Offseason Thread

[Roy H.]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Right now we can't offer that deal, because we're still above the second apron.  I believe that using the taxpayer MLE hard caps a team at the second apron for the rest of the season.

We could offer Lillard a similar deal, but we'd have to clear salary first.  Waiving Davison isn't enough; we'd most likely need to move Niang or Simons.  (I think we'd be alright if we waived Davison and then waived-and-stretched Niang, followed by signing Lillard.  I think we can give Lillard around $5.1 million this year if we stretch Niang, even without waiving J.D.)

[Who]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Clipppers

G: Harden, K Dunn
G: B Beal, Bogdanovic
F: Kawhi, Derrick Jones Jr
F: J Collins, Nic Batum
C: I Zubac, B Lopez

Strong team. Back among the top teams in the West. OKC, HOU, LAC, DEN. Maybe GSW & DAL. Then MIN, LAL. SAS in 9th place.

[Who]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Right now we can't offer that deal, because we're still above the second apron.  I believe that using the taxpayer MLE hard caps a team at the second apron for the rest of the season.

We could offer Lillard a similar deal, but we'd have to clear salary first.  Waiving Davison isn't enough; we'd most likely need to move Niang or Simons.  (I think we'd be alright if we waived Davison and then waived-and-stretched Niang, followed by signing Lillard.)

We would have to trade A Simons to make a role available for B Beal anyway.

D White is the other starting guard. Pritchard the 6th man. I suppose you could trade Pritchard and move A Simons into the 6th man role but Pritchard is the more cost effective option. Beal to replace A Simons. Simons to bring back a rotation player for the frontcourt.

It would have been an excellent move for BOS.

[Donoghus]

So $19.4M dead cap hit for the next 5 years for the Suns?

[Roy H.]

So $19.4M dead cap hit for the next 5 years for the Suns?

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/phoenix-suns/yearly

Yep.  Ouch.

But, from a purely financial perspective, it may work out.  They're now below the luxury tax.

It's one reason I wouldn't be shocked if Simons was stretched and waived.  We would carry $9.23 million next season and the following one, but getting below the tax line would save ownership approximately $107 million this season, and would start the journey out of the repeater tax.  (Note:  we'd also have to trade Tilman or another player to get below the tax).

[Who]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Clipppers

G: Harden, K Dunn
G: B Beal, Bogdanovic
F: Kawhi, Derrick Jones Jr
F: J Collins, Nic Batum
C: I Zubac, B Lopez

Strong team. Back among the top teams in the West. OKC, HOU, LAC, DEN. Maybe GSW & DAL. Then MIN, LAL. SAS in 9th place.

Does the Clippers starting lineup feel cluttered? A lack of spacing & ball movement?

Zubac and John Collins are two big bodies. Zubac is a paint only guy. Collins shoots a little but only a little. He is not a high volume shooter. Or even an average volume shooter. He is a low volume but efficient 3pt shooter.

Then you got the 3 scorers on the perimeter. Harden is a true playmaker. Beal is not. Kawhi is not. Beal likes to call his own number. So you got 3 guys looking to go 1on1. Zubac and J Collins do not provide much passing.

Is it ... stodgy? Stodgy offense?

[tonydelk]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Clipppers

G: Harden, K Dunn
G: B Beal, Bogdanovic
F: Kawhi, Derrick Jones Jr
F: J Collins, Nic Batum
C: I Zubac, B Lopez

Strong team. Back among the top teams in the West. OKC, HOU, LAC, DEN. Maybe GSW & DAL. Then MIN, LAL. SAS in 9th place.

Does the Clippers starting lineup feel cluttered? A lack of spacing & ball movement?

Zubac and John Collins are two big bodies. Zubac is a paint only guy. Collins shoots a little but only a little. He is not a high volume shooter. Or even an average volume shooter. He is a low volume but efficient 3pt shooter.

Then you got the 3 scorers on the perimeter. Harden is a true playmaker. Beal is not. Kawhi is not. Beal likes to call his own number. So you got 3 guys looking to go 1on1. Zubac and J Collins do not provide much passing.

Is it ... stodgy? Stodgy offense?

Lot's of talent but lots of players that are ball dominant.  The West is loaded.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to play in the West next year when the East is up for grabs with ZERO dominant teams maybe outside of Cleveland.  Anyone can come out of the East next year.  I would not be surprised if Detroit or Orlando some how make it to the Finals. 

[Vermont Green]

If Kawhi stays healthy, I see this version of LAC as a good team.  Harden will never play without the ball in his hands so the others are going to need to adjust.  Kawhi is fine off the ball but I am not so sure about Beal.  Beal has not been good in a while, not sure if he can bounce back or not.  Maybe he takes on the microwave role.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Shams reporting Brad Beal is getting bought out and going to the Clippers on a 2 yr $11 mil deal with a second year player option. Would?ve been nice to get him in Boston if he was that cheap, and has the St Louis connection with JT. Although I am by no means a cap expert but I would think we could afford that?

Clipppers

G: Harden, K Dunn
G: B Beal, Bogdanovic
F: Kawhi, Derrick Jones Jr
F: J Collins, Nic Batum
C: I Zubac, B Lopez

Strong team. Back among the top teams in the West. OKC, HOU, LAC, DEN. Maybe GSW & DAL. Then MIN, LAL. SAS in 9th place.

If I was the Clippers I would play Collins & Lopez as 6th & 7th men. Having Lopez spread the floor for Collins allows the lane to open up and more room to attack.

[OnPoint]

Why didn?t the Bucks just trade Lillard for Beal?

[slightly biased bias fan]

Why didn?t the Bucks just trade Lillard for Beal?

They needed to open cap space for Myles Turner.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Think about how many guards there are still available in FA right now:

Westbrook
Paul
Brogdon
Lillard
Payne
Payton II
Fultz
Shamet
Joseph

Of those players, 5/8 played important minutes in the playoffs last year. The other three were not in the playoffs, and Paul was 1/3 that started for the Spurs last season. The other two were injured for a significant portion of the season.

That doesn't even begin to touch on the RFA
Grimes
Giddey
Thomas

The first way of viewing this is that the league is very deep.

But the second is that maybe the guard position in the NBA is worse than we think it is. Maybe teams are changing guards every year right now because there aren't many guards that differentiate themselves from the pact in how they affect winning.

On the flip side, you have the Magic trading two rotation players and 4 first round picks for a guard that isn't even an all-star, but that guard has been proven to affect winning.

I think it just kinda' shows where the league is at.