Cap space?

[Kilo]

Honestly, I just hope HOU waives Lawson and we can pick him up. He is better than any PG we can get in the offseason.

I read very unlikely after trading Thornton.

[DetroitPistons]

Honestly, I just hope HOU waives Lawson and we can pick him up. He is better than any PG we can get in the offseason.

I read very unlikely after trading Thornton.

Oh damn. That sucks. Oh well, maybe they will waive him in the offseason or something.

[DetroitSho]

Am I the only one who doesn't hate Meeks?? I thought he played well for us, especially late last season. A few freak injuries have set him back, but if healthy, I'd rather hold onto him and have he and Hilliard battle it out in training camp rather than resigning Thornton. Who knows though, thorton could play very well and force us to make a decision in the offseason

Yeah, I think Meeks is fine. He was more than a shooter from three when healthy last season too. Jodie did a really nice job at drawing fouls and he was far and away the best free throw shooter on the team. People probably still don't like him because of the bashing that came when Detroit signed a "nobody" to a decent contract and aren't really factoring in how he has played. Same thing with Baynes. With Meeks his injuries aren't helping his perception at all but if healthy next season he's a really nice fit for the backup role at that position considering the other guys on the team.

Totally agree with Jake. If he had been healthy, it would have been a much better story. It's just bad luck, but it doesn't mean that he was a bad signing. If he were our starting SG and we're paying him 6M a year, we'd all be giving each other high 5s. Oh well. I'm actually surprised he didn't get moved.

I totally agree with all of you guys. One thing people really don't factor in when talking about resigning Thornton is that there really will only be 15 minutes AT BEST available for the backup SG spot. If you can find a really good combo guard who can really be a lead guard and make good enough decisions but still score (Tyreke, Brandon Knight, Jordan Clarkson for example) then by all means you try to go that route because then you can guarantee the guy 30 minutes/game backing up both spots and you either dump Meeks or let him be a spot minute guy. But I don't think Thornton is coming back to be a 15 mpg guy, being just a pure SG who can't really back up the 1. So with that said, you let Meeks be that guy next year while you're grooming Hilliard. I didn't really think much of Hilliard before due to being a 2nd rounder, but if you give him a role and tell him to give it his all for just 15 mpg, he honestly should suffice going into his 3rd year.

[Kilo]

Honestly, I just hope HOU waives Lawson and we can pick him up. He is better than any PG we can get in the offseason.

I read very unlikely after trading Thornton.

Oh damn. That sucks. Oh well, maybe they will waive him in the offseason or something.

I think he's surely gone in the off-season as it's a team option or low buy out to cut ties with him.

I found it interesting that Houston came to Detroit with a Motiejunas deal that involved players and Bowers countered with the pick package. No clue who they could have tried for though - maybe Mook? Or KCP? He seems to have less perceived value around the league.

[thesack12]

^ Meeks is a one contract year wonder on a truly terrible team. He is the epitome of a one trick pony, and he's shown Detroit he isn't even that good riding that one pony.

The grass Meeks has laid in Detroit has never grown from its original seed form, so that chartreuse colored Thornton grass looks pretty.

Even if Thornton is not resigned, Meeks still probably isn't in the rotation next season. Stanley will have to get minutes from somewhere. He probably isn't getting too many at the 3 with Tobias and Marcus interchanging there.

Oh, his minutes could definitely be reduced, depending on a few things. I just think it's unlikely we sign Thorton and try to dump Meeks for whatever role is left at the backup two.

In what ways do you think Thornton is better?

I think Thornton is a better ball handler, better slasher, better iso player, better creator, better shooter off the dribble, and is MUCH more aggressive. Thornton also has a more proven track record of providing offense, than Meeks does. All these things fit better with this team than Meeks does right now, because that second unit is going feature Steve Blake as the PG.

The only 2 things Meeks has on Thornton are spot up shooting, and free throw shooting.

Also, unless Thornton absolutely sets the court afire the rest of the season he will probably come cheaper than Meeks next season.

[thesack12]

Yeah, I don' think the brass makes any moves or decisions based on factors surrounding Jodie Meeks. With so many teams rich with cap space, and precious worthy free agents it probably won't be hard to move Meeks.

One thing not a lot of people think about is the cap floor is rising just as much as the limit is. There will be teams out there that will need to spend some $ just to get to the floor. A contract with only one year left, Like Meeks, will be pretty attractive to those types of teams. So there could be a Meeks for heavily protected 2nd type of trade to be had.

Teams don't have to get up to the floor by acquiring other contracts. If they're below it, their existing player contracts get bumped up to reach it. If Meeks isn't living up to his contract, we'd have to give a pick or other asset to move him.

Sure they could go that route, but off the top of my head I can't think of a whole lot of precedent on that front.

As for the second part, why? All I hear is how these guys currently on mid-level type contracts will be huge bargains. By that logic Jodie's $6.5 mil should be highly attractive to some teams. There is going to be a LOT of teams flush with cap that won't be happy with their free agent hauls. Some of those teams will likely re-load up on cap space and make a run in the the summer of '17. For those teams a contract like Meeks' would be ideal because he will be cheap and expires. If teams have a couple ball dominant superstars Meeks can help teams like that with his spot up shooting, so that makes him slightly attractive also.

[DET_Athletics]

Luxury Tax should be about 110M next season if we spend up to 90M and then re-sign Dre and D-Mo. DMo's cap hold is 5.7M and Dre's is 8.2M. Dre will make 20M, so now we'd be at 102M, so if DMo makes more than 13.7M we're in Lux Tax land. Next year the cap goes up to 110, with LuxTax at 127M though, and even if we extend KCP to his big jump raise second contract, Baynes and Meeks comes off our books which is 13M right there shaved off, and Harris' contract declines a million a year from it's peak of $17M next season.

dont bet on baynes coming off the books, he has a player option he might use, which would mess us up a little.

[Canadafan]

I'd have to think we would be the ones taking on a contract so that team can target a free agent. We could take on a guard signed to a multi year deal

[DET_Athletics]

I don't think capspace is the issue. We now have to be worried about the luxury tax after we sign all of our core players.

i welcome going into the luxury, because the cap is going to jump again, it will be one year of it.