The 2013 NBA Free Agency Thread

[Rafael122]

Asked Nivek but I need some clarification...can you use the bi-annual exception, mid-level exception and the vet minimum all in the same offseason?

If so...I'd bring back Temple on the vet minimum.

Nate played for less than $1 million. I'd give him the bi-annual exception, possibly on a two year deal.

That leaves Webster, it sounds like the team wants him back but my thing is, at what price. I wouldn't give him the entire mid-level exception and if we did bring him back, hopefully it's on a 3 year deal. I'm on the fence. We would be absolutely stacked though, I feel, and the bench would be pretty solid.

I'll go with Webster at 3 years, starting salary at $3 million with 4.5% increases per year...that rounds to about $10 million over 3 years.

Then use the remaining $2.1 million on Copeland. Maybe a 3 yr deal at about $7 or $8 million.

PG - Wall/Robinson
SG - Beal/Rice Jr/Temple
SF - Ariza/Webster/Porter
PF - Nene/Copeland/Singleton/Vesely/Booker
C - Okafor/Seraphin

I'm throwing stuff at the wall at this point. That's 5 power forwards. A trade would have to be in the works to balance the roster.

I think the second string lineup would be Robinson/Webster/Porter/Copeland/Seraphin, or if they want to play small: Robinson/Rice/Webster/Porter/Seraphin.

I think your reaching a little to far there. We aren't adding a PF this year.
Otto is not your 3rd SF and they aren't going to stick Ves 4 deep on the bench by adding another player.
And you have Trevor A starting at SF ? And Trevor A/Webster and Otto splitting 48 mins ? I doubt it.

You are getting ahead of yourself by trying to go all in. They are not at an all in phase. Thats next year at the soonest. This is a make the playoffs and evaluate Otto, Ves and Kevin phase.

This is a year that Ves and Kevin S get to prove themselves once and for all. You might not like it, but they are going to leave PF open enough for one of them to win back up PF.

I doubt Ves is slotted behind Singleton. They have plenty of players his size to play PF if needed. Actually I think Singleton is the in active player.

Well I slotted people based off starters, and then guys that I remember being on the team, so this isn't a depth chart in as much as it is just who we have on the roster.

And I disagree with my idea being all in. Webster/Copeland/Robinson/Temple would probably make a combined $8 million in the first year. They are short deals, for a decent amount of money, and it doesn't limit us financially in the upcoming years.

I don't see Okafor, Ariza, Singleton, and Booker coming back next season. You got to replace those players somehow.

[rockymac52]

Players I'd inquire on: Udrih, Splitter, Francisco Garcia, Nick Young, Redick, Wilcox. Then look to dump a Forward. But I also would have sent two 2nds for Thomas Robinson; easily higher floor/higher ceiling than our current bench bigs.

So you think you can get T Rob for 2 seconds ?

Yoo. Pass that over here. You have been smoking to much.

Hey, maybe they get that desperate, but it wasn't on draft day. They are going to wait until Howard makes a decision before they do a fire sale.

Heh. Guess you didn't see the news yet. TRob has officially been traded to the Blazers for 2 future 2nd rounders, as well as the draft rights to 2 Euro (apologies if South American or something) prospects, although I don't think either of them are highly regarded (again could be wrong).

My guess is that the Blazers 2nd rounders are worth slightly more than ours, based on our expected position in the standings being slightly better than theirs. And the 2 Euro prospects can't hurt, even if they're unlikely to ever make it to the NBA, that's still worth having and taking a chance on than nothing. Doubt we could have beat that offer unless we included a future 1st, which would not be worth it. Too bad.

[rockymac52]

Yes, we can use the MLE, BAE, and as many vet. min. contracts as we want this year. There's never any limitation to vet. min. contracts.

However, we're not getting Nate Robinson for a $2 million starting salary. Yes, he signed for less than $1 last season, but his value has since increased, and that was with the knowledge that DRose was going to be out for most of the year at the very least, and therefore Rose would be starting and getting a lot of minutes. It was a 1 year deal and an opportunity to showcase himself while playing for a contender.

We aren't as much of a contender yet, although we're getting close. But more importantly, we just don't have the minutes to give to him as long as Wall and Beal are healthy. Wall will probably play about 36 MPG, leaving only 12 MPG at backup PG. That's not enough for Nate, unless he's getting paid the full MLE or more. Even if he got some additional minutes in a Wall/Nate lineup, allowing Nate to defend the PG and be SG on offense, they'd be limited as well, and unless you want to give ALL of the backup PG and SG minutes to Nate, then it's unlikely to be enough to interest him. Not to mention that our draft picks and likely re-signing of Webster pretty much solidify our regular SG/SF rotation.

