Bankingitbig

Rather have Beal or Batum, but those guys will likely get maxed out and stay with their respective teams. I would rather have a ~$14-$16M Baze vs. a max Barnes.

You must be including all other cap holds and team options/non-guaranteed contracts plus the two first round picks. Also, Horford's hold is $18M.

We had no leverage in trading Teague. Every team knew we wanted to trade him. Plus, he only had one year left and we weren't going to resign him. I am not the biggest fan of this trade, but I doubt there was any better offers out there. I am in favor of at least getting some return for him though.

Shooting from 3 doesn't classify you as a SF or a PF. Size is an important factor, but it's more about mobility. As a 3, are you mobile enough to guard perimeter players, while also holding your own in the post. Jonas and Ersan are not quick enough to guard the majority of SFs out there.

I agree, but the problem is who else do we spend the $ on and go after? Batum is likely staying with Charlotte with a potential max deal. Barnes will probably get a max and I don't think he's worth it. Beal will likely get a max from Washington. Eric Gordon will get a lot of $ and I don't think he is worth it either. Fournier could get close to max. Crabbe will be a bidding war as well.

I think if Durant wants to come to the East and has that as a top priority, then we are close to his #1 option. The only other teams coming close would be the Heat and Celtics in my opinion. Throw in the Wizards just because it's his hometown. I believe would we easily be able to field the best team out of those options. The heat would be too $ strapped having to spend a max deal on Wade and wouldn't be able to afford Whiteside. Plus, who knows how much Bosh will ever be able to play. The Celtics still have some work to do in order to improve their roster, but they do have Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge running the show, along with a historic market that might be attractive. I still believe that Durant does a 1+1 contract with OKC. This gives him one more shot to win the title with OKC and also gives him the flexibility to decide if he wants to continue playing with Westbrook or not, whether its on OKC or another team. Also, gives him that Tier 3 vet status with a max of 35% of the cap.

LeBron isn't considering anyone other than Cleveland. I think Durant actually will "consider" the Hawks because we check a lot of the boxes that he wants, but I don't think it will be too serious of a consideration.

I think some of those #'s are impacted by Noel having to play alongside Okafor. On top of that, Noel would usually defend the 4 spot, which could bring him farther away from the basket. Trying to see if I can find Noel's stats with and without Okafor on the floor.

First of all.. He was coming off of THREE straight All-star appearances. And more importantly, the Spurs just won the title. Why would they change it up? Also, Patty Milles and Corey Joseph weren't close to Parker's level at the time, unlike how Schröder is pretty equal to Teague.

Because Parker was a Finals MVP, SIX time all-star, a 3x all-NBA 2nd team and 1x all-NBA 3rd team. All things Teague isn't/wasn't....

I'm all for getting Durant (not going to happen)... But you would rather give the max to Barnes than Horford? Oh and btw, Barnes' max will count far more against the cap than Al's $18M cap hold. How is Barnes worth a max and not Horford? I do agree that we should try and not give Al a 5-year deal. Should give the 4-year with 7.5% raises.

C'mon now... Trading 1-year's worth of Teague doesn't even come close to trading someone like Butler or Wade.. We aren't a "Chip worthy" team by keeping our team the same and only adding a draft pick. Why not get return for Teague when we can replace most of his minutes with Schröder? Also, just because Noel would be coming off the bench doesn't mean he won't be playing meaningful minutes. He would play more minutes than Schröder would be playing if we kept Teague due to the being able to rotate with two roster spots vs. just one.

If we can swing Teague for Noel + Covington, then there should be riots in Philly.

I never said he was 30. I think it's fair to say you are "approaching 30" when you are turning 28 soon and will be 29 going into your next contract. Let's not be naïve. We can't have Teague and Schröder splitting time for forever. They both want to start and they both have shown that are worthy of starting. This will continue to be a distraction. We shouldn't have to keep guessing which one will be closing out games. Yes, Teague is better right now (and it's still pretty close), but Schröder has shown quite a bit of upside and has shown the mental qualities/decisiveness needed to be a winner. Plus, Schröder being only 22 is a huge plus. If I had Conley with only one year left on his deal and had Schröder as his backup, then yea I would probably still trade Conley for Noel. Sure Edy has the potential...... But he is FAR FAR from it. Noel has ALREADY shown he is a top defender in this league at the age of 22. Him and Millsap were the only ones in the ENTIRE league to average at least 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals a game. Plus, Noel has quick feet and can switch on to other smaller players, guarding them at the perimeter. Edy will never be able to do that. I can't even believe I am comparing Noel to Edy right now, that's how ridiculous this is.. How does this not make sense? Teague's contract is up after this year and we most likely won't resign him. How does it not make sense to get return for him? You get a player who has shown top-level defense. You make your team younger. You get more cap space this year. Sounds good to me...

