Post#31 » by nate33 » Mon Dec 11, 2023 2:43 pm
Just thinking about how the team could be so much better with just a few tweaks to how last offseason was handled:
First of all, what if Porzingis was resigned to a deal similar to what he signed in Boston, but with an extra year (since we'd have to pay a premium as a bad team) and with a descending structure? So instead of two years at $29.2M and $30.7M respectively, it was 3 years at $34M, $30M and $26M respectively (plus this season when he is paid the last of his previous contract at $36M). This would also mean that we would not have traded for Tyus Jones, Gallo and Muscala.
Secondly, what if we refrained from making the Paul for Poole trade, and instead, traded Paul to some team for an expiring contract and a protected 1st. I figure Miami would have been game: Paul for Lowry and their lotto protected 2028 1st. We then waive Lowry.
Finally, I think that Beal trade could have been done without including Jordan Goodwin.
Without Rollins and PBJ taking up roster spots, we could have grabbed Garuba when he was available:
Our rotation would be:
PG Wright/Goodwin/Butler
SG Shamet/Kispert/
SF Avdija/Coulibaly/Omoruyi
PF Kuzma/Avdija/Gill
C Porzingis/Gafford/Garuba
That's a much better team with Porzingis - still not a winning team or anything since there is no dynamic guard play, but we'd be 7-14 instead of 3-18 - still firmly in the lottery, but not demoralized. Furthermore, Avdija and Coulibaly are still in the same role with the same minutes so they would have developed the same, but we would also have another extremely good asset (Porzinigis) locked up to a descending contract that expires in Summer 2027 alongside Kuzma's, not to mention Goodwin. And Omoruyi would get a bit more regular playing time with Kispert having to play more SG minutes in the absence of Poole.
I still think the team might finish in the bottom 4 in the standings with some judicious "rest" of Porzingis in the second half of the season, but even if they finished 5th or 6th from last, it's not like this draft has a clear #1.
In the long term, our salary situation would be quite similar, except with borderline-All-Star Porzingis in place of worst-player-in-the-league Poole at roughly the same salary. And instead of the protected 2030 Golden State pick (which gets extinguished if it doesn't convey), we would get the 2028 lotto protected Miami pick.
We also would have had a roster spot and the MLE to throw at any interesting young shooting guard prospect that came across our radar during the offseason. Also, we would still have had a $9.8M Trade Exception from the Monte Morris trade, but no longer would have the $12.3M TPE from the Porzinigis trade.