2023-24 Season: Draft, Trades, and FA Ideas Thread V3.0

[Asif16]

I'd be curious how you plan on adding Patrick Williams, Jalen Smith, and Dunn, while keeping Gary and off loading McDaniels and Boucher? (Sign and trade Brown?)

This seems basically impossible to me.

That and not considering the rookies 19 and 31.

Will we not have enough cap space if we offload Brown, Boucher and waive mcdaniels?

I don't think so.

Gary has a big cap hold. Waiving McDaniels does nothing for our available cap space - it's dead money. Boucher would need to be traded into cap space/TPE to not require matching salaries.

Even the I don't think we'd have enough. What contracts do you see these guys getting : Pat, GTJ, Smith and Dunn?

You're right I don't think we can have both Pat and GTJ. Was optimistic from my end

Kris Dunn and Jalen Smith should be fairly cheap to grab, however. BAE type of contracts?

[Thaddy]

Will we not have enough cap space if we offload Brown, Boucher and waive mcdaniels?

I don't think so.

Gary has a big cap hold. Waiving McDaniels does nothing for our available cap space - it's dead money. Boucher would need to be traded into cap space/TPE to not require matching salaries.

Even the I don't think we'd have enough. What contracts do you see these guys getting : Pat, GTJ, Smith and Dunn?

You're right I don't think we can have both Pat and GTJ. Was optimistic from my end

Kris Dunn and Jalen Smith should be fairly cheap to grab, however. BAE type of contracts?

There's no obvious pathway to get PWill here. In fact it's fairly unlikely due to the guards they have (White/Caruso/LaVine/DeRozan). If we give a big offer it might get matched and put our off-season on hold and we would have to renounce our own FAs.

[CazOnReal]

15/5/3 with splits of 44/35/82 and 56 TS for Monk this year. I mean, that's solid, but some people are going way overboard with the Monk hype. He's a solid 6th man type, but if a team pays him like one of their top 3-4 players, they will regret it.

This free agency class is so weak, it baffles me how many "just waive Gary" "Just decline Brown's option" posts people make, acting like there's a ton of options to upgrade the roster or that Trent doesn't provide value to the team.

This is part of why deciding to retool around Scottie this season sucks so much.

The free agents available (that are realistic targets, we're obviously not getting LeBron or Paul George, not even in a sign and trade) suck and many are likely to be overpaid (Hi Monk!). Not that 2023 was amazing, and it's especially unfortunate given this will be the last time we'll have cap space for some time but even then that space is theoretical rather than how much we have standing pat ie Gary's cap hold is some 27 million unless we waive our Bird Rights or extend him prior to free agency. Ditto Brown's option.

The draft class sucks and we should consider our selves lucky if one of the players we end up drafting develops into a second contract player. If both hit then even more so. The Poeltl pick dilution has been discussed to death but it keeps coming up, rightfully at that, because of how it set back the Scottie era. And I say that as someone who really likes the Dick pick. Worse pick last year, bad first this year and we only have one because of the Siakam trade...

...which brings me to the final matter. The team's options to otherwise upgrade the roster suck. I like the Ochai/Olynyk trade since it was good value for a weak PICK in a bad draft but the return on the Siakam trade overall did not help much in terms of restocking the team's asset pool. Yeah, we have our picks under control but we lost a first that could have been used in a trade or to draft a player and the first we do have is a late teens that is literally the worst of a 4-way tiebreaker. The only extra draft capital we will have going forward unless we manage to snag a 2025 first for Brown, Poeltl or via trading out of this draft will be a 2026 Pacers first that will probably end up being mediocre.

It's all about timing, and the timing chosen to retool sucks.

[billy_hoyle]

Will we not have enough cap space if we offload Brown, Boucher and waive mcdaniels?

I don't think so.

Gary has a big cap hold. Waiving McDaniels does nothing for our available cap space - it's dead money. Boucher would need to be traded into cap space/TPE to not require matching salaries.

Even the I don't think we'd have enough. What contracts do you see these guys getting : Pat, GTJ, Smith and Dunn?

You're right I don't think we can have both Pat and GTJ. Was optimistic from my end

Kris Dunn and Jalen Smith should be fairly cheap to grab, however. BAE type of contracts?

I'll guess:

Pat Will gets ~ $20-25m.
Jalen Smith gets ~$13-15m (just over MLE)
He's a 24yr old that put up 10 and 5 on 40% from 3.
Dunn seems like a BAE or Room exception candidate

I think we'd need to get ~$40m under the cap just to grab Pat, Jalen and Dunn.

