RealGM

I think w can all agree this team as currently constructed isn't a championship team, the assumption is Riley wants the team to stay decent until the 2016-2017 season, then we'll try to add major pieces once we have a lot of cap space.

But after all the talk about the huge free agency summer of 2016, looking at the names out there I'm not sure what's the realistic plan for us the build a true contender.

We'll have a lot of cap space in 2016-2017 (The cap is projected to go up to the 85Mil$ range in 2016) but who can we really add?

Our future cap situation can be found here (2015-2016 cap projected to be around 67Mil) :



Full list of free agents for 2015-2016 can be found here :

http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/future ... NBA/player

Full list of free agents for 2016-2017 can be found here :

http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/future ... NBA/player

Most of the names I want are restricted free agents which means their teams will keep them. There are some good unrestricted players but I'm just not sure who could we get to be a contender.

looking at the players available, you have to wonder if it might be better to try to shed some salary this summer (Deng opting out, trading Bird, Granger) and add what we can instead of just waiting for 2016-2017.

Let's try to have a serious dissuasion, don't just write "Add Gasol and Durant" - Try to explain how and WHY would the player you want picks us, what's his salary, who's the supporting cast around the stars, how it's all fitting together on the court and under the salary cap, etc.

Howard can opt out if there is no success in Houston

He can come back to the East, play next to Bosh who is perfect for him, and Wade I think by that time can have a bench role. It would really increase the longevity of Wade's career to go to the bench IMO. He would tear it up against benches for sure.

Thing is, all those other guys who are free agents have allegiances to their teams I would think. The more I think about it, the more I don't think we will get anyone big.

Only maybe Horford who I am not crazy about. Undersized center, we need a dude maximize Bosh's strengths. We need to give all the money we got to Howard if he opts out, which I think he will with the cap increase

Only way we get guys it's throwing huge money, like we did with Bosh.

Next summer we don't get anything. We are over the cap. It would be bad for us of a Deng left, which I think he will opt out to explore him options and demand more pay from us. Unless we choose next year to develop Ennis, which I wouldn't mind.

Too bad Ty Lawson won't be available. He said he would choose Miami if he could go to another team cause of the weather. Smh.

I would take a look at Thaddeus Young, great wing off the bench who can play PF (Spo's favorite). Batum is a potential SF if something doesn't work out with Deng. Or we let Ennis develop, and don't bother with SFs again. It would save us money there. Conley is good, take some scoring load at guard.

Also keep in mind we have some resigning to do, which won't give us as money as we pay think to have left over in the cap space. Wade (his last huge payday), UD, Rio (unless we let him go/demands too much money), Williams is a great bench guy, not a starter. If he continues shooting even 40% from 3, he will be sought after. I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to over pay Rio. And I would not mind that.

I think we can get Horford to pair with Bosh an then hope that Napier and Ennis continue to develop . I would look at a SF or SG and have Wade move to the PG position or 6th Man to reduce the wear and tear on his knees. If we resign Deng at a friendy contract we can maybe chase Derozan to slot in and play SG. I like the mix of veterans and youth. The only other guy i would not mind looking at for a reasonable price is Brandon Knight. He is slowly developing into a Bledsoe type player and he is a local guy who i am sure would not mind coming back home

Horford
Bosh
Deng
Derozan/Wade
Wade/Napier/Knight

Wade/Napier
Chalmers
McRoberts
Ennnis
Etc

Going to be huge year.

1) Long as we land two great players like Horford but Id try my best to get Drummond, he would be the perfect player for this team, though his start this season is slow. Point guard; Goran Dragic? But he will be in his 30s by then.

2) SG wise we either go hard for Derozan or Monta? We deff need one as Wade will be his mid 30s. Signing also Horford or Drummond if not, two fillers like Greg Monroe and Ed Davis.

3) Or disregard everything and go hard for Howard + fillers lol

I think we are still need to work with what we have and fix our bad habits before trying to get more players to teach bad habits to.

Wade is still one of the top SG in the game
Bosh is still one of the top PF in the game
Deng is a very capable SF

3 out of 5 isnt bad if we can get basic Center play and basic PG play.

What that means is not trying to play forwards at the center spot and sgs at the pg spot.

