2021 Free Agency

[Bassman]

Center options are “slip slidin’ away” . Hope Mitch has a plan beyond Kai and Vern but maybe that IS the plan.

[fatlever]

There is nobody left worth spending that 13 million on at this point. I assume the plan now is to sit tight and see if anyone needs our cap space to facilitate a signing or trade, perhaps pick up a future pick in the process. Or to go into the season with that cap space and hopefully trade for a proven player at the break from a team looking to shed salary or again use that space to facilitate a trade and pick up a first.

So to recap, we had 22 million dollars in cap space + 5 million-dollar exception and came away with Mason Plumlee, Ish Smith, JTthor and a future protected, remaing 13 million in space, while losing three rotation players in the process.

Great for future, horrible for present. Seems we were finally forced to picked a direction.

Up until now I have been steadfastly against looking to trade Gordon Hayward or Terry Rozier but my opinion on that matter has changed based on this offseason. There is no point in trying to contend for a top-four seed with this roster. Especially not with all of the moves the teams around us in the East have made. I would definitely start answering calls about those two players.

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[Benjamin Linus]

Wonder if Mitch is working on a trade. Do we have the capspace to trade PJ for Turner? Throw in some filler (Martin, Richards, whatever)

[JMAC3]

Wonder if Mitch is working on a trade. Do we have the capspace to trade PJ for Turner? Throw in some filler (Martin, Richards, whatever)

Plumlee deal is not finalized and neither is Graham... something is up I think.

Could it be Plumlee and NOP pick to Pacers for Turner?

[JDR720]

What really came to bite us is stretching Nic.

We have 9million in dead cap because of that. That really limited our options. That's like having an extra player on the team you can't play.

[JMAC3]

What really came to bite us is stretching Nic.

We have 9million in dead cap because of that. That really limited our options. That's like having an extra player on the team you can't play.

Yeah a little bit, but outside of that we have no bad contracts... Most teams have a bad contract. Only thing is we can't trade that dead cap.

[yosemiteben]

Wonder if Mitch is working on a trade. Do we have the capspace to trade PJ for Turner? Throw in some filler (Martin, Richards, whatever)

Yeah, PJ + Martin for Myles works. PJ's salary is $4.2M and Myles's is $18M. Our space is $13.5M, so we just need an additional like $300K in salary.

[Chapelchilla]

My guess is Biz has already agreed to resign whenever we decide are done exploring any options created by the cap space.

I think we got better not worse as I think -
Bouknight is better then Monk and Plumlee better then Cody.
Devontae leaving hurts some but I believe Ball - Terry - Smith - Riller is fine for the point rotation.
This is Balls team to run. If he gets hurt we will pick in the lottery regardless of the back up rotation.
I think the natural improvement of Ball -Bridges - PJ - McDaniels as they gain skills and experience coupled with normal age appropriate physical growth into adult men added to the vet presence of Hayward -Terry -Miles (Biz?) and the new youthful talent and potential in JB -KJ and VC makes us exciting to watch and should likely put us in the playoffs. The Martins can fill in at times if we keep them.
I’m optimistic about the Hornets this year and excited about the future. We have financial options, talented youth and some good players in place already.

[Rays Pompadour]

Center options are “slip slidin’ away” . Hope Mitch has a plan beyond Kai and Vern but maybe that IS the plan.

I think that it is, though I could see Biyombo return on a min one year deal.

Kupchak drafted two centers in the second round last year, signing Carey to a four year deal, and traded back into the first round this year to grab Kai for the very purpose of developing them. Most evaluators agree that it takes three years to develop a young big. College seniors are mostly already developed and can offer immediate return, so they're exempt.

Vern, Richards and Kai will spend a good deal of time in the G-league as part of the plan, then call up Kai after an appropriate assimilation period and Vern after the break. I'm not sure Richards has a long term future in Charlotte, but he could serve as the deep bench big after the G-league season is finished. The plan necessarily involves playing time for Carey and Kai, which probably comes at the expense of a veteran center.

All of which points to a very real intent not to push for the playoffs, deciding instead to develop on-hand talent and see how it goes. It's a sound strategy, which I detest but grudgingly support. It's the only way a small market team can hope to compete long term.

Some usable players still available: Isaiah Hartenstein, Biyombo, Birch and Hernangomez.

[yosemiteben]

So we have 15 roster spots and 2 two-ways:

Melo
Rozier
Hayward
Miles
PJ
Ish
Bouknight
McDaniels
Plumlee
Kai Jones
Thor
Carey
Richards

Is 13 spots, and Scottie Lewis + Anolds are taking our two ways.

That means we have two remaining roster spots and decisions to make on Cody Martin, Caleb Martin, and Grant Riller (and Biz?).

It is telling that Graham's deal isn't complete and that we only have one center on the roster that has ever been a meaningful part of an NBA rotation, despite Center being identified as a primary need by both JB and Mitch.

