Next Offseason (Never Too Early, Right?)

[TheFuzz]

Say what you will about Schlenk or our roster, but having a little flexibility going forward is exciting to say the least because the NBA as a whole has done a HORRIBLE job of managing its cap room...

First of all, we'll have at least $25M in cap next season as is. The following teams will be in cap hell, bumping against the tax, or at least looking to shed salary. I've put some players they'll have trouble retaining too...

1. Cleveland (possibly)

2. Detroit: Avery Bradley

3. Milwaukee: Jabari Parker, Greg Monroe

4. Toronto: Norman Powell

5. Washington

6. Houston: Capela

7. LAL (want to unload salary to take on 2 max players): Randle

8. Boston: Smart

9. New Orleans

10. Portland: Nurkic

11. Miami: Josh Richardson

 

The teams with any significant cap?

1. Atlanta

2. Indiana

3. LAL

4. Philly

5. Chicago

6. Maybe Phoenix, Portland and Brooklyn

 

That's a REALLY dry market for a pretty loaded FA class. So not only could we get in the chase for a max guy, it might be an even better option to poach talent from teams trying to shed cap. I think Norman Powell has star potential, for example. Or we could acquire Luol Deng and Ingram from LA to give them the cap they want. We could take on some bad salary from bad front offices like Washington or New Orleans for draft picks, or acquire other bad contracts for picks. Some baseline deals...

1. Brooklyn acquires Russell for taking on Mozgov, gives up Lopez and a late 1st as well.

2. Philly acquired a pick and pick swap for a bunch of salary from Sacramento

3. Brooklyn acquired a pick for taking on Carroll

 

These are the types of deals we should be looking at as we weigh competing for the future. Get New Orleans on the phone!

One final point: we can also use our cap space to chase after RFAs we like (Powell, Nurkic, Parker, etc.), and if we don't acquire them they at the very least tie up the other teams space for years like NY did (to themselves) with Hardaway. Good players will get squeezed out by the market and we could pick up some value players the same way we did with Sap!

 

Long story short, the future is bright thanks to our cap space and the severe misuse of space by teams around the league last year and the year before. Any targets you like, players or pick wise?

Edited August 15, 2017 by TheFuzz

[DS5]

I believed Schlenk when he said that this would be quick re-tooling/building. I really think Golden State will have to make a decision on Klay Thompson as they re-sign Durant to another super max. We have the picks and the cap space to absorb his contract without sending any back. If we make a few more moves during the season, we could have enough cap space to sign another near-max player, like Nurkic. I know that's a lot of "ifs," but a lineup of Dennis, Klay, Prince, Collins and Nurkic could make some serious noise in a couple of years.

[TheFuzz]

1 hour ago, DS5 said:

I believed Schlenk when he said that this would be quick re-tooling/building. I really think Golden State will have to make a decision on Klay Thompson as they re-sign Durant to another super max. We have the picks and the cap space to absorb his contract without sending any back. If we make a few more moves during the season, we could have enough cap space to sign another near-max player, like Nurkic. I know that's a lot of "ifs," but a lineup of Dennis, Klay, Prince, Collins and Nurkic could make some serious noise in a couple of years.

Forgot about Golden State! Good call on Klay and/or Draymond, one of them will be tough to retain for GS.

[Vol4ever]

I think you may have that wrong.  KD and SC will re-work their contracts to allow GS to retain Klay.  

 

If a team is a contender then most will adjust players contract per the player allowing to get assets to win.  We will have to build through the draft or get a FA that another team will not sign.  

[KB21]

I would also add that as good as Klay Thompson is, if your plan is to pursue him and build around him, then how exactly is that different than pursuing Joe Johnson with the intent on building around him back in 2005?  As good as Klay is, he is not an elite superstar.

[TheFuzz]

7 hours ago, Vol4ever said:

I think you may have that wrong.  KD and SC will re-work their contracts to allow GS to retain Klay.  

 

If a team is a contender then most will adjust players contract per the player allowing to get assets to win.  We will have to build through the draft or get a FA that another team will not sign.  

