Bamalawdawg

ESPN lists us among the suitors, but the 4 is already held down by Paul. Hard to imagine how we sign Aldridge even if Paul goes elsewhere or is renounced since all we get back is his cap hold of $12 mil +. Aldridge will basicly take that + 100% of the remaining cap ($18.8 mil starting - a bargain for him). And we can't sign Carroll for $6 mil. So we'd lose both. The only thing that would make cap sense is to bail on Carroll if we had Paul agree to the Bird figure and put 100% of our cap to Aldridge. That means getting rid of our #15, Scott, Mack, Muscala, and maybe more. Aldridge is worth all those pieces and more, but what do we do with Paul AND Aldridge? Play Paul at the 3? Yuck

Obviously, what the Cavs do this off season impacts the Hawks as they are a likely competitor for the top seed in the East again. Excuse my ignorance of the salary cap, but I would suspect that this new information about Love does something with their likely cap situation and their ability to sign free agents. I can't think of any reason why opting out would be good for the Cavs as he should have some enormous cap hold now, right? If the Cavs can't sign anyone then they have to bring back their 2014/15 squad and at elevated prices (Smith, Shumpert, Thompson, Love all FAs or player options) due pay raises. Surely they'd blow away the luxury tax line too. Any thoughts or contributions from knowledgable squawk capologists?

He sat a bunch of games, but was still one of the best scorers in the league.

I assume this was put together by Dakari Johnson's mom, right?

He can take $16 mil and fail to make the playoffs again in hopes of a 2016 big free agent splash and Heat reboot. No way some team gives him $100 million over 4 years though. Wonder if he'd take a Milsap sized deal with the Hawks. If DMC can't be resigned without breaking the bank, Wade would at least be a player worth dumping players to add. Dumping Scott and Mack for DMC seems insane. How much can we legitimately clear before leaving enough for Milsap? $15-16 mil?

With the numbers we are talking about here, I'd rather see DMC go. He's the 5th best starter and has limited upside. Let another team make him their 2nd highest paid player and lament about his contract in 2 years when he's averaging his solid but uninspiring 13 points 7 rebounds. We can then spend $10 mil or so plus an exception on 3 good players to work into the rotation, instead of just DMC.

Ok. Let's play this game. Hawks swap Teague for a pick and a player and add young depth. That would also clear huge cap to a team under the cap. A real win for free agency. What would that allow us to sign? Alternatively, for a team over the cap, what do we need to take back in return? And what does that do to free agency?

He's a similar kind of player, but Jenkins just didn't pan out. There is still hope for Booker. He's a less than athletic spot shooting 2 with marginal defensive skills. You always need shooters in the NBA though.

I'm pretty sure we can't sign a max without renouncing Paul. You have to think they are just looking at filling the cap gap between our holds and the cap before signing Paul and Pero, possibly Carroll. So I imagine we sign a $5-6 mil guy., maybe an $8 mil guy if we lose Carroll.

We need a daily jersey # update on our pick. Lol Plus the Nets pick is ACTUALLY ours now. Can this make it's way to home court ? It isn't speculation. THIS is our pick. The Hawks pick is gone to New Jersey, or New York, or Crooklyn, or whatever.

Let there be swap!

Can never have too many 7 footers sitting on the bench. Will come in handy if we hit the magic # for 1st place an want to rest Horf and Milsap. We did drop a big from the roster after all.

Having the spot is nice to bring a warm body in from the speed dial list in case of multiple injuries, but I held out hopes of ATL actually having a "get better" plan for that spot. There can't be many teams in the NBA still sitting on roster spots can there?

I knew the principle of the "magic #" I just didn't know what you were doing with that one. Clever. A countdown until we have guaranteed swap. Guess you could use your math skills to track the worst case position as well once the magic # is hit. Maybe you can use Hawk jersey #s for that one. Brooklyn is essentially tied for the the last playoff spot and the comically disappointing #15 pick for ATL. But technically since they played less games and then tie-breakers and what not it appears that today is the first time the Hawks would have a top 10 pick if the season ended today (and there was no lottery - lol)

I expected to see a Nets fire sale. So much for that, they actually became a better scoring team. If I didn't know better this looks like a move to MAKE the playoffs. They will be even more cap strapped next year now, Luckily Detroit and Miami become stronger because Boston will be tanking. Perhaps Indiana goes on a tear at the end w George back in April. Nets can't even tank right.

Did the Nets just get better?

Rip off.

What is the magic #?

They could make to the playoffs. But I'd put the chances as equal to them falling behind Detroit, Boston, or both. In the playoffs = 18th-20th pick at worst. Out of playoffs is delicious because they'll never beat the records of OKC/NO or whoever they knock out. 12th pick at worst. We could still be in the hunt for the 8th or 9th pick (besides lottery chances). Just wait for Joe's tendinitis to sideline him for a few games. All hell will break loose.

Scott signed a 3 year deal. As a 2 year deal I could see an offseason trade, but he is a salary controlled player with 6th man type potential. Schröder actually makes more sense because of Teague, Mack, and a mid to low 1st pick from the Nets (which could very well become a guard). It would need to be a pretty epic deal with an unprotected 2016, plus another pick, but deferring for a future pick can be a good way to deal with excessive depth.

It's a novel idea to trade that right to help secure a chance at a title. But we have to send out nearly equal dollars.

I never like to see Pero on the floor. Don't think he adds much. Then I see his +13 +/- in the first half. He seems to make players around him better

2 firsts for Mozgov, I'd suspect they'd want a first for Chandler.

We could have given them Brand for just one first. Lol

Seattle is a top 15 market, the largest without a team. The NBA can't afford to swap out a top 10 market though. Also, Atlanta is the #2 market for African-American TV viewers, behind only NYC.