2020 Season/Offseason (FA/Trade) Speculation - the Season Resumes

[Revived]

I really hope James Jones goes after Nate McMillan to add as an assistant coach to them. Having him and Terry Stotts (potentially fired tomorrow) on the coaching staff would be incredible.

Not sure Sarver will pony up the cash though because I'm sure both will be highly sought after as assistant coaches.

[bwoolf2]

Yes, I put together a big trade package for Simmons. And assuming Ayton isn’t part of that package, I then look hard to move Ayton for a high level talent that fits better.

I’d rather build around Booker and Simmons than Booker and Ayton ten times out of ten. And that’s all I care about.

I question booker and Simmons working, are they going to share Kendall Jenner how does that arrangement work, is there an entanglement?

[starbosa10]

Doubt anything major happens

[bwgood77]

Simmons would be better here than in Philly with a clogged up frontcourt. We can’t get him without sending Ayton which defeats the purpose of acquiring Ben.

Embiid is the one who goes despite what Elton Brand has said.

You think they can get better by trading Embiid?

It sounds chemistry is an issue and there might need to be a scenery-change trade. Embiid is a better player and more impactful than Simmons but I can’t see them dealing their primary b-ball handler/facilitator. They have two guys that can play the 5 and only one that does what Ben does. To answer your question it depends on the return and how the pieces fit.

I don't see a need to deal either. They are both top 15 players. It's not like they are bad. Simmons was out in the playoffs and both dealt with injuries this year. The problem is the rest of the team. They were a crazy Kawhi shot from knocking out the Raptors last year.

The other guys are the problem. If they bring back an amnesty, they might use it on Horford or something. The only trade I might think about or consider is a Simmons for Chris Paul/SGA and a few picks. They would be better with Paul for a couple years since he shoots and SGA could play alongside him and Richardson, Harris and Embiid. I would only use Horford when Embiid sits or maybe in brief stints when Harris does.

I don't think trading Embiid would help them...maybe if they could get someone like Towns in return but that's unlikely. I wouldn't make decisions on Simmons/Embiid because they made a bad decision with Horford or Harris though....you don't trade those stars to accomodate those guys having better chemistry barring a near equal return.

[bwgood77]

Being that Sarver is in cost savings mode, if he does decide to trade Oubre to clear salary and take a lesser paid player back (like a Kennard or someone similar though it would have to be a team with cap space like Atlanta), do you think they would try and attach Jerome to dump his contract?

He only makes $2.3 million though. I wonder how much of our roster will be rounded out with minimum guys.

[Saberestar]

Read on Twitter

[BobbieL]

I really hope James Jones goes after Nate McMillan to add as an assistant coach to them. Having him and Terry Stotts (potentially fired tomorrow) on the coaching staff would be incredible.

Not sure Sarver will pony up the cash though because I'm sure both will be highly sought after as assistant coaches.

Would Nate come here after firing his son 18 months ago?

I see Brett Brown more likely as an option but would be good with Nate

Stotts is a good coach - but maybe his time is done.

[Qwigglez]

Last offseason we saw that Jones was not afraid to make moves to reshuffle the deck, even at the cost of minor assets.

I really think jones is looking hard at moving Oubre when you consider the long term cap sheet. I also think there are going to be a good amount of FAs that get squeezed and become available at a discount this summer as teams pull back on utilizing their exceptions. If we trade Oubre into cap space I think we have a ton of FA options and will uniquely be the “most attractive” team with cap space, (while retaining Dario/JC). We won’t have this same opportunity if we save our cap space for next summer

My wild guess for this offseason plan
1. Oubre gets traded
2. JC and Dario resigned to 3 year deals below their cap hold
3. We draft a safe 3 & d player whose game looks to quickly translate into nba production at 10. (Pick possibly used in Oubre deal for better return)
4. We use 24m+ In cap space on one or multiple FA
5. Resign Baynes on the room MLE.

Yes James Jones built the team he envisioned and got rid of players from the last regime that he didn't agree with. TJ Warren, Dragan Bender, DeAnthony Melton, Josh Jackson, Richaun Holmes. James Jones wanted to build a team around Booker and Ayton, starting off by getting a sharpshooter in Cam Johnson, and a stretch four who can also be a playmaker in Dario Saric. I think the idea of Saric was to create a similar feel of Ryan Anderson/Dwight Howard combo. Signed Ricky Rubio to be the ideal PG to pair with Booker, and at the time I thought the Frank Kaminsky signing was not that bad since he can also be a stretch floor.


1. Cool. Everyone wants to trade a 24 year old who is averaging a career high 19 points, 6 rebounds, 1.3 steals, shooting 35% from 3, a guy who draws the 2nd most shooting fouls on the team. Yeah hopefully it's for someone better, but by the sound of everyone who wants him traded, it's for pure cap space. Wonderful...
2. Yeah, I think we are all hoping for that. Agree here.
3. I'm hopeful we draft someone solid too.
4. Who are we signing? Who fits the age group in free agency of Booker, Bridges, Cam, Ayton better than Oubre does? I know FVV is 26 but we already have Rubio. We'd have to move him first, but it's a bit unlikely a team would trade for Rubio unless we are giving up additional assets (future pick).
5. Can't sign Baynes using the MLE if we are operating as an under the cap team, which in your scenario is what we are doing.

