sturt

He's got a good chance to make them forget Vanderbilt.

Sorry it didn't work out to be anything more than a first date, but I think I speak for most of us that though the timing just wasn't right we enjoyed your company and think you'll do really well in your next relationship.

Just speaking for myself, I don't hate the player or the market. I don't even hate GMs who make super-duper-questionable decisiosn... as long as they're employed elsewhere. I only appreciate that, actually. And with it comes some good feeling that it's going to be hard for Schlenk to screw this up by comparison, even if he were trying.

Compare that to how we spent about the same last off-season.

Let's not talk about overpays anymore, okay? When DeRozan gets nearly $30m aav??? I mean, that's just utter stupidity.

Sticking with my $25-$26m aav prediction. Is he worth that today? No. But I feel safe in saying he projects to be, and that free agency in your first vet contract isn't just about what you've done, but what your trajectory looks like. It just is. We were having this same conversation about Tobias Harris several weeks ago, and the two situations truly are pretty similar taking a snapshot of what people seemed to think of him when he was getting his first vet contract and the same for JC right now. The math says that if JC gets what Tobias did, then as a percentage of the salary cap, JC's aav will be in that range of the prediction.

Reminded that this is one of the great beauties of the Dieng signing... though I have confidence that OO's FT% will get up to the 70% area anyhow... we have a legit alternative if a team decides to start playing hack-a-Capella games late.

I think they reward Skylar for a job well done. I just do. And there's really no boogie man that's going to steal Cooper away from us if he proves to be all-that. He's under our control, regardless. Glass half-full, he ends up with something similar to this appearing on his Spotrac page in three years... Having said that...

Neeexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxt....

Today, Hawksquawk. Tomorrow....

Have read some speculation that that's a salary they'd like to clear.... but it was just that, and maybe nothing to it.

A 3-way with CHI and MIN that sends out Gallo conceivably might yield Thaddeus Young from CHI ($14m) and Culver from MIN ($6m). But I don't pretend to be able to figure out what CHI gets out of it.

Tangent.... I'm not even sure why you'd use the BAE on a 1 year contract unless you really had no other choice. Right? I mean, you can only use it once every other year, there is some natural symmetry that you use it for someone you're going to actually have on the roster for at least two. My guess is that Dieng will probably be paid via partial MLE unless some other shoe drops to make it necessary.

She said what? "dkagahjik.... advmaojfmvlamjfoljfa;lvm.... whjojvowo!!!!" Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? "vjaofjvojiafl... bakmloajvhoj... waiviaoojviax!!!" Fraid its the Lifebuoy treatment for you, Jay.

Maybe so. Either way, I'm cringing a little... Schlenk is due for a bummer of a move.... regression to the mean.

Not so fast. It appears there's another shoe out there after all.

Ruh-roh. From Schultz: One more move, ya say? Cam's status looking more and more tenuous. (I hate that.)

Compelling big-picture free agency thoughts... or so I thought... from Hollinger this a.m......

Had no idea.

Who is "Jackson?"

What matters to me is that McConnell has had exactly one... one... 20+ game in his career (ie, last season). Wright had six last season. While I'd prefer someone with even more potential offensive punch, that's reason for significantly more confidence that the offense will flow well even when Trae's sitting than it would with a game manager type PG like McConnell.

Both Kirschner and Sarah are back from time off. Hopefully, they ask the tough question and report back soon.

Brought up to current this a.m. Tony will appreciate that with Dieng accepting something like $4m, there is practically no danger for 21-22 of paying tax, no matter what JC eventually signs for. Only caveat is if there were to be a trade, of course. Penciling-in LouWill into the 3rd PG slot... though I realize there are those who protest that Lou is not a PG, he was one for us, obviously, and truth be told, he did the same in LAC. But of course, we know that's still very much up in the air whether he'll be signed, or if we end up with someone else. Penciling-in Knight as the other 2-way contract, though that also is very much up in the air for now. On the one hand, he's still listed on our summer league roster, but on the other, there's obviously some reason he didn't receive a QO. At the very least, either or both the team and Knight are window shopping other options. And while the debate rages whether Mays or Cooper will get a standard contract, it really doesn't matter that much to the bottom line where any of us are concerned--they're both predestined to spend most of their time in College Park this season regardless. The only adjustment would be that LouWill would slide down to being considered the 3rd SG instead of 3rd PG if you're one who demands Cooper receive 15-man roster status.