Vae Victus wrote:No one is eating Dengs entire 36.8m of garbage for just a measly #25 pick and Zubac/Bryant. #47 is prolly worth 3m (around the same price we paid for Clarkson's rights), Zubac and Bryant arent worth much, otherwise theyd have seen more burn in the regular season. Zubac has regressed greatly and Bryant is a massive unknown. Not to mention we need to keep one of em for cheap C depth.
At absolute best i'd rate a late 1st as being worth 10mil. Trading #25 and LAL 2019 1st, is ~20mil, you still gotta figure out how to close the rest of the value gap. Cash can cover 5mil, so ~12 more mil to go. Maybe LAL 2019 1st might be worth more, but other teams will say its a late 1st cuz we're going all in and getting max FAs and thus that pick will be very low. Kinda hard for us to argue against that, basically saying, "NUH UH! We might suck so it could be lotto pick!". We shouldnt be pulling the trigger on such a deal unless we got LBJ/PG13 in the bag, thus near guaranteeing 2019 LAL 1st to be a late pick.
I'm guessing the bare minimum to dump Deng totally it'd be, #25 + LAL 2019 1st + #47 + 5m Cash + Hart + Zubac. More like the other team will be demanding a 3rd 1st instead.
Best realistic case scenario if we're hellbent on dumping Deng is adding #25 + LAL 2019 1st + cash for an expiring contract worth roughly 12-17mil. So basically Asik, Carrol, Lin, etc type of expiring.
Problem is, even if we trade for one of those deals, we need to stretch to have a prayer at having space to get 2 max FAs and cover Randle's cap hold. Problem is, we just dont have the space even after a stretch. After playing with the math using the capulator, best realistic case is trading for Asik and stretching him, renounce everyone but Randle, and we still come up short of Lebron 35.3m max.
http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=4774665475ad436aa96d21790743590If we want Lebron, we're gonna lose Randle, unless he takes a small paycut. If some team goes hard for Randle early in FA and tosses him a fat offer sheet, then we definitely dont have the cap to get 2 max FAs unless Lebron is willing to take a massive paycut or is willing to commit to us early and thus let us still have Randle caphold to match in time.
TBH, i'm actually on board with trading Deng + assets for an expiring, sign PG13, resign Randle on a reasonable deal (past 18 mil buh bye). Trading for one the usual suspects in Asik, Carrol, and Lin all play positions of need for us, so we can play their contracts out and not stretch em, as we'll be then shift our focus to 2019 FA and go for Kawhi. We then stockpile assets to make a bid on Kawhi if SAS decides that the bridges have been burnt and they wanna get what they can for him before he opts out and bolts.
I like Deng + #25 + LAL 2019 1st + Cash for Lin
PG13 for the max
Resign Randle to a 3 year 58 mil deal with 3rd year player option. He gets a nice raise and gets a chance to hit FA again in 2 years. I have a hard time seeing other teams going beyond 18mil to start.
Sign 1 of BroLo or Noel to a 2 year 12-14 mil per deal to be starting C, 2nd year team option.
Then we have like 16 mil leftover to play with, prolly go after a SG/SF type for a 1 year deal. I'd rather go with Lin over IT cuz Lin can at least play D, can switch on SGs, and wont be a lockerhouse troublemaker.
Heck maybe even take in a 1 year year expiring contract + assets, if we cant find a way to use the money in FA. Basically we're rolling over the cap in the hunt for Kawhi... as well as stockpiling assets for competitive trade offer. Like say Bayless + #26 for cap space, thus letting them get room to go after Lebron. That #26 we can keep or use in a Deng dump, depending on the timing.
http://www.shamsports.com/capulator?id=8646962155ad43fa9d8c87862901441C - BroLo/Noel, Randle, Zubac, Bryant
PF- Randle, Kuzma, Wear
SF- Ingram, Room Exception
SG- PG13, Hart, Bayless
PG- Lonzo, Lin, Ennis
I see this team as a 5-6th seed, assuming the young guys dont improve one bit. If they DO improve i see us being a 3rd seed. Talk about attractive for a FA. I really like the length 1-5, even the reserves have good size.
Start of 2019 FA, BroLo/Noel, Lin, Ennis, Bayless, FA fall off the cap, and we have another shot at adding a max superstar.
Lets say hypothetical the SAS-Kawhi drama drags on... i think Randle + Ingram gets it done, with Kawhi signing a supermax. Thats ALOT of talent and short of BOS going over the top and offering up Brown + Tatum, cuz during mid season no one knows who's gonna win the lotto so no one has a high pick to offer up. BOS is especially desperate as they dont have the cap room to sign Kawhi so its either overpay in a trade or nothing. We have... options.
Then we have a team of...
C- ??? with like ~26m free cap
PF- Kuzma
SF- Kawhi
SG- PG13
PG- Lonzo
Or we wait til Kawhis a FA and take our chances to try to sign him outright. Which we have the capspace for and a young, up and coming, attractive market to woo Kawhi's people and knock their pants off. I actually have a good feeling Magic can win over Kawhi's uncle who i hear is basically calling all the shots for Team Kawhi. We'll be thin at C and the bench, but holy **** **** we'll have Kawhi, PG13, Ingram, Kuzma, Lonzo, and Randle on the team!!!!!
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