Not a big fan of Howard at all. I say build our bench playes Brewer, R Lopez, and Tristian Thompson. Then get a marque player through trade or up coming FA

Napier/rio
Wade/Ennis
Deng/Brewer
Mcbob/Tristian
Bosh/RobinLop

fillers Haslem/JHam/Whiteside etc

This is Ira Winderman's opinion on the matter:

"Is Anthony Davis going to be Pat Riley's top target in 2 years? -- Jeffrey.

A: Yes, and every other team's top target, as well. I spoke to a coach over the past week who told me he views Davis as the NBA's best player right now, better than LeBron James, better than Kevin Durant, at least when it comes to a player he would choose to build around going forward."

Next to Chris Bosh Anthony Davis is the perfect big man for Erik Spoelstra and his system. Any of the top 5 Small Forwards next to Davis, Bosh and Wade, places the Miami Heat as the favorites to win the finals. Josh McRoberts is already on the books. And by the year 2016 Napier and Ennis will have 2 years of experience in the NBA. A few days ago, the Heat make guarantees to Whiteside and Hamilton and it makes sense with Ira Winderman's opinion.

To address some of the names that were brought up so far :


[*]Anthony Davis - Restricted FA : he's not going anywhere, Pelicans are keeping him.

[*]Drummond - Restricted FA : he's not going anywhere, Pistons are keeping him.


[*]Al Horford - Good player but just not a good fit next to Bosh IMO. Both are PF's being forced to play Center, both are better as PF's. They're too similar, mid range bigs that don't really protect the rim.

[*]Brewer +Tristian Thompson - Brewer and Tristian Thompson are nice bench players, but are they enough to take a core of Wade/Bosh//Deng to the finals? highly doubt it.

[*]Robin Lopez - R.Lopez is a nice Center which I like But he's an important piece in Portland, why would leave that great situation and come here? They'll surly try hard to keep him. Also is a free agent this next summer, which means we'll need to shed some serious money in order to have enough cap to give him a tempting offer. Can we afford to lose Deng this Summer? Will Ennis be ready so soon? Can we trade away Bird and Granger? what will that cost us? (they're both negative value contracts at this point in time).

[*]Dwight Howard - An interesting option if the Rockets implode. Personally I don't like him, and he's going to be 30+YO by then. that's getting old for a player that is totally rely on his athleticism. Also he's starting to break down physically already. Do you want to pay him Max money until he's 35? Mmm. But if you want to be positive, he does fit perfectly next to Bosh if Healthy and can somehow remain very athletic for enough years.

I am just using the opinion of Ira Winderman and nothing more. Davis is a different player. He will surpass Lebron and KD. Anthony is not going to sign with the Pelicans. He will play his contract one more year if he has to do it. As an unrestricted free agent, he will earn more money outside the NBA. He is 21 years old (born: March 11, 1993). Anthony will challenge Bill Russell and his record for the most championships won by an athlete in a North American sports league. I can understand Ira Winderman's opinion.

Anthony Davis would be amazing. I would not be stoked to see Dwight Howard on the team.

da hell..davis is giing to what? i like the kid and i think he will be a stud but lets face it..if he ends up as a mini duncan would be awsome. He have to grow on offense. I think we have to go for gasol..HARD he is the best fit for this team.We would go instantly from the worst frontcourt of the league to the best.I dont care if we hand up giving deng or wtv away.Bosh gasol and wade is instant contendet

As I said before, if we get Davis in 2016 I'm getting a tattoo of Riley's face.

16-17? Holy crap is Wade is going to be well on his way out by then...Gonna be interesting to see who we can nab with a team who features Chris Bosh as a number one at that point. Marc Gasol right now has better options. SAS are willing to make him take place of Duncan. That is serious.

So, to continue my thoughts about the future :

Since I don't really see who and how we get good enough stars to join and upgrade us to contend, and since nobody here seems to have a plan either, even an hypnotically semi realistic plan, One has to think what does that really mean and conclude the following IMO :

1. We're not close enough to contending right now for us to be just waiting around. There aren't any
Andre Drummonds on this roster to wait for, we're not going to make a huge jump by internal growth.

2. We're also not likely to get the pieces we need to contend in free agency, there aren't a lot of pieces that fit here in 2016-2017, and the ones that do are few and probably unattainable. We also shot ourselfs in the foot with bad contracts we gave to Granger, Bird and Haslem (And IMO also Deng) - so we won't have enough cap in 2015-2016 to get Asik or someone like him that might be a difference maker.

