Package Morris and our First to Move Up

[Fafnir]

Holy crap the Blazers situation is worse than I thought. They're at $111,299,249, with Nurkic only counting as $4.1 million and Napier only at $3.4 million.

Luxury tax is around 120, yikes its tight for them.

[saltlover]

I don't think giving up Morris moves us up more than a couple of slots. Not into the teens.

Might be enough, given the added benefits as pointed out by SL (cap room to sign Baynes)(although he would want to be able to climb higher than that).

We'd have to take money back unless the other team was under the salary cap. I don't see the Bulls/76ers/Lakers/Pacers getting rid of $5 million of cap room before the beginning of FA.

So we're saving around 2.15 million? Minus the difference in salary of the now somewhat higher slot 1st round pick.

Chicago, Philadelphia, Lakers, Blazer, Pacers, Jazz, Minnesota do any of them want Morris enough to move down? I don't see any interest from those teams in moving down for Morris. Some might take him for someone they don't play to save around that 2 million for the C's but not sacrificing draft slots for it.

Early in the thread I list four teams in the 20s who are playoff-level and who could feasibly send us back no salary.

Only the Jazz would consider it. Pacers aren't spending space till after FA, Minnesota doesn't have any room (three teamer as you posit is unlikely), and the Blazers are up against the Tax in a bad way so they aren't adding salary for morris imo.

Thabo's guarantee date is 7/1/2018 so Jazz would be it. Honestly though I don't see him fitting with that team myself. So I guess the market would be the Jazz to move down 6 slots for Morris?

I guess that makes some sense if they hate everyone at 21.

Disagree on the Pacers, personally.  I think they could be interested.  Morris would take a lot of Jefferson’s minutes, and would be a real upgrade at a low cost.  They would still have money to pursue an additional free agent in the $10-12 million range.  They’re not at max-level free agent anyway, so getting someone like Morris on short money for all of four spots in the draft is throughly reasonable if the player they were targeting is off the board.  As for the Wolves, I expect them to try to find a team for Aldrich by next Wednesday so that they can earn a trade exception.  This would make it not necessarily a 3-way trade.  They’re likely to lose Bjelica, and Morris would be a solid replacement.  They’re also likely to be in the tax regardless, so might as well make the most of it and field the best team you can, given that you finally ended a long playoff drought.

Blazers I don’t know what to think.  They’re straddling the line between splurging on the tax and skimping to stay under it.  With Lillard potentially eligible for a supermax extension next summer, this feels like a season to try to make a run at it.  Ownership isn’t lacking for resources.

Again, I’m not a fan unless I felt very confident I could get Baynes at his non-Bird rights for 2-3 seasons.  Even then I’m iffy, and it would really depend if a certain player slid.