Free Agency Wishlist

[Peelboy]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

[jnrjr79]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

What else re you offering with Vooch that still achieves Phoenix's desire to shed salary? I have to assume someone will offer them cap relief + draft capital.

[chitownsports4ever]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

The Suns are gonna pay the tax and they have known this from the moment they decided to keep and pay CP3.

They are not gonna dump Ayton in a foolish attempt to get under the tax when trying to win a title . They are gonna pay the tax and use players like Cam and Shamet for a Cp3 replacement in a couple of years .

[jnrjr79]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

The Suns are gonna pay the tax and they have known this from the moment they decided to keep and pay CP3.

They are not gonna dump Ayton in a foolish attempt to get under the tax when trying to win a title . They are gonna pay the tax and use players like Cam and Shamet for a Cp3 replacement in a couple of years .

If everything was this obvious, why didn't they pay Ayton last offseason?

[Peelboy]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

What else re you offering with Vooch that still achieves Phoenix's desire to shed salary? I have to assume someone will offer them cap relief + draft capital.

Ayton's max is $30M, Vuc is at $24M, so that's the savings that keeps them under the tax line enough to maintain their bench (at least according to the Capulator). But given the Bulls situation, I'd take on additional salary if they have a semi-useful (9th man/reserve big) type player to send back that doesn't put us too far over the cap.

Key question is if they'll pay the tax. If they will, then they would likely keep him (that would be the smartest from my perspective). But that begs the question as to why they haven't already and if he'll push to get a full max somewhere meaning they would then be left with matching that or trading him. If the latter, seems like they'd be hard pressed to get a big better than Vuc in return.

[chitownsports4ever]

I put this in the Vuc thread, but Phoenix is in position where they can't resign Ayton and stay under the tax line without completely gutting the team except for Booker/Paul/Ayton/Bridges. And I don't think Sarver is paying the tax. So they can maintain their title contending position by swapping him for a cheaper, expiring Vuc. That keeps them under the tax, able to maintain some depth, and still contend. The Bulls can offer Ayton a max deal, do the S&T, then resign Zach to a max deal.

Then Bulls near term core is Zach/DeMar/Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Caruso/Ayo and #18 (presumably used don a big). Ideally I think you'd swap Coby for a big or a big wing (PW-esque). Ayton/Lonzo/PW/Ayo all under 25 and Zach is only 27 (AC is 28). So that's a core you can expect some improvement from for the longer term and you have balance with bigs in Ayton/PW and wings/guards in Zach/Zo/Ayo.

And if you hold Coby and he busts out, that's another option for a keeper and you can trade Ayo. But you could for example swap Coby for Nerlens Noel and a late FRP (the Mavs '23 pick?). Gets the Knicks off the Noel contract and gets them a potentially useful asset in Coby.

Puts the Bulls in the tax, but just barely. Even if they use the Taxpayer MLE, would have a $10M payment, but a pretty solid, balanced squad short and long term.

The Suns are gonna pay the tax and they have known this from the moment they decided to keep and pay CP3.

They are not gonna dump Ayton in a foolish attempt to get under the tax when trying to win a title . They are gonna pay the tax and use players like Cam and Shamet for a Cp3 replacement in a couple of years .

If everything was this obvious, why didn't they pay Ayton last offseason?

because they didn't have to

“That’s gonna come with the territory here,” Sarver said of paying the luxury tax soon. “I don’t know if that’s next season (2021-22) or the one after that (2022-23), but we know it’s coming. We see ourselves as a taxpayer, and that’s just part of what it’s gonna take to bring home a championship.”

[MikeDC]

Sarver is basically Reinsdorf, so we should consider it a real possibility that he short-sightedly cheap out. But... all of these things happen on a spectrum, and torpedoing a team that looks poised to make it to the Finals again seems pretty far at the extreme end of cheaping out. Maybe he could talk himself into it, but probably not.

[Peelboy]

The Suns are gonna pay the tax and they have known this from the moment they decided to keep and pay CP3.

They are not gonna dump Ayton in a foolish attempt to get under the tax when trying to win a title . They are gonna pay the tax and use players like Cam and Shamet for a Cp3 replacement in a couple of years .

