Phunkabilly

5 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Seriously who is that dude? Why does he look so familiar. He’s not a Braves player is he? If he’s not then a bunch our guys look alike 

I think this same picture was discussed in a Braves forum a while back.  Turns out the dude is Daniel Lockhart, who is/was a minor league journeyman, including a stop with the Braves farm system.  His dad is Keith Lockhart, who played for the Braves back in the 90's.  But yeah, I thought he looked familiar too, although I definitely didn't know who Daniel Lockhart was.

26 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Gordon’s waiving saves the Clippers $110M in luxury tax, per

@BobbyMarks42

 

.

Wow! That's crazy!

Obviously the JC trade had a lot to do with the money.  But I really think the main reason he is gone is because we have a better fit waiting in the wings with JJ.  If you have a player Y who can be more impactful on your roster making a fraction of the money as player X, then it only makes sense to reallocate funds to address a bigger weakness on your roster.  And I know Diesel disagrees with me here, but I saw enough from JJ towards the end of the season that leads me to believe he'll have more of an impact on this team than JC.  No, he's not gonna be a 20 ppg type of guy, but he's going to fill up the box score doing everything else... passing, rebounding, blocking shots, getting deflections, etc.  Earlier in the season I saw too much nervousness/hesitation in his game to believe that he was ready for significant minutes.  You can attribute that to his inexperience, Nate's influence, or both.  But by the end of the season, he looked SOOO much more comfortable out there to me.  Yes, he was still making some rookie-like mistakes, but most of those mistakes were aggressive in nature, which I can live with.  Quin seems to like him too, and I really believe he's going to bring the best out of JJ.  I would be willing to bet we'll forget all about Collins halfway through next season.

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Pacers weighing serious three-year offer for Max Strus

Sources tell The Stein Line that the Indiana Pacers, who are projected to have more than $30 million in salary cap space, are strongly weighing a three-year offer for Strus in the $48 million range.

 

– via Marc Stein @ marcstein.substack.com

After reading the FVV news, this feels like a bargain

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Thoughts?

Rockets out of the running for James Harden?

The Houston Rockets are believed to be “out of the running” when it comes to 2023 NBA free agency negotiations with Philadelphia 76ers superstar James Harden, reports Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “In recent days, I’ve understood that Houston is no longer an option for James,” Iko said in a Twitter live stream on Wednesday. “I would call them out of the running,” Iko added. “James was never interested in taking some kind of discount two years in a row. He made, what, $34-35 million this year? He could stand to make 50 to 52 (million). He was not going to take a discount, and the Rockets were never going to pay him that kind of max money.”

 

– via Ben DuBose @ Rockets Wire

Marc Stein is reporting that Rockets are making a 2-year max offer to FVV

4 minutes ago, shakes said:

I feel like the opposite of the revolutionaries in Boston in 1773 throwing tea into the ocean to protest a tax.

 

Meanwhile, we're over here screaming at the top of our lungs, "WE WANT THE TAX! WE WANT THE TAX!" and "MORE TAXATION WITH PLAYIN TOURNAMENT REPRESENTATION! MORE TAXATION WITH PLAYIN TOURNAMENT REPRESENTATION!"

 

Somewhere Paul Revere is spinning in his grave.

A+++ post 

9 minutes ago, Diesel said:

You said.. IF COLLINS BLOW UP in UTAH  AND IF JJ FAILS HERE that we STILL MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE.

IF you would like to sigh about something, sigh about this...  That's the Kool Aid drinkers punch.  Money over  Winning is what I see here.   Tell me how it's not. 

You want to talk about Net Negatives.  What has DeAndre Hunter Been?   The problem with shipping JC off for nothing my friend is that there were several other moves we could have done before we got to this one.  That would have made more sense and would have recouped us better value.   

Moreover, back to your original statement.  If Collins does Blow up in Utah, I believe that the correct diagnosis would be that we have been using him wrong.. which is something that everybody but statwatchers can see.  You care to tell us what happened after those two years of his career that he was a net positive?  Of course not, it requires dialogue about how our team has been set up. 

Here's the prediction for you camp... JC = Allstar next year. 

While we will sit here with financial solvency and using our TPE on Dario Saric or somebody.   Mark it down.

