Yeah, Markkanen is a 4.5 in today's league. He's the modern-day tweener. Generally speaking, you don't want to rely on a 4.5s because they can be played off the court really easily.
That said, it can't be overstated how desperately the Spurs need to add shooting to the starting lineup. If DeRozan isn't brought back, you basically have to replace him with a great shooter. Markkanen, for his faults, qualifies.
Wouldn't love it and he would be wildly overpaid (~$80 million would be my guess as of right now) buuuuuut he'd be a good fit for the offense. His defense won't be pretty but at least Poeltl is proving to be a top tier defensive center who has learned to stay out of foul trouble, so even the D shouldn't be a disaster ... especially considering he'd be replacing DeRozan in this scenario. If DeRozan is brought back, I wouldn't want Markkanen. That'd be too many immobile defenders in the starting lineup.
I know it's not going to happen, but my preference for his contract would be something like $15 mil or less a year. It seems all the other teams with projected cap space don't have a need for bigs; the Spurs don't need to outbid themselves. The Bulls don't think highly enough of him to probably care either. Their entire focus is keeping LaVine happy, and my guess is whether Lauri stays or goes won't be a big part of that.
They can't. I'm pretty sure that Lauri's max is around $28 million while DeRozan is probably looking for at least what he's making now, if not $30 million per. Spurs only have around $48 million in cap space.
I think they make a 2 year offer to DeRozan, for around $ 60 million, even though he is likely to turn it down. Then shift to Lauri
Gotta throw that money somewhere i guess
Bertans got 20mil.
Such a black eye for the front office to blunder that move. Imagine if they had kept Bertans. He’s be killing it on this roster assuming Pop didn’t give all his minutes to Rudy.
Different market then. Plus I don't know which teams would throw that kind of money at Lauri. Probably only Dallas and that's it.
You need to qualify this with your cap expectations to definitively say yes or no. There are also different ways to structure a deal. Either way Lauri is unlikely to fetch max money. John Collins will though. We could likely find a way to pay DDR close to 30/yr and pay John Collins max money if the opportunity presented itself. Not that I think this happens but it could be done even if it means moving a lesser contract to do so.
Give me a break. $20 mil for a backup big? One that's averaging 11 ppg and does literally nothing else? Even Wizards fans want to trade him if he ever builds up his value again (count that as never).
Underwhelming rebounder, defender, & shot blocker who also doesn't collect many assists or steals... He's having his best shooting season, but I still don't know if I'd call him a great shooter. He's had three seasons below 37% from three, and one above-- this season, at 39%. Pretty underwhelming free agency prize.
The Vuc, LaVine, DD combo would have to be the worst 3 man defense in the league, surely
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comment...m_source=share
Bulls' fans don't think they'll match an offer of $15 mil.
One of them says it was reported that the best offer they received at the trade deadline was a 2nd round pick.
Lauri doesn't excite me at all, but part of that is under the assumption that he'll be paid too much. But if he won't be overpaid (or let's just say, overpaid by too much), then it doesn't seem like a big issue at all to go after him.
the synopsis of the modern day tweener is spot on
make an offer commensurate to the limitations of his position and physical limitations defensively and I'm ok with it
Don't forget: he's also been injury prone throughout his young career. That's surely a factor on what kinds of offers he'll get. Seems there's too many obstacles for Lauri to get a big offer this offseason.
I just noticed the Bulls lost to the Magic team tonight. This is a team with HIGH expectations after the Vucevic trade. Ownership is going to reach a tipping point soon. They're 10th seed with the Raptors right behind them. Maybe the Spurs losing to the Raptors gives the Raptors a false sense of hope of making the playoffs and motivate them to take that 10th seed over the Bulls. If the Bulls don't even make the play-in tournament, then that would be a major disaster. Domino effect tonight.
Bulls have the 8th toughest SOS left too according to Tankathon. Yowsers.
At $15M, if you could get Markkanen to sign it, Chicago would match, and thank us. You literally have to overpay RFAs to pry them away.
Spurs should have about $47 million in cap with 11 players already on roster (including this year's pick) if and when they renounce all free agents. I don't believe that they can offer a max and keep DeRozan using bird rights, because they'd have to renounce him in order to remove his massive $38.2 million cap hold.
Lauri may not get the max but there are a number of teams that might pursue him and drive up his value, they could offer up to the max but that means DeRozan is gone. He is probably gone no matter what so I think they'd likely pursue Lauri hard and maybe re-sign Mills, Dieng, add another vet wing. That's probably the off-season.
I suggested a double S&T in another thread, I think it's technically possible but requires a lot of moving parts.
The Bulls would need to be interested in DeRozan, despite his fit, and interested in moving on from Lauri. Lauri would have to be interest in joining the Spurs, DeRozan would have to be interested in joining the Bulls and both of their salary demands would have to be met.
I'm not unconvinced that that could happen.
It's more likely than you think. But what's working against this is the Bulls being really underachieving.
They will have 51 millions and they will not sign Markannen at the max.
My guess is something like 20 and 30 for derozan so they can.
Everything above 13 million per year would be a disaster. I wouldn't go for him at all. Better keep you cap space for bad contracts to gain some draft picks.
I agree with you for the concerns about D, passing ... but he is a really good shooter, actually that's the interesting thing in his game and for the Spurs. A 36% carrerer 3pt shooter on 6 attemps per game , 80% at the FT line is a someone who can shoot without a doubt. He was also shooting well with Arizona ( 42 % from 3).
I don't necessarily see them underachieving as a barrier to them going after the DeRozan. They're definitely trying to get better and they reportedly had interest in DeRozan around the trade deadline. If they don't view Lauri as a part of the future then it might make sense to try and use his RFA as a means of trying to get better without a pick or cap space. It's possible that DeMar might still be in their plans but it's still a weird fit with their two best players.
I don't buy Lauri is only getting $20 million if multiple teams are going after him in RFA. Also that assumes that the Spurs offer him the amount of years that he wants and that he wants to return at all.
I could see two years, $60 million as the offer but even if he agrees --and if they sign Lauri to a 4 year $80 million deal--then they could be deep in the tax going forward.
FiveThirtyEight Lauri Markkanen
Compared to Average NBA
-0.7 Offense
-1.3 Defense
-2.0 Net
Compared to replacement level
WAR 0.4
Tied at 203rd with Cedi Osman and John Wall
203rd highest salary this year:
$5,029,650 Justin Jackson
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