The 2013 free agency thread.

[Marvel]

On ESPNs top 30 free agents Henderson isn't even listed. Other teams dont value him like we do.

Playing for the Bobcats will do that to ya.

[HornetJail]

On ESPNs top 30 free agents Henderson isn't even listed. Other teams dont value him like we do.

Good, Bobcats should just offer him 5/25 and call it a day.

[MasterIchiro]

On ESPNs top 30 free agents Henderson isn't even listed. Other teams dont value him like we do.

Cause 33% from 3 sucks.

[JMAC3]

I think its going to be tough to out tank a few teams next season. One because I see teams trying to gut their rosters as much as they can.. And for us our young guys are going to be trying to compete every night, its the type of guys we have been drafting.

I do not see how the Sixers won't be horrible. Carter-Williams, Turner, Richardson, Young, Hawes and Noel coming back late.

The Suns will be bad again. Len is not going to change their culture by any means and I think Gortat and Beasley will lose out on minutes from the young guys.

The Bucks will probably be awful, and I do not look for them to bring back much other than Jennings a few stopgaps. Losing Ellis, Redick, Dunleavy and Dalembert will hurt them.

The Magic are still pretty bad and Oladipo will help, but they still have lackluster point guard play and no real go to scorer. Tobias harris may prove to be fools gold.

Then you have the kings, pistons, and wizards who never seem to turn the corner.

Then you have the teams where you have no clue what their teams will look like Mavs and Hawks.

Then you have Utah who could take a big step back for a year, while their young guys get used to the league. Favors, Kanter, and Burke all have yet to see starters minutes.

Then you have Boston and Toronto whose teams are not really bad, but they seem like they would be teams that would tank on purpose.

[JMAC3]

^ my point being that with a roster of

Kemba
Hendo? or other free agent
MKG
Zeller
Biyombo

I think we will be better than we expect, because if all these guys take steps forward and Clifford and Ewing improve on what Dunlap and Co could do we may be a sneaky team next year.

I am not saying playoff good, but I could see us landing the 6th pick and then getting either the portland pick or Detroit pick depending...

At worst we get two really good guys, they help our depth. Or we could package the picks either for a higher pick or a young allstar. I would be down for something like our pick and detroit pick for Horford.

This is why I would not be against going after Mayo over Hendo. Mayo will cost more, but he is a better overall player and fits our team better. He has the shooting that would space the floor for us, he is a good ball handler and distributor from the 2, and he has good size at the 2 so we wont be playing small ball.

I think we could get him for 4/40 which is not horrible. Would also, consider talking to hawks now and see if Biz and Detroit pick would be enough for Horford if they really are rebuilding.

Kemba
Mayo
MKG
Zeller
Horford

[Nanogeek]

While it wont likely be us (but it could be!), I think the best bet for teams and for Bynum is for a team to sign him to a 1 year $12m deal with a team option for a second year at $13m. Any deal Bynum signs will likely be uninsurable and no team will likely offer him max or near max money long-term given his recent health problems. If he returns to form after signing the deal I describe above he'll be a UFA going into the 2015 offseason at 28 and in his prime. He'll have already made $80-90m in his career and could be positioned for a max deal to earn another $90m.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Hendo needs a super solid 3 point shot if he's going to really be worth a high $ contract. He's improved year by year that way, but I'm not sold at this point.

I'm not a huge Mayo fan. He *might* be a better fit than Hendo but I'm not convinced.

Contract wise way too many folks are throwing out the numbers folks USED to get. Free agents by and large aren't going to be getting those numbers anymore except on very short contracts. Mayo isn't going to get 4/40 from anyone. He might get 1/10 as a one year rental or 2/20 as a short term solution but that's it. Teams are going to give either years or $ but not both unless the guy is really good. The new CBA is going to hugely punish mistakes and the GMs are really strongly aware of that now.

[MasterIchiro]

^ my point being that with a roster of

Kemba
Hendo? or other free agent
MKG
Zeller
Biyombo

I think we will be better than we expect, because if all these guys take steps forward and Clifford and Ewing improve on what Dunlap and Co could do we may be a sneaky team next year.

I am not saying playoff good, but I could see us landing the 6th pick and then getting either the portland pick or Detroit pick depending...

At worst we get two really good guys, they help our depth. Or we could package the picks either for a higher pick or a young allstar. I would be down for something like our pick and detroit pick for Horford.

