Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

I'm actually quite confident that Julius will start shooting threes with decent efficiency (30+%) next year.

 

League average is 34% I think. His shot looks better from the 3 point line than midrange; it certainly would open things up for Julius and our team.

 

@RandleROFY Yeah, funny how his shot looks better from longer range.

@Savory Griddles I seriously doubt Simmons would be good enough to convince us to let go of Julius. Julius is already a double-double machine, and he's only starting to scratch the surface. He's also got an alpha mentality with an impeccable work ethic. He's nearly impossible to replace.

 

I did say nearly impossible to replace

And the only PF's to average a double-double last year was Julius and Anthony Davis, so by definition, he's nearly impossible to replace in terms of rebounding at least!

 

We absolutely don't need to shop Randle. If the right deal is there sure, but we don't just trade the kid for a shooter. We trade him if we get a star, but just trading him for the sake of trading him for an inferior player would be stupid and would set us back years and the same goes for Simmons. Luke said it best Julius already averaged a double double in a man's league. The kid has enormous potential and showed that he can make big shots as well. As we did with D'Angelo. Whos to say Julius doesn't improve his jump shot in the offseason? There's no reason to believe he won't and those spacing issues won't be near as drastic as they appear to be now. If there isn't a good return for either Simmons or Randle there is no need to trade them. Just hold onto them until the right one becomes available.

 

Can KD sign a 1+1 anywhere or only okc? If so, why no talk of that?

 

He's free to do whatever he wants, but not so sure it's a great idea. Maybe just doing a player option after year one, but no player is going to leave 100 million on the table in case of injury is my guess.

 

As the playoffs goes on, the more I don't want Derozan. I've been watching him and all he basically does is pull up for a midrange jumper and bricking them. I was only able to catch the 4th quarter and OT today, but Derozan was not good in the final six minutes he played and based on his box score and being benched for most of the 4th quarter, he was terrible as well. At this point, I don't even know if teams will be willing to spend the max on him.

 

So you hurt your finger? AND????

 

You said we have to shop him around. We don't have to do anything. We don't have to ship him out for supposed better fitting pieces. What are those better fitting pieces? Are they gonna help us? Is it worth trading a guy with such great potential just because a certain piece happens to fit a little better at the time? Who says Simmons won't go anywhere? If LA gets a star for him they'll likely pull the trigger.

 

Wait....WHAT? You're telling me the max is in the ballpark of $45 million a year?

Now I knew the cap was going up and max salaries as well, but I have a feeling those numbers are a bit off. If what you said about 7.5% and 4.5% are the right figures, I think his OKC Bird Rights would be closer to 4/140 and other teams would be able to offer 4/130. He also can get an extra year in OKC making it 5/180.

I could be wrong but damn those numbers are ridiculous.

 

So as someone who is a BIG proponent of Harrison Barnes (and anti-DeRozan) I stumbled across a great Grantland article on him. But the funny part is it points out many of Barnes' flaws and why he may not deserve a max contract.

The caveat is that it was written about a year ago, and Barnes has had a great season. Now before you all read this and go sour on Barnes keep in mind the kid is 23 and AND we don't want him here to be a #1 or #2 option. Just a great #3 option a la Lamar Odom. Anyways, I thought it was a great in-depth take on him. I read it and I still want him, but hoping Luke can convince him to take less to join the Lakers.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/harrison-barnes-2016-extension-free-agent/

 

I like Barnes. Given the marketplace, his youth, his skillset, he's getting a max deal, and I'd sign him to one. We have to remember, too; there is different tiers to max contracts. Barnes' max is $21 million. He's worth it. The problem is he's an RFA; and I'm generally against going after RFA's. It could be the Lakers change course this season, though and change their approach and method and start pursuing RFA's.

I'll read the article. Thanks for posting.

 

With Barnes being restricted we have to give him a large deal otherwise the Warriors will probably just match it.

 

Batum sounds a lot like Middleton was last year. I think there is a really good chance he stays in Charlotte. They seem to be making resigning him a top priority and he's got several quotes floating around that sound like he is leaning toward staying put.

https://fansided.com/2016/05/04/nba-free-agency-nicolas-batum-eager-return-hornets/

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/05/02...agents/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter