2014 Free Agency Thread

[jakenc]

Honestly i could live with us offering Stephenson $12M, maybe even $13M. If he keeps improving at the rate he has thus far in his career he'll be worth that by the second year of his contract.

I'm willing to overpay for Stephenson and bid up to $10 million max if desperation set in, but I honestly doubt his offers will make it out of the $8 million ball park, all things considered. We'll see though

Oh yeah I would most definitely prefer to stay in your ballpark and I hope we can, but the Pacers really want to keep him and I think they'll be able to offer him almost $10M, so I feel like the team that signs Lance will probably end up paying $10.5-11.5M.

[Braggins]

Absolutely no to Gordon Hayward, Trevor Ariza, and Luol Deng. I wouldn't mind Parsons but I don't think he is necessary since I have faith in MKG and if we are stuck with Hendo we can use him as a backup SF. I would like to see Sessions back and resigning McBob would be nice but I'm not sure how good of an idea it would be to create such a logjam at PF. If we don't resign McBob we could easily bring back Adrien for some depth. Lance Stephenson is the only big money player I want us to go after.

[mrknowitall215]

Honestly i could live with us offering Stephenson $12M, maybe even $13M. If he keeps improving at the rate he has thus far in his career he'll be worth that by the second year of his contract.

I'm willing to overpay for Stephenson and bid up to $10 million max if desperation set in, but I honestly doubt his offers will make it out of the $8 million ball park, all things considered. We'll see though

Oh yeah I would most definitely prefer to stay in your ballpark and I hope we can, but the Pacers really want to keep him and I think they'll be able to offer him almost $10M, so I feel like the team that signs Lance will probably end up paying $10.5-11.5M.

Last time I checked a few months ago, I don't think the Pacers will be able to offer Stephenson anything more than $8.8 million annually, and that was before they traded for Evan Turner (whom cap hold as a RFA whether or not he's rescinded I'm unsure how it would effect their cap space). They're already in the luxury tax so I'm sure they'll be extremely hesitant to sign him to that amid locker room problems with Paul George & Roy Hibbert, who will both still be under contract for at least the next 2 years

[LofJ]

We should offer him a 4 year 38 million contract and gauge his interest. We should be willing to go up to 4/46 in my opinion.

[mrknowitall215]

We should offer him a 4 year 38 million contract and gauge his interest. We should be willing to go up to 4/46 in my opinion.

That's feasible. I would start my lowball offer at 4-years/$33 million, and would be willing to go up to 4-years/$42 million as a final offer if we can't reach a agreement in between

[MasterIchiro]

Lance is #3 option on 2x Eastern Conference runner up. 10 million is the starting point. He could get up to 13-14 million/per as he's only 23 and already performed at a high level as a major contributor on a contender. He's going to get more than Tyreke Evans in total dollars and he'll get 4 years as well due to his young age. Some team will pay big to lock him up in his prime.

[MasterIchiro]

I really feel Kemba will help Lance get into the flow of this offense. George Hill is really not skilled as a backourt mate. It would take some time to find the right chemistry but once they find it, Kemba/Lance would become a thrilling back court and Lance/MKG would be elite perimeter defense. Vonleh would have to develop for us to really thrust into contention these next few years and they would need to re-up with Al. He plays successfully looking like an old man so his skillset translates as an older player.

[mrknowitall215]

Watch and observe. Stephenson's market value will be between $8-10 million, and don't be surprised if a team land him for something in the $7 million ball park for multiple years. There's no way to justify paying Stephenson well over $10 million unless you're a incompetent GM that's looking to get fired in a year or two

[MasterIchiro]

Watch and observe. Stephenson's market value will be between $8-10 million, and don't be surprised if a team land him for something in the $7 million ball park for multiple years. There's no way to justify paying Stephenson well over $10 million unless you're a incompetent GM that's looking to get fired in a year or two

You're gonna eat your words. He's young, toolsy and proven in the playoffs.

[jakenc]

Hmm I just searched it and according to Forbes the Pacers can actually offer him $57M over five years since they're his incumbent team. Zach Lowe's article on Grantland about Lance also says that the pacers could offer $10M per year. But I'm no blackoutbobcat, so I dunno. I just want Hendo out but I'm not too high on Hayward because I'd really like another plus defender.

[mrknowitall215]

Watch and observe. Stephenson's market value will be between $8-10 million, and don't be surprised if a team land him for something in the $7 million ball park for multiple years. There's no way to justify paying Stephenson well over $10 million unless you're a incompetent GM that's looking to get fired in a year or two

You're gonna eat your words. He's young, toolsy and proven in the playoffs.