Maybe you get Jalen with the Room exception, but I think there will be MLE offers.

[islandboy53]

Will we not have enough cap space if we offload Brown, Boucher and waive mcdaniels?

I don't think so.

Gary has a big cap hold. Waiving McDaniels does nothing for our available cap space - it's dead money. Boucher would need to be traded into cap space/TPE to not require matching salaries.

Even the I don't think we'd have enough. What contracts do you see these guys getting : Pat, GTJ, Smith and Dunn?

You're right I don't think we can have both Pat and GTJ. Was optimistic from my end

Kris Dunn and Jalen Smith should be fairly cheap to grab, however. BAE type of contracts?

Smith can get up to about $8.8 million with Indiana, if they want him back. He will almost certainly get better offers than that, so expect at least $10 million. Dunn will be cheaper than that (perhaps $5 million?), but getting both with the NTMLE seems unlikely.

[ArthurVandelay]

15/5/3 with splits of 44/35/82 and 56 TS for Monk this year. I mean, that's solid, but some people are going way overboard with the Monk hype. He's a solid 6th man type, but if a team pays him like one of their top 3-4 players, they will regret it.

This free agency class is so weak, it baffles me how many "just waive Gary" "Just decline Brown's option" posts people make, acting like there's a ton of options to upgrade the roster or that Trent doesn't provide value to the team.

This is part of why deciding to retool around Scottie this season sucks so much.

The free agents available (that are realistic targets, we're obviously not getting LeBron or Paul George, not even in a sign and trade) suck and many are likely to be overpaid (Hi Monk!). Not that 2023 was amazing, and it's especially unfortunate given this will be the last time we'll have cap space for some time but even then that space is theoretical rather than how much we have standing pat ie Gary's cap hold is some 27 million unless we waive our Bird Rights or extend him prior to free agency. Ditto Brown's option.

The draft class sucks and we should consider our selves lucky if one of the players we end up drafting develops into a second contract player. If both hit then even more so. The Poeltl pick dilution has been discussed to death but it keeps coming up, rightfully at that, because of how it set back the Scottie era. And I say that as someone who really likes the Dick pick. Worse pick last year, bad first this year and we only have one because of the Siakam trade...

...which brings me to the final matter. The team's options to otherwise upgrade the roster suck. I like the Ochai/Olynyk trade since it was good value for a weak PICK in a bad draft but the return on the Siakam trade overall did not help much in terms of restocking the team's asset pool. Yeah, we have our picks under control but we lost a first that could have been used in a trade or to draft a player and the first we do have is a late teens that is literally the worst of a 4-way tiebreaker. The only extra draft capital we will have going forward unless we manage to snag a 2025 first for Brown, Poeltl or via trading out of this draft will be a 2026 Pacers first that will probably end up being mediocre.

It's all about timing, and the timing chosen to retool sucks.

Cap space is useful for more than FA.

Could be a great time to have open cap space for trades with new CBA changes fully taking hold, especially when most teams with space are looking to compete.

We’ll see

[Rapsfan07]

I don't think so.

Gary has a big cap hold. Waiving McDaniels does nothing for our available cap space - it's dead money. Boucher would need to be traded into cap space/TPE to not require matching salaries.

Even the I don't think we'd have enough. What contracts do you see these guys getting : Pat, GTJ, Smith and Dunn?

You're right I don't think we can have both Pat and GTJ. Was optimistic from my end

Kris Dunn and Jalen Smith should be fairly cheap to grab, however. BAE type of contracts?

I'll guess:

Pat Will gets ~ $20-25m.
Jalen Smith gets ~$13-15m (just over MLE)
He's a 24yr old that put up 10 and 5 on 40% from 3.
Dunn seems like a BAE or Room exception candidate

I think we'd need to get ~$40m under the cap just to grab Pat, Jalen and Dunn.

Maybe you get Jalen with the Room exception, but I think there will be MLE offers.

Jalen Smith will likely secure an MLE offer and Kris Dunn is a BAE/Room exception candidate. Why I like the idea of adding P-Will, it will either need to be done via a S&T of Trent or it isn't happening at all. At the same time, I don't know why the Bulls would do this

I'm not of the opinion that we HAVE TO bring back Trent but letting him walk for nothing does feel a bit wasteful. I'd said this before but I like him in an S&T for Capela.

As for Brown, he himself probably doesn't net you anything. Given his high salary and what he brings as a player, it is extremely unlikely that a) a contender has that much in excess salary to send out and the impact of all of those players is less than what Brown could provide. So if he does get moved, it will be the salary dump we're compensated for, not the player.