[Blonde]

Fred VanVleet is someone I can get on board with blowing a lot of capspace for. He’s dynamic, a great fit, would be in prime years through duration of contract, would solve PG of future questions, the list goes on. Plus there are no other realistic good free agent PGs I see us signing in the next couple years.

Bertans falls on the other end of the spectrum. Don’t get me wrong he’s one of the BEST shooters in the league right now, but he’s a major factor as to why Washington was so egregiously bad on defense. And we have Cam who gives you about 80% of the value at 20% of the cost. Just seems like a poor asset play for a guy who is not likely to live up to his contract. I’d pass hard on being the team to give him the bag.

[King4Day]

Read on Twitter

It's hard to get excited about the prospect of him (or FVV) after hearing that report about Sarver looking to cut spending. Who knows what to believe.

I believe he'll be a backup plan if we don't keep Saric.

[bwgood77]

I really hope James Jones goes after Nate McMillan to add as an assistant coach to them. Having him and Terry Stotts (potentially fired tomorrow) on the coaching staff would be incredible.

Not sure Sarver will pony up the cash though because I'm sure both will be highly sought after as assistant coaches.

Would Nate come here after firing his son 18 months ago?

I see Brett Brown more likely as an option but would be good with Nate

Stotts is a good coach - but maybe his time is done.

I doubt we have a high profile asst coach, unless they are not concerned about money a lot and just are interested in working and moving to Phx for the weather. Also, I don't know if Brown had another year or more on his contract but if he took another job, he might not get the money. In that case, these guys wouldn't take jobs and lose that money.

[bwgood77]

Last offseason we saw that Jones was not afraid to make moves to reshuffle the deck, even at the cost of minor assets.

I really think jones is looking hard at moving Oubre when you consider the long term cap sheet. I also think there are going to be a good amount of FAs that get squeezed and become available at a discount this summer as teams pull back on utilizing their exceptions. If we trade Oubre into cap space I think we have a ton of FA options and will uniquely be the “most attractive” team with cap space, (while retaining Dario/JC). We won’t have this same opportunity if we save our cap space for next summer

My wild guess for this offseason plan
1. Oubre gets traded
2. JC and Dario resigned to 3 year deals below their cap hold
3. We draft a safe 3 & d player whose game looks to quickly translate into nba production at 10. (Pick possibly used in Oubre deal for better return)
4. We use 24m+ In cap space on one or multiple FA
5. Resign Baynes on the room MLE.

Yes James Jones built the team he envisioned and got rid of players from the last regime that he didn't agree with. TJ Warren, Dragan Bender, DeAnthony Melton, Josh Jackson, Richaun Holmes. James Jones wanted to build a team around Booker and Ayton, starting off by getting a sharpshooter in Cam Johnson, and a stretch four who can also be a playmaker in Dario Saric. I think the idea of Saric was to create a similar feel of Ryan Anderson/Dwight Howard combo. Signed Ricky Rubio to be the ideal PG to pair with Booker, and at the time I thought the Frank Kaminsky signing was not that bad since he can also be a stretch floor.


1. Cool. Everyone wants to trade a 24 year old who is averaging a career high 19 points, 6 rebounds, 1.3 steals, shooting 35% from 3, a guy who draws the 2nd most shooting fouls on the team. Yeah hopefully it's for someone better, but by the sound of everyone who wants him traded, it's for pure cap space. Wonderful...
2. Yeah, I think we are all hoping for that. Agree here.
3. I'm hopeful we draft someone solid too.
4. Who are we signing? Who fits the age group in free agency of Booker, Bridges, Cam, Ayton better than Oubre does? I know FVV is 26 but we already have Rubio. We'd have to move him first, but it's a bit unlikely a team would trade for Rubio unless we are giving up additional assets (future pick).
5. Can't sign Baynes using the MLE if we are operating as an under the cap team, which in your scenario is what we are doing.

Regarding Oubre, I don't think anyone WANTS him traded just for cap space, but I mentioned it because I think if Sarver wants to save money, that is a potential option. I don't think he has much trade value since he is an UFA next summer and a lot of teams will have cap space, and think we would want something back, but likely a lower paid player to save cap space and/or a pick...but I doubt we could get a first unless it was a low pick....and I don't think any of the teams with probable low picks have the open cap space, but I haven't looked so may be wrong.

We could maybe get a player that another team wants to move on from, like Gordon or something, but I don't really expect that if Sarver wants to save money, unless Saric leaves.

[Qwigglez]

Regarding Oubre, I don't think anyone WANTS him traded just for cap space, but I mentioned it because I think if Sarver wants to save money, that is a potential option. I don't think he has much trade value since he is an UFA next summer and a lot of teams will have cap space, and think we would want something back, but likely a lower paid player to save cap space and/or a pick...but I doubt we could get a first unless it was a low pick....and I don't think any of the teams with probable low picks have the open cap space, but I haven't looked so may be wrong.

