Free agency starts / reported signings (merged)

[tazzmaniac]

Sixers match Paul Reed's offer from Utah (3yr/24M).   Good move on their part. 

[Roy H.]

Centers Christian Wood and Bismack Biyombo are in consideration for that 14th roster spot, according to team sources  not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The Lakers had interest in Dario Saric before he signed with the Golden State Warriors earlier this week, those sources said. Pelinka clarified that Los Angeles is hoping to find a player that is different than Hayes from a skill-set perspective. – via Jovan Buha @ The Athletic

[Birdman]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

[Vermont Green]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

Absolutely.  Wood has been a bit of an enigma, seems to put up numbers, but teams move on from him.  The Celtics would have a good role for him, and a real chance to be part of a core that will win well into the future.  But he seems like the type that will end up in LAL.

I actually have not seen him play all that much.  There must be a flaw or a blind spot in his game.  Whatever it is, his prior teams seem to feel it is not fixable and let him go.  Maybe it was a simple as too much pressure or too high an expectation in DAL.  In BOS, he could come in as a bench player, no pressure, limited expectation, and then he could work himself up to being Horford's replacement, a core rotation player on a winning team.  You would think this would be appealing to him, but I have my doubts.

[Roy H.]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

Absolutely.  Wood has been a bit of an enigma, seems to put up numbers, but teams move on from him.  The Celtics would have a good role for him, and a real chance to be part of a core that will win well into the future.  But he seems like the type that will end up in LAL.

I actually have not seen him play all that much.  There must be a flaw or a blind spot in his game.  Whatever it is, his prior teams seem to feel it is not fixable and let him go.  Maybe it was a simple as too much pressure or too high an expectation in DAL.  In BOS, he could come in as a bench player, no pressure, limited expectation, and then he could work himself up to being Horford's replacement, a core rotation player on a winning team.  You would think this would be appealing to him, but I have my doubts.

I think his issues are mostly defensive understanding and effort.

He is 100% worth a vet minimum, assuming that's what LA is dangling.  I'd cut Kornet and give him as much of the MLE as possible, assuming Oubre is out of our range.  At the very least, he's going to be productive; you just hope he doesn't give up as much on the defensive end as he gains on offense.

[celticinorlando]

Boston has Luke Kornet. I guess Brad thinks he is somehow good enough. I wish he would be cut and they use his money elsewhere but Brad loves him so he is probably protected.

[Who]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

Absolutely.  Wood has been a bit of an enigma, seems to put up numbers, but teams move on from him.  The Celtics would have a good role for him, and a real chance to be part of a core that will win well into the future.  But he seems like the type that will end up in LAL.

I actually have not seen him play all that much.  There must be a flaw or a blind spot in his game.  Whatever it is, his prior teams seem to feel it is not fixable and let him go.  Maybe it was a simple as too much pressure or too high an expectation in DAL.  In BOS, he could come in as a bench player, no pressure, limited expectation, and then he could work himself up to being Horford's replacement, a core rotation player on a winning team.  You would think this would be appealing to him, but I have my doubts.

The locker room issues appear to be the main problem. He has a big ego. He wants more touches, more shots. Stuff like that. He has been on rebuilding teams in DET and HOU and they felt he wasn't worth the trouble.

Wood has some skill / size issues as he is a bit of a tweener big man. He is part PF part C. So you need a good coach to get the best out of him. He had a bad coach in DAL in Kidd who did not understand his game at all and kept putting him in bad situations. That wasn't Wood's fault. That was a coaching issue.

So Wood is most productive at center where he can use his speed and athleticism to attack the rim relentlessly. He can't do this as much at PF because he is usually playing alongside a non-shooting C so Wood has to space the floor instead which eats into his rim attacks. The issue is that while he is better offensively at C he is worse defensively. He has okay height and length but lacks bulk so he gets pushed around easily on D by bigger players. So you have to pick and choose your matchups with Wood at C. If you select them well, you get great play by Wood at C against lesser talented players mostly bench guys. If you do not select your matchups and force him to play against all and sundry, he gets his ass beat. That is what Kidd did.

