Future Free Agent Thread

[Inigo Montoya]

Something worth following despite what people would tell you right after the trade deadline... Tobias Harris. Butler and Embiid were already fighting for touches on Philly's roster. Can you imagine adding another player who needs touches to that mix? I think it's very possible this blows into 76ers faces and Harris ultimately decides that staying in the corner is not what he wants to do with his career.

Now him getting disillusioned with Philly is only the first step, but if we are going to keep hope for someone relatively high on the free agency totem pole, IMO it still is Harris.

I'm also not convinced the Sixers will be able to keep all 4 together, much less happy. But if I was to keep hope for someone high on the free agency totem pole, I'd be Butler. He's exactly what we need and will move the needle much more than Harris. If both were to get a max contract, I'd rather have Butler.

[Winglish]

Something worth following despite what people would tell you right after the trade deadline... Tobias Harris. Butler and Embiid were already fighting for touches on Philly's roster. Can you imagine adding another player who needs touches to that mix? I think it's very possible this blows into 76ers faces and Harris ultimately decides that staying in the corner is not what he wants to do with his career.

Now him getting disillusioned with Philly is only the first step, but if we are going to keep hope for someone relatively high on the free agency totem pole, IMO it still is Harris.

I'm glad your glass is half full.

It sounds like wishful thinking to me but I hope you're correct!

I think the Jazz missed out on several players that they could have had who would have helped the team. Again.

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[Winglish]

Something worth following despite what people would tell you right after the trade deadline... Tobias Harris. Butler and Embiid were already fighting for touches on Philly's roster. Can you imagine adding another player who needs touches to that mix? I think it's very possible this blows into 76ers faces and Harris ultimately decides that staying in the corner is not what he wants to do with his career.

Now him getting disillusioned with Philly is only the first step, but if we are going to keep hope for someone relatively high on the free agency totem pole, IMO it still is Harris.

I'm also not convinced the Sixers will be able to keep all 4 together, much less happy. But if I was to keep hope for someone high on the free agency totem pole, I'd be Butler. He's exactly what we need and will move the needle much more than Harris. If both were to get a max contract, I'd rather have Butler.

I'd love to see Butler and Mitchell in the backcourt!

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[KqWIN]

Who is everyone’s favorite “realistic” targets.

[sunevisions]

Who is everyone’s favorite “realistic” targets.

Mirotic? 4yrs 80-85?

[Daddy 801]

Who is everyone’s favorite “realistic” targets.

Butler. On a team that is known for defense and will pay him the max and he can get all sorts of touches.

[Rauxcee]

Who is everyone’s favorite “realistic” targets.

Tobias Harris.

(I don't think Butler is realistic)

[AingesBurner]

I would love Mirotic and Butler.

[KqWIN]

Butler and Harris are not realistic because there will be multiple teams offering them max contracts.

[AingesBurner]

Butler and Harris are not realistic because there will be multiple teams offering them max contracts.

That’s why this deadline was so important.

[CAE15]

Butler and Harris are not realistic because there will be multiple teams offering them max contracts.

After the wave of the top tier guys go. Players want to be coveted. Iverson and Carmelo didn't work out.. why? Because they both wanted too many shots. Embiid is good with the ball in his hands, same with Simmons, Butler too but he can play off ball. Harris has been better with the ball but might be a spot up guy. There's a very real chance that they don't mesh as well as expected and one decides to bolt. And honestly if we strike out on FA we can still absorb a player like Conley into cap space and give them a pick, essentially what we offered but few months later.

FWIW I don't think Bledsoe, Middleton, Mirotic and Brogdon get brought back at 20 million plus a piece. Brogdon is gettable.. prolly would have to overpay but I I'm not giving up hope on cashing in on FA.

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[KqWIN]

Butler and Harris are not realistic because there will be multiple teams offering them max contracts.

After the wave of the top tier guys go. Players want to be coveted. Iverson and Carmelo didn't work out.. why? Because they both wanted too many shots. Embiid is good with the ball in his hands, same with Simmons, Butler too but he can play off ball. Harris has been better with the ball but might be a spot up guy. There's a very real chance that they don't mesh as well as expected and one decides to bolt. And honestly if we strike out on FA we can still absorb a player like Conley into cap space and give them a pick, essentially what we offered but few months later.