We could maybe get a player that another team wants to move on from, like Gordon or something, but I don't really expect that if Sarver wants to save money, unless Saric leaves.

We have to hit the salary cap floor anyway. All the trade proposals I'm seeing is exactly that though, for cap space in one way or another. If Sarver doesn't want to pay Oubre, then I can't imagine him wanting to pay anyone else. At that point, it's a clear indication that Sarver doesn't care about putting together a winning product and only cares about the money. Trading for Aaron Gordon would only prolong our problems of cap space as he would expire the following summer when Bridges and Ayton are due for their extensions. Plus, next off-season along with this off-season is probably when all NBA teams are trying to be financially smart and not overspend with the looming effects of COVID-19 still up in the air. It's probably the perfect time for Sarver to be Sarver and get some bargain deals where Saric gets $8 mil annually, and Oubre will get $14 mil annually.

[nevetsov]

So one report says we are looking to cut spending, and others say we are possibly chasing FVV and Bertans? I don't think anyone knows what's going on for sure.

[Revived]

I really hope James Jones goes after Nate McMillan to add as an assistant coach to them. Having him and Terry Stotts (potentially fired tomorrow) on the coaching staff would be incredible.

Not sure Sarver will pony up the cash though because I'm sure both will be highly sought after as assistant coaches.

Would Nate come here after firing his son 18 months ago?

I see Brett Brown more likely as an option but would be good with Nate

Stotts is a good coach - but maybe his time is done.

I doubt we have a high profile asst coach, unless they are not concerned about money a lot and just are interested in working and moving to Phx for the weather. Also, I don't know if Brown had another year or more on his contract but if he took another job, he might not get the money. In that case, these guys wouldn't take jobs and lose that money.

I really hope we can land one of those 3 as lead assistant coach. Sarver maybe considers opening up his wallet after seeing how close we are to taking the leap and being a playoff team.

Or just he finally sells the damn team

[lilfishi22]

Wouldn't cutting spending mean hoping for a "hometown" discount and retaining what we have rather than rolling out the red carpet for guys like Bertans?

[bwgood77]

Would Nate come here after firing his son 18 months ago?

I see Brett Brown more likely as an option but would be good with Nate

Stotts is a good coach - but maybe his time is done.

I doubt we have a high profile asst coach, unless they are not concerned about money a lot and just are interested in working and moving to Phx for the weather. Also, I don't know if Brown had another year or more on his contract but if he took another job, he might not get the money. In that case, these guys wouldn't take jobs and lose that money.

I really hope we can land one of those 3 as lead assistant coach. Sarver maybe considers opening up his wallet after seeing how close we are to taking the leap and being a playoff team.

Or just he finally sells the damn team

Well, they likely don't take a job for next year if they still had a year on their contract, so they can get paid. But if you've been paying attention Sarver is in cost cutting mode...sold the G league team, fired a bunch of staff..he certainly won't hire big name asst coaches. It seems our asst coaches are fine anyway.

I just hope/wish he would spend over the cap, but I don't really expect him too. That's a hell of a lot more important to me than hiring a big name coach as an asst coach.

[Revived]

I doubt we have a high profile asst coach, unless they are not concerned about money a lot and just are interested in working and moving to Phx for the weather. Also, I don't know if Brown had another year or more on his contract but if he took another job, he might not get the money. In that case, these guys wouldn't take jobs and lose that money.

I really hope we can land one of those 3 as lead assistant coach. Sarver maybe considers opening up his wallet after seeing how close we are to taking the leap and being a playoff team.

Or just he finally sells the damn team

Well, they likely don't take a job for next year if they still had a year on their contract, so they can get paid. But if you've been paying attention Sarver is in cost cutting mode...sold the G league team, fired a bunch of staff..he certainly won't hire big name asst coaches. It seems our asst coaches are fine anyway.

I just hope/wish he would spend over the cap, but I don't really expect him too. That's a hell of a lot more important to me than hiring a big name coach as an asst coach.

I think spending over the cap would be more expensive for him than hiring one of those assistant coaches. But yeah I would be cool with either one.

[WeekapaugGroove]

So one report says we are looking to cut spending, and others say we are possibly chasing FVV and Bertans? I don't think anyone knows what's going on for sure.

If there's one thing we've learned about this front office is they don't leak much to the media so I wouldn't put too much stock in anything we hear.

On cutting spending, Sarver did cut spending with the gleague team sale and they also laid off some staff. So that's not a rumor it's literally something that has happened and was reported on. Now if that will also lead to spending less on players we really don't know. I do think he will want a good team for the updated arena so it's possible hell prioritize spending on players at the expenses of other operations.

Some things with revenue Sarver and the owners simply don't know right now. Like will the league finish the playoffs? Will we get some rapid tests or a vax before next season and have fans or on the other hand will a second wave come and vax fail and we go a whole another season without fans. Until the league knows this we just won't know the economic impact. It's why it's looking like the draft and FA isn't going to happen in Oct.

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[Revived]

I’m guessing Sarver’s banking industry has been hit pretty hard by the pandemic.

He was already also among the poorest of all NBA owners in terms of net worth.