Summer 2012 Free Agents Thread - Part II

[nate33]

The only way the Wizards could have cap room in 2014 would be to renounce players, decline options on rookie contracts, or trade away players without taking back future salaries.

Isn't this common with teams that position themselves to be aggressive in FA? The Heat gave away Beasley. The Bulls gave away Hinrich and a 1st rd pick. Minnesota just gave away Wes Johnson and a first rd pick. this team has a lot of guys we can move in either of the next two offseasons and seems positioned to take on salary in a trade if they choose to, or have cap space by duping some assets. It's wayyyyy to early to say our hands are tied the next few yrs......

You are proving my point. Chicago had to sacrifice a future draft pick just do dump a pretty good player in Hinrich. Minnesota had to sacrifice a draft pick just to give up a guy on his rookie contract. It took terrible vision from those GM's to put themselves in the position of having to give up picks just to dump guys that shouldn't be that hard to dump. Why on Earth would we want to put ourselves in the same position? If we didn't acquire Okafor/Ariza, and instead acquired Brand and Danny Green at less than 20% of the cost, we wouldn't have to make such a choice.

[LyricalRico]

And what exactly does Minnesota have to show for getting Batum to sign an offer sheet? You'd be apoplectic if the Wizards had cap space and then signed Kirilenko to the deal that Minnesota did. Anderson, also restricted, cost New Orleans a decent young piece as well in Ayon. You hate overpaying mediocre players in free agency and you hate not going after free agents because you're don't think your enough of a destination for guys to sign reasonable deals to come here. There's not a lot of room in between.

Exactly. The same people complaining that we don't have cap space next year would be the same people with buyer's remorse down the road, especially if we would've gotten to 2014 and had to let somebody we drafted go because we had B-level guys like Ryan Anderson or Landry Fields on our books for big money. They'd be screaming about Ted/Ernie not having the "vision" to acquire shorter deals when they had the chance so that they could re-sign everybody when the time came.

I also think it's a mistake to assume that the organization was ever going to target 2013 as a year to spend big long-term FA dollars. Maybe they looked at what might be available and decided not to. They apparently believe that they have the right mix of young players on the roster, and they want to develop them over the next two seasons while making sure that they have the room under the luxury tax to re-sign all of them when the time came. It's quite possible IMO that 2014 was always the plan and the organization was never targeting 2013 as a year to spend significant FA dollars or take back long-term salary in trades.

So they looked around at the players that were most likely to be available, identified the ones that they thought could help them the most over the next two seasons, and they were willing to pay a premium to make sure they got them. And if the team 1) has at least semi-significant increases in wins in both of next two seasons, 2) develops the young players along the way, and 3) re-signs everybody that deserves it, I don't see how you can say that this was not a successful next step in the building process. And I, for one, believe that to be exactly what's going to happen.

Will it have been the sexy, rags-to-riches story of using cap space for instant success that many here seem to want? No, but that hardly ever happens anyway. So I'm comfortable with taking solid (even if unspectacular) steps forward rather than chasing the proverbial wind.

Go Wiz!

[closg00]

And what did New Orleans have to give-up to dump the bloated contracts of Okafor/Ariza?

[nate33]

And what did New Orleans have to give-up to dump the bloated contracts of Okafor/Ariza?

To be fair, they did have to give up the $13.7M in cash (and cap room) to buy out Lewis' contract.

[closg00]

And what did New Orleans have to give-up to dump the bloated contracts of Okafor/Ariza?

To be fair, they did have to give up the $13.7M in cash (and cap room) to buy out Lewis' contract.

Oh-yeah, I mean NO didnt have to give-up any pIcks to unload Okafor and Ariza.

[DCZards]

Few, if any, top flight free agents change teams each year and it's rare for a game-changing star to be traded. So it's not all that hard to understand why Ted and EG opted to improve the Zards by trading for Okafor and Ariza instead. These are players on short term contracts who give the Zards better rebounding (something we desperately needed), improved toughness and D, and a smarter, more professional team---both on and off the court---especially when compared to last season.

Taken together, these things have created a much better environment for youngin's like Wall, Beal and Seraphin to develop and mature as people and players---and maybe even gain some valuable playoff experience.

I think we'll discover that what Ted and EG did with the Okafor/Ariza trade was smart rather than cowardice.

[DCZards]

Golatas

Some on this board loved the "golatas" Houston GM Morey showed when he let talent like Lowry and Dragic walk, and cleared cap room in order to go after D. Howard--who said all along that he wouldn't resign with the Rockets if they traded for him. How'd that turn out? Well, it turned out with Houston overpaying for free agents Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik.

In other words, Morey was left holding his "golatas."

[LyricalRico]

I think we'll discover that what Ted and EG did with the Okafor/Ariza trade was smart rather than cowardice.

[jivelikenice]

deals instead of signing an FA to a 3+ year deal, we can extend everyone without paying the luxury tax. And ]
Right. The Okafor/Ariza acquisition prevented us from acquiring a free agent in 2013 - which was our only window of opportunity to make a big impact in free agency.

How would a big FA acquisition in '13 have affected our ability to retain our impending FAs in regards to the luxury tax, which Ted has no intention of paying?

Please. Just stop. You can't win this argument because the facts simply aren't on your side.

We would have had plenty of room under the luxtax threshold in 2014/15 if we never traded for Okafor/Ariza and instead signed a max free agent next year.

Just stop??...why don't you lighten up. I'm actually asking a question for discussion purposes, not making an argument. Maybe you should learn the difference , or ignore my posts.....