Wood has some issues in terms of defense & skill beyond size. So defensively he is not the most fundamentally sound or aware guy but he is a fantastic athlete and that bails him a good amount of the time. If you play him at PF alongside a defensively able big man, he will be a net positive on D. He will make errors but he will also make big time plays. He has that bit of feast and famine to him but on defense.

On offense, the skill-set issue is that he is best when attacking the rim. That allows him to be a 17-22ppg type threat if given starter minutes (at center). If you play him at PF, he has to space the floor more and doesn't get to attack the rim so he is more of a 14-16ppg threat. There is a similar large jump or drop off in rebounding numbers from PF to C.

So Wood is a solid perimeter shooter and can space the floor but he has limited handles (line drive attempts are good), and bad passing ability. He has limited shot-creation if he can't out-quick you which is why he is so much better at center going against slower players. He is also fantastic as a cutter / rim roller which he loses out on in terms of opportunities to do so at PF vs C.

So there are (1) significant locker room issues (2) tweener issues PF to C (3) defensive fundamentals.

[Who]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

Absolutely.  Wood has been a bit of an enigma, seems to put up numbers, but teams move on from him.  The Celtics would have a good role for him, and a real chance to be part of a core that will win well into the future.  But he seems like the type that will end up in LAL.

I actually have not seen him play all that much.  There must be a flaw or a blind spot in his game.  Whatever it is, his prior teams seem to feel it is not fixable and let him go.  Maybe it was a simple as too much pressure or too high an expectation in DAL.  In BOS, he could come in as a bench player, no pressure, limited expectation, and then he could work himself up to being Horford's replacement, a core rotation player on a winning team.  You would think this would be appealing to him, but I have my doubts.

I don't see BOS as a good place for Wood. I do see Wood as great for Boston but not Boston great for Wood.

Wood's priority should be FA next summer. He isn't getting the offers he wants this summer so he needs to rebuild his value and ensure a max payday next summer. He needs minutes to do that. Wood would be the 4th big in our rotation so there aren't enough consistent minutes for him to maximize his value. So I don't see BOS as a prime destination for him.

Miami and the LA Lakers are far better because there is open competition for the starting PF slot and the opportunity to play 30-35 minutes a night for Wood. That would allow him to better garner attention, rebuild his value attract a bigger payday next summer.


Wood would be great for Boston.

The tweener big issues are mostly a non-issue for us because we have two skilled bigs in Horford and Porzingis and only one low skilled big in Timelord. So Wood will have plenty of opportunities at PF to mix and match his perimeter game with his rim attacks next to Horford and Porzingis and only a small amount of time where he has to restrict his game to concentrate on spacing the floor.

They can also allow him to play defensively at PF most of the time and keep a defensive anchor at C next to him to help him on D. This will allow him to be a net positive on D.

If we could get C Wood, he'd be a great get. A huge addition to the team. And, as you say, a possible long term replacement for Al Horford and long term fixture next to Porzingis and Timelord. It would be a brilliant signing.

[Surferdad]

Boston has Luke Kornet. I guess Brad thinks he is somehow good enough. I wish he would be cut and they use his money elsewhere but Brad loves him so he is probably protected.

Was hoping to see something out of Olec Balcerowski in SL to suggest he is better than Kornet, but it hasn't happened. Resign Blake and call it a day.

[Roy H.]

Boston has Luke Kornet. I guess Brad thinks he is somehow good enough. I wish he would be cut and they use his money elsewhere but Brad loves him so he is probably protected.

Are there other players in the league who keep getting contracts on the same team despite adding very little?

Haslem is one; Iguodala has been another.  But those guys weren't necessarily asked to fill a role other than 15th man.

I mean, it's nice that he's tall and seemingly a good guy that gets along with folks.  But Biyombo or Wood are simply much better players (as are Hassan Whiteside and Boogie Cousins, haha.)

[Who]

Philly have matched the Paul Reed offer sheet.

I assume they matched so that they can trade him for an asset at a later date. Not because they want 3 backup centers behind Embiid.

Trading P Reed for a decent bench forward would be a good plan. No depth at forward with McDaniels and Niang leaving. Plenty of depth at center with Mo Bamba and M Harrell. They could get a decent player in return for P Reed.