This is why I would not be against going after Mayo over Hendo. Mayo will cost more, but he is a better overall player and fits our team better. He has the shooting that would space the floor for us, he is a good ball handler and distributor from the 2, and he has good size at the 2 so we wont be playing small ball.

I think we could get him for 4/40 which is not horrible. Would also, consider talking to hawks now and see if Biz and Detroit pick would be enough for Horford if they really are rebuilding.

Kemba
Mayo
MKG
Zeller
Horford

+1 from me.

This is not far fetched at all. In fact, I would go a step further and say that the Bobcats are in a position to leverage the Wiggins sweepstakes into an accelerated, overnight rebuild like the one you mention above. You have maybe a dozen teams who will be looking to unload guys that make them playoff contenders (Josh Smith and Horford maybe, Pierce, Garnett and Rondo maybe on the Celtics, Jrue Holiday on the Sixers who added a NO pick) and others reluctant to add players like Mayo because they don't wish to contend next year. It's possible that enough teams remove themselves from contention that the playoff field becomes saturated with teams angling for these top prospects and we sneak in somehow which does not make us a treadmill team BTW it makes us a young playoff contender.

In the 2014 draft, no SG is a guarantee to become better than Mayo who I think would have all-star potential as a primary scorer on this team. MKG plays Wiggins' position. Kemba is not going anywhere. Zeller at PF takes away that position. We're left with center where we have Biz who is very much still a project. Willie Cauley Stein is the only guy who could help fill a key spot with our core and he's not going any higher than 5 or 6. But again he could be had with DET and POR picks possibly if we make the playoffs and lose our pick to the Bulls.

So what would the owners rather have? A young, hungry playoff team in a weak field or a 1 and 10 chance for Wiggins?

[BeesWax]

^ my point being that with a roster of

Kemba
Hendo? or other free agent
MKG
Zeller
Biyombo

I think we will be better than we expect, because if all these guys take steps forward and Clifford and Ewing improve on what Dunlap and Co could do we may be a sneaky team next year.

I am not saying playoff good, but I could see us landing the 6th pick and then getting either the portland pick or Detroit pick depending...

At worst we get two really good guys, they help our depth. Or we could package the picks either for a higher pick or a young allstar. I would be down for something like our pick and detroit pick for Horford.

This is why I would not be against going after Mayo over Hendo. Mayo will cost more, but he is a better overall player and fits our team better. He has the shooting that would space the floor for us, he is a good ball handler and distributor from the 2, and he has good size at the 2 so we wont be playing small ball.

I think we could get him for 4/40 which is not horrible. Would also, consider talking to hawks now and see if Biz and Detroit pick would be enough for Horford if they really are rebuilding.

Kemba
Mayo
MKG
Zeller
Horford

+1 from me.

This is not far fetched at all. In fact, I would go a step further and say that the Bobcats are in a position to leverage the Wiggins sweepstakes into an accelerated, overnight rebuild like the one you mention above. You have maybe a dozen teams who will be looking to unload guys that make them playoff contenders (Josh Smith and Horford maybe, Pierce, Garnett and Rondo on the Celtics) and others reluctant to add players like Mayo because they don't wish to contend next year. It's possible that enough teams remove themselves from contention that the playoff field becomes saturated with teams angling for these top prospects and we sneak in somehow which does not make us a treadmill team BTW it makes us a young playoff contender.

In the 2014 draft, no SG is a guarantee to become better than Mayo who I think would have all-star potential as a primary scorer on this team. MKG plays Wiggins' position. Kemba is not going anywhere. Zeller at PF takes away that position. We're left with center where we have Biz who is very much still a project. Willie Cauley Stein is the only guy who could help fill a key spot with our core and he's not going any higher than 5 or 6. But again he could be had with DET and POR picks possibly if we make the playoffs and lose our pick to the Bulls.

So what would the owners rather have? A young, hungry playoff team in a weak field or a 1 and 10 chance for Wiggins?

Rather have the chance at Wiggins. If you are not going to win it all you want to be at the bottom to improve the most you can. In this next draft we could upgrade pretty much everywhere but PG. MKG can slide defensively to the 2 and be very good. So if we add a SF that can shoot we have a shooting wing and slashing wing and both can play. Any of the top 3 PF would be a huge help and upgrade there along with the top centers. If for nothing more than depth Randle, Parker, WCS, and Austin could all be very good additions at the 4 or 5. We still need an additional young wing and possibly a 4 and 5 to be a high quality team.

