Mavs 2016 Offseason Discussion

[Dirk]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nba/rumors/post/_/id/37690/nba-rumor-central-nowitzki-parsons-to-join-free-market

Looks like we will have a boat load of cap space. Be interesting if we want to bring back Parsons and Williams with their injury concerns. Looking at nearly 60+ million in cap space by renouncing everyone, going to be a fun offseason for the players either way.

$59.2 million in cap space. Info is in the first post.

If Dirk opts out, his cap hold would be $12.5M. So he'd take up more space than if he just opted him. The Mavs would renounce him and free up space, but then they would have to re-sign him with cap space (since they couldn't use the bird rights exception) and it's unlikely they're have the $8.6M that he has on the current contract, so he likely would have to take another discount. I am a bit surprised he is supposedly opting out, I have to wait and see, right now the only source for that has been Dwain Price.

That ESPN article is a bit messy, for instance, this part:

Nowitzki, an 18-year NBA veteran, took a discount in 2014 to help the Mavericks sign free agents, so many expected him to decline the option worth $8.7 million for next season, since he will likely double that amount when he re-signs with Dallas.

This doesn't make much sense. If he is opting out, surely it isn't because he wants more money... and certainly won't be taking up $17 million on the Mavs cap.

[Texas Chuck]

Dirk confirming on the Ticket just now that he is opting out.

[Dirk]

Dirk confirming on the Ticket just now that he is opting out.

Did he give any sort of explanation why? I listened to the rest of the interview, where he said he watched Scandal.

I'm a little surprised (thought he'd opt in). His new cap hold will be $12.5 million, so a $3.8 million increase.

I updated the first post and this is the Mavs cap situation:



I kind of sense McGee will be let go, so that would add an extra $1.4 million.

By carrying Parsons and Dirk's cap hold, only $26 million in space to sign a C and PG.

If Mavs renounce Parsons, they have $45 million to get a PG, SF and C.

If the Mavs renounce Dirk, they have $37.9 million to get a PG and C.

[Teffer10]

So how will the mid-level exception work this year or will there even be one?
It is my understanding the only teams that can use the mid-level exception are the ones that are over the cap. If that is correct, when the cap goes up there won't be any teams (or very few) over the cap.

[Texas Chuck]

So how will the mid-level exception work this year or will there even be one?
It is my understanding the only teams that can use the mid-level exception are the ones that are over the cap. If that is correct, when the cap goes up there won't be any teams (or very few) over the cap.

some teams that concentrate on their own free agents can stay over the cap, but yeah lots of teams will just have the Room Exception this year(we used ours on David Lee this year fwiw)

[Dirk]

So how will the mid-level exception work this year or will there even be one?
It is my understanding the only teams that can use the mid-level exception are the ones that are over the cap. If that is correct, when the cap goes up there won't be any teams (or very few) over the cap.

The exceptions have cap holds. Those cap holds are added on the teams salaries. If the salaries + cap holds are below the salary cap, those exceptions are automatically extinguished.

Teams like the Cavs, Clippers come to mind as ones that will be using the MLE.

The biggest issue is: with so much money on the market, the players that used to sign for the MLE amount will now be signing for more with other teams. The MLE amount doesn't increase in the same proportion as the salary cap, so it's devalued with the increasing salary cap.

[Yankeeknickfan]

I think that you guys should max out Whiteside, and trade for Teague. Much better than signing deadbeat dad Dwight and resigning parsons.

[Devassa]

I think that you guys should max out Whiteside, and trade for Teague. Much better than signing deadbeat dad Dwight and resigning parsons.

If only it were that easy.. Atlanta likely doesnt want anything we have to offer and Hassan has to actually WANT to come to Dallas (something that big fish FA's havent been known to do)

[Pointguard01]

Exactly. I don't even want to hear about Whiteside. He is on the top of the list for any team with cap space and without a top 5 center, which is about 15 or so teams. We have little to no shot at him.

Unfortunately [and I know everyone doesn't want to hear this], here are the facts...

a) We aren't rebuilding
b) Chandler Parsons is going to be resigned
c) Dwight Howard is our best chance at a FA splash

That said, I would love to find a way to upgrade the PG spot. Jeff Teague would be lovely, but I don't know what Dallas would be able to offer there. Jeff Teague would be great, but not sure what Dallas offers to get him here. Deron Williams is probably the best we can do there.

[jpengland]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nba/rumors/post/_/id/37690/nba-rumor-central-nowitzki-parsons-to-join-free-market

Looks like we will have a boat load of cap space. Be interesting if we want to bring back Parsons and Williams with their injury concerns. Looking at nearly 60+ million in cap space by renouncing everyone, going to be a fun offseason for the players either way.

$59.2 million in cap space. Info is in the first post.

