Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (Pt X, Mods close)

[Neato]

that's an impressive highlight sample for a rookie who has had a limited number of games to demonstrate his skills in the nba.

[trebone]

Just watched the highlight tape of Marshon he does have an old mans game which is not a bad thing, he will be in the league for a long time not having to rely on pure athleticism.

[MagicFan41]

Don't know if Dwight would agree to re-sign with OKC or not (prob not because you know...they only have the best scorer in the NBA, great management, great fans....small market...hehehehe), but I thought up a couple trade scenarios that would be interesting. Not sure if OKC, ATL would go for it, but I sweetened the deal in each case for each team....I think one of these two would prob work:

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986071 (this trade does actually work I think, the new CBA rules haven't been built it to tradechecker yet)

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986091

Our lineup would end up being:

Westbrook/Duhon
JRich/JJ
Hedo/Wafer
Jsmoov/BBD
Ibaka/?

We would also potentially have caproom in summer 2013 to maybe go after Iggy/Monta?

I think that would be a super-athletic, balanced (good defense and offense) and very competitive team. What do you guys think? Atlanta has been looking for that legit C to slide Horford to the 4, and they get that for sure in Perkins. They get Jameer as a PG or scoring 6th man, and in the trade they get Ryan in, they replace JSmoov with a young guy capable of stretching the floor and rebounding well. OKC pairs up best big man in game with best scorer, obv a lethal combo.

I kind of think the 2nd trade is more realistic for all sides to be honest. Maybe a little tweaking necessary, but....thoughts?

[MagicFan41]

Somewhat along the lines of what I just posted.....I wonder how easy it would be to get Hinrich's expiring from ATL or Andre Miller's from Denver (he isn't happy being backup there and said he would prefer to be traded to start somewhere). I heard ATL might be looking to get somebody for Hinrich's expiring. I think Jameer might work pretty well for either of these? I wonder if we would actually be close to being able to sign DWill then?....

If we were able to get Hinrich's or Andre Miller's $8mil expiring for Jameer, waive JJ in the offseason, and cut/stretch both BBD and JRich (yes I know it's stupid to sign them for 4 years only to pay them off a year later, but Otis does stupid things, and it would only be $36mil or so to pay them both off....if that means being able to sign DWill and keep Dwight, that's a no-brainer financially). Remember, we just paid Gil $60+mil to simply go away, I think the return on this is a lot better. Anyways, if we did these 3 things....I think that would put us at around $42mil in salary? That's pretty close to DWill signing range...

I don't think it's as impossible as everyone thinks. Although I wonder, if all we have is DWill + Hedo + Dwight (which is basically what we would have), does that really make us any better than what the Nets would be with just them (which everyone says isn't enough)?

[cb1115]

Nets are trying to get OJ Mayo again:

Reports: O.J. Mayo Talks Not Dead; Nets Offer Morrow or Farmar, Pick

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Nets have offered the Grizzlies two possible trade scenarios that would bring O.J. Mayo to New Jersey ... and their motivation is about clearing more cap space for a Dwight Howard deal at the deadline.

http://www.netsdaily.com/2012/1/14/2708347/o-j-mayo-talks-not-dead-yet-nets-offering-morrow-or-farmar

They might be stockpiling assets to try to trade for Dwight at the deadline.

If their final offer was Lopez, MarShon Brooks, OJ Mayo, Okur, NJ #1, and HOU #1 for Dwight, Hedo, J-Rich, and Duhon, would you take it?

[tiderulz]

Don't know if Dwight would agree to re-sign with OKC or not (prob not because you know...they only have the best scorer in the NBA, great management, great fans....small market...hehehehe), but I thought up a couple trade scenarios that would be interesting. Not sure if OKC, ATL would go for it, but I sweetened the deal in each case for each team....I think one of these two would prob work:

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986071 (this trade does actually work I think, the new CBA rules haven't been built it to tradechecker yet)

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986091

Our lineup would end up being:

Westbrook/Duhon
JRich/JJ
Hedo/Wafer
Jsmoov/BBD
Ibaka/?

