Eh, I hope they let him walk or St&T him and just role with what they got next season. I don't see a legit difference maker on the market that would actually come to the Spurs.
That's an option they should be exploring and the obvious target is (again) Collins. The Hawks will probably match any offer sheet (maybe a max dissuades them), so . . .
To Hawks: Spurs top 10 protected '21 1st, Ojeleye
To Celtics: Gay
To Spurs: Collins
This would probably increase the chances of a Aldridge trade/buyout . . .
Starters: Collins, DeRozan, Poeltl, White, Murray
Rotation: Mills, Johnson, Walker IV, Vassell, Lyles
Do you have a specific target in mind? The 2021 free agent class isn't looking like a great one at the moment, so using what would have been the 2021 cap space on DeRozan and a player already under contract would be just fine with me, depending on who it is of course.
If I’m the Hawks I see Collins having way more value than that.
On one hand some here view him as a near max or max player then on the other hand think he can be had for a protected 1st and mid level prospect.
Those two perspectives don’t add up.
After seeing the 2021 NBA fee agent class and looking through our needs by positions, all I wanna say is welcome back Demar! LMA, Gay and Patty are expendable.
They do add up.
The Hawks have already tipped their hand that they're not interested in paying him anywhere near the max. Getting a late lottery - mid round 1st, in a supposedly deep draft and a flyer on a youngish big wing, who's shot the 3 well this season, is solid compensation for avoiding going down a road they'd clearly prefer to not go down (matching an offer sheet at a number they're uncomfortable with for asset retention purposes, then both sides carrying on a charade until they can trade him).
His max is the smallest of the bunch at 25% of the cap. He's not worth it in a vacuum, but that's not how these things work.
I'm all for buying. I've been putting my thoughts out there about trying to acquire Beal over the summer but, I'd be in favor of buying now if we could get someone who isn't going to be a FA this offseason. I don't have any idea who might be available but if someone like Grant (Detroit) became available (not necessarily him but a good player on a decent contract) we should be buyers. The difference between us and the rest of the West isn't that much.... a quality player could have our young guys getting experience really competing this offseason and that would be worth more than this years 1st imo.
People who think we won't need to give up any assets to land JC and think we can simply land him by offering the max need to stop dreaming.
Whether that's Lonnie, Luka, a first round pick, or maybe all of those things combined... It's going to hurt to go after JC. I'm not opposing going after him. Just saying people need to be realistic with their expectations. Atlanta isn't giving him up for nothing.
The more games I watch JC this season the less I'm impressed. If we go that route I'll get on board but, at this point, I'd rather go in a different direction.
As far as trade targets for the deadline Marvin Bagley is at the top of my list. Would be much cheaper than Collins and is locked into his rookie contract for another 2 1/2 seasons. Kings clearly want to part ways with him, but they probably want a draft pick for him since he was the No. 2 pick
From theathletic article, interview with Atlanta's GM:
Obviously we’re having conversations with all the teams around the league,” Schlenk said. “Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything on the horizon, but that can change. You rarely get teams’ best offers. Nobody gets real serious until you get down to the last week or two. It’s hard to gauge. We certainly will look to do anything we can to do anything we can that feels like (it’s) going to make us a better team in the short term and the long term. Those sometimes don’t go hand-in-hand, but we’ll look at any situation we think that will help us.”
Collins’ situation is the most unique given his contract. Collins and his representation turned down a $90 million extension prior to the start of the season because they believe he will get more this offseason. With the way he’s played and because of the lack of quality free agents available on the market, their bet will likely pay off.
Schlenk said he actively listens to all trade offers on each of the team’s players, not just Collins specifically, to get a sense of what the value is on each of them. He did acknowledge that there are several teams who have interest in Collins because of his production at just 23 years old. He was asked if he views Collins as part of the team’s long-term plans.
“John’s a big part of our team — I think he’s second on the team in scoring right now — we all know how effective he can be offensively with his ability to finish in the lane and to shoot the ball from the perimeter,” Schlenk said. “So we still view John as a part of our team, certainly. He made the decision this fall to go to restricted free agency, and that was his choice and obviously, we respect it. But we’re going to have the opportunity to match any offer he gets. We’ll certainly make him an offer in free agency as well, and he’ll have the ability to see if he can get an offer from another team. But at the end of the day, we view him as part of our team, and I don’t see a restricted free agency situation where we would just let him walk for nothing.”
The reality of the situation is the Hawks have not made it abundantly clear to Collins that they view him as highly as he and his representation do. There’s a gap, and one that has been acknowledged from sources close to Collins.
When asked if he needs to see something specific out of Collins in the second half of the season to feel comfortable matching any offer he might receive in restricted free agency, Schlenk said he doesn’t because he and the team know how productive he is and there’s nothing he needs to prove.
Honestly? I'm not again Aaron Gordon. I'd have to see if it's possible for SA to squeak in enough cap space to work out an extension with him next summer. But I think having him, Poeltl, White and Murray and Vassell all locked up means their defensive future is set. They'd still have to be aggressive and move some assets to get an offensive centerpiece worthy of a contender, but it's a huge step without much cost.
I was just talking about Gordon, but Grant makes sense for similar reasons.
Same, very underwhelmed by him. I'm finding it harder each day seeing him grow beyond what he already is right now. He's young but what more type of a explosion development-wise can we expect from him? I think he would come as a legit shooting threat, but beyond that, I don't think anything else.