3. Not happy about it at all, and frankly annoyed with the way things went down after Lebron left. Didn't like any of the moves we made except keeping Bosh (And I said it back then too). But now is the time to look at the future and really think how we can realistically improve drastically. The only way I see us becoming a contending team again in the Wade/Bosh era is to add a great player by a high draft pick. Then we might get another great free agent and be back at business.

Personally since I hate treadmill teams, I don't mind sucking right now IF it's for the greater good - a much improved team in the future.

I won't get to the specifics, but tanking for a top 5 pick this year or next year looks like a good option to me. If you want to contend before 2019-2020, it's probably the only way.

Again, if someone can give another plan with just free agent signings, Id love to see it.

RexBoyWonder wrote:So, to continue my thoughts about the future :

Since I don't really see who and how we get good enough stars to join and upgrade us to contend, and since nobody here seems to have a plan either, even an hypnotically semi realistic plan, One has to think what does that really mean and conclude the following IMO :

1. We're not close enough to contending right now for us to be just waiting around. There aren't any
Andre Drummonds on this roster to wait for, we're not going to make a huge jump by internal growth.

2. We're also not likely to get the pieces we need to contend in free agency, there aren't a lot of pieces that fit here in 2016-2017, and the ones that do are few and probably unattainable. We also shot ourselfs in the foot with bad contracts we gave to Granger, Bird and Haslem (And IMO also Deng) - so we won't have enough cap in 2015-2016 to get Asik or someone like him that might be a difference maker.

3. Not happy about it at all, and frankly annoyed with the way things went down after Lebron left. Didn't like any of the moves we made except keeping Bosh (And I said it back then too). But now is the time to look at the future and really think how we can realistically improve drastically. The only way I see us becoming a contending team again in the Wade/Bosh era is to add a great player by a high draft pick. Then we might get another great free agent and be back at business.

Personally since I hate treadmill teams, I don't mind sucking right now IF it's for the greater good - a much improved team in the future.

I won't get to the specifics, but tanking for a top 5 pick this year or next year looks like a good option to me. If you want to contend before 2019-2020, it's probably the only way.

Again, if someone can give another plan with just free agent signings, Id love to see it.

They signed their majority of their players to 2 year contracts designed to run out in 2015-2016 season. Teams have tanked for years, I've yet to see a tanking team making a miraculous turnaround with their first pick. Clippers with Blake ? Cleveland with 3 fricken #1 picks ?
What you have in today's NBA is guy's who are 18 years old choosing to do a 1 and done. Underdeveloped, both physically and mentally,I don't see it.

aquaadverse wrote:

RexBoyWonder wrote:So, to continue my thoughts about the future :

Since I don't really see who and how we get good enough stars to join and upgrade us to contend, and since nobody here seems to have a plan either, even an hypnotically semi realistic plan, One has to think what does that really mean and conclude the following IMO :

1. We're not close enough to contending right now for us to be just waiting around. There aren't any
Andre Drummonds on this roster to wait for, we're not going to make a huge jump by internal growth.

2. We're also not likely to get the pieces we need to contend in free agency, there aren't a lot of pieces that fit here in 2016-2017, and the ones that do are few and probably unattainable. We also shot ourselfs in the foot with bad contracts we gave to Granger, Bird and Haslem (And IMO also Deng) - so we won't have enough cap in 2015-2016 to get Asik or someone like him that might be a difference maker.

3. Not happy about it at all, and frankly annoyed with the way things went down after Lebron left. Didn't like any of the moves we made except keeping Bosh (And I said it back then too). But now is the time to look at the future and really think how we can realistically improve drastically. The only way I see us becoming a contending team again in the Wade/Bosh era is to add a great player by a high draft pick. Then we might get another great free agent and be back at business.

Personally since I hate treadmill teams, I don't mind sucking right now IF it's for the greater good - a much improved team in the future.

I won't get to the specifics, but tanking for a top 5 pick this year or next year looks like a good option to me. If you want to contend before 2019-2020, it's probably the only way.

Again, if someone can give another plan with just free agent signings, Id love to see it.

They signed their majority of their players to 2 year contracts designed to run out in 2015-2016 season. Teams have tanked for years, I've yet to see a tanking team making a miraculous turnaround with their first pick. Clippers with Blake ? Cleveland with 3 fricken #1 picks ?
What you have in today's NBA is guy's who are 18 years old choosing to do a 1 and done. Underdeveloped, both physically and mentally,I don't see it.

