RealGM

I guess the time for regular season talk is done so I'd start the offseason thread. Here is a link to Caruso's comments following the trade. Nothing super insighful here but he seems like a likable guy.

The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

Yes bridges isn't worth 5frps no way we are getting lauri I don't think. We better draft a big or a pf or maybe get Brooks.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

I think we’re going to have to have a market reset again like after the Gobert trade.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

They paid the Villanova tax!

Ainge looks for draft picks (the whole lot you have) plus selling your players for more draft picks.

Cherry on top he wants you to take on John Collins.

Devilanche wrote:

Kizz Fastfists wrote:The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

They paid the Villanova tax!

Ainge looks for draft picks (the whole lot you have) plus selling your players for more draft picks.

Cherry on top he wants you to take on John Collins.

that actually makes Kizz happy

Dadouv47 wrote:

Devilanche wrote:

Kizz Fastfists wrote:The Knicks gave up a king's ransom for Mikel Bridges so you can check him off your wish list. If the price for Bridges is 5 FRPs then I don't even want to know what Ainge is trying to get for Lauri.

They paid the Villanova tax!

Ainge looks for draft picks (the whole lot you have) plus selling your players for more draft picks.

Cherry on top he wants you to take on John Collins.

that actually makes Kizz happy

OKC doesn't have the option to bring in both Lauri and Collins with their cap space. I wanted Collins last year and when OKC could have taken him without moving a core player and he would have filled a need. At this point he should still be on the list as plan G or H. Not adding him last off-season for a pair of 2nds is still a major miss on Presti's part, but Presti claims he had no clue about how good his roster was or what the team needs so I just have to write it off as the illiterate noob is still as developed as a GM as your average reddit poster.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:I wanted Collins last year and when OKC could have taken him without moving a core player and he would have filled a need. At this point he should still be on the list as plan G or H. Not adding him last off-season for a pair of 2nds is still a major miss on Presti's part

i wanted collins too, but even though his shooting recovered last year his peripherals did not and he was not a winning player. collins ranked well below josh giddey on most aio metrics mainly due to porous defensive ratings, and now there seems to be a trend with teams having trouble creating effective lineups around him. so even though he's a pnr finishing / shooting big it was probably a good thing that sam presti didn't make that move. he wouldn't have helped as he is now despite the counting stats. think enes kanter. i've gone off on collins- where there's smoke there's fire.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:Presti claims he had no clue about how good his roster was or what the team needs so I just have to write it off as the illiterate noob is still as developed as a GM as your average reddit poster.

you kinda sound like 'your average reddit poster' when you write lame diatribes like this.

We're selecting at #38 and rumoured to have traded for #40 as well ? Curious to see what's shaking with our selections...

Kevin Love opted out. He'd be a nice veteran fit on the roster. He'd be a great backup big man. He can still shoot and rebound. Give me Lauri and Love and I'll be happy with the off-season.

lauri markkanen still seems awfully unlikely to me. notwithstanding the cost to even acquire him from utah, i just don't see sam presti wanting to either risk him leaving in ufa, or committing max or close-to-max dollars to him in a renegotiate+extension.

slick_watts wrote:lauri markkanen still seems awfully unlikely to me. notwithstanding the cost to even acquire him from utah, i just don't see sam presti wanting to either risk him leaving in ufa, or committing max or close-to-max dollars to him in a renegotiate+extension.

You can get permission from Utah to talk to Lauri to verify that he will sign a max contract. Given the rapid rise in the cap with the upcoming TV deal I'm under the impression that they can give Lauri a max and re-sign at least one of Joe/Wiggins, along with keeping Dort and never hit the 1st apron. That is in addition to max contracts for JDub, Chet and SGA when the time comes. They probably end up in the tax, but since Presti was willing to live in the tax for years for a team that had no chance of making it out of the 1st round I would be extremely upset if he refuses to ever pay the luxury tax with this core. Even if they want to avoid the tax you give Lauri his max and then trade him after the '25-'26 season when you have to extend JDub and Chet and replenish some of your draft pick capital after taking two shots at a championship.

?

seems risky to allow isaiah joe to hit rfa.