[Snidely FC]

My free agency wish list:

1. Hendo 6 mln 4yrs
2. McBob 5 mln 2 yrs
3. Timofey Mozgov 4.5 mln 3 yrs
4a. Francisco Garcia 4 mln 2 yrs
4b. Mike Dunleavy 4 mln 2 yrs
5. Jason Smith 2.5 mln 2 yrs

Guys I'd like at $2 mln or less:
Dorrel Wright
Corey Brewer
Shavlik Randolph
Shaun Livingston
Elton Brand
Jon Leuer

[MasterIchiro]

So what would the owners rather have? A young, hungry playoff team in a weak field or a 1 and 10 chance for Wiggins?

Rather have the chance at Wiggins. If you are not going to win it all you want to be at the bottom to improve the most you can. In this next draft we could upgrade pretty much everywhere but PG. MKG can slide defensively to the 2 and be very good. So if we add a SF that can shoot we have a shooting wing and slashing wing and both can play. Any of the top 3 PF would be a huge help and upgrade there along with the top centers. If for nothing more than depth Randle, Parker, WCS, and Austin could all be very good additions at the 4 or 5. We still need an additional young wing and possibly a 4 and 5 to be a high quality team.

I'm not going to argue the merits of sliding MKG to the 2 and correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like you almost don't want Mayo because you want Wiggins at SF and to leave open a spot at SG for MKG. I'm not going to argue MKG vs. Mayo at SG because it assumes we avoid the 9 out of 10 probability that we will lose the Wiggins sweepstakes amongst all these other tankers. I don't think any front office would construct the roster (not sign Mayo) under the assumption that we don't lose Wiggins 9 out of 10 times and therefore need to keep open SG for MKG. There's a huge gap here between what you want to happen and what is a realistic long term plan.

We just drafted Zeller and one year later will target and tank for Randle or Parker or Austin? Randle is the #2 pick. We just got the #4 pick and one year later we're going to be better, other teams will be worse as JMAC mentioned, ALOT of them. I would say even Randle is a longshot. 8-9 times out of 10 it won't happen.

WCS is the only player that will be at a slot in the draft were we can nab him with DET and POR picks. The only other spot to target in a tank is SG. My argument is no SG in the 2014 draft is a guarantee to be better than Mayo is right now at 25 (in his prime coming off 40% from 3 with a versatile skillset). And you could argue that Pekovic or Horford or Cousins is a safer long term bet than tanking for WCS which is still not a guarantee.

[MasterIchiro]

Not to mention that even with a hypothetical roster of Kemba, Mayo, MKG, Zeller/Biz and Horford or Cousins or Pek we could suffer a key injury like the Wiz did with Wall, miss the playoffs and like the Wizards jump from 8 to 3 and still get one of those coveted stars. That scenario is about as far fetched as tying up resources in a 30% 3 pt shooting guard on a roster with no deep threats, tanking for Wiggins in this field, winning Wiggins and moving MKG to SG.

[BeesWax]

My argument is don't waste money on a guy who does not fit our culture. If it is true and we are passing on better talent for culture then why would we go after a guy like Mayo? Bring back Hendo who will be good off the bench if we get lucky. Mayo is a bad pick because if we do get a SF or SG with more talent he will be a cancer off the bench.

Mayo is just not a fit for what we are doing and would be a terrible pickup. We are not tanking we are building through the draft and building a culture. MKG can play SG defensively and is a very good slasher so if we added a SF we could play him there.

Zeller is not so good he can't be replaced. There are a number of guys in this next draft that would greatly improve our team.

[MasterIchiro]

Mayo is a bad pick because if we do get a SF or SG with more talent he will be a cancer off the bench.

Zeller is not so good he can't be replaced. There are a number of guys in this next draft that would greatly improve our team.

If Mayo is brought in to spread the floor and win more games his skillset fits the culture. This is not a boy scout troop. I want to win games not take 1/10 chances at drafting a superstar that might not even lead to a championship 5 years down the road (Durant OKC still as none and what year was Durant drafted?) And we've already established that the probability of missing an upgrade to Mayo in the draft is 9/10. So the fear of him sulking on the bench is virtually unfounded. And if you have that problem, then that means you also have Wiggins which is the price you pay and it's not our money.

Again an upgrade to Zeller like Randle is 8-9 times out of 10 not going to happen. The other upgrades to Zeller we can add with DET and POR.