That said, we need a starting wing player. I'm not ready to absorb Wiggins but I do think Hunter could be a decent stopgap, especially if they're going to be sending that SAC 1st rounder.

[CazOnReal]

Cap space is useful for more than FA.

Could be a great time to have open cap space for trades with new CBA changes fully taking hold, especially when most teams with space are looking to compete.

We’ll see

I am aware of that, but to be blunt:

1 - The amount of cap space we can generate to absorb a bad contract is paltry compared to other teams even if we waive Trent/decline Brown's option. Outside of the Blazers, just about every rebuilding/retooling team has significantly more cap space to pull off the Presti model of "collect bad assets, get high draft picks" brand of management. This is before we even factor in how one of those cap teams can blow up any attempts to do so via signing Quickley to an offer sheet that wipes away any cap space we could theoretically.

2 - Frankly there aren't a ton of bad contracts from teams that are willing to/should offload them that would fit within the cap space we could generate outside of De'Andre Hunter or, depending on how you feel about their current contract since the 3rd year is a player option, John Collins. The Wizards shouldn't be giving up assets at this stage of their rebuild to dump Poole, Ben Simmons is expiring next season (though you would probably have to attach something to take on that bad money since he's always injured), ditto Chris Paul who could just be declined by Golden State to save money, Beal has a no-trade clause but even if he didn't, the Suns are thoroughly asset-deprived and while Wiggins is at an all-time low value-wise, the Warriors are likely to keep him if they plan on competing despite their current core being a 10 seed a la that aging Mavericks team that kept running it back and failing to sign/retain the players that got them their most recent ring (ie if they do plan to make a trade, it's going to involve CP3 and Moody or whatever assets they plan to include in a search for depth pieces). Huerter or Harrison are bad but not league-worst and the Kings just did a salary dump in last year's draft albeit with a worse pick in a better draft. I guess there's CJ McCollum? He'd be a better fit here than in NOLA but I have no idea what the Pelicans offseason moves will be beyond moving Ingram (swap Ingram for one of Garland or Murray who are better fits than CJ, but then do you move CJ to the 2 and try to make it work?) and CJ could be used to get another quality player with some 2025 picks attached to it ie deferring the Lakers pick and including the last Bucks pick they have on the books.

The 20-something million the Raptors can have in cap space is not getting the team the assets you think it can.

[ArthurVandelay]

Cap space is useful for more than FA.

Could be a great time to have open cap space for trades with new CBA changes fully taking hold, especially when most teams with space are looking to compete.

We’ll see

I am aware of that, but to be blunt:

1 - The amount of cap space we can generate to absorb a bad contract is paltry compared to other teams even if we waive Trent/decline Brown's option. Outside of the Blazers, just about every rebuilding/retooling team has significantly more cap space to pull off the Presti model of "collect bad assets, get high draft picks" brand of management. This is before we even factor in how one of those cap teams can blow up any attempts to do so via signing Quickley to an offer sheet that wipes away any cap space we could theoretically.

2 - Frankly there aren't a ton of bad contracts from teams that are willing to/should offload them that would fit within the cap space we could generate outside of De'Andre Hunter or, depending on how you feel about their current contract since the 3rd year is a player option. The Wizards shouldn't be giving up assets at this stage of their rebuild to dump Poole, Ben Simmons is expiring next season (though you would probably have to attach something to take on that bad money since he's always injured), ditto Chris Paul who could just be declined by Golden State to save money, Beal has a no-trade clause but even if he didn't, the Suns are thoroughly asset-deprived and while Wiggins is at an all-time low value-wise, the Warriors are likely to keep him if they plan on competing despite their current core being a 10 seed a la that aging Mavericks team that kept running it back and failing to sign/retain the players that got them their most recent ring (ie if they do plan to make a trade, it's going to involve CP3 and Moody or whatever assets they plan to include in a search for depth pieces).

The 20-something million the Raptors can have in cap space is not getting the team the assets you think it can.

To be fair I don’t have a very high bar for the assets possibly obtained.

You’re right, there aren’t that many bad contracts in the league. I made a list in a thread and there weren’t too many and even some of them were questionable to be “bad.” With that said there are teams facing roster construction issues due to new cba and tax.

What team with cap space isn’t trying to get better? Utah, maybe?

[CazOnReal]

Cap space is useful for more than FA.

Could be a great time to have open cap space for trades with new CBA changes fully taking hold, especially when most teams with space are looking to compete.

