General Free Agency

[evildallas]

Original Thread Name: Bargain shopping

I hijacked this thread to make it a general free agency thread and the first two pages are related to "bargain shopping, so feel free to discuss everything free agency. HMFFL

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While it is easy to point at big name players like Chris Paul, Amare, Lebron, Bosh, etc. and say wouldn't it be great to get these guys, the salary cap doesn't make that easy to accomplish. This is RealGM and I hope for a greater understanding of the nature of the beast. As such I wish to put forth a challenge to other Hawks fans. Who have you seen around the league that you think might be an affordable addition to the squad (like Matt Barnes was for Orlando)? I'm thinking bargains and people ready for bigger roles.

I'll start this off with:
Wesley Matthews, SG, Utah. 6'5" 220. He's a restricted free agent for a financially strapped franchise. He had some good outings in the playoffs especially game 6 against Denver. He played 24.7 mpg as a rookie. He shoots 38% from 3 pt range and has shown the ability to get to the line at times. I see him as a good bang for the buck player that has good potential to blossom into a key contributor.

Who's caught your eye?

[geeman]

Shaun Livingston 6-7 Weight: 185
This guy is if healthy could be the answer and we could get him for a mid level for 2 year deal. If we cannot get a Devin Harris, Shaun along with Jeff Teague maybe an upgrade over Bibby.

[ATL DirtyBird]

Shaun Livingston 6-7 Weight: 185
This guy is if healthy could be the answer and we could get him for a mid level for 2 year deal. If we cannot get a Devin Harris, Shaun along with Jeff Teague maybe an upgrade over Bibby.

You are so high on Livingston for some reason. I like him, but he is not the answer.

[td00]

Perhaps if JJ is going to be out of this lineup, perhaps a Mike Miller might be able to team up with Crawford?

I like Miller, who has good size, but has never found a role. He could be a good pickup for us with his expiring contract this year.

[HMFFL]

Matt Barnes: I read Orlando is working on a longterm extension. Matt has done some good work over the years and he deserves to get paid. I think he has finally found a home in Orlando. Stealing a Orlando starter from them would be nice, but they have Mickael Pietrus who can easily replace him.

Wesley Matthews: Only accepting starting 2 guard positions.

Ian Mahinmi: A big man who still needs time to develop.

Earl Barron: Someone has to rebound, but Early averaged 11/11 during the seven games he started with New York this season, and he told New York he intends to look over his options.

[evildallas]

Shaun Livingston 6-7 Weight: 185
This guy is if healthy could be the answer and we could get him for a mid level for 2 year deal. If we cannot get a Devin Harris, Shaun along with Jeff Teague maybe an upgrade over Bibby.

I like Shaun Livingston because of his court vision and passing, but when I look around the league at what works as the rules are currently called and I keep seeing speed and quickness. I worry that with all his injuries that he is neither fast nor able to stay in front of a fast guard.

[evildallas]

Matt Barnes: I read Orlando is working on a longterm extension. Matt has done some good work over the years and he deserves to get paid. I think he has finally found a home in Orlando. Stealing a Orlando starter from them would be nice, but they have Mickael Pietrus who can easily replace him.

Wesley Matthews: Only accepting starting 2 guard positions.

Ian Mahinmi: A big man who still needs time to develop.

Earl Barron: Someone has to rebound, but Early averaged 11/11 during the seven games he started with New York this season, and he told New York he intends to look over his options.

Good list. I've wanted Barnes for years and have been disappointed when I see how cheaply he's been signed to other clubs (Min. in Phoenix and less than the full BAE in Orlando). He's the perfect starting discount wing for a team with a good PG. He can hit the open 3 and gets nasty on D. He brings everything Childress would bring at probably half the asking price even after his exposure in Orlando.

I admit to not knowing much about Mihinmi other than he's in the Spurs org. Barron I will research a bit.

[evildallas]

Perhaps if JJ is going to be out of this lineup, perhaps a Mike Miller might be able to team up with Crawford?

I like Miller, who has good size, but has never found a role. He could be a good pickup for us with his expiring contract this year.

What do you think Miller will command as a free agent this year? He's due a pay cut, but I don't have a feel for how many suitors he'd have.

[HMFFL]

Tony Allen should be added to this thread.

He won't put us on his back on offense, but our backcourt could use his defense.

[Harry10]

Flip Murry - we all know what he can bring when given a role

Damien Wilkins - has shown flashes of brilliance when playing the Hawks

Al Harrington - failed starter, still a great bench guy at the right price.

Roger Mason - fits the Hawks system, super athletic and great 3pt shooter.