If he wanted to play for $2 million or less and be a backup PG, he could go to plenty of contenders before he would come here. We'd be far down on his list.

[bjack18]

I see Houston is trying to trade Asik and Len, I like Asik as a glass-eating defensive-minded center but not at the 15mil he's owed the year after next, as far as Len, no thanks. Hopefully we keep Webster and sign Robinson...not sure Udrih, Maynor or Lucas can start if Wall goes down for a significant time...Calderon would be nice too however he's defense is a liability...

[hands11]

Asked Nivek but I need some clarification...can you use the bi-annual exception, mid-level exception and the vet minimum all in the same offseason?

If so...I'd bring back Temple on the vet minimum.

Nate played for less than $1 million. I'd give him the bi-annual exception, possibly on a two year deal.

That leaves Webster, it sounds like the team wants him back but my thing is, at what price. I wouldn't give him the entire mid-level exception and if we did bring him back, hopefully it's on a 3 year deal. I'm on the fence. We would be absolutely stacked though, I feel, and the bench would be pretty solid.

I'll go with Webster at 3 years, starting salary at $3 million with 4.5% increases per year...that rounds to about $10 million over 3 years.

Then use the remaining $2.1 million on Copeland. Maybe a 3 yr deal at about $7 or $8 million.

PG - Wall/Robinson
SG - Beal/Rice Jr/Temple
SF - Ariza/Webster/Porter
PF - Nene/Copeland/Singleton/Vesely/Booker
C - Okafor/Seraphin

I'm throwing stuff at the wall at this point. That's 5 power forwards. A trade would have to be in the works to balance the roster.

I think the second string lineup would be Robinson/Webster/Porter/Copeland/Seraphin, or if they want to play small: Robinson/Rice/Webster/Porter/Seraphin.

I think your reaching a little to far there. We aren't adding a PF this year.
Otto is not your 3rd SF and they aren't going to stick Ves 4 deep on the bench by adding another player.
And you have Trevor A starting at SF ? And Trevor A/Webster and Otto splitting 48 mins ? I doubt it.

You are getting ahead of yourself by trying to go all in. They are not at an all in phase. Thats next year at the soonest. This is a make the playoffs and evaluate Otto, Ves and Kevin phase.

This is a year that Ves and Kevin S get to prove themselves once and for all. You might not like it, but they are going to leave PF open enough for one of them to win back up PF.

I doubt Ves is slotted behind Singleton. They have plenty of players his size to play PF if needed. Actually I think Singleton is the in active player.

Well I slotted people based off starters, and then guys that I remember being on the team, so this isn't a depth chart in as much as it is just who we have on the roster.

And I disagree with my idea being all in. Webster/Copeland/Robinson/Temple would probably make a combined $8 million in the first year. They are short deals, for a decent amount of money, and it doesn't limit us financially in the upcoming years.

I don't see Okafor, Ariza, Singleton, and Booker coming back next season. You got to replace those players somehow.

True, but next year is next year. Lots can happen between now and then.

By all in, I meant trading Kevin and or Ves right now. I don't think they are ready to cash them out just yet. They aren't locker room problems and both have upside on their value still. They paid to much in pick, salary and time to sell Ves at his bottom and Kevin actually started to play with more power to end the year. And Kevin has improved every year. I know some think last year was a down year for him but he did learn to handled double teams better by passing out of them, and he did start to play with more power later in the year. And he put in work already with Wittman this summer. And they are both still only 23.

It was a tough year for Ves, Kevin and Singleton because the team transitioned from joke to some structure with legit vets. I think they get the program now.

Maybe they do make a move. But I wouldn't be shocked at all if they didn't

[hands11]

Players I'd inquire on: Udrih, Splitter, Francisco Garcia, Nick Young, Redick, Wilcox. Then look to dump a Forward. But I also would have sent two 2nds for Thomas Robinson; easily higher floor/higher ceiling than our current bench bigs.

So you think you can get T Rob for 2 seconds ?

Yoo. Pass that over here. You have been smoking to much.

Hey, maybe they get that desperate, but it wasn't on draft day. They are going to wait until Howard makes a decision before they do a fire sale.

Heh. Guess you didn't see the news yet. TRob has officially been traded to the Blazers for 2 future 2nd rounders, as well as the draft rights to 2 Euro (apologies if South American or something) prospects, although I don't think either of them are highly regarded (again could be wrong).

