Season Speculation, Trade Ideas and Discussion

[Saberestar]

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Not sure if it's legit.

[RaisingArizona]

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Please God.

[thamadkant]

I just saw Len and max contract mentioned together in the same sentence. Wow. I sure wish I saw was whatever it is you see in Len.

it sickens me actually.... Athlete and Sports Agents today are killing it money wise because they can market players in their full potential rather than what they are.

I mean MAX money on role players is ridiculous...

David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone etc. where on 5-7 million a year a couple decades back... and these players are LEGIT MAX in any era.... but you have players half the talent earning MAX... it makes my stomach churn. I understand the capitalist nature... but Mozgov, Crabbe, Turner etc. have LITTLE to ZERO impact in TV ratings, merchandising etc... heck they are borderline making an impact on the court.... what they are, are players with powerful Sports Agents... which is messed up.

Money is getting made regardless so it's a matter of who gets paid. It sucks that athletes are getting paid the amounts they do these days but at the same time, I'd rather it go to the players than fattening up the pockets of the owners even more.

I rather for it to go to improving the stadium audience experience better.... upgrade the courts, maybe a digitized hard floor that lights up spots and can also be used for advertising. Return some of the money back to the fans...

A player earning 15 million dollars a year... getting an additional 2 million dollars is not really life changing, rather use that extra money to what I mentioned prior.

[thamadkant]

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Please God.

If so... then Len gets traded.

... would LOVE Cousins next to Noel though.... absolutely would compliment each other... with Bender off the bench.

[lilfishi22]

it sickens me actually.... Athlete and Sports Agents today are killing it money wise because they can market players in their full potential rather than what they are.

I mean MAX money on role players is ridiculous...

David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone etc. where on 5-7 million a year a couple decades back... and these players are LEGIT MAX in any era.... but you have players half the talent earning MAX... it makes my stomach churn. I understand the capitalist nature... but Mozgov, Crabbe, Turner etc. have LITTLE to ZERO impact in TV ratings, merchandising etc... heck they are borderline making an impact on the court.... what they are, are players with powerful Sports Agents... which is messed up.

Money is getting made regardless so it's a matter of who gets paid. It sucks that athletes are getting paid the amounts they do these days but at the same time, I'd rather it go to the players than fattening up the pockets of the owners even more.

I rather for it to go to improving the stadium audience experience better.... upgrade the courts, maybe a digitized hard floor that lights up spots and can also be used for advertising. Return some of the money back to the fans...

A player earning 15 million dollars a year... getting an additional 2 million dollars is not really life changing, rather use that extra money to what I mentioned prior.

That would mean money in the owner's pockets since they are the ones in charge of those things you've listed. Lowering the prices of tickets and more freebies would be nice for the fans though.

The way I see it, it sucks players are so grossly overpaid these days but fundamentally, they SHOULD be the ones getting paid because they are the product. They are the ones putting in hours after games, giving it their all in games and they are the ones with the target on their backs when the team isn't performing at a high level. That's how it is generally anyway.

[NavLDO]

The Nets will offer the max for Len

I doubt it but if so, Alex Len will likely play for Brooklyn.

I can say I wish the Nets wouldn't have gotten all their offers matched, so they wouldn't have all that money, and depending on their long term view of Lopez, it is possible they throw a max out there to a center, but there are others they might prefer to do that with from that draft class. However, I guess some contracts, like Steven Adams 4 years at $100 million have already gotten extended.

I still think he will be the highest paid player on the team next year. That would suck if Brooklyn gave him a max offer sheet though.

I think part of the reason we are not starting him is for contract negotiation, and fewer minutes means fewer stats, recognition, etc. I'll be happy if we can keep him at like $17.5 or less (That's 75% of what Adams got which is around the max). Obviously I'd rather not go above a lower number, but you simply cannot let solid young rotation players walk away because we haven't really been able to sign an impact free agent at a position of need in quite a while.