My QUESTION was if we signed a max FA, we definitely would have had room to sign Wall to max deal, Seraphin to likely 10mm per, keep our next two firsts, and have cap holds on Booker and Crawford in '14 without being at the lux tax?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Great post, Dat2U. I especially liked:

Shame on Ernie for lacking vision, creativity and the golatas to take any sort of risk. A desperate man trying to save his career. And double the shame on Teddy Leonsis, for eating the slop that Pringles served him, then smiling in the camera afterwards like it's the best thing he's ever tasted.

That's practically poetry thread-worthy

Golatas, I like that. And now it's time to quote from Boiler Room.

Jim Young: There's an important phrase that we use here, and think it's time that you all learned it. Act as if. You understand what that means? Act as if you are the f**cking President of this firm. Act as if you got a 9" c*ck. Okay? Act as if.

Ted and Ernie act like whimpering puppies, two losers in a low self-esteem support group. What agent would want his player going to an organization that publically proclaims that no-one wants to come here. Well Act as-if they do for starters.

Way back in the day, my first job out of college, I had a job interview with a female boss. At some point in the interview process I recall reading her body language. I smiled and she smiled back. I was never more confident of anything. I remember practically sitting on the woman's desk (I think I did, actually) at one point during the interview. Of course I got that job.

I agree with you on Ted and Ernie, closg00.

Also, thanks for reminding of something really important -- Never lose your confidence. It will take you a long way in life.

[Kanyewest]

Could the Wizards have had max cap space next season if they did nothing? Perhaps the Wizards could throw a max offer at James Harden or a big enough offer at Serge Ibaka.

For now I think the Wizards are pursuing a plan mostly of growing within. Yes, they gave up a 2nd round pick in the Okafor/Ariza trade but they still have the young guys under contract for a few more years. Ultimately the Wizards will be judged on how they have drafted in the past few years.

[jivelikenice]

Sounds like we could have had space for Harden. All we needed to do was show some swagger in our recruitment and we could have had him or Ibaka....

[nate33]

My QUESTION was if we signed a max FA, we definitely would have had room to sign Wall to max deal, Seraphin to likely 10mm per, keep our next two firsts, and have cap holds on Booker and Crawford in '14 without being at the lux tax?

Almost. We definitely couldn't afford Crawford (but with Beal and a max free agent who is likely to be playing SG or SF, we wouldn't need him).

With Wall under a max deal, James Harden on a max deal, Nene, Vesely, Beal, 2013 pick and 2014 pick under contract, our payroll would be about $54M. Add $10M for Seraphin and we're up to $64M. Booker's cap hold of $5.8M would put us right on the edge of the luxtax threshold (about $70M give or take). Booker's actual contract might not cost that much though, so we would probably save some money when we signed him. We would also have the option of cutting Chris Singleton and thereby save $2.5M.

[nate33]

Could the Wizards have had max cap space next season if they did nothing? Perhaps the Wizards could throw a max offer at James Harden or a big enough offer at Serge Ibaka.

Yes. And they didn't have to do nothing. There was enough cap room to sign a $5M free agent this summer (say, Danny Green) and STILL have max cap room next year for Harden or Ibaka.

This is what is so frustrating to me. It looked to me like EG had laid everything out perfectly. He traded for one stud veteran big man in Nene to turn the franchise around and raise us to respectability, while maintaining enough youth and cap room to make a move down the road. We even had enough cap room to add one respectable veteran wing like Rush or Green to further solidify our young core. Take the team of the last 25 games last year, add Beal and Green and improvement from Wall, Vesely and Seraphin, and I think it's a 34-40 win team with a ton of flexibility. Instead, we're a 36-42 win team with no flexibility.

Next summer, with the cap room and youth at our disposal, we could have gone after Harden, and if that failed, we could have engineered a sign and trade for someone like Howard or Bynum by offering our cap room plus some combination of our surplus young bigs (Vesely, Booker, Seraphin). And even if none of that panned out, I still think we'd better by having Seraphin, Booker and Vesely get more minutes and experience rather than sitting behind Okafor.

[TGW]

Could the Wizards have had max cap space next season if they did nothing? Perhaps the Wizards could throw a max offer at James Harden or a big enough offer at Serge Ibaka.

Yes. And they didn't have to do nothing. There was enough cap room to sign a $5M free agent this summer (say, Danny Green) and STILL have max cap room next year for Harden or Ibaka.

This is what is so frustrating to me. It looked to me like EG had laid everything out perfectly. He traded for one stud veteran big man in Nene to turn the franchise around and raise us to respectability, while maintaining enough youth and cap room to make a move down the road. We even had enough cap room to add one respectable veteran wing like Rush or Green to further solidify our young core. Take the team of the last 25 games last year, add Beal and Green and improvement from Wall, Vesely and Seraphin, and I think it's a 34-40 win team with a ton of flexibility. Instead, we're a 36-42 win team with no flexibility.

Next summer, with the cap room and youth at our disposal, we could have gone after Harden, and if that failed, we could have engineered a sign and trade for someone like Howard or Bynum by offering our cap room plus some combination of our surplus young bigs (Vesely, Booker, Seraphin). And even if none of that panned out, I still think we'd better by having Seraphin, Booker and Vesely get more minutes and experience rather than sitting behind Okafor.

Amen brother. Amen. Doing nothing this summer but adding Beal and maybe our second rounders, and letting this core grow together >>>> adding two mediocre, overpaid vets who won't do anything but add a couple more W's in the win column.

What a terrible, short-sighted trade. Oh well--at least I'm over it...at this point, nothing this FO does surprises me anymore. Hopefully, when all these crappy moves bite us in the ass (yet again), then maybe we'll see a more aggressive FO. Right now, this whole "no one will sign with us" mentality is simply loser talk from a bunch of losers.