PSA: This is my first fan post.
Salary Cap/Re-signing
With Andre Drummonds cap hold of 8.2 million, plus the 64.8 million in guaranteed salaries on the books, we could have about 19 million in cap space (I included Gray and Smith’s stretched salaries).
Non-guaranteed and options:
I would also like to keep Hilliard, that takes our cap space down 18 million. I’m fairly indifferent on Dinwiddie and Brown. I like Dinwiddie and a part of me thinks he may turn into a NBA player, but a bigger part of me thinks that might take too long to be worth it to us. I’d be ok keeping Anthony, but I also think if we have to replace him with a veteran’s minimum center, that’s fine too. So I’m keeping him off the books for now and declining his option.
Draft picks:
I’m not going to pretend I watched enough college basketball to know what to do here. I’m going to defer to Bower for these. But, our first rounder is going to get paid just under 1.5 mil, so our cap space is now down to 16.5 million.
Free agency:
Austin Rivers actually had a pretty nice year that I don’t think many people noticed. He may be somewhat inconsistent, and isn’t the best distributor in the world, but he’s got a few things we need from a backup PG: size, shot creation, and defense. He also conveniently fits into our core’s age group at 23 years old. The Clippers cap situation is not wonderful, so I think he can be pried away for the right price. I’m making him an offer of 4 years, 30 million (7.5 mil per year), and hoping the Clippers don’t match. Let’s say they don’t.
Remaining cap space: 9 million
Trades:
This is where it gets a little dicey, because I’m hoping that SVG and Bower pluck a guy a team doesn’t want anymore, but this basically requires a team agreeing to my terms. If Miami needs to create some extra cap space for Whiteside and Wade, I’d ask if we can take Josh McRoberts (McBob) into our cap space for either nothing, Meeks, or Joel Anthony/Lorenzo Brown’s contracts. If they’d accept that, it’d be my option number 1. McBob has size, a serviceable outside shot, has proven that he can be a good/great team defender (had a top 5 defense in CHA with Al Jefferson), and his contract runs 2 more years at about 6.5 million. He also is a good playmaker/ball mover at the four spot, which is going to be critical. Austin Rivers can create his own shot, but putting him with McBob, Stanley Johnson, and either Morris or Harris in the 2nd unit would create enough playmaking and scoring by committee IMO. Let’s say Miami takes this trade to get him off the books, and doesn’t want Meeks in return.
This is my plan A. Our cap space would be down to 2.5 million to fill out the remaining spots. It’s possible our 3rd string center and 3rd PG would be our draft picks. If not, let’s get some vet’s min guys in here.
My plan B would be to see if NYK wants to unload O’Quinn for Meeks, or just into our cap space. He’s not as good of a shooter or playmaker as McBob, but he fits our core age wise and could also act as our backup center. I still think there’s a chance he learns to shoot the 3, and he’s on a great value contract.
Lineups:
PG: Jackson, Rivers, (Draft Pick/Dinwiddie/Vet’s Min Guy)
SG: KCP, Meeks, Bullock, Hilliard
SF: Morris, Johnson
PF: Harris, McBob
C: Drummond, Baynes, (Draft Pick/Vet’s Min Guy)
Not super exciting. I would actually still consider trading Meeks for O’Quinn even if we got McBob, just to act as an extra PF/C since we have so many wings. Meeks makes a little over 6 mil, and O’Quinn makes about 4, so we’d have to use some of our remaining 2.5 mil to absorb the difference, but it seems possible. If that happened, our lineups would be:
PG: Jackson, Rivers, (Draft Pick/Dinwiddie/Vet’s Min Guy)
SG: KCP, Bullock, Hilliard
SF: Morris, Johnson
PF: Harris, McBob
C: Drummond, Baynes, O’Quinn
Thoughts?
Twitter: @ClarkKnu