But McD gave Bledsoe and Knight about 80-90% of the max and they were not as high of lottery picks as Len was. As far as I'm concerned, I hope barring some trade that I don't foresee, that they should just try to extend Len to a reasonable deal if Len knows he wants to stay here. Maybe he doesn't want to deal with free agency. But I'm sure his agent will want to test the market rather than take a reasonable deal. I wonder what other unrestricted centers will be out there, other than Bogut.

It seems like when some talk about the numbers, they are still thinking in terms of the old cba, or that we benefit in some way by retaining open cap space as if there are better free agents out there than Len who would could alternatively use that money for. We seem to be fine depth wise at every other position but the one position we have a really old starter at is C.

Plus, it's clear that a C that finishes his 4th season avg'ing 27.6 MPG 8.0 9.7 .496 .673 FT% and 1.8 Blks will ever amount to anything like ALL-NBA/DPOY honors like Tyson did, and eerie how similar those numbers are to Len's his season...

Not saying that PROVES Len will ever become those things; only that sometimes, Bigs take awhile to develop, and Chandler didn't, depending on who you ask, until his 6th season, so like has been said about Len; who exactly is out there that is so much better at 23YO that will sign for under the MAX?

IMO, see how Len finishes the season, and sign him to an appropriate contract, and if it's a 'low' contract, ten I guess we are drafting a Center early this year, but Len cannot command more than he's really worth...to some extent. Maybe by $2-3M, but that's it, really..

[NBA Fiend]

Fans on Philly board seem to think Trey Rodriguez is quite realible with his information. Maybe Philly is floating this to see if someone comes in with something they like better.

[kennydorglas]

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Not sure if it's legit.

Ohhhhh

[sunsbum]

Colangeli to the rescue.

[TeamTragic]

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Not sure if it's legit.

[batsmasher]

Ah yes, Trey Rodriguez. I know him well.

[Skillmatic]

Please let it happen. Would love to have Nerlens Noel on our team. Love his game and his defense

[m1chal]

Not sure if I like the idea. Getting rid of Knight is obviously an addition by substraction but Noel is looking to get paid and what about those bum knees reported by our own medical staff prior to draft?

[Blackification]

Not getting my hopes up, McD is too stubborn

[Damkac]

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Please God.

If so... then Len gets traded.

... would LOVE Cousins next to Noel though.... absolutely would compliment each other... with Bender off the bench.

Right, can't give huge extensions to both Noel and Len.
But it would make McD looks dumb since he drafted Len ahead of Noel.

About the players contracts, I would like if every team could (for example) give one 25+ milions/year contract, one 20-25 milions/year and one 15-20 milions/year. That would prevent creating superteams and overpaying average players.

[asudevil]

Please God.

If so... then Len gets traded.

... would LOVE Cousins next to Noel though.... absolutely would compliment each other... with Bender off the bench.

Right, can't give huge extensions to both Noel and Len.
But it would make McD looks dumb since he drafted Len ahead of Noel.

About the players contracts, I would like if every team could (for example) give one 25+ milions/year contract, one 20-25 milions/year and one 15-20 milions/year. That would prevent creating superteams and overpaying average players.

Dont even care if McD looks "dumb." trading Knight (whom he traded for AND then resigned) for Noel is already admitting fault. If he can turn a bad move or two into a good one, then who cares about pride. Pride is winning, and moving us another step forward is prideful....especially if that means additional moves which reverse mistakes.

[thamadkant]

Money is getting made regardless so it's a matter of who gets paid. It sucks that athletes are getting paid the amounts they do these days but at the same time, I'd rather it go to the players than fattening up the pockets of the owners even more.

I rather for it to go to improving the stadium audience experience better.... upgrade the courts, maybe a digitized hard floor that lights up spots and can also be used for advertising. Return some of the money back to the fans...

A player earning 15 million dollars a year... getting an additional 2 million dollars is not really life changing, rather use that extra money to what I mentioned prior.

