I haven't written a fanpost in a while, so I figured I would give this offseason plan project thing a try. My plan stays away from restricted free agents like Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, I would love to get them, but I just don't see them as being a realistic possibility to steal from their respective teams. Plus, I'm sure many other of these offseason plans by other people will feature those players.
I'm going to use the information provided in the original post about this, so if anything is wrong, that's what it says in that post.
My offseason plan begins with declining the option for Shawne Williams. He was a pretty worthless player in his time here, and I do not want to see him back. I expect that Cartier Martin will accept his player option, and I will also accept Caron Butler's option. I like Caron Butler's "veteran presence," and I'm not going to chase some of the big fishes in my offseason plan, so I don't think I will need to decline Caron's option for more cap room.
I love Greg Monroe, but I don't see it being very likely that he comes back, so I am basing my plan on Greg Monroe not coming back.
This will put the total salaries for next year at $37,227,768 after taking those two options into account. It will leave about $29,772,232 in cap room.
I will now go over the draft and what I would like to see happen. Stanley Johnson is my favorite player for our pick in this draft. However, my plan for free agency is targeting wing players, so I think it would be better to go big in the draft. That's where my 2nd favorite pick in this draft comes in, Myles Turner. He is a Center, but I think he could make the switch to Power Forward. I like his defensive potential, as well as his potential as a stretch four. He only shot 27% from 3 in college, but he shot 84% from the free throw line. He's got a solid looking release and had a solid mid range game in college, which is why I can see him developing his three point shot in the future. He also averaged 2.6 blocks per game, which is show a lot of defensive potential. He is definitely a project, as there are issues with his running, but I think Arnie can get that fixed because in Arnie we trust. For the 2nd round pick I would go with Rakeem Christmas from Syracuse. I am not sure whether he will be available at our pick because there are some mock drafts that have him going before our pick and some have him going after. He did very well in the combine scrimmages, and I think that he can play both big positions, which is great to have for a backup. Plus, he is a senior, so he has a bit more polish as a prospect, unlike the project in the first round, Myles Turner.
We now go into free agency with about $26,896,596 in cap room. The player that I go after is Demarre Carroll, the Small Forward from the Atlanta Hawks. He is a solid defender, and a solid 3 point shooter, and a player that I am a big fan of. I would offer him a 3 year $30 million contract, and not any more. There could be a team like the Knicks or Lakers that offer him more, and if that happens, I would not offer any more to try and get him. In this plan I am going forward like Carroll would accept this offer. The next player that I would target is Iman Shumpert. I have an irrational love for Shumpert, and would be absolutely thrilled if we got him. He is a solid 3 and D wing that can play SG and SF. He is a restricted free agent, but I can see the Cavaliers not matching an offer if Kevin Love stays because they will not have much cap room. With how Sumpert has played in the playoffs, I could see the Cavs matching now, but I'm going to operate under my original impression that they will not. I would offer Sumpert a 3 year $18 million contract, and hope the Cavs do not match. I don't see Shumpert getting more, but he could with the rising cap. Taking these two contracts into account, it leaves about $10,896,596 in cap room. I would re-sign Joel Anthony for 2 years $2.5 million. That will leave about $9,646,596 in cap room This will be used on locking up Reggie Jackson. I think we will give him 4 years $40 million, he did reportedly turn down 4 years $48 million from Oklahoma City, but I think that was more based on the fact that he didn't want to be a backup, so we might get a bit of a discount. We own Reggie's bird rights, so we can go over the cap to match offers or give him a contract; so if he wants a bit more, or gets offered a bit more from another team, I am fine with giving it to him.
This leaves the roster looking like this:
PG-Reggie Jackson, Brandon Jennings, Spencer Dinwiddie
SG-KCP, Iman Shumpert, Jodie Meeks
SF- Carroll, Shumpert, Butler, Quincy Miller
PF-Tolliver, Turner, Christmas
C-Drummond, Turner, Anthony, Christmas
It puts the roster at 14 players, unless I forgot somebody, which will leave room for 10 day D-league guys or future trades.
What do you guys think. I focused more on defense and chased players that I really like more than chasing the bigger fishes or the higher profile restricted free agents. This roster isn't competing for a Championship soon, but I think it is about a 4-6 seed in the East. I could have swung for the fences a bit more, but I would love watching this team, and like the defensive potential of this roster. I think my calculations are correct, but I could have messed something up as I am not a cap expert. Let me know what you guys think, I am open to discussion.