We’ll see

I am aware of that, but to be blunt:

1 - The amount of cap space we can generate to absorb a bad contract is paltry compared to other teams even if we waive Trent/decline Brown's option. Outside of the Blazers, just about every rebuilding/retooling team has significantly more cap space to pull off the Presti model of "collect bad assets, get high draft picks" brand of management. This is before we even factor in how one of those cap teams can blow up any attempts to do so via signing Quickley to an offer sheet that wipes away any cap space we could theoretically.

2 - Frankly there aren't a ton of bad contracts from teams that are willing to/should offload them that would fit within the cap space we could generate outside of De'Andre Hunter or, depending on how you feel about their current contract since the 3rd year is a player option. The Wizards shouldn't be giving up assets at this stage of their rebuild to dump Poole, Ben Simmons is expiring next season (though you would probably have to attach something to take on that bad money since he's always injured), ditto Chris Paul who could just be declined by Golden State to save money, Beal has a no-trade clause but even if he didn't, the Suns are thoroughly asset-deprived and while Wiggins is at an all-time low value-wise, the Warriors are likely to keep him if they plan on competing despite their current core being a 10 seed a la that aging Mavericks team that kept running it back and failing to sign/retain the players that got them their most recent ring (ie if they do plan to make a trade, it's going to involve CP3 and Moody or whatever assets they plan to include in a search for depth pieces).

The 20-something million the Raptors can have in cap space is not getting the team the assets you think it can.

To be fair I don’t have a very high bar for the assets possibly obtained.

You’re right, there aren’t that many bad contracts in the league. I made a list in a thread and there weren’t too many and even some of them were questionable to be “bad.” With that said there are teams facing roster construction issues due to new cba and tax.

What team with cap space isn’t trying to get better? Utah, maybe?

The Jazz are in a weird spot where they could be getting better if they want to but will probably do what they did the past 2 seasons ie see what they have for the beginning of the season and then do a calculated tank. I also remember them being somewhat expensive of a team in 2023 for a rebuild but I can't remember what their cap situation is in 2024.

I guess the Hornets? Especially with the news about Melody, they might be looking at the NBA basement once again (and hopefully the cra*ppiest pick possible as retribution for bringing back Miles) but I don't know their cap space off the top of my head.

One team I think will be interesting as a salary shedding team is Portland. Just take a peek at their cap next season and you'll see why.

[ArthurVandelay]

I am aware of that, but to be blunt:

1 - The amount of cap space we can generate to absorb a bad contract is paltry compared to other teams even if we waive Trent/decline Brown's option. Outside of the Blazers, just about every rebuilding/retooling team has significantly more cap space to pull off the Presti model of "collect bad assets, get high draft picks" brand of management. This is before we even factor in how one of those cap teams can blow up any attempts to do so via signing Quickley to an offer sheet that wipes away any cap space we could theoretically.

2 - Frankly there aren't a ton of bad contracts from teams that are willing to/should offload them that would fit within the cap space we could generate outside of De'Andre Hunter or, depending on how you feel about their current contract since the 3rd year is a player option. The Wizards shouldn't be giving up assets at this stage of their rebuild to dump Poole, Ben Simmons is expiring next season (though you would probably have to attach something to take on that bad money since he's always injured), ditto Chris Paul who could just be declined by Golden State to save money, Beal has a no-trade clause but even if he didn't, the Suns are thoroughly asset-deprived and while Wiggins is at an all-time low value-wise, the Warriors are likely to keep him if they plan on competing despite their current core being a 10 seed a la that aging Mavericks team that kept running it back and failing to sign/retain the players that got them their most recent ring (ie if they do plan to make a trade, it's going to involve CP3 and Moody or whatever assets they plan to include in a search for depth pieces).

The 20-something million the Raptors can have in cap space is not getting the team the assets you think it can.

To be fair I don’t have a very high bar for the assets possibly obtained.

You’re right, there aren’t that many bad contracts in the league. I made a list in a thread and there weren’t too many and even some of them were questionable to be “bad.” With that said there are teams facing roster construction issues due to new cba and tax.

What team with cap space isn’t trying to get better? Utah, maybe?

The Jazz are in a weird spot where they could be getting better if they want to but will probably do what they did the past 2 seasons ie see what they have for the beginning of the season and then do a calculated tank. I also remember them being somewhat expensive of a team in 2023 for a rebuild but I can't remember what their cap situation is in 2024.

I guess the Hornets? Especially with the news about Melody, they might be looking at the NBA basement once again (and hopefully the cra*ppiest pick possible as retribution for bringing back Miles) but I don't know their cap space off the top of my head.

One team I think will be interesting as a salary shedding team is Portland. Just take a peek at their cap next season and you'll see why.