If everything was this obvious, why didn't they pay Ayton last offseason?

because they didn't have to

“That’s gonna come with the territory here,” Sarver said of paying the luxury tax soon. “I don’t know if that’s next season (2021-22) or the one after that (2022-23), but we know it’s coming. We see ourselves as a taxpayer, and that’s just part of what it’s gonna take to bring home a championship.”

He may be willing to spend, but not sure that signing an extension early would have done anything to their current year tax. He'd still have played under the current deal this year and under a max deal they'd pay the tax next year.

All that did was give Phoenix some optionality in terms of not signing a guy in case he got hurt or sucked. But at the cost of whatever the failure to offer a max did to Ayton in terms of wanting to stay.

Either way, we agree that whether he'll pay is the key. Whether he will is TBD.

[HINrichPolice]

I don't get why there isn't more excitement for bringing back Thaddeus. He was magical as a Bull. He brings the type of play that this year's Bulls desperately needed.

[LateNight]

I don't get why there isn't more excitement for bringing back Thaddeus. He was magical as a Bull. He brings the type of play that this year's Bulls desperately needed.

Thad would be great. He would be a great addition - but doesn’t really solve defense or three point shooting and I believe we had issues playing him with Vuc.

[chitownsports4ever]

I don't get why there isn't more excitement for bringing back Thaddeus. He was magical as a Bull. He brings the type of play that this year's Bulls desperately needed.

because hes 34 and we would be offering him the minimum . He's more of a complimentary add on than a priority at this point

[Tetlak]

I don't get why there isn't more excitement for bringing back Thaddeus. He was magical as a Bull. He brings the type of play that this year's Bulls desperately needed.

We need shooting moreso than a non-shooting short roller tbh

[drosestruts]

Thad Young definitely helps with a number of this teams' current weaknesses:

size
defense - I feel there's a constant bias towards blocks as the key indicator for defense. Throughout his career Young has routinely been a leader in deflections.
rebounding

Yes it would be great if he was an efficient 3-point shooter, but he is still efficient in his own scoring and is good at setting up others.

We don't have much to spend. No one is going to check all the boxes/needs.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

I'd be curious to see if the Suns stance on Ayton changes if the win the championship. I think they're more likely to try and duck the tax if they win this year.

Vuc alone won't get it done, it would likely be him and Pat. Which I would do.

[PJSteven22]

I don't get why there isn't more excitement for bringing back Thaddeus. He was magical as a Bull. He brings the type of play that this year's Bulls desperately needed.

1) He’s 34.
2) He’s doesn’t help the bulls biggest problem.
Overall nice player but he’s not changing this team trajectory. I’d rather have Kyle Anderson.

[Bulldog23]

Sign and trade for M. Robinson from New York. I think having Lavine, Demarr and Lonzo will create lob opportunities for Mitch. He would be great off the bench with a small guard lineup. He has good quickness.

[TheSuzerain]

Thad Young definitely helps with a number of this teams' current weaknesses:

size
defense - I feel there's a constant bias towards blocks as the key indicator for defense. Throughout his career Young has routinely been a leader in deflections.
rebounding

Yes it would be great if he was an efficient 3-point shooter, but he is still efficient in his own scoring and is good at setting up others.

We don't have much to spend. No one is going to check all the boxes/needs.

This forum needs a Taj Gibson rule.

Stop pining for former defensive role players.

[sco]

Sign and trade for M. Robinson from New York. I think having Lavine, Demarr and Lonzo will create lob opportunities for Mitch. He would be great off the bench with a small guard lineup. He has good quickness.

I'd rather see NY would trade White (and filler) for Noel or Sims/Reddish.

Robinson will only want to start, and unless he signs for MLE $, I don't want that salary tied up in a guy who has such a limited game.

[PrimzyBulls81]

Ayton and Monty clashed a bit between game 7..maybe there is some chance for Ayton in a sign&trade swap for Vucevic.. But I wouldnt max Ayton.. Salary up to 24M if he accepts.

[ghostinthepost1]

Ayton and Monty clashed a bit between game 7..maybe there is some chance for Ayton in a sign&trade swap for Vucevic.. But I wouldnt max Ayton.. Salary up to 24M if he accepts.

I think the difference between 24M and his 30M max is negligible, a Vuc + Coby trade works contract wise and maybe CP3 would be willing to vouch for Coby considering their relationship.