Need I remind you how drafting Wade changed this franchise? went from terrible to contending in 2 seasons.

Obviously getting a high pick doesn't guarantee anything, it's a gamble. But looking at Wade's age and the other stars around the league looking unattainable for us, high draft picks might be our best chance to get on top.

We have one very good player in Bosh, 1 great player in decline in Wade, 2 nice rookies and a bunch of fillers around. You need to add blue chip talent, the sooner the better.

Thank god there's a Wade in every draft that we are guaranteed to get if we tank.

RexBoyWonder wrote:

aquaadverse wrote:

RexBoyWonder wrote:So, to continue my thoughts about the future :

Since I don't really see who and how we get good enough stars to join and upgrade us to contend, and since nobody here seems to have a plan either, even an hypnotically semi realistic plan, One has to think what does that really mean and conclude the following IMO :

1. We're not close enough to contending right now for us to be just waiting around. There aren't any
Andre Drummonds on this roster to wait for, we're not going to make a huge jump by internal growth.

2. We're also not likely to get the pieces we need to contend in free agency, there aren't a lot of pieces that fit here in 2016-2017, and the ones that do are few and probably unattainable. We also shot ourselfs in the foot with bad contracts we gave to Granger, Bird and Haslem (And IMO also Deng) - so we won't have enough cap in 2015-2016 to get Asik or someone like him that might be a difference maker.

3. Not happy about it at all, and frankly annoyed with the way things went down after Lebron left. Didn't like any of the moves we made except keeping Bosh (And I said it back then too). But now is the time to look at the future and really think how we can realistically improve drastically. The only way I see us becoming a contending team again in the Wade/Bosh era is to add a great player by a high draft pick. Then we might get another great free agent and be back at business.

Personally since I hate treadmill teams, I don't mind sucking right now IF it's for the greater good - a much improved team in the future.

I won't get to the specifics, but tanking for a top 5 pick this year or next year looks like a good option to me. If you want to contend before 2019-2020, it's probably the only way.

Again, if someone can give another plan with just free agent signings, Id love to see it.

They signed their majority of their players to 2 year contracts designed to run out in 2015-2016 season. Teams have tanked for years, I've yet to see a tanking team making a miraculous turnaround with their first pick. Clippers with Blake ? Cleveland with 3 fricken #1 picks ?
What you have in today's NBA is guy's who are 18 years old choosing to do a 1 and done. Underdeveloped, both physically and mentally,I don't see it.

Need I remind you how drafting Wade changed this franchise? went from terrible to contending in 2 seasons.

Obviously getting a high pick doesn't guarantee anything, it's a gamble. But looking at Wade's age and the other stars around the league looking unattainable for us, high draft picks might be our best chance to get on top.

We have one very good player in Bosh, 1 great player in decline in Wade, 2 nice rookies and a bunch of fillers around. You need to add blue chip talent, the sooner the better.

Still waiting for the guys whose get drafted in the first 5 that turn the franchise around. So how many of these guys in the next couple of drafts are Wade ? Go ahead, I'll wait ?

aquaadverse wrote:

RexBoyWonder wrote:

aquaadverse wrote:
They signed their majority of their players to 2 year contracts designed to run out in 2015-2016 season. Teams have tanked for years, I've yet to see a tanking team making a miraculous turnaround with their first pick. Clippers with Blake ? Cleveland with 3 fricken #1 picks ?
What you have in today's NBA is guy's who are 18 years old choosing to do a 1 and done. Underdeveloped, both physically and mentally,I don't see it.

Need I remind you how drafting Wade changed this franchise? went from terrible to contending in 2 seasons.

Obviously getting a high pick doesn't guarantee anything, it's a gamble. But looking at Wade's age and the other stars around the league looking unattainable for us, high draft picks might be our best chance to get on top.

We have one very good player in Bosh, 1 great player in decline in Wade, 2 nice rookies and a bunch of fillers around. You need to add blue chip talent, the sooner the better.

Still waiting for the guys whose get drafted in the first 5 that turn the franchise around. So how many of these guys in the next couple of drafts are Wade ? Go ahead, I'll wait ?

Nobody knows yet, that's why it's A GAMBLE.

But many more then there will be at the 15-20 range, that's for sure.

How many young allstars are we getting in free agency? I'll wait.

But what's the plan in 2045?