC (and that's maybe the 5th best basketball conference). Most of the Spanish "stars" are 26-32. Looking at the list of 1st team All Euro League members (10 players per year, 2x each position) Tavares is shockingly young. At 23 he's the only member from 2010-present under age 25. Almost all of his contemporaries on the list were drafted a couple years before making it to that level (2008-2012) and mostly late first and high 2nd round picks. Most never had a cup of coffee in the NBA, so it certainly makes you want to take his success with a grain of salt, compared to NBA success, but there are no shortage of reasons to believe he couldn't be a competent NBA backup big for years to come. My big knock is that lumbering behemoths over 7'2 who don't have elite offensive skills (Sampson, Smits, Ming, Sabonis, etc) never amount to much more than 3rd or 4th bigs. Their careers also tend to be abnormally short.

I'll take your cap word on it about the Arenas provision, I'm no expert. *googles Arenas provision* As to who is similar too, I think it really is Shawn Bradley, but maybe 2-3 years into his career when he "bulked" up into the 260s. Bradley gets a bad rap for being a draft bust, but if he was drafted in the end of the 1st he'd probably have been looked at as a really solid pick. He was worth 6 points, 7 boards, and close to 2 blocks in 20 min of play for better than a decade. In this NBA that will get you a contract better than Aminu just got. That's the ceiling I see with him, but his floor is pretty high relative to that.

I watched one of his league playoff games on YouTube. His size affects every play he's on the court. His rebounding advantage with a 7'9 wingspan is almost embarrassing, and he changes the way people shoot inside. The couple of blocks he gets per game in limited minutes almost forgive his woeful offense, since scoring, and halting a score are theoretically a wash. His offensive moves look like what you'd see out of a skilled high school sophomore - technically correct, but sloppy and slow. He's years away from being a 10/10 guy and if he played 30 min, he's hack a Shaq eligible, as a poor shooter. Great upside though with minimal investment. I could see him play 10-15 min for the Hawks for 2 years and get a 4 year 80 mil offer from a certain Canadian franchise as a project. No joke

Great piece. Written to be understood by an intelligent 4th grader, just my speed. I wish we had something to pry Johnson lose. It's worth twice his salary to NJ to dump him. What a horribley put together club. Here we are, stuck at the cap though. No surprise that the two teams in the finals were and will be over.