I think the hornets with new ownership, management and coach will be striving to get out of the basement. If Melo and Williams stays healthy they gave a shot. They won’t be playoffs or anything but 30 wins is possible.

Charlotte essentially has no cap space

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/charlotte-hornets/cap/_/year/2024

[SpezNc]

Should we offer sheet Achiuwa ?

I am partially serious, mostly kidding.

[CazOnReal]

Should we offer sheet Achiuwa ?

I am partially serious, mostly kidding.

I genuinely have no idea what Achiuwa's market is like. He's so...inconsistent.

Honestly i'm really unsure of what him, and the other forward RFAs will get. Patrick Williams and Isaac Okoro are in a weird spot though Okoro is on the up after finally getting his shooting to click while still playing good defense.

Both the Cavaliers and Bulls are at or over the tax apron so i'm curious if one of the cap teams like the Spurs, Magic, etc. will go after him or if a sign and trade is on the table.

I think the hornets with new ownership, management and coach will be striving to get out of the basement. If Melo and Williams stays healthy they gave a shot. They won’t be playoffs or anything but 30 wins is possible.

Charlotte essentially has no cap space

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/charlotte-hornets/cap/_/year/2024

I would have more confidence in agreeing with you if not for the recent lawsuit LaMelo got hit with and the NBA potentially stepping in with a suspension a la them doing the same to his sh*thead abuser teammate Miles Bridges or the stupid offcourt gun-toting Ja was doing that more or less killed the Grizzlies season via that suspension.

[billy_hoyle]

I like the Cs and PGs available at 19.
Can we use Bruce to move from 31 into the top 20 without taking on any salary?

We'd guarantee ourselves a decent C and PG prospect.
Edey/Filipowski/Ware
Collier/McCain/Carter

We can then use our cap space to bring in a young-ish wing (OG, Pat Williams, Saddiq Bey, Miles Bridges or even GTJ).

[SpezNc]

Should we offer sheet Achiuwa ?

I am partially serious, mostly kidding.

I genuinely have no idea what Achiuwa's market is like. He's so...inconsistent.

Honestly i'm really unsure of what him, and the other forward RFAs will get. Patrick Williams and Isaac Okoro are in a weird spot though Okoro is on the up after finally getting his shooting to click while still playing good defense.

Agree . Also NYK is certain to prioritize O.G. Not going to be cheap. I wonder what will be left for Achiuwa.

I have no idea what Achiuwa is worth either .

[TGM]

Smith, Melton are two FAs that fit us quite well. Re-upping Trent is not a bad thing either if we are looking at 12-15 mio range.

Only thing we need to be careful with is we don't ended up being a tax team, by having like 5-6 guys with salaries in the 15-20 million range.

If IQ, Barrett and Barnes are the core that is going to be like 90 million a season. We probably need another star next to Barnes either a C or a SF. The star piece needs to be an alpha scorer cause don't see the 3 above really ever filling that role.

[Asif16]

I think Patrick Williams is a perfect fit to the core we have now. If it comes to choosing between Patrick Williams or Gary trent, I would go for Pat Williams. He's only 22yrs old.

Chicago still has to re-sign derozan. We can offer Pat Williams a decent contract that will put chicago on a bind

Bleacherreport predicted us signing Pat Williams to an offer-sheet

[Morris_Shatford]

Should we offer sheet Achiuwa ?

I am partially serious, mostly kidding.

He is intriguing on paper and he is 24.
I could see a team (not us) tossing the full MLE at him daring the Knicks to match or I could also see him taking his QO due to lack of offers.

His market this summer will be interesting or not.

[Morris_Shatford]

I think Patrick Williams is a perfect fit to the core we have now. If it comes to choosing between Patrick Williams or Gary trent, I would go for Pat Williams. He's only 22yrs old.

Chicago still has to re-sign derozan. We can offer Pat Williams a decent contract that will put chicago on a bind

Bleacherreport predicted us signing Pat Williams to an offer-sheet

He is one of those guys that makes absolutely perfect sense in the summer;
If you get his first or third season health wise I think he is a perfect fit with the BBQ Dick core, but if you get seasons two or four health wise it becomes pretty rough pretty quick. I would risk it if we felt the Bulls wouldnt match.

[Morris_Shatford]

Re-upping Trent is not a bad thing either if we are looking at 12-15 mil range.

If GTJ's market really ends up being in and around the MLE ($12,859,000) or slightly above, I would keep him in a heartbeat even if he insisted on a 2 +1 deal so he could be a UFA at 27 again.

My concern is some team is going to overpay for the guy he was not the guy he is now.