FWIW I don't think Bledsoe, Middleton, Mirotic and Brogdon get brought back at 20 million plus a piece. Brogdon is gettable.. prolly would have to overpay but I I'm not giving up hope on cashing in on FA.

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Butler and Harris can both decide they want to leave, we still have very little to no shot of signing them. If both leave, I'd have it at 0% chance at Butler and 10% chance at Harris. The Jazz are a small market, average team that is not a desirable to place to live in. There will be 4 or 5 teams ahead of us in both situations, and there's a good chance neither of them even consider Utah. Jimmy won't consider Utah for sure. I don't think a player of his caliber has ever even considered Utah in FA.

I think all of those other players get over $20M except for maybe Mirotic. Middleton will get a max and Brogdon will be matched unless you give him a max. We'll see what Bledsoe's market is. He's the one they probably let go if they have to, but if more than one team want him he'll be over 20. Bledsoe is a guy you can maybe steal on a short term max. Mirotic is obtainable, and we might not even have to overpay him, but he'll still cost a lot.

Bledsoe is probably the best guy we can get. I'm a little concerned that he might wash out once he gets paid. I'd probably be willing to give him 2/$60M at midnight. I think I might actually prefer Bledose to Conley on the same money. I hadn't given him enough thought. Come to think of it, Bledsoe is someone we should have acquired years ago.

[stitches]

Who is everyone’s favorite “realistic” targets.

Dante Exum will be our best free agent acquisition.

But seriously. Middleton, Russell and Harris continue to be my favorite 'somewhat realistic' targets. We might not get any of them but if we don't I'm not sure what I would do. I might just run it back.

We need Exum to be good.

[Daddy 801]

People are so negative with the idea of player coming here. I think there is a lot in place to make Utah an attractive spot. We have a fantastic coach with an offensive system that gets open looks. We have a defensive juggernaut who is extremely efficient offensively but doesn’t take a ton of touches. We have a young seminstar in Donny on a cheap contract. And we have a ton of cap space to sign a free agent and give them lots of touches. LA is obviously a killer spot to land as well. But I’m not sure there is another team in the West I’d rather land on as a top tier free agent besides LA.

[Tom349]

Disappointing to miss out on Conley as he would have been an excellent addition to this team but Im glad DL made the right decision and didn't overpay for him. As for our position going forward, nothing has changed. We still have flexibility to head to free agency or use Favors contract in a salary dump for a Love, Gallanari or even Conley if Memphis lower their price.

If we do head down the path of free agency then ideally we would land a big name player but if we can't I wouldn't be opposed to getting the likes of Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Mirotic and others on good deals where they can potentially be trade bait further down the line.

[Inigo Montoya]

People are so negative with the idea of player coming here. I think there is a lot in place to make Utah an attractive spot. We have a fantastic coach with an offensive system that gets open looks. We have a defensive juggernaut who is extremely efficient offensively but doesn’t take a ton of touches. We have a young seminstar in Donny on a cheap contract. And we have a ton of cap space to sign a free agent and give them lots of touches. LA is obviously a killer spot to land as well. But I’m not sure there is another team in the West I’d rather land on as a top tier free agent besides LA.

This is been the case for years. Before DM we had Gobert and Hayward, and before that we had Deron and Boozer and a legendary coach and yet still no high-level player wanted to come. The Jazz have been a good team for a star to come to and compete for many years, and yet it never happens. And like you said, this team has a lot of selling points and things going for it, and yet still no player of note has made any indication they want to come here. In fact, we see stars wanting to go to failed franchises like the Knicks--which has been mismanaged for decades and have no leading players--or the Clippers who have been the joke of the league for so long, and not the Jazz who has a ready-made roster to compete in the highest levels with the addition of one star. Still, crickets...