 

 

 

Lol, you may want to slow your roll there, Diesel.  JC's fit on Utah is arguably worse than it was with us... they have no PnR PG to get him the ball, and their front court is awfully crowded, so I don't see his usage rate being much better over there.  Of course that could change as free agency hits, but right now it looks pretty bleak from where I'm sitting.

34 minutes ago, KB21 said:

I don't disagree about needing a four that can space the floor, but there is untapped potential as a shooter in OO's game that should be AND will be tapped into with this coaching staff.  

Yeah, I'm excited to see what Quin and his staff can do with OO over a full offseason.  OO is about the only one of the upcoming free agents I'd be willing to make an early extension offer to because of this, as I think his value could really skyrocket this season. 

10 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

I think we have to also look at actual free agents to get a full list of possible targets.  Maybe you sign a guy for $15M as a sign and trade.  

One question I just started thinking about is will this be a down market in terms of salaries for FA?  So few teams have space or MLE.  Other teams are getting mindful of the impacts of 1st and 2nd apron.  Will there be more bargains?  

I definitely think the answer to the last question is going to be "yes".  I think a lot of these guys with dreams of $20M and $30M bags swimming in their heads are going to end up settling for the MLE.

2 hours ago, AHF said:

Here is my adjusted list:

The Good:

Drafted Okongwu, AJ, JJ, Collins, Huerter, Trae (this is about what we did with the 5th pick and not about the trade)

Signed Bogi and Gallo 

Signed Huerter to a good contract

To Be Determined:

Drafted Hunter and signed him to a big deal before he had a healthy season.  (Clearly would have been nicer to traded up for Mikal Bridges or something on the draft front but we also could have done much worse.  How much improvement Hunter has left in him is an open question for me.)

The Bad:

Traded Doncic for the #5 pick and a future first which became the #10 pick (I'm not convinced this was a mistake given that we have Trae and given some of the cracks in the armor for Luka where the franchise has seemed to move in the wrong direction but I hated the trade on draft day and Doncic has the stronger resume to date so I'll put it here in trying to be fair)

Drafted Reddish

Overpaid Collins (hated the way this was done from about 10 different angles)

The Bad that Was Clearly Ressler and Not Schlenk

Traded Huerter for scraps

Hung on to Collins way too long (reportedly TS had deals he wanted to do on this)

Drafted Spellman.  (Really none of the second round picks were good.)

I think you've summarized my thoughts on the Schlenk era to a T in this post.  I'd give him a solid "B" for the work he did here.  One thing that irks me is when people complain about a GM's draft history by cherry-picking the one or two good players that went after a "miss", but completely ignore the dozens of bad players that went before a "hit".  Schlenk certainly didn't hit on all his picks, but I thought his overall draft portfolio was pretty darn good.

I'm a huge fan of Wright's and would be all for bringing him back.  I love him as a DJ replacement option in case we need to move him for a big fish.  But the guard room as of now is pretty crowded already.  IIRC, part of the reason Wright left us in the first place is that he was unhappy with his playing time.  I don't see that getting any better on our roster as currently constructed.  BUT, if we do move a guard in a separate deal, then I am all in on Wright... Caruso is another favorite option of mine as well.

And for what it's worth, I don't know if someone like Wright is really the appropriate use for the TPE.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, the TPE is generally used where either 1) the team you're trading with really needs the cap space, so the straight salary dump is the value they're seeking in return on a trade, or 2) you want to sign a free agent but don't have the necessary cap space to sign them outright, so you use the TPE as part of a sign & trade (along with other assets) so that you can get them on the books.  Washington isn't hurting as far as the salary cap goes, and I don't see them too concerned about freeing up extra money to go after big money free agents.  In other words, draft compensation is the value they're after, not the cap space.  I don't think they would care if we use the TPE, or if we send out matching short-term salary (Gay + Vit).  If that's the case, then probably just better to save the TPE in that case?

1 hour ago, KB21 said:

He was thriving early on because of the work Bud’s staff put into him as a rookie.  That jumper is from the work he did with Ben Sullivan, one of the best shooting coaches in the NBA.  This is a player that came into the league as nothing but a rim runner who didn’t shoot anything outside of 5 feet.  He was also a negative defender in college. 

No argument from me that Bud and his staff had a positive influence on JC's development early on.  My response had more to do with the finger injury and Cap's presence having more of an influence on his reduced production than the coaching changes.  Impossible to prove either way of course... just my opinion.