 

1 hour ago, KB21 said:

I would also add that as good as Klay Thompson is, if your plan is to pursue him and build around him, then how exactly is that different than pursuing Joe Johnson with the intent on building around him back in 2005?  As good as Klay is, he is not an elite superstar.

I'm not enamored with the idea of Klay, but the grander point is that we'll have some space in an incredibly dry market. We've already seen players like Noel and Mirotic get squeezed out. They're not that great, but solid players might be available next FA. Plus, with so many teams in the tax we will probably be able to extract assets from tax teams. Give one Ilyasova, take back a bad contract and a pick, for example.

[Dragitoff]

In speaking of next offseason.  Let's say the ultimate prize of playing poorly this season is Michael Porter Jr. He's got superstar potential.  The league is going to more stretch 4's and 5's and guys that play and guard the perimeter so could we see a lineup of Schröder, (insert SG here), Prince, Porter, Collins?  Prince and Porter could be interchangeable on defense as both have played the 3/4 positions in college.  I don't believe Prince has the lateral quickness to play SG in the NBA so you'll have your $ to throw at a defensive and scoring SG. Klay fits that bill, but there could definitely be other options out there. 

[hazer]

58 minutes ago, Dragitoff said:

In speaking of next offseason.  Let's say the ultimate prize of playing poorly this season is Michael Porter Jr. He's got superstar potential.  The league is going to more stretch 4's and 5's and guys that play and guard the perimeter so could we see a lineup of Schröder, (insert SG here), Prince, Porter, Collins?  Prince and Porter could be interchangeable on defense as both have played the 3/4 positions in college.  I don't believe Prince has the lateral quickness to play SG in the NBA so you'll have your $ to throw at a defensive and scoring SG. Klay fits that bill, but there could definitely be other options out there. 

A Menace, Thompson, Printz, MPJr, The Baptist lineup is definitely intriguing and probably something that Schlenkholzer is fantasizing about. That's what they have in mind. I don't think Hawks will be bad enough to get Porter though. Probably more like Menace, Thompson, Printz, The Baptist, Ayton.

[Vol4ever]

8 hours ago, TheFuzz said:

 

I'm not enamored with the idea of Klay, but the grander point is that we'll have some space in an incredibly dry market. We've already seen players like Noel and Mirotic get squeezed out. They're not that great, but solid players might be available next FA. Plus, with so many teams in the tax we will probably be able to extract assets from tax teams. Give one Ilyasova, take back a bad contract and a pick, for example.

These type of players are not difference makers.  We need a star player that plays at a high level.  They are not going to sign with a losing team.  We will be bouncing around at least the next 5 years imo.  

 

Hawks = G League

[bird_dirt]

That doesn't sound like much capspace to me. That's just one good player. Not even a top tier max player. 

I guess it's better than many others, but I have to feel that there are a number of teams that will be able to wiggle their way around the cap to sign players who won't sign here.

[Dragitoff]

5 hours ago, hazer said:

A Menace, Thompson, Printz, MPJr, The Baptist lineup is definitely intriguing and probably something that Schlenkholzer is fantasizing about. That's what they have in mind. I don't think Hawks will be bad enough to get Porter though. Probably more like Menace, Thompson, Printz, The Baptist, Ayton.

Ayton isn't a horrible consolation prize, but remember, you only have to be in the lottery to have a chance at the top pick.  There's some star potential talent at the top of next year's draft.  In any event, we could potentially have a few young, budding stars on this roster come this time next year. 

[Diesel]

On 8/15/2017 at 2:26 PM, DS5 said:

I believed Schlenk when he said that this would be quick re-tooling/building. I really think Golden State will have to make a decision on Klay Thompson as they re-sign Durant to another super max. We have the picks and the cap space to absorb his contract without sending any back. If we make a few more moves during the season, we could have enough cap space to sign another near-max player, like Nurkic. I know that's a lot of "ifs," but a lineup of Dennis, Klay, Prince, Collins and Nurkic could make some serious noise in a couple of years.

It's a really good pipe dream.  However, Schlenk has never GM'd before and therefore, I think his pipe dreams are about as close to your pipe dreams in the becoming reality department.