[Kernewek]

Philly have matched the Paul Reed offer sheet.

I assume they matched so that they can trade him for an asset at a later date. Not because they want 3 backup centers behind Embiid.

Trading P Reed for a decent bench forward would be a good plan. No depth at forward with McDaniels and Niang leaving. Plenty of depth at center with Mo Bamba and M Harrell. They could get a decent player in return for P Reed.

Just to reiterate from earlier in this thread, I think? Reed can now veto any trade for a year now, and he can't be traded to the Jazz at all.

[Who]

Philly have matched the Paul Reed offer sheet.

I assume they matched so that they can trade him for an asset at a later date. Not because they want 3 backup centers behind Embiid.

Trading P Reed for a decent bench forward would be a good plan. No depth at forward with McDaniels and Niang leaving. Plenty of depth at center with Mo Bamba and M Harrell. They could get a decent player in return for P Reed.

Just to reiterate from earlier in this thread, I think? Reed can now veto any trade for a year now, and he can't be traded to the Jazz at all.

Ah okay. So no trade this season.

[celticsclay]

Like to have Wood on the team cause with TimeLord injury history & Horford’s age, be good to have him

Absolutely.  Wood has been a bit of an enigma, seems to put up numbers, but teams move on from him.  The Celtics would have a good role for him, and a real chance to be part of a core that will win well into the future.  But he seems like the type that will end up in LAL.

I actually have not seen him play all that much.  There must be a flaw or a blind spot in his game.  Whatever it is, his prior teams seem to feel it is not fixable and let him go.  Maybe it was a simple as too much pressure or too high an expectation in DAL.  In BOS, he could come in as a bench player, no pressure, limited expectation, and then he could work himself up to being Horford's replacement, a core rotation player on a winning team.  You would think this would be appealing to him, but I have my doubts.

I don't see BOS as a good place for Wood. I do see Wood as great for Boston but not Boston great for Wood.

Wood's priority should be FA next summer. He isn't getting the offers he wants this summer so he needs to rebuild his value and ensure a max payday next summer. He needs minutes to do that. Wood would be the 4th big in our rotation so there aren't enough consistent minutes for him to maximize his value. So I don't see BOS as a prime destination for him.

Miami and the LA Lakers are far better because there is open competition for the starting PF slot and the opportunity to play 30-35 minutes a night for Wood. That would allow him to better garner attention, rebuild his value attract a bigger payday next summer.


Wood would be great for Boston.

The tweener big issues are mostly a non-issue for us because we have two skilled bigs in Horford and Porzingis and only one low skilled big in Timelord. So Wood will have plenty of opportunities at PF to mix and match his perimeter game with his rim attacks next to Horford and Porzingis and only a small amount of time where he has to restrict his game to concentrate on spacing the floor.

They can also allow him to play defensively at PF most of the time and keep a defensive anchor at C next to him to help him on D. This will allow him to be a net positive on D.

If we could get C Wood, he'd be a great get. A huge addition to the team. And, as you say, a possible long term replacement for Al Horford and long term fixture next to Porzingis and Timelord. It would be a brilliant signing.

There is zero chance wood plays 35 minutes a game for the lakers next year. Come on let’s keep these semi realistic here. He played 26 on a super thin Dallas team last year. Guys aren’t getting minimum contracts to play 35 minutes on a good team.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Philly have matched the Paul Reed offer sheet.

I assume they matched so that they can trade him for an asset at a later date. Not because they want 3 backup centers behind Embiid.

Trading P Reed for a decent bench forward would be a good plan. No depth at forward with McDaniels and Niang leaving. Plenty of depth at center with Mo Bamba and M Harrell. They could get a decent player in return for P Reed.

Just to reiterate from earlier in this thread, I think? Reed can now veto any trade for a year now, and he can't be traded to the Jazz at all.

Ah okay. So no trade this season.

I'd also point out that I'm not sure Bamba and Harrell counts as good depth. The idea of Bamba is good, but he actually has similar effectiveness to Kornet. Harrell isn't a positive anymore. Plus, neither can play with Embiid effectively.