Upcoming FA's

[dantian]

I've always wondered that dantian was on something all these times... even back in the days of him/her defending Amare at all cost... and his post on this trhead further fuels that fire.

I believed it's called "vision".

I recognized the potential in Amare and properly located the problem of his lack of development in DA's 'system' and too-Nash-heavy offense. I called what Gentry finally implemented midseason to reduce Nash dribbling, which rejuvenated JRich and Amare on offense, after the dreadful stretch of always losing in the final minutes after leading 20 pt early and over 10 pt in the 4th q. My analysis has been anti-fashion all along, but I've been right most of the time. I can't help.

So, which part of my off-season proposals is anti-fashion again this time? I hope for you guys sake, not all of them.

If Amare leaves, there will be no chance for us to get anything done in the playoffs for awhile? JRich not worth 9mil a year?
You want to spend your MLE on Frye, which looks to be what he might get offered elsewhere. With only one year on the team, the only alternative to retain him would be 5% raise of his current contract.
Lou for 2-3 mil to take all possible playing time for Clark?
LB?
Suns winning the championship this year?

[dantian]

Going on the basis that Amare leaves and we're unable to attract someone like Dirk or Bosh I would look at getting a decent big in the 4-8m mark. That player and Lou would then split mins at the PF. Sure we wouldn't be as good but I'm against handicapping our team financially. I think this is a good offseason to get middle-of-the-road players because everyone is focusing on all the big guns. So if we can pay someone just above the MLE I think we can actually get a decent player.

So with that said here are a couple of players we should look at if Amare leaves:
Warrick, Scola, Gooden, Haslem, Harrington, Amir Johnson

Perhaps there may be some scope to do a sign-and-trade with Barbosa with one of these teams to free up our cap a bit and go after a cheaper/better combo-guard or swingman.

It'll be interesting to see how much David Lee gets. Could he possibly be had for around 10-12m and would we want him at that price?

If Amare leaves, Im in favour of throwing in the towel and starting the rebuilding process.

+1
Amare + Nash is the core synergy that makes us a title contender. Amare goes, it's a border-line PO team with no future for 2 more years. Why bother to commit to non-franchise players like Scola, David Lee for now!

[KJ7]

With Nash on our team we're never going to bottom out and therefore we'll never truly be in a rebuilding process as long as he's with the team. I think we'll re-tool and go again. Like I said I wouldn't handicap us by giving out more than I would otherwise but with quite a lot decent PF's available it wouldn't be a bad contract even mid-term.

Even without Amare we have 31.85m locked into 3 players next season (Nash, JRich, LB). So I don't see us blowing it up if Amare leaves. And I just can't see Sarver ever blowing up this team purely due to finances. He just can't afford to have a season where the stands are empty.

[garrick]

I think the only way we can keep Frye is if we trade LB to clear out salary, that or Amare resigns for a lot less than the max like 15-16 million per season.
Not many superstars are willing to take less money to win a championship but I hope Amare bucks that trend.