2021 Free Agency

[JDR720]

Inspired by the center thread, I figured we could talk about what to do in free agency.

Our free agents


We obviously need centers, but we have to decide what to do about Graham and Monk too. Personally, I think both are expendable and would be overpaid if we matched their offers.

[yosemiteben]

Graham's cap hold is barely above the empty roster spot charge, so if we use all our cap this summer I highly doubt we let him walk unless there's some astronomical offer that he wants us to match.

Monk's cap hold is right around $13M. Given his inconsistency and past issues with injuries and the drug situation, I'm skeptical we lose him to a sweetheart offer.

I would bet that we keep both of them.

[Rich4114]

If there was ever a doubt around Monks value to this current team it was the last month while he’s been out. I think they’ll bring them both back but Devonte might want bigger bucks than he’s worth.

[Braggins]

If they don't keep Devonte I think its more likely to be a sign and trade scenario. I just really hope they don't offer him something in the range of 12-16 million, like what was previously speculated. Hes worth half that much and if they give that kind of offer I have to imagine they'd be bidding against themselves. I probably wouldn't offer over 8 million and would be prepared to look for a sign and trade or let him walk if he wants 10+ million. A 26 year old backup who can't create his own offense, doesn't defend well, and hasn't shot over 38.2% from the field in a season yet, shouldn't be commanding a big payday.

[Roll Tide 09]

I would like to keep Graham, Monk, and Riller. You keep that part together and allow Carey to get at least 20 minutes per game...and we're not just talking about playoffs, but also talking about being a contender for the Eastern Conference.

[Chapelchilla]

If there was ever a doubt around Monks value to this current team it was the last month while he’s been out. I think they’ll bring them both back but Devonte might want bigger bucks than he’s worth.

I would say the fact that we were without Hayward and Ball during that same month and was a much much bigger factor then Monk being out. We were doing well at the beginning of the year with those guys and no Monk at all.
I do not think Monk consistently impacts our winning or not. Occasionally he gets hot for a couple of games but he has never had a sustainable period of playing good basketball in his NBA career longer then a month or so. At some point we have to realize that a 6'3 2 guard with loose handles and a streaky J may not be all that valuable. Not to mention the past drug issues and a looming payday.

[bravor]

Its not free agency but if there is a roster spot open, Hornets should grab Kurucs. He has potential as a wing defender/facilitator even if he is stll a bad 3 pt shooter. Good screener for a wing too.

[fatlever]

I think three-point shooting is almost as big a need as the center position for us. At times last year we had almost five or six players in the rotation who couldn't shoot threes better than 30%. Drive-and-kick Playmakers like lamelo and Terry thrive on having Shooters to spread the floor. And even our good 3-point shooters are mostly extremely streaky.

Listening to comments about Malik, I don't get the sense that he wants to stay with the organization. I would probably look to move on from him in a sign-and-trade if possible or else just let him sign elsewhere and free up the money from his Cap hold. I probably also move on from Cody and biz.

I might try to make another run at Harrell if he opts out. I'm not a hundred percent sure that he can become a free agent this summer but I think so. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Watching that Lakers game last night he just doesn't fit on that team. He already has a relationship with Terry and I love his tenacity. He could be a decent stopgap while we try to groom a younger drafted Center. I can also imagine that were going to be heavily attached to holmes. Even better would be if our Scouts have done a fantastic job of identifying someone flying under the radar who can Thrive with more minutes and a larger role.

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[SWedd523]

I don't necessarily think any of the free agents need to be brought back. Monk was the only guy I saw trending in that direction, but I don't think Charlotte and Monk are good long term partners

[JDR720]

A plan:

Let Graham, Biz and Monk go. Resign Cody for cheap.

Sign:

T.J. McConnell - 5m per year for 2 years. He replaces Graham.
Bryn Forbes - 5m per year for 3 years. He replaces Monk.
Richaun Holmes - 18m per year for 4 years. He replaces Biz.


Is that affordable?

Other potential targets:

Harrell.
Caruso.
Theis.
Snell.
Sterling Brown.

