Four of the players have guaranteed contracts(Theis, Edwards, Wanamaker, Poirier) and can't be traded for months so that is a pretty easy 4 of the 5. Waters and Strus have 2-way contracts, so it's pretty easy to rule them out. Maybe and Gates are just bodies for practice during training camp and pre-season, so it's pretty easy to rule them out.
What your question should ask is who, between Tacko and Green will make the team. I want to see much more before I decide but after one game, it sure looks like Green is an NBA ready player while Tacko is extremely raw. But both were playing against absolute scrubs so not sure that helps.
Tacko's potential to be something very, very good in a couple few years is intriguing so probably have to go with him but, if Waters or Strus show they really have no NBA future, I would be okay with dropping them, signing Tacko to the 2-way contract and trying to get someone on the team that could be a possible rotation contributor. If Green shows he is that guy, great. If it's by signing or trading for someone else, that is great too. If it means leaving the roster spot open to add someone later, I am good with that too.
I mentioned this in the game thread - it really comes down to Green's ability to contribute immediately vs Tacko's potential greater contribution down the road. Now we're talking about end of bench guys, so whatever contribution they would be making would be limited in any case unless we get hit by a lot of injuries. My head says Green but my heart says Tacko. Green would be the safer bet. But Tacko's got an x-factor, just his presence on the court forced Charlotte to change how they played, they got to the rim less and had to take more outside shots. (Tacko also got whistled for a defensive 3 seconds not knowing where he was supposed to stand on one possession.) But on the other end of the court there were times Tacko looked to be a liability - he's so tall that when he gets the ball it's very easy for players guarding him to knock it out of his hands. He struggled to set picks as well.
Here's my question though. Could we give the roster spot to Green but release Strus from his two way contract and give that to Tacko (assuming he's willing to take it and not take his chances with another team). I feel like the risk of putting Tacko at the end of the bench is that, like Rob Williams last year, he needs game time and he would be best served spending the year in Portland with the Red Claws instead of sitting on the bench getting on in garbage time now and then. I'm not sure what Strus adds to our team as a two way player that Green wouldn't already add as a roster player.
Yes, we can technically do that. The E-10 contract that Tacko is on already includes a built-in provision for conversion to a 2-Way contract, so he would not have to go through waivers.
Green, as mentioned, has over 50K of guaranteed money (I hear either 100K or 150K but the result is the same) and therefore cannot be converted to a 2-Way contract without going through waivers.
SO if the goal is to keep both Tacko and Green, then the above idea would probably be the way to go.
It would obviously make Green happy.
It would obviously make Strus sad.
It would make Tacko happy to be on the 17-man, but his agent would probably be sad because it would represent a cut in Tacko's earnings of hundreds of thousands of dollars versus just staying on his E-10 non-guaranteed NBA minimum contract. So a bit mixed.
My opinion is that I think it's a no-brainer to keep Fall, whether that's on an NBA minimum or on a 2-Way. I'm not at all concerned that he's raw and maybe not likely to contribute this year. I just see that he has tremendous upside potential and I know that if we don't keep him on either the NBA contract or the 2-Way that he will get
poached immediately. It's so cheap to at least see how he develops this year that I think you have to do that. Too much reward potential for such tiny risk.
I also concur with nick that it's highly unlikely Danny & Brad let go of a veteran, defensive player like Semi in order to keep any player who is being considered at the 2-Way tier. Plus, Semi is one of our few players who is at least close to the physical profile of a 'PF' and none of Green, Strus, Fall or Waters are. So positional needs favor keeping Semi as well.
So to me, the question really comes down to whether you keep Green or Strus. They play the same position (2-3 wing) so it's a fair trade off to consider. Right now, Green looks way more exciting and interesting. But Strus was signed for a reason and has some pretty impressive scoring numbers out of DePaul. I think we should wait to see if he can have his own 'preseason moment' before we completely write him off. Also, the fact is, he's 3 years younger (and an inch taller) than Green.
Green has been playing professional ball for the last three years and really _should_ look more ready-to-contribute than all the kids around him. But is that really a selling point here? Barring injury, I personally am not looking at any of these guys for their possible contributions from the 15th - 17th spots on the roster for this season.
There is a realistic chance that whichever of these two that we keep will end up getting zero minutes on the NBA roster and will spend most or all of the year in Maine. After all, they both play a position (wing) that we have a ton of depth ahead of them at. That would put Green at age 27 next year and still not having cracked an active roster. Arguably, HE might personally be better off getting waived now (he'd get to pocket his guaranteed money) in order to try to make an actual active roster on another team.
Just some thoughts. Like I said, I think I'll wait through more of the preseason before I really start to form a stronger opinion.
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Topic: Who stays and who goes? Picking the final Celtics roster (Read 8581 times)