My guess is that the Blazers 2nd rounders are worth slightly more than ours, based on our expected position in the standings being slightly better than theirs. And the 2 Euro prospects can't hurt, even if they're unlikely to ever make it to the NBA, that's still worth having and taking a chance on than nothing. Doubt we could have beat that offer unless we included a future 1st, which would not be worth it. Too bad.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-o ... aring-move



http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Kos ... laou-6147/

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Mar ... ovic-6414/

I forgot the trade talks start in 2 hrs. Guess it was time to move.

[rockymac52]

New thought I just had on Martell Webster and his free agency:

If it wasn't already set in stone that we were going to re-sign him with the majority of the MLE, I think the lack of interest from other teams will only improve our chances.

One of the very few scenarios where we wouldn't be able to re-sign Webster, assuming we wanted to (and it's pretty clear we do at this point), is if we were only willing to offer him $2-3 million a year and other teams were offering him $5 million a year or more. Personally I always thought that was doubtful, because even in the most positive light, Webster's game just doesn't typically warrant that big of a salary.

If you look at all 30 teams, yes, Webster is the type of role player that pretty much all 30 teams would like to have. However, as a 3 point specialist, he's got some pretty good competition on the current market with Redick, Korver, Wright, Morrow, and Dunleavy, off the top of my head. Redick and Korver are probably preferred over Webster at the moment. So any team that wanted to sign that type of player would probably try to sign Redick and Korver first.

Furthermore, since there are plenty of very good free agents available this summer, and plenty of teams with the cap space needed to sign them, those guys are obviously going to be the priority. It starts with Paul and Howard, of course. Then once they sign, teams that missed out on them will shift their focus to the next best thing. That's where the likes of Bynum, Smith, Jefferson, Millsap, Pekovic, Iguodala, Mayo, Jennings, Ellis, and whoever first in that category that I probably forgot come into play. Then once those guys sign is when teams shift their focus to the role players. So any team that's going after these big names is going to miss out on negotiating with the Websters and the Redicks, because they probably aren't interested in waiting around for those top guys to sign, because then they're risking teams running out of money and being forced to sign a small 1 year deal, which they don't want.

Therefore, the only other suitors for Webster are going to be teams that are limited to the MLE for their offseason free agent additions. These next 10 days are the moratorium, which is basically a negotiating period where no one can officially sign any free agents. It appears the Wizards will be meeting with Webster on day one, with him as their main priority. But what other teams are even going to bother reaching out to Webster in those first 10 days, when there are so many other better players available who take priority over him? And if there are any teams that would, how many of them are going to be offering Webster MORE than us? I suspect 0. Teams will want to focus on another MLE caliber free agent who is better than Webster, like Redick or Jack. We'll likely be the only team speaking with Webster and committing to him as our priority.

After being passed over by just about everybody last offseason, Webster is going to want to sign a multi-year deal for a reasonable amount of money as soon as possible, to avoid falling into that same dilemma again. He'd rather sign a 3 year deal with $3 million per year with us the first week of free agency, than try and play the waiting game and hope that some teams miss out on their primary targets and then decide to offer Webster a deal even bigger than ours. He wants security, and the fact that it's on a team he knows he likes and has a relatively big role on (for his skill level) leads me to believe he'll jump on our offer. I highly suspect it's a 1 man race for Webster at this point, which is why playing hardball with him (somewhat) and limiting our offer to $3 million a year is our best move. Don't be too hard with him, because we don't want to insult him and piss him off, but just be realistic. If by some grace of God we can manage to sign him for a starting salary of $2.1 for 2 years, that'd be awesome. But I think we should be looking at a 3 year deal for $9-10 million. That will undoubtedly get it done, IMO. And I expect Webster to sign with us for that sized deal on the first day he's eligible to (July 11th??), possibly even announcing his commitment to us before then (if that's allowed).

[rockymac52]

I see Houston is trying to trade Asik and Len, I like Asik as a glass-eating defensive-minded center but not at the 15mil he's owed the year after next, as far as Len, no thanks. Hopefully we keep Webster and sign Robinson...not sure Udrih, Maynor or Lucas can start if Wall goes down for a significant time...Calderon would be nice too however he's defense is a liability...