We would also potentially have caproom in summer 2013 to maybe go after Iggy/Monta?

I think that would be a super-athletic, balanced (good defense and offense) and very competitive team. What do you guys think? Atlanta has been looking for that legit C to slide Horford to the 4, and they get that for sure in Perkins. They get Jameer as a PG or scoring 6th man, and in the trade they get Ryan in, they replace JSmoov with a young guy capable of stretching the floor and rebounding well. OKC pairs up best big man in game with best scorer, obv a lethal combo.

I kind of think the 2nd trade is more realistic for all sides to be honest. Maybe a little tweaking necessary, but....thoughts?

not going to have too much cap room. Ibaka and Westbrook are soon to come off their rookie contracts and going to get paid

[MagicFan41]

Nets are trying to get OJ Mayo again:

Reports: O.J. Mayo Talks Not Dead; Nets Offer Morrow or Farmar, Pick

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Nets have offered the Grizzlies two possible trade scenarios that would bring O.J. Mayo to New Jersey ... and their motivation is about clearing more cap space for a Dwight Howard deal at the deadline.

http://www.netsdaily.com/2012/1/14/2708347/o-j-mayo-talks-not-dead-yet-nets-offering-morrow-or-farmar

They might be stockpiling assets to try to trade for Dwight at the deadline.

If their final offer was Lopez, MarShon Brooks, OJ Mayo, Okur, NJ #1, and HOU #1 for Dwight, Hedo, J-Rich, and Duhon, would you take it?

Isn't that deal like almost $12mil in salary away from working? Might have to remove Hedo from it.

[Reverse_Angle]

I can't believe you guys are drooling over an unproven rookie in return for Dwight. There is more to basketball than scoring. Do you not think as to why Nets loose terribly with all those great assets that Orlando is supposed to get plus a star PG and a very productive PF?

[MagicFan41]

Don't know if Dwight would agree to re-sign with OKC or not (prob not because you know...they only have the best scorer in the NBA, great management, great fans....small market...hehehehe), but I thought up a couple trade scenarios that would be interesting. Not sure if OKC, ATL would go for it, but I sweetened the deal in each case for each team....I think one of these two would prob work:

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986071 (this trade does actually work I think, the new CBA rules haven't been built it to tradechecker yet)

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5986091

Our lineup would end up being:

Westbrook/Duhon
JRich/JJ
Hedo/Wafer
Jsmoov/BBD
Ibaka/?

We would also potentially have caproom in summer 2013 to maybe go after Iggy/Monta?

I think that would be a super-athletic, balanced (good defense and offense) and very competitive team. What do you guys think? Atlanta has been looking for that legit C to slide Horford to the 4, and they get that for sure in Perkins. They get Jameer as a PG or scoring 6th man, and in the trade they get Ryan in, they replace JSmoov with a young guy capable of stretching the floor and rebounding well. OKC pairs up best big man in game with best scorer, obv a lethal combo.

I kind of think the 2nd trade is more realistic for all sides to be honest. Maybe a little tweaking necessary, but....thoughts?

not going to have too much cap room. Ibaka and Westbrook are soon to come off their rookie contracts and going to get paid

Right....but JSmoov and Hedo could come off the books as well in Summer 2013 if you wanted to go after somebody else. I personally don't think Ibaka is gonna get a huge payday, could be wrong with how much these mediocre big men have gotten paid. If he wants too much, you can let him walk and build around Westbrook with a good amount of cap room. I don't even know if you need cap room with that team though....that's pretty close to being an OKC type team right there.

[cb1115]

Nets are trying to get OJ Mayo again:

Reports: O.J. Mayo Talks Not Dead; Nets Offer Morrow or Farmar, Pick

The Memphis Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Nets have offered the Grizzlies two possible trade scenarios that would bring O.J. Mayo to New Jersey ... and their motivation is about clearing more cap space for a Dwight Howard deal at the deadline.

http://www.netsdaily.com/2012/1/14/2708347/o-j-mayo-talks-not-dead-yet-nets-offering-morrow-or-farmar

They might be stockpiling assets to try to trade for Dwight at the deadline.

