JOSH SMITH to Clippers

[madmaxmedia]

Also, despite Doc River's other inadequacies, I actually think he is the perfect coach to try to bring this squad together and get them on the same page and committed. Pierce really helps here too.

[QRich3]

Yeah, he's a flawed player but he has some talent very useful to this team, and it's not like there's better things waiting for us. Darrel Arthur is still on the market because he's been injured half of his career and it doesn't look like he's gonna get much better.

I'll get anyone other than JJ Hickson on this team for Jamal. I'll even take back Nick Young.

[nickhx2]

hmm, i don't know if he's the perfect coach but he might be one of the best personality managers to make it happen.

if i were steve ballmer i'd throw lots of money at rick carlisle cause that's a coach who actually has the brilliance to make misfits actually fit.

[nickhx2]

I'll get anyone other than JJ Hickson on this team for Jamal. I'll even take back Nick Young.

you realize when you say things like this the only purpose it serves is to hurt other people

[QRich3]

I'm serious though, I'll take Nick Young. He was a pretty good defender for us, and he's a decent catch and shooter too. And he can play both wing positions unlike Jamal. It's choosing between two really bad players but I'll take Young for this team. It's not about hating on him, I actually think he's been a nice guy and like his personality. He's a really bad fit with how the rest of the roster is built though, he sticks out.

[JayClips92]

I'm serious though, I'll take Nick Young. He was a pretty good defender for us, and he's a decent catch and shooter too. And he can play both wing positions unlike Jamal. It's choosing between two really bad players but I'll take Young for this team.

Nick Young has 3 years left on his contract and coming off his worst shooting season, please no nick young unless we can get a pick thrown in...

[QRich3]

I'm serious though, I'll take Nick Young. He was a pretty good defender for us, and he's a decent catch and shooter too. And he can play both wing positions unlike Jamal. It's choosing between two really bad players but I'll take Young for this team.

Nick Young has 3 years left on his contract and coming off his worst shooting season, please no nick young unless we can get a pick thrown in...

And he still shot significantly better than Jamal from deep and more or less the same TS%. Plus it's not like we're gonna do a lot of things with those 5 million in capspace that we can't do with the MLE.

I feel silly making a case for Nick Young, I'd rather explore a couple dozen options before him, but if that's the value Jamal has now, I'd do it. Probably take a small asset from the Lakers too.

[nickhx2]

only way i'd take that contract back from the lakers is if they added an asset. and even then it'd have to be a pretty good one cause there's no way i'm sabotaging 20m in cap space next year on nick young lol

[mttwlsn16]

GREAT deal for the minimum

[Ranma]

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[QRich3]

only way i'd take that contract back from the lakers is if they added an asset. and even then it'd have to be a pretty good one cause there's no way i'm sabotaging 20m in cap space next year on nick young lol

Not sure where you're gonna take those 20M, but he makes $5M, and we have about $84M already committed if everyone picks up their options, or about $93M if Lance works out and we pick up his option. That's probably already at the salary cap or slightly below, even with the most optimistic projections for next year. The dream of adding a significant FA next year is just that, a dream. Everyone is gonna have a lot more capspace than us and offer scary contracts left and right, next year is the worst year to focus in FA. Perfect time to buy low on trades. Still, there's much better options than Young, I was just talking about a what if situation, seeing that it seems no one is offering anything serious for Crawford.

[nickhx2]

currently using this as basis of my contract numbers: http://hoopshype.com/salaries/los_angeles_clippers/

basically if we decline lance's option and rid ourselves of everyone except blake/cp3/jj/dj/pierce, we'll have about 73M in salary, by my calculations. btw i was just estimating dj's first year to be 20m, so that could be wrong.

the rest i see as players who will very reasonably opt out of their 1+1 deals or can be easily moved. or if not moved then their contracts don't amount to much. so wilcox will only give us a hold of 1.2M. meanwhile i don't see guys like aldrich/rivers/etc. staying with us past a year because they will want to cash out. also, i believe the stretch provision is still gonna weigh on our cap space so that might count for something too.

but yeah looks about 20m to me or thereabouts. i'm not necessarily sure we can get anyone huge with that 20 (though i think 20m annually for batum sounds about perfect since he is not a max player), but hey, just showing my work.

that said, if the chance does arise where KD's like "yeah make space for me to sign up" then being able to move jj/pierce should be extremely easy, and having that 20m would be pretty useful.

[QRich3]

You should use http://www.basketballinsiders.com/los-angeles-clippers-team-salary/ which is updated almost daily and is usually very accurate. And you're ignoring every guy with a player option, which amounts to about $6M extra, plus the cap holds and the stretched guys. And above everything, you're forgetting EVERYONE is gonna have extra capspace, so it's likely guys like Batum are gonna get the $25M maximum just because of that, every team with a need at the wing and more capspace they can use is gonna be fighting over him, and every other decent player. Free agency is just a bad option for us next year, I know it's great for us fans to dream we can get an impact player, but in reality it's not gonna be worth it to waive half the roster for the right to overpay someone not that good. If Durant was to decide he wants to come here and only here (highly doubt it), you're better just working out a S&T with OKC than waiving half the roster just for the long shot chance.

