Trading Morris to someone and taking no salary back is doable...
Maybe, not much cap room out there currently.
I don't think its a priority though, if it was they'd have needed to salary dump faster. I think the team will keep Morris as a depth piece given their intention to contend this year.
Not much cap room, no, but there are also a few trade exceptions he’d fit into. Depending where the final numbers are, moving Yabusele could also be sufficient. A 4-year, $46 million deal could start at $10.3 million.
I don’t know why people are so quick to dump Morris just to stay below the tax line, he’s the type of player that can make a difference in the playoffs. The type that can score 20 off the bench in a Finals game to steal one.
If we can stretch Nader and move Yabu to stay under the tax, that’s definitely the way to go imo. I like Yabu and he was the what, 16th pick? But he’s buried in the depth chart and is still years away at best from being a regular contributor.
He wouldn't even be in the rotation in the playoffs if everyone is healthy. And honestly I think a more impactful weapon could be found in the buyout scrap heap in April. He is in no way essential to the team and is completely replacable
I don’t think so.
Maybe not 30mpg but he would definitely get time and he’s the type that can bang a few threes, couple mid-rangers and just like that a double-digit run off the bench. He can play pretty good defense and it can’t hurt to have extra depth.
What guys have panned out for us off the buyout scrap heap? Troy Murphy? Greg Monroe? Stephon Marbury? Nopeeee.
Plus, we may not be able to be buyers come February/March if we want to stay under the tax, so what’s he point of trading Morris to get under it just to hopefully find someone as good and go over?
Other teams have found great success in the buyout market, our past failures shouldn't cloud that. For example Belinelli and Ilyasova worked out very well for Philly. Derek Fisher to the Thunder and Diaw to the Spurs are other examples.
And wasn't a certain PJ Brown a late season addition?
If you sign from the buyout pile we wouldn't be going back into the tax because that would be pointless. These guys tend to come on the vet min to chase a ring, not like the Monroe addition last year.
PJ Brown was retired. Not a buyout. And if we continually miss on that front, why get rid of a solid contributor for a chance at something we have not excelled in?
If we are trading away Morris to resign Smart, it’s to stay under the tax. Since we have to actually pay these buyout guys with real money (and often bid against other teams, potentially using a portion of our MLE to win them - like we did without DPE for Monroe), we likely would go up above the tax line, unless we dump Nader and Yabu as well.
Obviously we won’t know what it looks like until we see what Smart is getting this upcoming season, but dumping Morris for a potential buyout candidate months down the road seems like a bad idea to me. With Hayward getting eased back into his regular rotation, Morris would be very useful early.