[Braggins]

They should definitely look to resign Monk (always depending on contract demands obv), but I think its pretty clear that they aren't going to. I also think they'll substantially overpay Devonte and will get applauded by most of the board for both decisions.

I think still think their best course would still be to pick up Monk, Graham, and maybe Zellers (if its the only way to get over the cap) cap holds, and try to keep them all on reasonable deals, while using the MLE and 11th pick on centers and bringing over Kulboka to take over the Martin twin spot in the rotation. Theis and Holmes would be my ideal MLE targets. Harrell wouldn't be terrible, but hes overrated and not very good defensively. Drummond is awful and its a bad sign that we were going after both he and Harrell aggressively imo. If they don't need to pick up Zellers cap hold to open up the MLE then it would probably be best to move on if they come out of the draft and free agency with two other rotation centers.

Monk is the only free agent I would prioritize keeping. I wouldn't throw the bank at him by any means and would be prepared to walk away if hes just looking for the biggest payday, but hes the only one I would consider paying anything more than what I'm 100% comfortable with. I think both Zeller and Graham should be open to signing team friendly deals, but it seems like the organization overrates Devonte and I think they might throw an unnecessarily big deal at him.

I don't think they need to feel pressured to make huge changes yet. The 2nd half of the season was a disaster with injuries, but the team is young and has multiple guys trending upwards + an elite "build around" prospect. There aren't really any major decisions they have to make this offseason that will have a big impact on the long term trajectory, so I think the team showed enough last season to warrant evaluating the current core at least til the next trade deadline before deciding what to do with the expensive veterans (Rozier extensions, Hayward contract) and PJ. Having the entire team getting a healthy and normal offseason to develop and prepare for LaMelo to be the clear #1 should help, especially if the younger guys all continue to progress as they have been.

Rozier/Graham
Melo/Monk
Hayward/Kulboka
Miles/McDaniels
Theis or Holmes/PJ/11

Similar roster, but with a reinforced center position and a clear direction. Fully give LaMelo the keys, move Hayward to secondary role, use Rozier/Monk as gunners to play off of LaMelo and Haywards playmaking, feature Miles more on offense and in general as a do-it-all type thats actually the third most important player, move PJ to backup C/PF, phase Devonte down to 8th/9th man, and upgrade Martin twins to McDaniels/Kubolka.

Thats the direction I would look to go for next season, but obviously a lot of it depends on what happens in draft and whats actually possible in free agency. Ideal scenario is we just move up to 2nd/3rd in the draft and get Mobley then wtf who cares!

[yosemiteben]

I pretty much agree with everything Braggins said.

[yosemiteben]

Here's a game - let's assume we use the MLE on an ok starting C (someone like Robin Lopez or Theis), and also that we waive Monk's, Graham's, and Cody's cap holds.

That gets us to right around $20M in cap space. Rank your top 3 FA targets that you'd be chasing.

I can't help but be intrigued at the prospect is uniting the Balls. DeRozan is also pretty interesting if we could get him. I'd also make a hard sell to CP3 for him to play one year close to home before retiring.

[SWedd523]

It is long past time to move on from Cody and Bismack, full stop.


Only way I change my mind is if Zeller is cool with like a 3/24-30 type of deal. 41 guys this year (6'10" or taller) averaged 9/6. He's quickly approaching 30, his hair being closer to 40, and his injuries continue to add up.

Give those minutes to Whomever replaces them and Carey/Richards. Time to move on.

Graham... really hard to say. He took a big step back this year when we were all hoping he'd step up as a nice compliment to Ball with his shooting/passing acumen, especially in a contract year. Already 25 so you wonder how much his efficiency can improve moving forward. If he's comfortable being a long term 6th man on something similar to the aforementioned Zeller 3/24-30 then we can talk.

Same goes for Monk. He FINALLY shot the ball with efficiency relative to what we all hoped (43/40/82 splits), but still was only good for 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and half a steal per game. He had a spicy February (16/4/2 on 47/44/83) but kind of didn't add much beyond that. He definitely has the most mitigating factors, from injury, to COVID, to family/psych issues, and he has age on his side. I would be most inclined to retain him among the three... again on that 8-10 per year line.