If their final offer was Lopez, MarShon Brooks, OJ Mayo, Okur, NJ #1, and HOU #1 for Dwight, Hedo, J-Rich, and Duhon, would you take it?

Isn't that deal like almost $12mil in salary away from working? Might have to remove Hedo from it.

I have no idea. I think it's a lot closer than $12 million, though.

[MagicFan41]

I have no idea. I think it's a lot closer than $12 million, though.

Well it's kind of silly to propose a completely impossible trade, no? What's the point if it isn't close to being viable?

I'm pretty sure it's very close to $12mil. I have Magic outgoing salaries at approx $37.5mil. Incoming would be approx $20.7mil. I believe they have to be within $5mil of one another under new CBA? That's about $12mil away. Plus, that would assume that we would be able to re-sign Mayo since he is an expiring, otherwise there's not much point including him. Lopez is going to get paid anyways....so there's not that much in terms of salary reductions long-term....even if the trade were possible, basically you would be doing Lopez + Brooks + picks for Dwight + Hedo + JRich + Duhon? I think we could do better than that. Obviously the picks are nice.

For the record, I think NJ is going after Mayo's expiring to clear even more cap room for next summer (in case they make another move or need more flexibility or something for next summer).

[MagicFan41]

BTW Steve Kyler said that the Magic's thinking is that there's no difference between them trading Dwight by the deadline and doing a sign-and-trade with him this summer. Aren't sign-and-trades under the new CBA only 4-year 4.5% raises and not 5-year 7.5% raises? If so, what incentive does NJ or Dallas have to do a sign-and-trade with us when they can just sign Dwight outright (he would get same contract right?) and keep their assets? Obv we could do a sign-and-trade with LAL then, since they can't sign him....but wouldn't Dwight have to approve that? What if he prefers to go to NJ or DAL? Then he can just walk, right?

Just trying to understand Magic's thinking if that is indeed the case. Am I missing something?

[cb1115]

I have no idea. I think it's a lot closer than $12 million, though.

Well it's kind of silly to propose a completely impossible trade, no? What's the point if it isn't close to being viable?

I'm pretty sure it's very close to $12mil. I have Magic outgoing salaries at approx $37.5mil. Incoming would be approx $20.7mil. I believe they have to be within $5mil of one another under new CBA? That's about $12mil away. Plus, that would assume that we would be able to re-sign Mayo since he is an expiring, otherwise there's not much point including him. Lopez is going to get paid anyways....so there's not that much in terms of salary reductions long-term....even if the trade were possible, basically you would be doing Lopez + Brooks + picks for Dwight + Hedo + JRich + Duhon? I think we could do better than that. Obviously the picks are nice.

For the record, I think NJ is going after Mayo's expiring to clear even more cap room for next summer (in case they make another move or need more flexibility or something for next summer).

You're probably right. They would have to add Humphries to make it closer. I blame the lack of a Trade Machine for my stupidity.

[MagicFan41]

So evidently Dwight said he doesn't want to be traded to GSW, that he wouldn't re-sign with them if he was traded. So my question is this. If that meant he would be paired up with Monta (who supposedly is who he wants in Otown and who people think would keep him in ORL), in a big market, with great fans, with new management looking to build a winner.....then why wouldn't he want to stay there? What makes NJ so much better than GSW that he would re-sign in NJ but not in GSW? Odd.

My hypothesis:

I bet something happened where Dwight met with NJ mgmt (as has been reported), has been talking with Dwill (good friend) and JSmoov (his best friend)....and they have some sort of plan to form their own big 3 there in Summer of 2013 (NJ has literally $0 on the books for summer 2013, so even if they were to get Dwight and Dwill, they could sign another max-type guy in that summer if they play their cards right).