Agreed on not being interested in Lin. As for Asik, I've always been a big fan, and I'm definitely interested. Also, he's not owed $15 million the year after next as you suggested. That was going to be his salary that year IF the Bulls matched Houston's offer sheet, since the CBA allowed them to only pay the MLE for the first two years of his contract, putting the remaining dollars on the third year. But since he signed with Houston, his $24 million or so are spread out pretty much evenly across the 3 seasons, making about $8 million this coming season and the season after that. That's a pretty reasonable contract for a guy like him, maybe sliiiightly on the high side, but pretty fair considering the going rate for good centers these days.

The big concern with adding Asik is that we'd be committed to paying him $8 million next season, which eats a big chunk of our expected cap space. By my calculations, from what I can recall off the top of my head, I think we are in line to have about $20-22 million in cap space next summer if we let Ariza, Okafor, Booker, Vesely, Singleton, and Seraphin walk. That's enough to sign even the elite veterans like LeBron or Melo to a full max contract. If we add Asik and his $8 million, then we'd only have $12-14 million in cap space after letting all of those guys go. That's still a pretty big amount, and could potentially be enough to sign a young player to a max deal (they start at $13.7 million), or at least a very good player, but it's just a little bit less flexibility. Personally I think I'd be willing to add Asik and accept that decrease in cap space, but I'm not 100% sold on that yet either.

Houston seems like they're at least pretending that they'd be willing to keep Asik, even if they sign Howard. I think that's just good asset management, because there's no way either of those guys are playing PF at this point in their careers, and Howard is going to get at least 35 MPG, leaving only 13 MPG at most for Asik. He played similarly low minutes for the Bulls, but clearly he deserves a lot more.

The question is what would we give up for Asik? Ariza's salary fits perfectly with Asik's, and he also fits one of their weaker positions (Parsons would start, I assume, unless he's gonna be their 4). However, my concern is how the Rockets feel about Ariza these days, after they already had him once before, and correct me if I'm wrong, but he had his worst years there (because they put him in too big of a role, trying to make him something that he wasn't, so honestly it was their fault, but they may not recall it being that way). Have they completely soured on him after that, or would they welcome him back in a reduced role? Houston's management is very savvy, so I expect they'd drive a hard bargain, and would find a way to acquire a future 1st round pick from us, which might make this trade a no-go from our standpoint.

[mhd]

Ves shouldn't ever play for us. Trevor Booker is a better player in every phase of the game. He's not scared out there. Booker & Ariza can split the backup PF minutes. I'd rather go small ball than have Ves get any PT. Seraphin is a different story as he's at least a good defender in terms of man-to-man defense.

[truwizfan4evr]

Asked Nivek but I need some clarification...can you use the bi-annual exception, mid-level exception and the vet minimum all in the same offseason?

If so...I'd bring back Temple on the vet minimum.

Nate played for less than $1 million. I'd give him the bi-annual exception, possibly on a two year deal.

That leaves Webster, it sounds like the team wants him back but my thing is, at what price. I wouldn't give him the entire mid-level exception and if we did bring him back, hopefully it's on a 3 year deal. I'm on the fence. We would be absolutely stacked though, I feel, and the bench would be pretty solid.

I'll go with Webster at 3 years, starting salary at $3 million with 4.5% increases per year...that rounds to about $10 million over 3 years.

Then use the remaining $2.1 million on Copeland. Maybe a 3 yr deal at about $7 or $8 million.

PG - Wall/Robinson
SG - Beal/Rice Jr/Temple
SF - Ariza/Webster/Porter
PF - Nene/Copeland/Singleton/Vesely/Booker
C - Okafor/Seraphin

I'm throwing stuff at the wall at this point. That's 5 power forwards. A trade would have to be in the works to balance the roster.

I think the second string lineup would be Robinson/Webster/Porter/Copeland/Seraphin, or if they want to play small: Robinson/Rice/Webster/Porter/Seraphin.

I love your idea!

[Deeptu McPullup]

Well, there's a whole Pittsnoggle of reports on twitter about who all's going after who.

Supposedly the Pelicant's are going to make Tyreke Evans hollah and the Carolina Hornedbobs are after Al Jefferson.

It's too many to follow.

[hands11]

A Okafor for Omer Asik deal if Houston gets Howard could be interesting.

Asik is just 26 and just coming on. Getting stronger. Legit 7-0 center.

Maybe we need to get into the trade game this year while the getting is good.

PG - Wall/??
SG - Beal/Webster/Rice Jr/Temple
SF - Webster/Porter/Singleton
PF - Nene/Trevor A/Porter/Booker
C - Asik/Seraphin/Vesely

Price or one of the FA PGs like Beno

Question is, would then them turn around and trade Asik and Trevor A for Pau Gasol ?