I promise I won't. No team in their right sense of mind would offer $11-13 million to Stephenson when he's not a legit 1st or 2nd option offensively, has middling efficiency overall, and character issues

[mrknowitall215]

Hmm I just searched it and according to Forbes the Pacers can actually offer him $57M over five years since they're his incumbent team. Zach Lowe's article on Grantland about Lance also says that the pacers could offer $10M per year. But I'm no blackoutbobcat, so I dunno. I just want Hendo out but I'm not too high on Hayward because I'd really like another plus defender.

I'm not interested much in overpaying for neither of Hayward or Parsons via RFA since they're both defensive minuses when Stephenson is right there for the taking

[MasterIchiro]

Watch and observe. Stephenson's market value will be between $8-10 million, and don't be surprised if a team land him for something in the $7 million ball park for multiple years. There's no way to justify paying Stephenson well over $10 million unless you're a incompetent GM that's looking to get fired in a year or two

You're gonna eat your words. He's young, toolsy and proven in the playoffs.

I promise I won't. No team in their right sense of mind would offer $11-13 million to Stephenson when he's not a legit 1st or 2nd option offensively, has middling efficiency overall, and character issues

You can't have it both ways. You rave about his playmaking and elite defense and fit yet you don't want to pay for it. He's your number 1 target yet you want to pay him like he's a backup plan. I think you're confused between what you think is going to happen vs. what you want to happen. That's why I placed a bet with you and you will, mark my words, bare the mark of a Hornets fan on your profile. You're gonna get stung.

[LofJ]

We should offer him a 4 year 38 million contract and gauge his interest. We should be willing to go up to 4/46 in my opinion.

That's feasible. I would start my lowball offer at 4-years/$33 million, and would be willing to go up to 4-years/$42 million as a final offer if we can't reach a agreement in between

I think we'd have to pay more than that to get him to seriously consider leaving the Pacers, because they'd be willing to pay him that much. I think we'd have to start the bidding at around 9 million at least to get his attention.

[MasterIchiro]

Plus look at the scarcity at shooting guard in the NBA. Low supply SG + high demand for positional advantage at SG triggers inflation in prices. Watch and learn a little macroeconomics comin' at ya.

[mrknowitall215]

You're gonna eat your words. He's young, toolsy and proven in the playoffs.

I promise I won't. No team in their right sense of mind would offer $11-13 million to Stephenson when he's not a legit 1st or 2nd option offensively, has middling efficiency overall, and character issues

You can't have it both ways. You rave about his playmaking and elite defense and fit yet you don't want to pay for it. He's your number 1 target yet you want to pay him like he's a backup plan. I think you're confused between what you think is going to happen vs. what you want to happen. That's why I placed a bet with you and you will, mark my words, bare the mark of a Hornets fan on your profile. You're gonna get stung.

Yes, I slightly rave about him, but at the same time I list the concerns, like his middling efficiency and character issues in the same sequence if you're paying attention

I also understand that there's a market, and you don't pay over market value just because

[yosemiteben]

Random aside - if you want me to concede defeat in an argument, just use cap hold as a factor in favor of your argument. I'm not that fancy on cap stuff.

[MasterIchiro]

I promise I won't. No team in their right sense of mind would offer $11-13 million to Stephenson when he's not a legit 1st or 2nd option offensively, has middling efficiency overall, and character issues

You can't have it both ways. You rave about his playmaking and elite defense and fit yet you don't want to pay for it. He's your number 1 target yet you want to pay him like he's a backup plan. I think you're confused between what you think is going to happen vs. what you want to happen. That's why I placed a bet with you and you will, mark my words, bare the mark of a Hornets fan on your profile. You're gonna get stung.

Yes, I slightly rave about him, but at the same time I list the concerns, like his middling efficiency and character issues in the same sequence if you're paying attention

I'm well aware of this contradiction. I already capitalized on it.

[mrknowitall215]

We should offer him a 4 year 38 million contract and gauge his interest. We should be willing to go up to 4/46 in my opinion.

That's feasible. I would start my lowball offer at 4-years/$33 million, and would be willing to go up to 4-years/$42 million as a final offer if we can't reach a agreement in between

I think we'd have to pay more than that to get him to seriously consider leaving the Pacers, because they'd be willing to pay him that much. I think we'd have to start the bidding at around 9 million at least to get his attention.

If we have to pay well into $10 million for Stephenson then we need to let him be. Even $10 million would be overpaying. Stephenson is good, but he has his warts and is still rather unproven. I'd liken Stephenson to the modern day John Starks, and I don't think Starks ever made over $5 million annually while helping the Knicks to contend as a Eastern Conference powerhouse

[mrknowitall215]

I'm well aware of this contradiction. I already capitalized on it.

There's no contradiction unless you don't understand the definition of the word. Contradicting arguments would be me saying that I think Stephenson is worth well over $10 million but I wouldn't pay him such. My stance has been the same all year, that I wouldn't want to pay him over $8 million. It hasn't changed