[Rauxcee]

People are so negative with the idea of player coming here. I think there is a lot in place to make Utah an attractive spot. We have a fantastic coach with an offensive system that gets open looks. We have a defensive juggernaut who is extremely efficient offensively but doesn’t take a ton of touches. We have a young seminstar in Donny on a cheap contract. And we have a ton of cap space to sign a free agent and give them lots of touches. LA is obviously a killer spot to land as well. But I’m not sure there is another team in the West I’d rather land on as a top tier free agent besides LA.

People are so negative because it's 100% true. We have never signed a high profile player. Not even talking about Super star level. Just a high quality player. The biggest name we've ever signed was Carlos Boozer. While he was pretty good for us when he played, I'd hardly call it a big name. We couldn't even keep Hayward. There are also multiple people that have either refused to report after being traded or very publicly stated they don't want to be traded here. We were the butt of Dwight Howard's joke to his mom (as all in good just as that was). I believe they've done anonymous polls with players on most desirable places to play and we are always near the bottom. That's with us always having great players, good coaches, being well run, etc.

People are so focused on players not wanting to come here because it's true.

[stitches]

People are so negative with the idea of player coming here. I think there is a lot in place to make Utah an attractive spot. We have a fantastic coach with an offensive system that gets open looks. We have a defensive juggernaut who is extremely efficient offensively but doesn’t take a ton of touches. We have a young seminstar in Donny on a cheap contract. And we have a ton of cap space to sign a free agent and give them lots of touches. LA is obviously a killer spot to land as well. But I’m not sure there is another team in the West I’d rather land on as a top tier free agent besides LA.

People are so negative because it's 100% true. We have never signed a high profile player. Not even talking about Super star level. Just a high quality player. The biggest name we've ever signed was Carlos Boozer. While he was pretty good for us when he played, I'd hardly call it a big name. We couldn't even keep Hayward. There are also multiple people that have either refused to report after being traded or very publicly stated they don't want to be traded here. We were the butt of Dwight Howard's joke to his mom (as all in good just as that was). I believe they've done anonymous polls with players on most desirable places to play and we are always near the bottom. That's with us always having great players, good coaches, being well run, etc.

People are so focused on players not wanting to come here because it's true.

Also worth pointing out that Boozer was coming off his second year in the league and wasn't a world beater when we got him. He became all-star on our roster, he was not that before. He was 15/11 the year before he joined the Jazz.

Our best chance is and has always been the draft. People say - yeah but he will leave anyways after his rookie extension. Sure. I grant you that. But in the meantime you still get between 7 and 9 years to do something with said player. 7 to 9 years is much better than 0 to 2(maximum years you usually get from a traded high end player).

[BarneyGumble]

People are so negative with the idea of player coming here. I think there is a lot in place to make Utah an attractive spot. We have a fantastic coach with an offensive system that gets open looks. We have a defensive juggernaut who is extremely efficient offensively but doesn’t take a ton of touches. We have a young seminstar in Donny on a cheap contract. And we have a ton of cap space to sign a free agent and give them lots of touches. LA is obviously a killer spot to land as well. But I’m not sure there is another team in the West I’d rather land on as a top tier free agent besides LA.

Players have real financial incentives to make All-Star teams and get national publicity. They look at a guy like Gobert, who completely dominates, and is left off the All-Star team, and they think that has at least something to do with playing in Utah.

We have such a large sample size of failing to lure quality free agents here, letting alone guys actually saying "I dont want to go there" as well as players who have left us and trashed us on the way out, that it staggers me that so many fans think it isnt actually a problem.

I get it....Deron liked it here...Mitchell seems to like it here etc.....but these guys were drafted here and got integrated with the culture of our team. From the outside....free agents that don't know any better just don't want to be here.

[Inigo Montoya]

Just to add to the Boozer example, not only was he was just up and coming as a second year player, but it also took some questionable practices to get him to the Jazz--it was a whole thing.

As for BarneyGumble's point about financial incentives--he's making a very good point. Guys like Vuc and Russell and many others are allstars and Gobert is not, even though his impact is much greater and he's a far better player. He lost 1M in financial incentives by not being selected to the allstar game. That's real money he's losing (yes, he's a multi-millionaire, poor him), and there is also the financial determent of playing in a small market team in terms of less sponsorships opportunities that pay less, etc.