If the Spurs include a pick in a trade it should be the 2022 or 2023 pick, not the 2021 one since it's a deep draft and there's a high chance of us getting a valuable player in the 20s. As far as vets Horford for Aldridge straight up would work and give OKC cap relief, but would tie up our cap space significantly for the future, so I wouldn't want to get him even though he'd be a much better fit than Aldridge at this point. Like I said I'm wondering if we could somehow get Marvin Bagley. We need a starting PF and could sign somebody like Theis as a back up big in the offseason even if we keep DeRozan
Grant is being “targeted” by the Celtics but that necessarily doesn’t mean he’s available.
Is Collins really worth the max to SA?
I don't think so.
With all things accounted for ( his fit and the cap% ), he seems like a lateral move for the Spurs.
Grant would be perfect with this team, but he also scores 23 PPG, the asking price should be pretty high for him. Maybe if you take on Blake and Grant the Pistons might do it, but that's a huge load of salary. We'd have to ship out LA, Gay and Mills and I see no way that PATFO would do this
Grant is in the midst of his best season as a pro, and despite him not being selected for his first All-Star appearance this year, many teams have checked in on his availability and made offers, per league sources. However, Detroit appears to have *no interest* whatsoever in trading Grant, who is averaging 23.4 points this season and is in good position to win the NBA’s Most Improved Award, per league sources
I'd argue the Spurs don't really need depth or value in the draft though. Like they'll probably end up keeping the pick and getting such a player. But Walker's the only young guy not signed beyond next year. 2021 is the year to skip a pick rather than in 2022 or 2023, and that's not even considering the possibility of the Spurs falling off in later years or running into the "double-draft" without a first.
I wouldn't consider Horford for LMA. I don't actually see it as an upgrade, and that's basically a seller move regardless. I'd hope they'd look for a vet who could still be a factor in three or four years rather than one who should be retired soon. I loved Bagley during the draft (just in case folks thought I always picked winners), so I'd be interested in him as speculative trade piece. But I don't think acquiring him would be the same as getting a starting PF. Personally could see Sam filling that role over Bags, who might be on the Chriss trajectory at this point.
Aaron Gordon and/or Evan Fournier will be traded. It's just a matter of to which team. From yesterday's theathletic article:
Gordon is far more likely to be traded than Vucevic, in my opinion. First, Gordon has only one full season remaining before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, and although Gordon has never expressed any public disillusionment with the team or Orlando, he would pass up an opportunity if he doesn’t explore his options.
Gordon and Isaac are best suited to play power forward on the offensive end. Schematically, the Magic would excel defensively with a starting forward pairing of Gordon and Isaac. Offensively, however, it would continue to be a severe struggle, as it’s been in past seasons. Neither player is a natural small forward who regularly creates efficient shots on his own. Also, Gordon and Isaac have not proven they can sink 3-pointers at a high enough rate to space the floor. Playing Gordon, Isaac and Fultz simultaneously is a recipe for subpar floor spacing.
This duplication of skills means that either Isaac or Gordon is expendable, and the Magic already have committed long term to Isaac, extending his contract for the next four full seasons at $17.4 million per season.
So if the Magic trade Fournier or lose him in free agency, a pathway for the team to obtain a starting shooting guard is to trade Gordon.
Of course, all of this begs a question: Why would the Magic want to part ways with Fournier in the first place?
The argument for holding onto Fournier beyond the trade deadline, and then either extending his contract before free agency or re-signing him in free agency, makes some sense from a pure X’s-and-O’s perspective. He’s one of the few reliable scorers on a team that generally struggles to generate offense. He is one of the few above-average 3-point shooters on a team with precious few quality shooters. He also draws shooting fouls. And at 6 foot 7, he’s a versatile, though erratic, defender.
Fournier, 28, does have flaws. He played poorly in the Magic’s two recent postseasons, although it’s fair to say that he was sick during last August’s series against Milwaukee. He also has a maddening tendency to take high-difficulty shots instead of passing, though it should be noted that his assist rate has improved this season.
The more significant disincentive to retaining him is financial. Because of the luxury tax, most teams cannot afford to keep all the players they might want to keep, especially if those players are in the primes of their careers.
Assuming Aminu exercises his player option, the Magic already have committed $114 million in guaranteed salaries next season to 10 players, including the recent contract extensions for Fultz and Isaac. And the $114 million figure does not even include the salary of the team’s 2021 first-round draft pick and the three or four additional players who would fill the remaining spots on the roster.
In that scenario, the Magic would not be able to fill out their roster and re-sign or extend Fournier at a reasonable rate without going into the luxury tax and/or severely hampering the team’s long-term cap flexibility. Salary-cap issues, by the way, also would make it less than palatable for the Magic to trade Fournier and unrestricted free agent-to-be Khem Birch for a player such as Sacramento starting two-guard Buddy Hield, who is due to earn an average salary of $20.8 million over the next three seasons. Without other cost-cutting moves, bringing in Hield and subtracting Fournier would leave the Magic in as much, and likely more, salary-cap peril than re-signing Fournier.
So this is the dilemma the Magic face: Either they can part ways with Fournier, or they can retain him and face a toxic salary-cap situation. And if the Magic trade him before the deadline, one of the best ways to fill his starting role long term would be through a trade — a trade that could require the team to give up Gordon.
Just threw up in my mouth.
well, only delusional people would believe that in the first place.
I'm not sure we would want Gordon and Fournier but if we did, LMA + Lyles + Lonnie + a 1st would probably get it done based on the cap problems they have next year.
If I was being truly honest, I'd probably prefer Aaron over JC. JC just seems like a 1 dimensional stiff to me and Aaron seems more dynamic where you can use him in different scenarios. I would just have to erase those music videos from my memory to accept it.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
