Game Thread: Spurs vs Celtics — Mon. (12/31) - 6:00/C (2:00am Riga Time)

[objective]

Damn forgot about Militinov tbh. Agreed it's a pipe dream because Pop would never trade away Patty but that team has a Finals ceiling next season if everything falls in line, crazy to think about considering the state of the squad just a month ago.

It's still all fantasy, but Sacramento could be the third team to give the Wizards extra salary relief because they still have room under the cap.

Pau + Raptors 1st to SAC, Mills + Milutinov to WAS, and Porter to SA, Koufos to WAS, plus conditional seconds or scrub rights as needed to satisfy trade minutiae ...

Wizards save big time this year, about 6 million, I think enough to get them out of the tax. And Koufos is expiring. Sacramento picks up a first round pick for only taking on 6.7 million next year that they can stretch waive into a small call hit if they want, and Pau could even help them be a better team this year.

It's a semi pleasant dream

[Nivek_ogre]

I can't understand people who complain about mills contract but want porters contract.

[cjw]

I can't understand people who complain about mills contract but want porters contract.

I don’t know why people are falling over themselves to give up two assets for his contract. It’s not a positive value contract.

Not to mention Porter has been very average this year.

[slick'81]

I don’t know why people are falling over themselves to give up two assets for his contract. It’s not a positive value contract.

Not to mention Porter has been very average this year.

desperate for a sf

[koriwhat]

fun game last night that seemed to rush by fast. i got to my row12 seat at the beginning of the 2nd qtr. didn't realize the game was at 6pm yesterday. either way it was a blast but it seemed lackluster in the stadium for such a game as this one was.

[playbonner15]

Good win especially with the awful refs. WTF up with these refs. What happened to the home cooking stuff? You should have to earn the road wins, not have the refs give you ton more calls.

Refs are blatantly trash this season

[objective]

I can't understand people who complain about mills contract but want porters contract.

I don’t know why people are falling over themselves to give up two assets for his contract. It’s not a positive value contract.

Not to mention Porter has been very average this year.

desperate for a sf

Slick gets it

Yes, Mills is bad and his contract is bad. Pau also has a bad contract.

But Porter is good. Overpaid? yes. But at least he's good. He's a legit starter. It's taking the same money spent on two guys who won't start or finish playoff games with one guy who can do both.

And besides that, the current Spurs cap and tax situation makes it almost impossible to improve other than hoping the draft picks hit and hit immediately (the tank crowd understands this).

If the Spurs keep Gasol for next year and don't stretch him, they can keep Rudy Gay and that's about it. No MLE without going into the tax, no Milutinov anyway.

If they do stretch waive Gasol and keep Rudy Gay, they can spend the MLE on a small forward sized player on a market where lots of teams have much more cap room than the Spurs. Spurs might even strike out, or overpay someone who turns out to not be starting or finishing quality as it is. But still probably no Milutinov because he would have nowhere to play in the lineup.

If they stretch waive Gasol and lose Gay in free agency, they only have the money to try and replace Gay. But then no money for another small forward.

The assets burned in my play-trade are the price to pay for turning what is now 25% of the cap in the forms of Mills and Gasol who can't play for 25% of the cap in one guy, Porter, who can play (allegedly).

The alternatives just aren't good. The Spurs either end up keeping the same bad 25% or something close to it.

And the tanking hopes are pretty low if White just continues to play like he has and LMA doesn't revert to early season LMA and every important player stays relatively healthy. They are either making the playoffs or just missing in a draft that isn't full of NBA ready small forwards in picks 11-20. DeAndre Hunter might be the closest and he's likely not ready as a rookie under Pop and that's if he even falls to the Spurs.

The way I see it, getting the most out of Pop's final years, should he stick around past this one, is to get a legit player to match years with LMA and DDR. Porter's not an all-star, but he is capable of being a 30 mpg in the playoffs player. I'd take that over 30 combined minutes of Mills and Gasol

[Snaq O'Meal]

Refs are blatantly trash this season

Refs have been blatantly trash since 2002.

[Nivek_ogre]

Otto porter will be making 28 million dollars in two years. And also has a 15% trade bonus. that . Rather roll out a 6ft 5 lonnie walker at sf than pay that salary

[objective]

Porter's trade bonus isn't that big a deal:

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2017/...ba-free-agency

Basically, it's the Wizards who would have to pay it, and it would only increase his salary this season by about 750k because he's so close to his absolute max and the kicker can't take him past that

[kaji157]

It's true that really only Gasol+Mills+picks/rights works, though it'd actually save the Spurs money. I suppose Washington could add Jeff Green and close the gap, but it still saves the Spurs money. It's not likely at all considering Washington paid cash to get off of Jason Smith and the Spurs have no more cash to give this season.

But I think I might not mind adding the Toronto first and the rights to Milutinov. I love Milutinov, but his future with the Spurs looks shaky considering Poeltl and LMA are around the next two years or so. Wizards are a year away at most from being without a center past Thomas Bryant. And with Mills they have a player to fill in for Wall who has this great reputation in the locker room, something they might want. And he won't hurt the tank.

I suppose what intrigues me most about this fantasy deal is that the Spurs would be trading two non-starters with big weaknesses for a legit starter, with legit size for his position, who is not a minus defender, and with no glaring weaknesses. Going from two bench guys to that would make a tremendous difference I think.

And it wouldn't put them in too much tax trouble, though they'd be skating close. While they would lose the ability to stretch waive Pau's last season, there wouldn't be much cause to use the MLE either. They'd have starters and backups at every position, and they could still pay Gay in line with what he's making now. They'd have a draft pick and minimums to sign, no Milutinov to sign at all

Aldridge-Gay-Porter-DeRozan-Murray
Poeltl-Bertans-Marco-Forbes-White
Walker-Metu-2019_1st-minimum-minimum

If you got Gay on a 2-22 deal, which is still a small bump and respectable, they still slide under the tax with 15 spots filled by maybe $2 million.

It's all just pointless fun and games fantasy, but Porter as a competent defender with a crunch time lineup of Murray and White? And as a good shooter just entering his prime?

It's probably a lot better than stretch-waiving Pau to free up money for the MLE and pray it's enough to get Stanley Johnson. And in that sort of scenario, they still don't have the money to sign Milutinov anyway.

As you said, this trade would be too good for us, most likely won´t happen.

[r0drig0lac]

spurs by 8

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