Trevor Ariza & Marcin Gortat (What to do with them?)

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Keep Ariza and Gortat but do trade Nene, Maynor, Booker, and possibly Porter.

Gortat was +23 against Portland. He only took 6 shots but had 11 rebounds and 5 assists, with 0 turnovers.

Gortat is better than the consensus of folks on the Wizards board think.

[EuroPacer]

Pacer in peace,

As you might know Lance Stephenson is in his final year, we will do everything we can to sign him, but things might not be that simple. One of the options I am hoping for as a fall back is Ariza, how much do you think he would go for?

Watched your team a few times throughout the year (League Pass for the win!) and pleased to see you finally seem to have got it together, so I appreciate losing Ariza and/or Gortat will be a tough pill to swallow but things are looking up for you guys and I still have you in 3rd in the East, especially if you keep beating teams like the Blazers in the way you did last night!

3 year deal for about $24 mil or 4 year deal for about $28/$29 million.

That is in the range of what I thought as well, in which case we might well see Ariza go to Indiana, provided Stephenson doesn't resign for whatever reason.

[FAH1223]

This beating good teams all of a sudden thing is horrible for the franchise. Losing would have fixed this team starting in 2014-15 with a new GM, HC, and direction.

[Rafael122]

Pacer in peace,

As you might know Lance Stephenson is in his final year, we will do everything we can to sign him, but things might not be that simple. One of the options I am hoping for as a fall back is Ariza, how much do you think he would go for?

Watched your team a few times throughout the year (League Pass for the win!) and pleased to see you finally seem to have got it together, so I appreciate losing Ariza and/or Gortat will be a tough pill to swallow but things are looking up for you guys and I still have you in 3rd in the East, especially if you keep beating teams like the Blazers in the way you did last night!

3 year deal for about $24 mil or 4 year deal for about $28/$29 million.

That is in the range of what I thought as well, in which case we might well see Ariza go to Indiana, provided Stephenson doesn't resign for whatever reason.

When it comes to Lance, he was snubbed as an All-Star, homegrown talent, the Pacers would have no choice but to give him his money.

The George Hill and David West contracts are going to look like an eyesore when you're already paying Roy and Paul.

[DCZards]

The Zards can resign Gortat and Ariza and still go from a .500 team to one that wins maybe 50 games next season because the team's real improvement next season will come from the development of Wall and Beal, and, hopefully, Porter and, maybe, Seraphin. Still it would be nice to find a good young big. That's why I'd be open to trading Ariza before the deadline for a John Henson who might be available since the Bucks are looking to make some moves.

[Rafael122]

Ruz has it right. They pretty much cut off their options when they traded cap space for Okafor and Ariza. They aren't going to be in position to ADD a free agent of note to this group: signing a high-salary free agent means the departure of Gortat, Ariza, Booker and the rest of the roster detritus. Maybe that free agent can replace what those guys do, maybe not. They'd still need to sign other guys to fill out the roster, but they'd be pretty limited in what they can offer, and they won't have a first round pick.

Odds are, they're going to end up trying to re-sign Gortat, Ariza and Booker, and then using the MLE to sign a free agent guard and maybe a rotation big man. And then hope that Wall, Beal and/or Porter make The Leap to true franchise-level stardom. (No, Wall isn't there yet.)

The fact that they're trying to get Gortat's contract done during the season is indication that they won't be players in free agency this offseason. When they're done signing/re-signing people, my prediction is that they will have spent their potential cap room for 2016.

Couldn't they get creative and offer Gortat and/or Ariza a balloon payment in the first year, i.e. like OKC did w/Nick

[TGW]

That's why I'd be open to trading Ariza before the deadline for a John Henson who might be available since the Bucks are looking to make some moves.

[Nivek]

Ruz has it right. They pretty much cut off their options when they traded cap space for Okafor and Ariza. They aren't going to be in position to ADD a free agent of note to this group: signing a high-salary free agent means the departure of Gortat, Ariza, Booker and the rest of the roster detritus. Maybe that free agent can replace what those guys do, maybe not. They'd still need to sign other guys to fill out the roster, but they'd be pretty limited in what they can offer, and they won't have a first round pick.

Odds are, they're going to end up trying to re-sign Gortat, Ariza and Booker, and then using the MLE to sign a free agent guard and maybe a rotation big man. And then hope that Wall, Beal and/or Porter make The Leap to true franchise-level stardom. (No, Wall isn't there yet.)

The fact that they're trying to get Gortat's contract done during the season is indication that they won't be players in free agency this offseason. When they're done signing/re-signing people, my prediction is that they will have spent their potential cap room for 2016.

Couldn't they get creative and offer Gortat and/or Ariza a balloon payment in the first year, i.e. like OKC did w/Nick

I don't think so. On a quick look at Larry Coon's FAQ, I don't see discussion of this. What OKC did may have been eliminated in the new CBA. The section on signing bonuses indicates that the amount of the signing bonus cannot be more than 15% of the total compensation, AND that it's accounted for by dividing it by the number of years on the contract. Not sure if that applies to teams under the cap, though. So, a 4-year, $48 million contract for Gortat could include a $7.2 million signing bonus. That bonus would be accounted for as $1.8 million in each year of the contract. Plus, I think they put limits on how much a player's salary can descend year-to-year to the same amount a contract can rise (7.5% for a team re-signing its own Bird-rights free agent; 4.5% if it's signing another team's free agent).