[nickhx2]

thanks i'll take a look into that.

i think you make a good point that everyone is going to have extra cap space. in a vacuum, batum is really just an example. but that's all it is just an example. i'm just trying to make the point that i'd rather maintain flexibility than be wasteful of it if given the option, especially for someone like nick young. i can understand locking in a guy now at good value but he's gotta be good for us too right now lol. and in our current state we'd be trading surplus for surplus if that were the case.

in contrast i might balk at say, taj gibson cause that's 9m incoming through 2016 but hey that at least works out GREAT for us this year. but i'd definitely go for that as opposed to nick young even if it's a bird in the hand situation come next offseason.

[og15]

can't believe i'm buying into this but i guess i don't have much choice. even if have some misgivings, i can't deny the value of this signing for the minimum. he's an elite passer for a big, and he might excel in doc's strong-side defense. guys who can move like he does are pretty much made for it anyway.

now all we have to do is snatch olshey from portland, put paul pierce in a time machine to get the 28 year old version back and win the next 50 championships.

or maybe let's just start by trading jamal crawford for chris andersen and shabazz

I've never been a huge fan of Smith, definitely not as a first, second, or even third option. BUT, for the minimum, with him supposedly accepting a "defined role", and with this teams huge need for defense, I like it.

Smith can still defend, and I don't expect to be the #1 ranked offense this season, but maybe it still happens, but I would hope to be in the top 5 in Drtg this coming season. The difference between being #15 and #4 or #5 in Drtg is a much bigger deal than whether you're #1 in Ortg or #3 or #5 in Ortg. The Clippers have a chance to be a top 5 offensive and defensive team this coming season.

[nba2k16]

I'm serious though, I'll take Nick Young. He was a pretty good defender for us, and he's a decent catch and shooter too. And he can play both wing positions unlike Jamal. It's choosing between two really bad players but I'll take Young for this team. It's not about hating on him, I actually think he's been a nice guy and like his personality. He's a really bad fit with how the rest of the roster is built though, he sticks out.

Please tell me your not serious... I agree we should trade crawford for any SF but def not Young. We have enough potential cancers in the locker room we dont need another one

[QRich3]

Yeah I'm usually a guy that tends to go for flexibility, but not this year. Because of the cap jump frenzy there's gonna a be a lot of overpays early and teams will regret a lot of contracts when the dust settles. And it's the perfect opportunity to buy into the inefficiency of previous contracts being exaggeratedly cheaper.

I'd obviously go for Taj Gibson before Young too, but being realistic we probably can't get him even if we attach a lightly protected 1st rounder to Crawford.

[og15]

Young's contract is too long, no need trading Jamal for someone you don't consider to be in your long term plans, and where are the minutes? Young is a good man defender, but a lost team defender

[madmaxmedia]

You should use http://www.basketballinsiders.com/los-angeles-clippers-team-salary/ which is updated almost daily and is usually very accurate. And you're ignoring every guy with a player option, which amounts to about $6M extra, plus the cap holds and the stretched guys. And above everything, you're forgetting EVERYONE is gonna have extra capspace, so it's likely guys like Batum are gonna get the $25M maximum just because of that, every team with a need at the wing and more capspace they can use is gonna be fighting over him, and every other decent player. Free agency is just a bad option for us next year, I know it's great for us fans to dream we can get an impact player, but in reality it's not gonna be worth it to waive half the roster for the right to overpay someone not that good. If Durant was to decide he wants to come here and only here (highly doubt it), you're better just working out a S&T with OKC than waiving half the roster just for the long shot chance.

Everyone is licking their chops at more cap space next season, but there's not much available unless you think you can land KD.

I didn't do the math but looking at what you say, I think it was pretty much our 2 options were DJ now, or cap space next year. And with the current outlook on next year, DJ now seems like the better choice.

I mean I'm sure you can construct crazy scenarios where we strip our roster, trade guys for non-guaranteed contracts that we cut, etc. to free up a max salary slot. But if we make it to say the Western Conference Finals next season, I don't think you look to make such wrenching changes, assuming 1 or 2 of the new guys pan out and we have a solid overall squad.

[nickhx2]

can't believe i'm buying into this but i guess i don't have much choice. even if have some misgivings, i can't deny the value of this signing for the minimum. he's an elite passer for a big, and he might excel in doc's strong-side defense. guys who can move like he does are pretty much made for it anyway.

now all we have to do is snatch olshey from portland, put paul pierce in a time machine to get the 28 year old version back and win the next 50 championships.

or maybe let's just start by trading jamal crawford for chris andersen and shabazz

I've never been a huge fan of Smith, definitely not as a first, second, or even third option. BUT, for the minimum, with him supposedly accepting a "defined role", and with this teams huge need for defense, I like it.

Smith can still defend, and I don't expect to be the #1 ranked offense this season, but maybe it still happens, but I would hope to be in the top 5 in Drtg this coming season. The difference between being #15 and #4 or #5 in Drtg is a much bigger deal than whether you're #1 in Ortg or #3 or #5 in Ortg. The Clippers have a chance to be a top 5 offensive and defensive team this coming season.

yeah i see it like that too. i'm not sure josh smith catapults us there on his own. it would have to be a combination of smith/lance all buying in completely, blake getting better, dj getting better, rivers getting better, and wes johnson/aldrich providing neutral/plus defense.

some combination of all of that puts the team where we want it to be defensively, and while i'm not expecting anything just yet, at least the door is open.