Official Trade Thread -- Part XXXVI

[nate33]

Add the pelicans to this of teams apparently.

Pelicans, Suns, Mavs, Clippers. Most likely to happen tonight.

This is a bit troubling.

Looking at the Pelicans' roster, I don't see why they'd have any interest at all in Gortat the player. The only rationale is that they're absorbing Gortat as payment for buying our #15 pick. I still don't see how they do it capwise. At best, they trade us Ajinca for Gortat. They would need to absorb another $8M in salary though. They have a bit of cap room, but not that much.

I believe something like Ajinca+Miller works, it would give them a quality backup C behind AD. Gives us the breathing room we need. That’s the type of trade I’m expecting

I guess that makes sense if they're planning on parting ways with Cousins. I'd be fine with that if we didn't give up the pick. Maybe we'll do that as part of a trade down from #15 to #21. I could understand that deal. I don't think they have enough cap room to absorb the salary differential though. Not after accounting for vet minimum salaries to fill their roster.

[NatP4]

no no no no no. A quality player will drop to 15 no matter what, trade a 2nd round pick if you HAVE to give up an asset to be cheap bastards.

We need that quality prospect at 15.

[Dark Faze]

This is a bit troubling.

Looking at the Pelicans' roster, I don't see why they'd have any interest at all in Gortat the player. The only rationale is that they're absorbing Gortat as payment for buying our #15 pick. I still don't see how they do it capwise. At best, they trade us Ajinca for Gortat. They would need to absorb another $8M in salary though. They have a bit of cap room, but not that much.

I believe something like Ajinca+Miller works, it would give them a quality backup C behind AD. Gives us the breathing room we need. That’s the type of trade I’m expecting

I guess that makes sense if they're planning on parting ways with Cousins. I'd be fine with that if we didn't give up the pick. Maybe we'll do that as part of a trade down from #15 to #21. I could understand that deal. I don't think they have enough cap room to absorb the salary differential though. Not after accounting for vet minimum salaries to fill their roster.

Completely taking ourselves out of the race for Bridges, SGA, Smith, and Williams for Ajinca who is an injury prone low minute big and some light salary savings would be horrific. A trade down from #15 is just really really hard to justify.

[NatP4]

LOL, Ted gives the green light to go into the tax them forces Ernie to trade assets to avoid the tax.

Tell me that’s not the case.

[nate33]

I believe something like Ajinca+Miller works, it would give them a quality backup C behind AD. Gives us the breathing room we need. That’s the type of trade I’m expecting

I guess that makes sense if they're planning on parting ways with Cousins. I'd be fine with that if we didn't give up the pick. Maybe we'll do that as part of a trade down from #15 to #21. I could understand that deal. I don't think they have enough cap room to absorb the salary differential though. Not after accounting for vet minimum salaries to fill their roster.

Completely taking ourselves out of the race for Bridges, SGA, Smith, and Williams for Ajinca who is an injury prone low minute big and some light salary savings would be horrific. A trade down from #15 is just really really hard to justify.

It's justified because it saves about $17M in cold hard cash from Ted's wallet, plus possibly even more by avoiding the repeater tax next year.

I don't like it as a fan, but one has to be a realist about these things. That luxury tax is looming, and Ted and EG have already proven in the Bogdanovic/Nicholson trade that they will sacrifice the future potential of this team in order to save money. I'm just saying, that as pick values go, dropping 6 spots to make $17M is objectively a pretty good deal.

[Dark Faze]

If anything, not making a move for another pick is the headscratcher if we're being honest. Three things we know:

1. Oubre is going to be a painful extension to deal with.
2. Our pick will likely be worse than it is this year in an inferior draft.
3. Our chances to keep Sato are close to zero

Sitting on our hands seems almost negligent considering.

[BoogieTime]

I said from the beginning that the Wizards tax issues were going to force a 15 deal for cap (if they didn’t want to move Porter)

Cap is at a premium this summer. Few teams have it

[NatP4]

Literally half of the NBA is projected to be below the salary cap line.

Side note: how the hell is miami projected at 145 million??? What the?

[Dark Faze]

I guess that makes sense if they're planning on parting ways with Cousins. I'd be fine with that if we didn't give up the pick. Maybe we'll do that as part of a trade down from #15 to #21. I could understand that deal. I don't think they have enough cap room to absorb the salary differential though. Not after accounting for vet minimum salaries to fill their roster.

Completely taking ourselves out of the race for Bridges, SGA, Smith, and Williams for Ajinca who is an injury prone low minute big and some light salary savings would be horrific. A trade down from #15 is just really really hard to justify.

It's justified because it saves about $17M in cold hard cash from Ted's wallet, plus possibly even more by avoiding the repeater tax next year.

I don't like it as a fan, but one has to be a realist about these things. That luxury tax is looming, and Ted and EG have already proven in the Bogdanovic/Nicholson trade that they will sacrifice the future potential of this team in order to save money. I'm just saying, that as pick values go, dropping 6 spots to make $17M is objectively a pretty good deal.

The problem is that it's never just a straight savings though. You always end up trying to make up for a move like this down the road. A move like this maybe knocks you out of the playoffs for example, all of a sudden you're looking into moving a pick to acquire help to get into the playoffs, or feeling pressure to extend Markieff.