That would mean money in the owner's pockets since they are the ones in charge of those things you've listed. Lowering the prices of tickets and more freebies would be nice for the fans though.

The way I see it, it sucks players are so grossly overpaid these days but fundamentally, they SHOULD be the ones getting paid because they are the product. They are the ones putting in hours after games, giving it their all in games and they are the ones with the target on their backs when the team isn't performing at a high level. That's how it is generally anyway.

To me... The game of basketball between the two teams is the product. The players are the tools.

Its like movies... Its perfectly fine to pay a great actor lots of money.. But it doesnt necessarily mean a good movie. But spending more money on the movie script and extending lead time to ensure the movie isnt rushed would ultimately benefit the audience.

The players getting more money doesnt benefit the fans.

The players getting more money also doesnt mean the match between the two teams become better... It can be a factor... But its not critical.

[RunDogGun]

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Not sure if it's legit.

It seems like Kerrsed sent this info to this guy. Oddly I would think Colangelo would want to get rid of Okafor, because of his off the court issues.

[WeekapaugGroove]

There was a study online somewhere that the younger generation (Millenials) are not watching Sports as much as the previous generations. The NBA's salary cap will most likely peak several years from now and then would have to come back down or stagnate. Hence why advertising on jerseys and on the court is inevitable... but thats another story.

The point is... this mind set of spending spending gazillions of dollars for non-impact players is a phase and will likely fade away.
In the future, I can imagine superstars actually getting up to 40-45% of the team's salary and there will be no soft cap.. only a hard cap. Players like Crabbe, Turner etc. who got ridiculous money for role players will be phased out and come down significantly.


Having 2-3 superstars and close to minimum vets and rookies would be the future trend IMO.... just makes sense from a marketing point of view.

I agree the TV money will level out at some point but NBA games will still be very valuable assets for networks because sports are one of the few things that people still watch live so advertising is at a premium. I really think with the new influx of money the league should have made a point to either freeze or lower ticket prices. It would have been a good PR move and good for the league in general because the gate money just isn't as important anymore.

I agree with you that a hard cap and no max contracts is a far better solution than the current system. That way guys like Bron and Davis could get paid what they are worth and teams wouldn't be forced to overpay the middle class. Now I don't see anyway the players association would agree to this; it would benefit the few stars but would decrease earnings for that middle group so I just can't see those players who it would hurt voting for that change.

[Tysons Elbow]

I saw that Orlando is looking to the trade market for scoring help. Knight to Orlando makes too much sense. With a struggling Payton, they would probably be interested in Knight. What would we want though?

I think we'll be better off trading Bled. I know, I know, we've invested a lot in him. But he's playing great, has three years left on his contract, and we suuuuuck. There's no reason to think he'll still be here when our core comes of age. IMO, this is the time to move on. Orlando has plenty to offer - Payton, Hezonja, Zimmerman, but most importantly, picks.

Bledsoe's the guy I'm looking to move. Knight I'd keep for now. See if maybe he can push his value out of the basement as a starter. There's always hope.

Very much this!! While I am (somewhat of) a Bledsoe fan - 2 things come to mind.

1. We will get a better return for a package built around him as opposed to anyone else that is/should be on the table. We will be set up better for the future and COULD even end up a better team right now based on team needs and fit.

2. We need a distributor on this team, man. And a distributor Eric is not. We need better ball movement, more assists, and less turnovers (captain obvious). While Bledsoe isn't the only problem, by far, it starts with him. He's our starting PG!! If he's not moving the ball efficiently it causes a ripple through the whole team. Everyone starts fending for themselves. And then what? ISO city!!! I think part of Bookers drop in efficiency is a result of that ripple.

I like Bled. But I think the entire complexion of this team will change if he is moved. I believe for the better.

THEN we worry about moving Knight. Let him build up his value (hopefully) and move him in the offseason.

Then draft a PG and we're on a much better path IMO.


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