20 minutes ago, bird_dirt said:

Honestly, it’s pretty slim pickings if it has to be under 25.3mil. 
 

Looking at teams with high roster cost that may look to shed salary we have:

so target LAC, GSW, MIA, maybe DEN, PHX, PHI, BOS, MIL. 

Here’s salaries under 25.3:

 

How do you feel about Wiggins?

 I’m not seeing much here.
LAC has crap. Brogdan is damaged goods and BOS not getting rid of White. Duncan Robinson? I don’t think so. Denver wouldn’t get rid of Aaron Gordon would they? Maybe Knicks try getting out of Fournier contract, IDK. 

Like I said. Slim pickings. 

Yeah, I had similar thoughts in an earlier post.  The only ones out of that group that I would be interested in and could be a fit for us are A. Wiggins, A. Gordon and D. White.  But those guys serve important roles on championship contenders, so I don't see those teams letting them go for cap space.  Best bet may be to take the TPE into the season and use it to fill a hole with a useful player from a non-contender at the trade deadline.

Just now, AHF said:

We need to learn our lesson from JC and Hunter and make RFA work for us in the future.

Yeah.  Let's not bid against ourselves this time around, for goodness' sake.

7 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Everyone wants $20, $25 and $30 million.

Exactly.  Think there's going to be some reality checks in free agency this year.  Hopefully that'll help with negotiations with our own free agents next year.  Bey, for instance, would probably be lucky to get anything more than the MLE from another team in this year's class.

6 minutes ago, KB21 said:

I’ll say this before I go to bed.  If Collins had been coached by Mike Budenholzer instead of Lloyd Pierce and Nate McMillan, he’s a more productive player and isn’t getting traded for an empty Coke can.  

He was thriving under Lloyd.  You can make the argument that Nate had something to do with his decline, but I think the finger injury and Capela's presence squeezing him out of the PnR game probably had more to do with it.

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

There's gonna be some disappointed free agents this year...

1 hour ago, theheroatl said:

Lol there is your agenda.

FYI mine is I want Dre and Cap combined via trade for 1 star wing.

Trae

DJM

Star Wing

JJ

OO

Not that I'm advocating it because he can't stay on the court, but this would fit within the parameters you're talking about and kinda makes sense for both teams... Clips would probably want to ship Zubac out in this scenario though.

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

....and they keep going and going and going!

 

 

My guess is Dame is giving them until the free agency period to build a team he's happy with.  If they're unable to do that, then he may ask out.

13 minutes ago, Diesel said:

You guys just don't get it. 

This was a salary DUMP.  That is all.   They are not going to use all of the TPE and put them back in the LT...

If anything more salaries will be dropped. 

How are we supposed to extend OO and DJM and Bey?

Maybe we get some relief with the timing of Bogi's contract.   But with JJ and AJ to come the long game says that we will be moving more salary either this year or next. 

I expect we will trade for a cheap contract.  If not a Rookie or First Year, then somebody who has 1 more year on their deal making under 7.3 Million. 

 Orlando traded for Jarace Walker.  You ought to hope that a first and 2 2nds can get us Franz M. 

 

Indy got Walker

28 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'm asking who would you like as a candidate for it's use?

 

The candidates with a 23/24 salary in this range and who might reasonably be available looks pretty grim.  Maybe Vuc or BLopez in a SnT?  Hard to see Milwaukee being motivated to do that though.

Maybe the best option is to hold until until the trade deadline in case we need reinforcements at that time.

5 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

Yeah ditto please everyone stop with the Gobert thing.

We need a starting 5 that can shoot 3’s protect the rim and has a good FT. Oh wait we have one… I want to see OO get that full time minutes.. let the man go to work. He is ready.

As for the TPE we need to find some defensive vets that teams are willing to shed.. DELON WRIGHT COME ON OVER!!!

I'd love to have Delon back.  I thought he was great for us.  Not sure we have the minutes for him though, and don't think he was real pleased with his limited minutes during his stay here either.

2 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Heads already rolled. Schlenk is gone. Lol. 

Wasn't Soth saying that it was Ressler that vetoed the past JC trades, though?  If that Lauri trade was legit, I don't think anybody's head would roll if it was the boss man himself making the call.