Crymson wrote:babyjax13 wrote:If I could trade the entire Jazz roster outside of Gobert+Mitchell+O'neale+Hughes+Paschal for expiring contracts + 2 1sts, I'd do it. It's a bad free agency class, but you'd have cap space and picks to make a deal + be able to sign an impact player with what's left. I'm just so done watching us get murdered because we have only one power forward who can rebound (Gay), no backup center with Whiteside out (and he's obviously inconsistent), and cheese-cloth perimeter defense.
Based on the projected cap, and taking into account the cap holds of Hughes and Paschall, the Jazz would be left with about $37 million with which to rebuild the rest of the roster. Because they'd be operating as a below-the-cap team, they'd also need to renounce the MLE and BAE. They'd be able to do very little, and the only impact players who will be available are Beal, Kyrie, and Harden---none of whom, I'd imagine, are likely to join the Jazz, and all of whom will be eligible for max contracts which would pay $41 million in the first year anyway.
Aside from those three, the upcoming unrestricted free-agency class is very bare.
I think $37 million is enough to rebuild the roster. We aren't getting Beal, Kyrie, or Harden ... but in 2022 I'd target TJ Warren, Robert Covington, JaMychal Green, Bruce Brown, Bobby Portis, Jordan Nwora, Delon Wright, Gorgui Dieng, and Dorian Finney-Smith. Obviously, you can't get all of them, but there is enough there to put together a credible team. Then we would also have picks to trade for a difference-maker. e.g.
Draft day: 2 picks for Malcolm Brogdon
Sign Warren
That probably takes up the cap, but then you get the room exception, which we'd need to use on a power forward, possibly split between two players:
Taurean Prince? Not my favorite but he'd fit...
Delon Wright
Then minimums:
Gorgui Dieng
Tony Snell
Then resign:
Eric Paschall
Elijah Hughes
Rudy Gobert/Gorgui Dieng
Royce O'neale/Taurean Prince/Eric Paschall
TJ Warren/Royce O'neale/Tony Snell
Malcolm Brogdon/Elijah Hughes
Donovan Mitchell/Delon Wright
I think that has us ducking the tax for a team with similar upside to what we have now, but it's younger and bigger. Throw in an MLE power forward the next season + a BAE player and it starts to look a lot better.
