I don't get it. Most of these teams that spent into the luxury tax didn't win anything special. The spending seems to come after a chip. The Spurs shouldn't count bc they're spending like 2 dollars each time they "pay" luxury tax. Seems like the biggest losers out there, the Knicks, paid the most. So tell me how that translates to winning? Why do we NEED to spend like that to win? Others haven't minus the Mavs and Lakers. The game seems to be 'spend wisely young franchise'.
Im not optimistic about this offseason. Tillman has proven he wants to mortgage the team's future not to pay the tax. And its not a great year for free agents. I'll give u that the team is set up to be competitive next year, but if Tillman wasnt willing to spend into the tax this year, what makes one think he'll do it next year? Morey hit on Ben Mac, i'll give him that. I think he's gonna have to find another overachiever on a minimum deal for us to keep strengthening the team. But i like the positivity of this thread. Just wish we had gone all out this year. I dont understand waiting. Harden's prime is tick ticking away, and the rest of the roster aint getting any younger. Rivers is gone next year, but MDA doesnt play him much anyway.
The issue here is that after Tilman took over a 65 win team that came within a whisker of knocking off GSW - probably the most dominant dynasty in the last 30 years - rather than build on it , he tore it apart piece by piece , asset by asset while having a league MVP playing as well as any player in the history of the league. That's when you spend. I get ducking the tax when you have no shot but .... not under those circumstances. I don't feel the need to list all the assets that got thrown towards ducking the tax - but how much better do you think this team could have been over the last 2 years had it used those assets to get better instead ? There's a time to be conservative and there's a time to shoot the moon .... Part of the reason for sure .... his record speaks for itself.
So you're mad that Tilman didn't resign an aging Trevor Ariza and a career ending injury Luc to make another run at a title while limping? In my mind that would've been flat out stupid. We wouldn't have the team we do today if Tilman was wise enough to do what you're suggesting. Spending does not allow for flexibility. Flexibility put Green and Carroll on our team. Those are the moves that bring chips, not over spending on an overvalued role player name A3za. How many threes did A3za knock down in his last game? Exactly... it was time to move on.
No. Ariza was just the first domino .... but lets talk about that situation anyhow - They were capped out and had only the MLE aside from minimums to fill that spot and multiple other FA's potentially walking. That was a guy who was playing 36+ minutes a night and you had no financial vehicle with which to replace him. You had his bird rights. Rather we went two seasons trying to solve the position with minimum players and washed up guys like Melo. Phx signed him for 1/15 then traded him for an up and coming star. You probably could have had him for 2/10 or at worst that same 1/15 and had him as an asset - maybe you end up with Oubre instead of Phx. Even if he was declining , he was better than anything we've had at the position the last two seasons until Covington which cost you Capela. The other thing was his fit within the system .... he didn't have that fit in Phx or Washington. The biggest problem for me is that they had no way to replace his production aside from the minimum contracts. Anderson wasn't working but his contract would have been an asset as an expiring had you sat on it rather than shedding assets in three separate deals to rid yourself of him. Anderson / Melton ->Knight/Chriss -> 1st round pick , second round pick , Shumpert. Dumping Ennis for a second. Then not taking advantage of Shumpert's bird rights to give yourself a financial vehicle to match salary with. And lets not forget about the $10m in incoming salary they could have added to the Weatbrook deal. Three years in a row , including this year the full MLE unspent. Oh , we're saving it for the buyout market .... That's a lot of assets .... Ariza was just the beginning. Luc we know was injured and he didn't come with bird rights but a veteran minimum.
Your revisionist version doesn't make us better so I'm going to continue to trust Tilman. Too much hate for the man around here. Hate tends to be pretty blind. Remember that.
It's gonna be scottie brooks time after this offense craps out. The offense is like a crap shoot because we're hot right now, but it's gonna get ugly when the crap shoot goes "broke"!
You are one of the few .... I don't give Tilman much if any credit at all , That goes to Morey for pulling off miracles while handcuffed.