You're right. Teague has greatly improved his shooting. I don't think he has lost his step, but he is getting closer to 30. He's also beginning to lose his minutes to Schröder. I would not say that Teague is "clearly" better than Conley. I think they are actually pretty close, if not equal. Just different strengths (Teague's offense vs. Conley's defense). Noel will only be an "off the bench guy" because we have Millsap and Horf. Even then he would probably still play 25-30mins. The guy is a 22 year old, who has some of the best stats defensively in the league. I think getting a 22-year old who is one of the best defenders in the league for 1-year's worth of Teague is great return.

True. I think it more has to do with the fact that he has one more year on his deal and its pretty clear that we have to choose between him or Schröder. All signs point to the front office choosing Schröder due to his age and upside. So, it's hard to get value out of a guy who plays at a fairly saturated position with only one more year on his contract, who is also approaching 30.

I would be SHOCKED if Teague can net us Noel + Covington or Stauskas. I think we are getting a steal even if it is just a straight Teague swap for Noel. Teague is regressing and really hasn't shown the drive needed to be a winner. Plus he is an expiring contract that we most likely wouldn't resign. I'm all for this trade.

For an all-NBA fansite, I find that reddit is pretty good. Everyone on there believes that we are getting a steal with a Teague for Noel swap.

I say Noel. They both aren't good offensively, but I think Noel is a much better defender. The only edge I give to WCS on defense is his post defense on bigger C's because of Noel's smaller frame. Noel is a much better defender on the perimeter though and can move his feet quick enough to guard smaller, faster players. Noel also seems to have much better D-awareness and just knows where to be.

You're right I was only including Barnes' QO and not his cap hit, which is greater than his QO at $9,683,495. Thus, if GSW did want to keep Barnes and sign Durant then they would have to drop Bogut + Iggy.

I think Durant coming to Atlanta is unlikely even though I think we are one of the best fits for him, if not the best. But Zach Lowe has said that he heard from two high up, reliable people that Horford is one of the players on Durant's short list that he would want to play with. Should be interesting.

Again not sure where you are getting that as the guaranteed salary. If you exclude Livingston, then I am seeing their guaranteed salary at ~$68M. Klay $16,663,575, Green $15,330,435, Iggy $11,131,368, Bogut $11,027,027, Curry $12,112,359, Looney $1,182,840 and the stretch provision on Thompson of $945,126. But looking at it again and including cap hits for maintaining a minimum roster of 12 players, it would be difficult for GSW to keep Livingston + Ezeli/Barnes and sign Durant. They would most likely have to drop two out of the three. Another option would be to trade both Iggy and Bogut, then extend QOs to Barnes and Ezeli and exercise TO on Livingston, while signing Durant.

GSW can still bring back either Barnes or Ezeli (but probably not both) while dropping one of Bogut/Iggy to sign Durant with cap space if they want to, using their Bird rights on Barnes/Ezeli. Livingston wouldn't be gone either, not sure where you got that. I think they would be fine losing Ezeli, who averaged ~9mins per game in the playoffs. Point is.. all teams can easily adjust their roster to accommodate Durant if they want to and it will only make them better.

I'm seeing $71.4M in guaranteed salary (according to Basketball Insiders). There is already going to be no Barnes and Ezeli as those guys are going to get overpaid elsewhere. They could easily dump Bogut somewhere or Iggy and have plenty of room for Durant + more. I don't classify losing a Bogut or Iggy "radically" changing the roster when you keep Curry, Thompson, Green, Bogut/Iggy and add Durant. Never said OKC wants Love. I am sure Griffin would have no problem finding a 3rd team for a three-way deal. As far as I understood, you would just need to match salaries if you're over the cap, but I could be wrong.

Every team is pursuing Durant. Also, just taking a quick glimpse at GSW's salary it doesn't look like they would need to "radically" change the roster to fit Durant in. Looks pretty easy actually. In regards to Cleveland, I am sure they could easily figure out a SnT involving Love to get Durant. Basically, EVERY team can fit Durant into their roster/salary (especially with the cap jump) and EVERY team will pursue him. With that said, I expect Durant to sign a 1+1 deal with OKC that includes a player option. This way he gains the all important 10-year vet status, which increases his max significant. He also gets to opt out and become a UFA with Westbrook, which gives him the choice to either continue playing with him (either on OKC or another team) or not.