Generally, reducing your chances at getting young controllable talent is unlikely to be the best economical option.

[NatP4]

If anything, not making a move for another pick is the headscratcher if we're being honest. Three things we know:

1. Oubre is going to be a painful extension to deal with.
2. Our pick will likely be worse than it is this year in an inferior draft.
3. Our chances to keep Sato are close to zero

Sitting on our hands seems almost negligent considering.

I wouldn’t say close to zero on Sato. He’s not going to get paid like a 22 year old athletic wing with a 7’2 wingspan. He’s just a backup PG that literally no one knows about, not even his own coach. Wouldn’t be surprised if we keep him at 5 million per.

[Dark Faze]

If anything, not making a move for another pick is the headscratcher if we're being honest. Three things we know:

1. Oubre is going to be a painful extension to deal with.
2. Our pick will likely be worse than it is this year in an inferior draft.
3. Our chances to keep Sato are close to zero

Sitting on our hands seems almost negligent considering.

I wouldn’t say close to zero on Sato. He’s not going to get paid like a 22 year old athletic wing with a 7’2 wingspan. He’s just a backup PG that literally no one knows about, not even his own coach. Wouldn’t be surprised if we keep him at 5 million per.

If you're legitimately good, someone will know about you. I'd have my eyes all over Sato if I were Indy for example.

[NatP4]

Whatever this means:

Read on Twitter

[Dark Faze]

Whatever this means:

Read on Twitter

Suggests that the Wiz don't care at all about the tax which is hard to believe.

[Dat2U]

Whatever this means:

Read on Twitter

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

I mean he knows the basic cap rules but he doesn't seem to understand or grasp the Wizards cap situation.

Why in the world would i pay for a site when I feel I know more than the writers of the site?

[Dat2U]

the salary ramification of bringing in DAJ just seem impossible for the team to deal with it, I don't see it

Yeah, that DAJ reference was back at the deadline. That doesn't seem to be the right move at this point.

That trade would have inflicted a ton of pain.

Especially as Ernie panicked this offseason trying to keep Jordan and shed salary.

The #15 would have been sold to the highest bidder who could take on salary.

We'd go into next season with like 8 minimum salaried vets after giving Jordan $25 mil per LOL.

[nate33]

Whatever this means:

Read on Twitter

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

I mean he knows the basic cap rules but he doesn't seem to understand or grasp the Wizards cap situation.

Why in the world would i pay for a site when I feel I know more than the writers of the site?

Yes, the issue is the luxury tax, not the salary cap. Also, if Gortat walks, we can easily add those salary slots by using Bird Rights on both Oubre and Sato. There's also the MLE which is over $8M.

The notion that parting with Gortat's $13.5M salary slot will somehow create problems in paying players down the road is just ridiculous.

[Rafael122]

Whatever this means:

Read on Twitter

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

I mean he knows the basic cap rules but he doesn't seem to understand or grasp the Wizards cap situation.

Why in the world would i pay for a site when I feel I know more than the writers of the site?

I think he means well, but I just don't understand why the local beat writers don't take a course on the CBA. The amount of mis-information that gets spewed out here locally is doing a disservice to the people who think "oh yeah, we can get Demarcus Cousins!" It's just not that simple.

[NatP4]

Side note: Kyle O’Quinn would be a nice pickup, the full MLE is probably a fair price for him as well. If you could dump Gortat’s full salary, might be a nice replacement option.

[nate33]

Side note: Kyle O’Quinn would be a nice pickup, the full MLE is probably a fair price for him as well. If you could dump Gortat’s full salary, might be a nice replacement option.

The ultimate goal is to find a modern center who can switch on defense and hit from the perimeter on offense (or be exceptional as a rim runner). We'll probably need to draft that guy, or trade a young asset for him. In the meantime, I'd prefer to keep our powder dry and a cap situation in order. We can get by with Mahinmi and Morris splitting center duties, with hopefully our 1st round pick, or a young prospect from the 2nd round of free agency (Noel?) getting the remaining minutes. I'd only take a Kyle O'Quinn type on a 1-year deal.

[NatP4]

Side note: Kyle O’Quinn would be a nice pickup, the full MLE is probably a fair price for him as well. If you could dump Gortat’s full salary, might be a nice replacement option.

The ultimate goal is to find a modern center who can switch on defense and hit from the perimeter on offense (or be exceptional as a rim runner). We'll probably need to draft that guy, or trade a young asset for him. In the meantime, I'd prefer to keep our powder dry and a cap situation in order. We can get by with Mahinmi and Morris splitting center duties, with hopefully our 1st round pick, or a young prospect from the 2nd round of free agency (Noel?) getting the remaining minutes. I'd only take a Kyle O'Quinn type on a 1-year deal.

Probably smarter, but O’Quinn did finish 14th in RPM for centers, 20 PER .624 TS%, his per36 numbers are kind of ridiculous: 14 points 12 rebounds 4 assists 1 steal 2.5 blocks. 4.8 win shares 2.3 VORP. All on a horrible team

He’s a better player than Noel according to the numbers. Of course, if you draft Rob Williams or any center with your 1st round pick, signing a center isn’t a good idea.