At minimum, the up-front payment would have to fit under the cap while accounting for the various cap holds. They'd have to renounce guys to get under the cap enough to do a big up-front payment.

[nate33]

Pacer in peace,

As you might know Lance Stephenson is in his final year, we will do everything we can to sign him, but things might not be that simple. One of the options I am hoping for as a fall back is Ariza, how much do you think he would go for?

Watched your team a few times throughout the year (League Pass for the win!) and pleased to see you finally seem to have got it together, so I appreciate losing Ariza and/or Gortat will be a tough pill to swallow but things are looking up for you guys and I still have you in 3rd in the East, especially if you keep beating teams like the Blazers in the way you did last night!

3 year deal for about $24 mil or 4 year deal for about $28/$29 million.

That is in the range of what I thought as well, in which case we might well see Ariza go to Indiana, provided Stephenson doesn't resign for whatever reason.

Nonsense.

Indy doesn't have cap room. Ariza isn't going to leave $7M a year in DC to go play in Indy for the MLE - particularly when he will be forced to play out of position on a team without a natural PG. Ariza knows he's a much better player alongside an elite pass-first PG like Wall.

[nate33]

That's why I'd be open to trading Ariza before the deadline for a John Henson who might be available since the Bucks are looking to make some moves.

And after discussing options with Milwaukee, let's see if Minnesota will trade Kevin Love for Ariza. I'd be open to that too. Minnesota could really use an upgrade over Corey Brewer at SF.

[nate33]

The best case scenario is to resign Ariza and Gortat, but overpay them in exchange for them agreeing to sign a 2-year deal with team options on the 3rd year. We'd probably have to pay them something like 2 years, $24M for Gortat, and 2 years, $18M for Ariza, for them to agree.

I think it's a real long shot. Ariza and Gortat are old enough now that they can no longer count on being able to sign lucrative contracts in the Summer of 2016. They want longer deals locked in now.

[WallTown02]

Quick cap question. If we let every free agent go and didn't tender any of Ernie's kids, about how much space would we have?

And if we used that space on (random example - Chris Bosh...too expensive? Then Zach Randolph), would we still have the MLE & LLE?

Not saying I'd want to go that route but just curious.

If we did keep Gortat, Ariza, Booker & Seraphin, would we still have the MLE?

Thanks in advance!

[nate33]

The answer to your first question is $12-14M, depending on how much the cap increases. However, after signing a free agent, we would NOT be able to use the MLE or LLE. All we could do is add minimum salary guys.

If we kept Gortat, Ariza, Booker and Seraphin, we would still have the MLE at our disposal. (We would not have the LLE because we used it this year on Maynor.)

This is why going after a big name free agent like Monroe is highly unlikely. Basically, we'd be trading Ariza + Gortat + Booker + Seraphin + MLE for Monroe. A trade like that might make sense from a long-term team building perspective, but we all know that EG is in "win now and save my ass" mode.

[WallTown02]

Thanks!

As fun as it is to watch them now, it's sickening to think that this season will likely get EG an extension. Ugh

I guess i'll hope we continue to play well and that Wall and Beal both become true franchise players. It seems to be the only long-term hope at this point.

[jivelikenice]

^That's why taking on salary from a team looking to clear cap space at the deadline is the best route to add to the roster and won't cost us the MLE if I'm correct.

[J-Ves]

Quick cap question. If we let every free agent go and didn't tender any of Ernie's kids, about how much space would we have?

And if we used that space on (random example - Chris Bosh...too expensive? Then Zach Randolph), would we still have the MLE & LLE?

Not saying I'd want to go that route but just curious.

If we did keep Gortat, Ariza, Booker & Seraphin, would we still have the MLE?

Thanks in advance!

about 14 million

no

yes

[Kanyewest]

A really REALLY really REALLY far fetched best case scenario (I don't think I am rooting for this to happen)

1) The Wizards are competitive and finish the season as the 3rd seed.

2) The Wizards get to the 2nd round of the playoffs and face the Miami Heat

3) The Wizards are competitive with Miami

4) Miami then proceeds to loses to the Pacers. Perhaps in 5 games or less.

5) LeBron wants to win a title and decides to opt out.

6) LeBron wants to go to the Wizards

7) Miami finds it in their own interest to agree to a sign and trade with Washington rather than losing James for nothing.

8) The Wizards retain the ability to resign their own free agents (Gortat, Ariza, Booker, Seraphin)

[Spence]

A really REALLY really REALLY far fetched best case scenario (I don't think I am rooting for this to happen)

[dobrojim]

at the risk of angering the hoop gods...

another really really far fetched best case scenario and my own fav wet dream
- we reach the 2nd round and BEAT MIA.

we match up against them possibly as well as any team in the east not named the Pacers.

[Spence]

- we reach the 2nd round and BEAT MIA.

we match up against them possibly as well as any team in the east not named the Pacers.

Let me show you the best chance the Wizards have of getting past the Miami Heat...