Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

It changes almost every day but right now it's Horford. Consistent effort every night, a good jumper to space the floor, and he can attack in multiple ways.

I'd also be fine with Whiteside or Noah or Ezeli or Mahinmi or Biyombo or Bogut depending on what our situation ends up being.

 

Well, it's not that I think there are 5 or 6 guys better, but while signing guys long-term, you can't just look at talent in a vacuum. You need to look at bang for your buck, fit, etc. I'd approach Durant and Lebron (obviously) as well as Batum, and Barnes first. DD is a better player than both of those last two guys, but Batum and his skillset is a much better fit. Barnes could be better (we don't know how much playing with Steph/Klay/Draymond eats into his opportunities) and his playstyle/skillset fit better with our team, especially with Luke now at the helm. Then you get to players like Bazemore who will likely cost half as much as DD and bring you some interesting things. Deng and Afflalo both are better defenders and like Bazemore will cost half as much. You can get both Bazemore AND Biyombo for the same price as DD.

 

Ok, and LOL for wanting a shooting guard who can't shoot and has been a total choker in the playoffs. Quite honestly other than name recognition why is DeRozan a better fit on our squad than Deng or Bazemore? We NEED a small forward. DeRozan right now doesn't play the position. For my money, Jordan Clarkson is already a much more versatile scorer and player in general than DeRozan and I like his drive and heart more.

I just don't see the point in DeRozan. We are desperate for a good center and a starting level SF. I do think that some of what we are speculating on right now comes down to whether or not we keep the pick and where it lands 1,2 or 3. If we were to try to trade the pick and Clarkson for Butler then the narrative changes and it makes sense to go after DeRozan in FA. Right now though, I don't see it.

 

Actually, I think the opposite. If we land Butler, then we go after Durant and Whiteside, HARD. Butler + Russell + Randle is a great core to pitch if you basically tell Durant and Whiteside you guys both sign here for the max and form a big three with Butler with potential all-stars at the other two positions. Butler honestly gives us a top 15 or so player. I don't want to take up max salary space with a B level star. We would have an A level. We need to make sure to get another A level.

Last night changed my tune a LITTLE bit on Whiteside. The guy came out and chanced an injury (and by extension his ...umm...extension) to help his team. That showed me that he might actually really care and won't go in the tank next season. The reason it doesn't fully convince me is the dude has an IQ of roughly 80 and quite possibly didn't understand that what he was doing could cost him his extension.

 

^^ Savory, sure, of course we go after Durant hard. I would think that we are going after Durant hard no matter what - he's the top FA. I am assuming that he isn't coming. Since we are talking about it, if the FO think that DeRozan will somehow bring us Durant then I'll change my mind on wanting him. It's just in the absence of Durant, I am not thrilled about DeRozan.

I do think you are right though - if we do trade Clarkson and the pick I can see us doing exactly what you are saying. Glad to see you are coming around on Whiteside, I do share your concerns that he's not the brightest basketball guy, but he could do a lot for us.

 

I'm not sure if you think I'm saying I am thrilled about DeRozan. I'm not. I was just saying that landing Butler I think would make us do the opposite as it pertains to going after him. Butler + DeRozan is not a championship team (or even top 5 in the West for that matter). And at that point we COULD add Whiteside, but man...that team has maybe the worst outside shooting in the league. Butler is adequate at best from downtown, DeRozan is subpar and our pf (Randle can't shoot from over 8 feet). Butler and DeRozan as our wings...the way this game is played now? Russell would be our only legitimate threat from downtown.

I'm totally with you on DeRozan. Not a fan at this point. But with Butler in tow, I think it actually decreases the odds we go after him.