Durant was drafted 6 years ago.

You can't plan for a championship team but if you have a hungry fanbase and a chance to capitalize on other's pipe dreams and you can exploit them to assemble a hungry young playoff team, you grab it, fill those seats and roll.

[BeesWax]

Mayo is a bad pick because if we do get a SF or SG with more talent he will be a cancer off the bench.

Zeller is not so good he can't be replaced. There are a number of guys in this next draft that would greatly improve our team.

If Mayo is brought in to spread the floor and win more games his skillset fits the culture. This is not a boy scout troop. I want to win games not take 1/10 chances at drafting a superstar that might not even lead to a championship 5 years down the road (Durant OKC still as none and what year was Durant drafted?) And we've already established that the probability of missing an upgrade to Mayo in the draft is 9/10. So the fear of him sulking on the bench is virtually unfounded.

Again an upgrade to Zeller like Randle is 8-9 times out of 10 not going to happen. The other upgrades to Zeller we can add with DET and POR.

Durant was drafted 6 years ago.

You can't plan for a championship team but if you have a hungry fanbase and a chance to capitalize on other's pipe dreams and you can exploit them to assemble a hungry young playoff team, you grab it, fill those seats and roll.

I get that you like Mayo but I would hate him as a fit for our team. We need to resign Hendo and McRoberts and a number of 1 year guys and then next off season we can evaluate what we have in MKG, Zeller and Biz and make our moves accordingly.

[MasterIchiro]

Higgins has mentioned we have 20 million in cap space and that they will "aggressively pursue free agents". So he's going to lie to get fans into the arena?

If I'm the owner and my spreadsheet is bleeding red I think that another year of bottom feeding for a 9/10 chance of failure to get a superstar who is still not guaranteed, no matter how prolific (Durant), to carry even the most well assembled team to a championship 6 years after he is drafted is a bad plan.

Think about this one...

We are the Hornets again.

You want to brand that fresh brand name with a losing inaugural season?

[BeesWax]

No what I don't want is a bad attitude SG. Stay the course and let our young guys come together and develop for another year and decide who you have and what you need. We still need to see what Biz and Zeller and MKG are. It will be a development season where we look at what positions we have shored up like Kemba last year and what positions we need to fix.

[chrbal]

Resign McBob and Henderson. Give Byron Mullens a contract only if you can get him for around 2 years/$5 mil. Watch the amnesty list. Maybe put Tyrus on it.

Offer Boston the Portland pick and Ben Gordon for Jeff Green, Courtney Lee, and a draft pick. He's not someone to carry team, but Greens a hell of a player and this is buy low moment. If this happens, don't offer Mullens anything...he'll never get off the bench. Lee gives the team a solid backup at the 2 guard spot on a reasonable contract that fits insanely better than Ben Gordon.

Fill out roster with 1 year contracts are young players absorbed in trades.

[MasterIchiro]

No what I don't want is a bad attitude SG. Stay the course and let our young guys come together and develop for another year and decide who you have and what you need. We still need to see what Biz and Zeller and MKG are. It will be a development season where we look at what positions we have shored up like Kemba last year and what positions we need to fix.

Mayo would be one bad attitude surrounded by boy scouts. Is it realistic to find a skilled boyscout at every position? At what point can you say Cho has developed a majority culture where there is enough camaraderie blended with the right coaching/guidance to afford you to splurge on strictly skill? The Bobcats were interested in Cousins, probably still are. How do you explain that? Certainly has nothing to do with his skill, huh?

[BeesWax]

No what I don't want is a bad attitude SG. Stay the course and let our young guys come together and develop for another year and decide who you have and what you need. We still need to see what Biz and Zeller and MKG are. It will be a development season where we look at what positions we have shored up like Kemba last year and what positions we need to fix.

Mayo would be one bad attitude surrounded by boy scouts. Is it realistic to find a skilled boyscout at every position? At what point can you say Cho has developed a majority culture where there is enough camaraderie blended with the right coaching/guidance to afford you to splurge on strictly skill? The Bobcats were interested in Cousins, probably still are. How do you explain that? Certainly has nothing to do with his skill, huh?

Cousins is a talent that is much greater than Mayo and at a hard position to find. Mayo is a SG that is not that much of a step up from what we have. Risk reward man. Mayo's reward not worth his risk, Cousin's is. Mayo is a head case that does not have the talent to back it up. I get that you love him for some reason but he is not a good fit here.