If Dirk opts out, his cap hold would be $12.5M. So he'd take up more space than if he just opted him. The Mavs would renounce him and free up space, but then they would have to re-sign him with cap space (since they couldn't use the bird rights exception) and it's unlikely they're have the $8.6M that he has on the current contract, so he likely would have to take another discount. I am a bit surprised he is supposedly opting out, I have to wait and see, right now the only source for that has been Dwain Price.

That ESPN article is a bit messy, for instance, this part:

Nowitzki, an 18-year NBA veteran, took a discount in 2014 to help the Mavericks sign free agents, so many expected him to decline the option worth $8.7 million for next season, since he will likely double that amount when he re-signs with Dallas.

This doesn't make much sense. If he is opting out, surely it isn't because he wants more money... and certainly won't be taking up $17 million on the Mavs cap.

I think he resigns for the same money if there is no great plan, but has left himself the option to sign for much less money if it helps us pick up a couple of real impact players.

This really does leave me scratching my head over the Barea and Matthews salary increases last year though, without those we would have a significantly bigger amount of cap room to work with.

[Darren]

Sign-and-trade Chandler Parsons, Devin Harris and 2 firsts to Pheonix for Tyson Chandler and Eric Bledsoe.
Sign Kevin Durant / Nic Batum as starting 3.
Re-sign Deron Williams as backup 1; Dirk Nowitzki as starting 4.
Pick up some ring chasing veterans.
Match Powell's offer.


C - Tyson Chandler / JaVale McGee / Salah Merji
PF - Dirk Nowitzki / Dwight Powell
SF - Kevin Durant / Justin Anderson
SG - Wes Matthews / Jose Barea
PG - Eric Bledsoe / Deron Williams / 47 pick

[jpengland]

Sign-and-trade Chandler Parsons, Devin Harris and 2 firsts to Pheonix for Tyson Chandler and Eric Bledsoe.
Sign Kevin Durant / Nic Batum as starting 3.
Re-sign Deron Williams as backup 1; Dirk Nowitzki as starting 4.
Pick up some ring chasing veterans.
Match Powell's offer.


C - Tyson Chandler / JaVale McGee / Salah Merji
PF - Dirk Nowitzki / Dwight Powell
SF - Kevin Durant / Justin Anderson
SG - Wes Matthews / Jose Barea
PG - Eric Bledsoe / Deron Williams / 47 pick

Suns aren't touching Parsons for Bledsoe. I don't even think there would be a way for that to work cap wise either, would need to be two seperate trades as you can't package S and T.

Also - Chandler is done. His legs have entirely gone. That big rotation is even worse than this years.

KD won't be coming to Dallas and Batum is barely an upgrade on Parsons (and will cost at least 20m per year, probably 22 - 24).

[Dirk]

I think he resigns for the same money if there is no great plan, but has left himself the option to sign for much less money if it helps us pick up a couple of real impact players.

Yeah, we have to believe that this isn't because of money or security (a new deal with a player option for another year). It's all about having more flexibility heading into free agency.

The Mavs will be carrying his $12.5 million cap hold and can renounce him to create extra cap space. If he ends up re-signing for $8 million or more, then it's official: the Mavs again failed to land their top targets in free agency.

For now, I think we can work under the assumption that Dirk is renounced and the Mavs have about $38 million in cap space, with Parsons cap hold being on the books and the possibility of creating an extra $1.4 million by not picking up McGee's contract for next year.

This really does leave me scratching my head over the Barea and Matthews salary increases last year though, without those we would have a significantly bigger amount of cap room to work with.

That's what irked me about those two contracts, every million counts when the Mavs should be trying to build depth, since we didn't have a "star". If you signed those two to market deals (using the Kings offer of $64 million which was crazy already), you would have an extra $2.3 million a year in cap space.

[aussiewill]

I don't think cap space will be an issue anyway, it will be trying to bring in a decent free agent. Another thought (well, I've brought it up previously) is to go hard at Harrison Barnes. Could offer him something close to 98M over 4 years if my calculations are correct. Assuming we want to go that way... Chasing his buddy Ezeli to something like 4/50 could be attainable too.

[arkuo]

I think Cuban will go after a big name like Dwight this summer. As long as Dirk wants to suit up, I feel like the direction is that way. Just be good enough to make the playoffs then worry about a seven game series, one team at a time.

The only way we rebuild through the draft is when Dirk leaves. that way Donnie can draft some 19 year olds and we got a whole decade to figure out how to use them. Our drafting prowess (or lack thereof) is a totally different story though.

[Texas Chuck]

I don't think cap space will be an issue anyway, it will be trying to bring in a decent free agent. Another thought (well, I've brought it up previously) is to go hard at Harrison Barnes. Could offer him something close to 98M over 4 years if my calculations are correct. Assuming we want to go that way... Chasing his buddy Ezeli to something like 4/50 could be attainable too.