I don't think Rivers is gone , he has a player option for next season , I think worst case he declines the option and does another 1+ player option for next year , then the following season they have full bird rights on him (either way). The rest of the rotation players are also locked up for next year minus Thabo. Chandler likely retires. The only questions are on the guys they picked up at the deadline - Green particularly as Carroll has been meh. Then there's Caboclo - You'd think they want to keep him around , probably doesn't cost a whole lot. Green signed a 10 day to see how he fit - its been good so far , I could see him sticking around kinda like Rivers did last season. They'll have 3-5 roster spots to fill , pending Caboclo and Green but the heavy lifting is already done. Honestly I think the offense can and will work .... the question is about defense and how teams attack them. Going at Harden in the post to get him in foul trouble ....
I was always against ragging on the team for not paying Ariza that much money, but when you put it like that you make a very strong case for it. Definitely could have used that asset worst case scenario. Some of the other moves are just a fall out from that, and maybe it wasn’t all about being cheap but rather A) thinking that Ariza could be replaced with cheaper players (I actually thought Ennis would work out) B) more importantly, sometimes depending on trades aren’t justifiable. What if come trade deadline Ariza is playing fine, team is ok but they haven’t shown signs that they’ve elevated themselves. Do you just eat the luxury tax? Do you dump Ariza mid season and disrupt the locker room? You’re not always guaranteed to hit on a trade even if you are Morey. That season we offered a way better deal for Jimmy than Philly did but we couldn’t get it done. For some other moves, yes we dumped Ennis but while he could have helped, he’s definitely the caliber where if it improves our finances then it’s worth letting go. Ditto for Shump in that we’d just be relying on hitting on a trade cuz he wasn’t very good to pay.
My point is not retaining Ariza and letting Shumpert's bird rights expire along with dumping Anderson(Knight/MC) were moves that A) cost assets and B) left you with no financial flexibility. You were extremely limited in what you could bring in as a result and if you wanted to add any salary over ~$6m you had to part with a rotation piece to make salary match. If you have those contracts , you have the flexibility to move salary in or out and you can combine those contracts with other assets to bring in a quality player. You can always find a buyer to take on salary for assets , you cant make assets / contracts appear out of thin air.
There are no marquee free agents unless you realistically consider carmelo anthony, a free agent. Mike DAntoni is finally a marquee free-agent!? Where will Mike Dantoni sign this summer?!
No I get what you’re saying and I wasn’t saying you’re wrong. Just playing devils advocate I guess when I said what if we did keep Ariza or Shumpert, meaning we committed to being a luxury tax team, and then couldn’t flip either for a player that got us to the next level. It sounds unlikely but again, we couldn’t get Jimmy with a monster offer.
I thought about it...the Pistons will probably re-sign Christian Wood. They traded away Drummond for whatever reason(s) and need to replace his minutes and production. Plus they have plenty of cap room. The Heat may want to keep Crowder but will probably be using their cap room and assests to chase a superstar (CP3?) to pair with Butler. So scoop him while they are in free agency limbo. Use MLE. Trade 1 HOU out: E.Gordon HOU in: M.Smart, R.Williams, BOS/MIL 2020 FRP BOS out: M.Smart, R.Williams, BOS/MIL 2020 FRP BOS in: E.Gordon Trade 2 HOU out: House, Hartenstein, MEM 2020 2nd RP, BOS/MIL 2020 FRP I could not find a package that seemed feasible. May need to use this package plus other future assets during next year's trade deadline. -Extend Tucker -Re-sign Caboclo -Hopefully Rivers opts in or re-signed to keep Bird Rights (C): Tucker, R.Williams, Hartenstein PF: J.Crowder, Caboclo SF: Covington, House SG: Harden, M.Smart, McLemore PG: Westbrook, Rivers, Clemons
https://tradenba.com/trades/5365_vfqf Transform the trade into a 3-team deal and pry away the best 3&D player from each team. That probably means including a pick or two with the trade package. If the 76ers would part with Matisse Thybulle, GREAT! If not, tweak the trade to get Zhaire Smith. 76ers get a respected shooter and cheap rotation player. AND get some picks for incoming salary. Celtics get a playmaker off the bench who can play defense. Also get a big man shooter who can spread the floor like Marcus Morris. Celtics have an overload of picks so they could use one or two to better their trade package. (C): Tucker, R.Williams, Hartenstein PF: J.Crowder, Caboclo SF: Covington, M.Thybulle SG: Harden, M.Smart, McLemore PG: Westbrook, Rivers, Clemons
Tilman will have lost too much money by the offseason that I'm afraid he will tell Morey the experiment is over and to have a fire sale.