All of that to say: They should only retain ONE of the three hometown guys, if any. Bringing all three back signals laziness by the FO and an unwillingness to at least try for something better. Giving any of them more than like $10mil per season borders on overpay, and I'd be extremely hesitant to go beyond a 3 year commitment. Of the 3, I think Monk makes the most betting sense moving forward, but I am not sure if the relationship between him and the organization is conducive to him reaching his potential.

[amcoolio]

It is long past time to move on from Cody and Bismack, full stop.


Only way I change my mind is if Zeller is cool with like a 3/24-30 type of deal. 41 guys this year (6'10" or taller) averaged 9/6. He's quickly approaching 30, his hair being closer to 40, and his injuries continue to add up.

Give those minutes to Whomever replaces them and Carey/Richards. Time to move on.

Graham... really hard to say. He took a big step back this year when we were all hoping he'd step up as a nice compliment to Ball with his shooting/passing acumen, especially in a contract year. Already 25 so you wonder how much his efficiency can improve moving forward. If he's comfortable being a long term 6th man on something similar to the aforementioned Zeller 3/24-30 then we can talk.

Same goes for Monk. He FINALLY shot the ball with efficiency relative to what we all hoped (43/40/82 splits), but still was only good for 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and half a steal per game. He had a spicy February (16/4/2 on 47/44/83) but kind of didn't add much beyond that. He definitely has the most mitigating factors, from injury, to COVID, to family/psych issues, and he has age on his side. I would be most inclined to retain him among the three... again on that 8-10 per year line.

All of that to say: They should only retain ONE of the three hometown guys, if any. Bringing all three back signals laziness by the FO and an unwillingness to at least try for something better. Giving any of them more than like $10mil per season borders on overpay, and I'd be extremely hesitant to go beyond a 3 year commitment. Of the 3, I think Monk makes the most betting sense moving forward, but I am not sure if the relationship between him and the organization is conducive to him reaching his potential.

Biyombo should be mentor/Udonis Haslem role

If we give Cody anything above 2/10 I riot

I'll take my chances on Riller in the Graham role TBH

I am very indifferent on Monk, I would bring him back only if he gets less than 10 million a year. He's going to be one of those journeyman types that plays for 10 different teams before he fizzles out IMO. We need bigger catch and shoot guys

[-Ian-]

Hayward said he could help recruit some guys.

Who are the realistic targets aside from Theis?

[Chapelchilla]

I would bring in Holmes or maybe Theis , whomever would sign for 10-15 million a year to start at C
Retain Cody if he will take 3/21 or less or biyombo for vet min or get Zach Collins as the back up C
same with Devonte (3/24 or less) , if he goes , bring in a mid level back up PG
sign and trade Monk or let him walk, I really don't like his game or attitude enough to retain
Draft BPA

[SWedd523]

Hayward said he could help recruit some guys.

Who are the realistic targets aside from Theis?

Check the various injury lists across the league

[BigSlam]

I'll take my chances on Riller in the Graham role TBH

More like:

I'll take my chances on Riller in the Monk role TBH

[Rich4114]

We can improve marginally if we resign our guards and sign legit centers. We can improve exponentially via trade and we have pieces.

This will not be a popular take, but if we could resign Monk and Graham for something modest and make a major front court upgrade by leveraging some combination of Terry/PJ/FRP in a trade would you do it?

The centerpiece of the team is LaMelo and I think Miles has solidified himself right along side of him. We have a solid 2-3 years left of Hayward playing at a high level too. What can we add to that to be in that top 3 seed in the East convo?

We need more size, that’s for sure. And how can you put Miles back on the bench now? If we move on from Terry, I’d start LaMelo/Gordon/Miles at the 1-2-3 spots. PJ if he’s still here goes to stretch 4 since that’s what he clearly is and then someone like Myles Turner or another upgrade at C we could possibly land via trade.

I think if we keep the same group plus swap out centers, we will be better but might not be better than 5/6/7 seed. I’ll certainly take that, but there’s an opportunity to go bigger.