Javaris Crittenton - home town guy that hopefully has enough PG skills to help the team.

Mike Miller, Josh Howard, Randy Foye - not sure if they will be a bargains

[td00]

Perhaps if JJ is going to be out of this lineup, perhaps a Mike Miller might be able to team up with Crawford?

I like Miller, who has good size, but has never found a role. He could be a good pickup for us with his expiring contract this year.

What do you think Miller will command as a free agent this year? He's due a pay cut, but I don't have a feel for how many suitors he'd have.

Evil, I find it hard that Miller would get better than a MLE at this point. My thought here was that he could fill the bench slot that Evans had and back up Marvin and Crawford. I still think he has some good years in front of him and wouldn't bog down the salary cap.

Harry, the only guy I like on your list is Roger Mason should we not be able to get Miller to agree on a deal.

I think it depends on who our coach is as well. A coach who will get these guys to play hard for 48 minutes instead of taking possessions off, which we have seen so much this year.

[evildallas]

Going up to the full MLE for Miller doesn't strike me as a bargain. Without renouncing the MLE is all we have to play with and giving the lion's share of that to Miller seems like a bad investment to me. I like Miller at vet minimum or maybe as much as the BAE level, but I don't think he adds enough to the team by himself to be the only offseason expenditure.

I agree with Roger Mason being interesting especially considering that since he fell out of the rotation in San Antonio he may be under the radar. I could not be convinced to bring Harrington back to Atlanta, nor could I agree with bringing Crittenton into this locker room. I just don't think we can afford him being a potential knucklehead.

[geeman]

Kelenna Azubuike 6-5 220
Good size - plays good defense and plays a lot big the is size. would be a solid 2 to start with Crawford for the bench

[D21]

Flip Murry - we all know what he can bring when given a role

He will certainly prefer CHA (they should prefer Murray than Hughes in impact/money ratio) than ATL.
He already told it too.

[Harry10]

..... oh yeah, how about Kwame..... he could be next year's Jason Collins

[azuresou1]

Kwame actually plays great post defense. It's just that every other part of his game sucks something fierce.

[HMFFL]

Wesley Matthews' unique free-agent situation

The exception that allows the Jazz to re-sign a free agent like Matthews who has not yet qualified for Bird rights would offer him a salary of $914,538 for next season - - not exactly starting shooting guard money in today’s NBA.

So the Jazz likely have to look to two other exceptions when it comes to re-signing Matthews. Most likely, they will have to use all or most of their midlevel exception, which was worth $5.854 million last season.

The Jazz could sign Matthews to a five-year deal worth as much $34 million should they offer their full midlevel exception over the maximum number of years. But the Jazz aren’t going to be able to offer more than that.

(It's also worth noting that because they’re likely going to have to use all or most of their midlevel to re-sign Matthews, the Jazz won’t have the full exception at their disposal to go spending on another free agent should Boozer sign elsewhere this summer.)

There’s another exception - - the bi-annual exception - - that the Jazz could use in re-signing Matthews. That calls for a salary of $2.08 million next season as part of a two-year, $4.3 million deal. The midlevel exception, though, offers a bigger and better deal.

[evildallas]

^^^ I knew all this when I initially suggested him. Any offer over 4M a year is going to put Utah in a vise financially. Another guy who might merit a close to the MLE offer is JJ Redick. Orlando wants to retain him and if they do I'd like it to cost them. They aren't restricted to the MLE, but if they matched an offer he'd cost them double in tax. Ray Allen is in a similar boat in Boston. They'll want to resign him at a discount, but any offer is likely to result in more luxury tax.

[niffoc4]

^^^ I knew all this when I initially suggested him. Any offer over 4M a year is going to put Utah in a vise financially. Another guy who might merit a close to the MLE offer is JJ Redick. Orlando wants to retain him and if they do I'd like it to cost them. They aren't restricted to the MLE, but if they matched an offer he'd cost them double in tax. Ray Allen is in a similar boat in Boston. They'll want to resign him at a discount, but any offer is likely to result in more luxury tax.

My concern with signing Matthews to a deal like that is that if we get him and he turns into a Marquis Daniels (one-year wonder...)

[evildallas]

^^^ There are risks when trying to get a bargain, but I feel better about what Wesley Matthews brings to the floor as an all-around player than some of the guys I see getting those most of the MLE deals (Matt Carroll, Jason Kapono, etc.). Those guys are 1 trick ponies who've seemed to regressed in overall game.

Another bargain target in a similar situation to Matthews is Anthony Morrow. A write-up on the free agency situation of Anthony Morrow.