[I Rasharted]

So evidently Dwight said he doesn't want to be traded to GSW, that he wouldn't re-sign with them if he was traded. So my question is this. If that meant he would be paired up with Monta (who supposedly is who he wants in Otown and who people think would keep him in ORL), in a big market, with great fans, with new management looking to build a winner.....then why wouldn't he want to stay there? What makes NJ so much better than GSW that he would re-sign in NJ but not in GSW? Odd.

My hypothesis:

I bet something happened where Dwight met with NJ mgmt (as has been reported), has been talking with Dwill (good friend) and JSmoov (his best friend)....and they have some sort of plan to form their own big 3 there in Summer of 2013 (NJ has literally $0 on the books for summer 2013, so even if they were to get Dwight and Dwill, they could sign another max-type guy in that summer if they play their cards right).

Something like this. I think Williams is playing the Wade/alpha role here and poor Dwight the beta/LeBron role. In other words Williams is leading Dwight around by the nose and telling him what to do/where to play. So, I think the chances of them playing together somewhere or other are pretty high.

[rcklsscognition]

Nets & Magic could just make separate trades to stay within the rules of the new CBA. If NJ has the capspace, they'll find a way to take on the extra salary.

[Coach_McGuirk]

So evidently Dwight said he doesn't want to be traded to GSW, that he wouldn't re-sign with them if he was traded. So my question is this. If that meant he would be paired up with Monta (who supposedly is who he wants in Otown and who people think would keep him in ORL), in a big market, with great fans, with new management looking to build a winner.....then why wouldn't he want to stay there? What makes NJ so much better than GSW that he would re-sign in NJ but not in GSW? Odd.

My hypothesis:

I bet something happened where Dwight met with NJ mgmt (as has been reported), has been talking with Dwill (good friend) and JSmoov (his best friend)....and they have some sort of plan to form their own big 3 there in Summer of 2013 (NJ has literally $0 on the books for summer 2013, so even if they were to get Dwight and Dwill, they could sign another max-type guy in that summer if they play their cards right).

Something like this. I think Williams is playing the Wade/alpha role here and poor Dwight the beta/LeBron role. In other words Williams is leading Dwight around by the nose and telling him what to do/where to play. So, I think the chances of them playing together somewhere or other are pretty high.

Exactly, Dwight in general needs guidance and I think that is his biggest issue. I think he listens to anybody but himself (agent, fiance, D-Will...) Sadly we as organization and team have nobody that is a leader.

Look at his wishlist

Dallas: Mark Cuban
LA: Kobe
NJ: D-Will
Orlando: ? Sweater Vest Guy?

[MagicFan41]

Nets & Magic could just make separate trades to stay within the rules of the new CBA. If NJ has the capspace, they'll find a way to take on the extra salary.

What exactly do you mean by this? Can you clarify and/or give an example? They don't have any cap room anymore this year...

[MagicFan41]

Doesn't Brook Lopez's cap hold of $7.6 mil throw a wrench into signing both Dwill and Dwight to max deals? Maybe that's why they are still going after Mayo's expiring?

[MagicFan41]

From Sentinel:

The elephant in the room was Dwight Howard's wayward free-throw shooting. Not the only elephant, mind you. There were plenty of pachyderms outside the Magic's practice door Saturday at Amway Center, what with the circus in town. "I just think everybody needs to stop talking about it," Howard said. "There's more to life than free throws."

----

Seriously? Why don't you man-up for once in your life and take responsibility for your shortcomings, Dwight? What a complete cop-out. You may as well say "there's more to basketball than winning" or "there's more to life than a big Adidas contract". I mean, stop being a damn hypocrite and saying basketball ("free throws") isn't everything in life, but then acting like it is by calling out your team, city, organization by saying you "just want to win" and bailing on them. You'd probably win a whole lot more if you improved your HORRENDOUS FT%. Have FUN with the NYC media, if you think the ORL media is tough on you and your 40% FT rate.....LOL. Grow up. Man up. That's what true winners do, they look in the mirror and see their shortcomings and overcome them. They don't ignore them or make excuses for them.