Just hope Clay Bennett is willing to spend money otherwise resigning both Joe and Wiggins is a problem. We are definitely not going after Lauri, just can't afford it without losing some depth long term. Probably a player around 20 millions like Cam Johnson would be the best case scenario at this point but I don't like how things are going so far since draft night.

slick_watts wrote:seems risky to allow isaiah joe to hit rfa.

Is Joe a RFA? My understanding is that he is a UFA and Wiggins is a RFA.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:

slick_watts wrote:seems risky to allow isaiah joe to hit rfa.

Is Joe a RFA? My understanding is that he is a UFA and Wiggins is a RFA.

yes, i typoed. i meant ufa. because that's risky.

Dadouv47 wrote:Just hope Clay Bennett is willing to spend money otherwise resigning both Joe and Wiggins is a problem. We are definitely not going after Lauri, just can't afford it without losing some depth long term. Probably a player around 20 millions like Cam Johnson would be the best case scenario at this point but I don't like how things are going so far since draft night.

I'm going to assume that Presti believes signing them this off-season is cheaper than signing them next off-season. It also makes trading them next off-season an option when they could end up pushing against the tax line depending on who, if anyone, gets added. It also doesn't make any difference for this year's cap number as they won't go into the tax with Lauri, Cam or anyone else they would sign or trade for even if they maxed out their space before re-signing Joe and Wiggins. I'm assume the non-tax MLE is the absolute max either will get and I wouldn't be surprised if they are around $6-8M/yr each.

It could make a difference next year. If Presti is interested in Lauri it isn't going to matter. He can just make the moves next off-season to stay out of the tax, i.e. get rid of Dieng and Kenrich along with possibly one of Joe or Wiggins, depending on their salaries, with Topic ready to replace that spot in the rotation. If they are willing to go into the tax next year then it doesn't matter. Lauri could be moved in the 2026 off-season if the extensions for Chet and JDub would push them too high into the tax.

I don't think the loss of depth from signing Lauri would matter, even if they are going to refuse to go into the tax. They could probably keep everyone except Dieng, Kenrich and one of Wiggins, Joe or Caruso without going into the tax next off-season. Do you really need Cason, Joe, Wiggins, Kenrich, Topic and Caruso coming off the bench?

SGA/Cason/Topic
Dort/Caruso
JDub/Wiggins
Lauri/Jones
Chet/Jaylin

That is about what you would have if you traded Dieng, Kenrich and Joe next off-season. Toss in a rookie or two and a vet minimum player or two. Being deep is good, but once you get past a certain point it doesn't matter. OKC only played nine players in every playoff game this season. SGA, Dort, JDub, Chet, Cason, Wiggins, Joe, Jaylin and Giddey. Giddey got replaced by Caruso. Lauri would replace Joe or Wiggins. So the playoff depth is the same in terms of players, but better in terms of quality.

Kizz Fastfists wrote:

slick_watts wrote:lauri markkanen still seems awfully unlikely to me. notwithstanding the cost to even acquire him from utah, i just don't see sam presti wanting to either risk him leaving in ufa, or committing max or close-to-max dollars to him in a renegotiate+extension.

You can get permission from Utah to talk to Lauri to verify that he will sign a max contract. Given the rapid rise in the cap with the upcoming TV deal I'm under the impression that they can give Lauri a max and re-sign at least one of Joe/Wiggins, along with keeping Dort and never hit the 1st apron. That is in addition to max contracts for JDub, Chet and SGA when the time comes. They probably end up in the tax, but since Presti was willing to live in the tax for years for a team that had no chance of making it out of the 1st round I would be extremely upset if he refuses to ever pay the luxury tax with this core. Even if they want to avoid the tax you give Lauri his max and then trade him after the '25-'26 season when you have to extend JDub and Chet and replenish some of your draft pick capital after taking two shots at a championship.

i understand your view, but i have serious doubts the thunder would share it. aside from the paul george temporary insanity, sam presti has never made moves like this. and i don't think he's going to start now.

slick_watts wrote:seems risky to allow isaiah joe to hit rfa.

They've definitely had discussions and I think if they got the impression he was seeking an unreasonable # that they would've just picked up his option and traded him