PG - Wall/??
SG - Beal/Webster/Rice Jr/Temple
SF - Webster/Porter/Singleton
PF - Pau Gasol/Porter/Booker
C - Nene/Seraphin/Vesely

Plus Beno ?

[80sballboy]

Ves shouldn't ever play for us. Trevor Booker is a better player in every phase of the game. He's not scared out there. Booker & Ariza can split the backup PF minutes. I'd rather go small ball than have Ves get any PT. Seraphin is a different story as he's at least a good defender in terms of man-to-man defense.

That would be great if Booker could play more than half the season. Seraphin needs work on every facet of the game, but there is something there that could turn out to be something more than a scrub. I also wish we were able to develop big men.

[FAH1223]

Hands, why would Houston want Okafor? Sure, he is expiring but they don't want another Center. They'd want something like this:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/InsiderJayNBA/status/351559617496629249[/tweet]

[verbal8]

Collison would be a great pick up and upgrade over Price -- if the price is right I'd love to have him.

Collison would probably be one of the few back-up PGs that would be worth losing Webster to acquire. If there was a way to get both by splitting the MLE, that would be even better.

Collison is a relatively young solid player who can play along side either of the starting guards.

[rockymac52]

Collison would be a great pick up and upgrade over Price -- if the price is right I'd love to have him.

Collison would probably be one of the few back-up PGs that would be worth losing Webster to acquire. If there was a way to get both by splitting the MLE, that would be even better.

Collison is a relatively young solid player who can play along side either of the starting guards.

I'd be open to splitting the MLE between Collison and Webster if that was possible, but no chance I'd want to lose Webster in order to sign Collison. Collison is barely an upgrade over AJ Price when you look at the stats. And I'm not sure Collison would be willing to accept the big downgrade in minutes he'd get here, as he's been averaging 30 MPG for his career. I also don't know where he'd get the minutes, other than 12 or so at backup PG behind Wall, unless we wanted him to play off the ball with Wall at PG. But Collison didn't log a single minute at SG this past season, and he's only 6 feet tall, and doesn't have a very good 3 point shot, so I don't see that happening.

Collison got benched for Mike James this season. Yes, that same Mike James that was terrible and old when he was on the Wizards several years ago. That's about as big of a red flag as you could possibly get. If he wants to sign for $2 million or less, then I'd be open to taking him instead of Price, but otherwise, see ya later.

[rockymac52]

Sources continue to report that Kyle Korver to Brooklyn is a done deal. Brooklyn only has the taxpayer's MLE, which starts at $3.2 million. So if Korver signs with Brooklyn for the full taxpayer's MLE for 2-3 years, that's actually a really good value for them and I'm a little jealous. However, the good news, IMO, is that it sets the bar for what a 3&D SF is worth in this market. While Korver is 32 and that decreases his value a bit, he's also an even better 3 point shooter than Webster, and is probably a little bit better on defense as well. I think Korver could get the full MLE from another team if he wanted to follow the money, but it appears he's content with a slight discount (good for him). Now, before this, I didn't think Webster would get the full MLE from anybody, and expected him to get more in the range of $3-4 million a year for 3-4 years. If the Korver reports are true, then this supports my projection for Webster somewhat. In fact, it might help us sign Webster for even less than that, which would be awesome.

[tontoz]

Add Darren Collison to the list of UFA PG's -- Dallas just declined an option on him to clear some cap room.

He should be their main target. Maynor is a scrub.

[verbal8]

I think the best offer to Webster might be 3 year deal with the last year as a player option. At $8 million/3 years, would leave enough of the MLE to make a similar offer(or a year longer 10.6/4 years) to another FA. If Webster outplays his deal and opts out the Wizards would have his bird rights if they want to sign him after that. So he could easily make up the extra 600K vs. getting the whole taxpayer MLE. His deal would also match any "room" MLE offers, but give him more control over his career.

Sources continue to report that Kyle Korver to Brooklyn is a done deal. Brooklyn only has the taxpayer's MLE, which starts at $3.2 million. So if Korver signs with Brooklyn for the full taxpayer's MLE for 2-3 years, that's actually a really good value for them and I'm a little jealous.

[Dat2U]

I know I'm in the minority on this, but really hope we aren't trying to bring back Webster AND keep Ariza. No matter how much love there is for Webster, folks have got to realize that's poor allocation of the limited resources we have this offseason.