If Dirk was younger, Barnes makes more sense. But Barnes is a 4th or 5th option offensively at best. I don't see how we could get away with him and Matthews on the wings. We'd be such a hard scoring team.

[Lord Cuban]

PG - Jordan Clarkson - J.J. Barea - Devin Harris
SG - Wesley Matthews - Courtney Lee - Jason Terry
SF - Nicolas Batum/Chandler Parsons - Justin Anderson
PF - Dirk Nowitzki - Dwight Powell - Mirza Teletovic
C - Hassan Whiteside - Timofey Mozgov - Salah Mejri

[aussiewill]

I don't think cap space will be an issue anyway, it will be trying to bring in a decent free agent. Another thought (well, I've brought it up previously) is to go hard at Harrison Barnes. Could offer him something close to 98M over 4 years if my calculations are correct. Assuming we want to go that way... Chasing his buddy Ezeli to something like 4/50 could be attainable too.

If Dirk was younger, Barnes makes more sense. But Barnes is a 4th or 5th option offensively at best. I don't see how we could get away with him and Matthews on the wings. We'd be such a hard scoring team.

On the Warriors team he is clearly a 4th option, but his shooting percentages are pretty decent given his increase in FG% the last two years. Not to mention his athletic ability and can cover the 3/4 defensively. Not quite as good as Parsons last year, but certainly decent enough with roughly .475 FG and .390 3FG.

Not saying he is a be all and end all, just looking at somewhat realistic options as I can't see the Warriors keeping him with a max.

[jpengland]

PG - Jordan Clarkson - J.J. Barea - Devin Harris
SG - Wesley Matthews - Courtney Lee - Jason Terry
SF - Nicolas Batum/Chandler Parsons - Justin Anderson
PF - Dirk Nowitzki - Dwight Powell - Mirza Teletovic
C - Hassan Whiteside - Timofey Mozgov - Salah Mejri

Sorry, how is that even remotely possible?

Clarkson - 13m (he's getting the Gilbert Arenas max)
Batum - 18 - 20m plus (this could get up to 25m quite easily).
Whiteside - 23m (he's getting his max)
Mozgov - 10m plus (this could be 15m quite easily).
Teletovic - 5 - 8m plus
Lee - 5m plus

You would need at least 70m in cap room to add all of those pieces.

[aussiewill]

Having a look at free agency depths a bit further down the line from the top targets, with the idea of getting 1 max player and 2 players for +/- 10m. Also people who generally aren't mentioned. I will include what I assume will be a reasonable salary demand in the coming climate.

Centers-
Mahinmi: previous history here, provides no genuine strengths, but no weaknesses either. An above average passer and can protect the rim. Turning 30 this year, but no major injuries and doesn't have too many miles under the belt. Salary demand 12M

Noah: injury concerns aside, excellent passer and rebounder. Slightly older, turning 32 in February, not sure he could return to his all NBA playing days. Wont resign with the Bulls in all likeliness to chase a bigger role after his least amount of MPG since his rookie year. Basically a Pachualia mould with a higher ceiling. 10-12M

Ezeli: with the best potential upside, he will get a pay day, not sure max worthy and can't see GSW matching with Bogut still owed money and Curry to get a super max in 2017. I see him as a DeAndre Jordan-esque player, on the slightlyer liter sider. 15M+

Small Forwards-

Barnes: hasn't been a main cog in GS, but has shown reliability on both ends of the floor, shooting % have gotten better the last 2 years and is versatile to defend the 3/4. Not sure his ability to create for himself is what we are after exactly, only 23 with a high ceiling however. 20M-Max

Bazemore: Bit small at 6-5 to be a SF, but has played in large amounts there for Atlanta. Can shoot and create, high in steals too, probably best suited as a 6th man role. Entering prime of career at 26. 12M

DeRozan: No doubts about the offensive slack getting picked up, we probably aren't in his top 5 suitors however. Not a great 3 point shooter, but would free up shots for Wes with penetration. Max

Turner: Prototypical point forward, would be an ideal target if not for the poor 3 point shooting. No going to get the start in Boston with their talent, so will almost certainly leave for a bigger pay day. 12-14M

Point Guards-
Mike Conley: Solid PG, can create for himself, did have a career worst year from the field at a poultry 42%. Not overly impressed by his abilites, never improved much over his career and for what he will earn. Did lead the league in assist/turnover ration at 4.1. 18M

Dellavedova: Not going to be brought in as a starter, scenario for bringing him would be to backup Deron if Felton leaves. Good assist/turnover ratio. 3&D player. 6-8M