I do think another deal is coming to clear roster spots and give us better big depth. It is kinda nuts that we are using 4 roster spots on development Cs in addition to Plumlee, I really don't understand how carrying 5 (or 6 if we make a trade) Cs is a smart idea. I would think that one of our development bigs has to be going out in a trade if we do one.

[amcoolio]

There is nobody left worth spending that 13 million on at this point. I assume the plan now is to sit tight and see if anyone needs our cap space to facilitate a signing or trade, perhaps pick up a future pick in the process. Or to go into the season with that cap space and hopefully trade for a proven player at the break from a team looking to shed salary or again use that space to facilitate a trade and pick up a first.

So to recap, we had 22 million dollars in cap space + 5 million-dollar exception and came away with Mason Plumlee, Ish Smith, JTthor and a future protected, remaing 13 million in space, while losing three rotation players in the process.

Great for future, horrible for present. Seems we were finally forced to picked a direction.

Up until now I have been steadfastly against looking to trade Gordon Hayward or Terry Rozier but my opinion on that matter has changed based on this offseason. There is no point in trying to contend for a top-four seed with this roster. Especially not with all of the moves the teams around us in the East have made. I would definitely start answering calls about those two players.

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I don’t get the frustration. Aside from Holmes, who would you have signed? Did you see how much Duncan Robinson got? We knew that a ton of teams had cap as well. In my opinion the Knicks Bulls and Heat murdered their future to not have a chance at winning in the playoffs, should we have done the same?

[yosemiteben]

Slight modifier to my last post, maybe we don't see Thor or even as Cs?

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deanondraft with some helpful analysis:

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[Rays Pompadour]

Kupchak seems to like keeping a roster spot open. He brought Wannamaker in late last year in that last slot, which prevented him from having to waive anyone.

If he were to trade, I can see Kupchak flipping Plumlee for the right deal. I think it more likely he uses one of the two roster spots for a free agent like Biyombo and leaving the last spot open. Cap space is Kupchak's biggest asset right now, so (like Chapelchilla said above) he can wait for a while on Biyombo.

[JDR720]

Kai is a PF. Too skinny for a center.

Thor is a SF/PF. Too skinny, and his game is perimeter based.

I'd guess our depth looks like:

Ball - Ish
Gordon - *Rozier - Caleb - Lewis
Miles - Bouknight - Cody - Arnold
PJ - McD - Kai - Thor
Plumlee - Biz* - Carey - Richards

* I think we'll keep Biz
* Yes, Rozier comes off the bench. Do we expect Bouknight to be our primary bench scorer?

We need to slim that down, we have too many players. I think McD is safe, it's be stupid to cut him. So Martin X2 are cuttable. Thor, Richards, Arnold, Lewis are G-League. ( Do G-League players count against our roster spots?)

[Rays Pompadour]

Kai is a PF. Too skinny for a center.

Thor is a SF/PF. Too skinny, and his game is perimeter based.

I'd guess our depth looks like:

Ball - Ish
Gordon - *Rozier - Caleb - Lewis
Miles - Bouknight - Cody - Arnold
PJ - McD - Kai - Thor
Plumlee - Biz* - Carey - Richards

* I think we'll keep Biz
* Yes, Rozier comes off the bench. Do we expect Bouknight to be our primary bench scorer?

We need to slim that down, we have too many players. I think McD is safe, it's be stupid to cut him. So Martin X2 are cuttable. Thor, Richards, Arnold, Lewis are G-League. ( Do G-League players count against our roster spots?)

I think Rozier starts, moving Hayward to the three and one of PJ or Miles comes off the bench. Arnoldas and Lewis are two-way contracts. Thor and Richards are moveable or cut candidates. Same with Caleb Martin. Cody is Bouknight insurance. I think McDaniels becomes an established rotation player and PJ becomes trade bait by the deadline.

[LofJ]

Richards is probably getting cut, and depending on what else shakes out with sign and trades the Martin twins might also be cut.

[Braggins]

deanondraft with some helpful analysis:

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Lmao, I love that hes become sort of a main character on this forum and is viewed as a villain by some. MasteriIchiro's post about unfollowing him after the draft was probably my favorite post on here in a long time (Dean + Ichiro = crossover event of the year).

I don't agree/disagree with him anymore than any of the other draft guys I follow, although my contrarian takes about the Hornets draft did align with his this year, but he is by far the most interesting character of the draft twitter bunch. Most of his tweets are about hoops, but sometimes he posts takes on super random things and I always love them even when I think they are dumb.

[Snidely FC]

( Do G-League players count against our roster spots?)

We have 15 roster spots + 2 Two-Ways, those Two-Ways can spend up to 45 days w Hornets but otherwise are in Gboro. A player from the Hornet roster can be assigned to Gboro but would retain their spot in Hornets while in G. Thor might be assigned to Swarm, for instance, and can be there all season if wanted, whereas Arnoldus and Lewis are the 2 Two-Ways.

[Benjamin Linus]

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[yosemiteben]

How TF can the Heat afford Dipo?