Which Big Name Free Agent to Target?

[twslam07]

If the Kings were to renounce all of their free agents this year, the Kings would have $10,372,971 in cap space (9 players, 1 rookie cap hold - #6, 2 undrafted rookie cap holds = 12 players accounted for).

DeMarcus Cousins - $14,728,844
Rudy Gay - $12,403,101
Carl Landry - $6,750,000
Jason Thompson - $6,431,250
Darren Collison - $5,013,559
Ben McLemore - $3,156,600
Nik Stauskas - $2,869,440
Ray McCallum - $947,276
Eric Moreland - $845,059
1st Round Pick Cap Hold (6th Pick) - $2,831,900
Undrafted Rookie Cap Hold - $525,000
Undrafted Rookie Cap Hold - $525,000
Total Payroll - $57,027,029
Salary Cap - $67,400,000
Cap Space - $10,372,971

If the Kings were to use the stretch provision on Landry's contract, that would decrease his contract from $6,750,000 to $2,700,000 leaving us $4,050,000 in savings. However, since we removed a player from our roster, we have to add another undrafted rookie cap hold ($525,000) leaving us with a net gain of $3,525,000 more cap space to work. Add that to the original cap space ($10,372,971) and we now have $13,897,971 in cap space.

So now on to the question at hand...

Rather than splitting that cap space up to bring back multiple players lets say we had to spend all of it or the bulk of it on just one player. Which player would you target with our cap space? Any position in particular? What would be your best case scenario target versus what would be your most realistic target?

 

[jdbraver]

One of this centers minus Chandler. Jordan or gasol ideally but y would they?

 

[Albatros]

None of them will come, so.....

 

[Tetsujin]

One of this centers minus Chandler. Jordan or gasol ideally but y would they?

If we're in a win now mode, snagging a smart vet like Chandler goes a great way towards establishing a winning team. Still a solid defender when motivated. I have some doubts as to whether or not he and Boogie could effectively play together in a starting line-up but it's not exactly like 67-year-old Dirk is a speed demon out there.

Considering how decidedly awful the Rajon Rondo experience has been for the Mavs and the fact that their franchise player is 36-years-old and looking more and more like a stallion on its last legs, there's a chance that the Mavs could go into next season featuring an exciting core of Monta Ellis (now 30-years-old and with the full brunt of the oppositions attention focused upon him) and Chandler Parsons (good complementary player but now without the comforting presences of James Harden or Dirk's Ghost to give him plenty of room to operate) and a bunch of old dudes on the decline (Amar'e anyone?) and, now that I think of it, I believe Monta has a player option as well so, if all hell breaks loose, he's gone as well.

Now obviously, Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle could always pull another rabbit out of their hat and nab a guy in free agency but none of the guys out there that are franchise cornerstones (Butler isn't going anywhere and plays the same position as Monta and Parsons anyways, Kevin Love seems destined to bear witness to Kobe's death throes in Lakers gold) are available and/or are Rajon Rondo. In other words, if things fall into place, Chandler has a chance to become the most available of the "good" centers on the market and is still an effective player (as partially evident in how the Knicks defense imploded sans his presence).

The trick is getting him to come to the Kings when I'm sure there will be numerous other suitors but, if the Kings can get him, signing Chandler is the sort of vet signing that can help reshape an entire team's culture in the blink of an eye (a la Vlade), which is really something I never thought I'd be saying when Tyson was floundering on the Bulls a decade ago.

I'm not even saying the guy would be my first choice but, if we couldn't grab WCS in the draft and the other centers are locked away, it would be stupid to say no to a guy who pretty much creates successful defensive atmospheres wherever he winds up.

 

[jdbraver]

If we're in a win now mode, snagging a smart vet like Chandler goes a great way towards establishing a winning team. Still a solid defender when motivated. I have some doubts as to whether or not he and Boogie could effectively play together in a starting line-up but it's not exactly like 67-year-old Dirk is a speed demon out there.

Considering how decidedly awful the Rajon Rondo experience has been for the Mavs and the fact that their franchise player is 36-years-old and looking more and more like a stallion on its last legs, there's a chance that the Mavs could go into next season featuring an exciting core of Monta Ellis (now 30-years-old and with the full brunt of the oppositions attention focused upon him) and Chandler Parsons (good complementary player but now without the comforting presences of James Harden or Dirk's Ghost to give him plenty of room to operate) and a bunch of old dudes on the decline (Amar'e anyone?) and, now that I think of it, I believe Monta has a player option as well so, if all hell breaks loose, he's gone as well.

Now obviously, Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle could always pull another rabbit out of their hat and nab a guy in free agency but none of the guys out there that are franchise cornerstones (Butler isn't going anywhere and plays the same position as Monta and Parsons anyways, Kevin Love seems destined to bear witness to Kobe's death throes in Lakers gold) are available and/or are Rajon Rondo. In other words, if things fall into place, Chandler has a chance to become the most available of the "good" centers on the market and is still an effective player (as partially evident in how the Knicks defense imploded sans his presence).

The trick is getting him to come to the Kings when I'm sure there will be numerous other suitors but, if the Kings can get him, signing Chandler is the sort of vet signing that can help reshape an entire team's culture in the blink of an eye (a la Vlade), which is really something I never thought I'd be saying when Tyson was floundering on the Bulls a decade ago.

I'm not even saying the guy would be my first choice but, if we couldn't grab WCS in the draft and the other centers are locked away, it would be stupid to say no to a guy who pretty much creates successful defensive atmospheres wherever he winds up.

Chandler was a solid vet five years ago.

 

[Tetsujin]

Chandler was a solid vet five years ago.

Then what would you say he is now?

 

[ilmago]

Marc Gasol on that list. No doubt.
Add Winslow by draft and our Kings should be very very good.

Anyway, it's all just an illusion :lol:

 

[jdbraver]

Then what would you say he is now?

Aged?

 

[Darth Divac]

Jordan or Gasol.

 

[funkykingston]

An interesting exercise but it's a bit hard to say right now because (1) the draft may influence things somewhat and (2) it really depends on who is actually available in free agency.

For instance, if the Kings were to win the lottery and grab Towns I don't know that they'd throw all their capspace at say Gasol or Monroe.

And of course, some of these guys flat out won't be available. Aldridge is a near lock to resign with Portland and likely for significantly more than the caproom the Kings will have. The Warriors will also very likely match any and all offers for Draymond Green. Kevin Love wouldn't come to Sacramento. Most of the others guys on the list are highly questionable too. Butler and Gasol would probably rather resign with their current teams than join the Kings. $13 million is a lot but not enough to outbid teams for most of these guys.

So who are reasonable targets? Greg Monroe is clearly moving on and would be able to work with Cousins. If the Clippers flame out in the playoffs they might look to shake things up and let Jordan move on. Reggie Jackson and Rondo may test the free agent waters, especially given the latter's friction with his coach. Matthews, W. Chandler, Afflalo and Jeff Green could be obtainable. Middleton will be a hot name in free agency so I don't know there. I like a few of them but I'm not sure they are true difference makers. Of that list I like Middleton.

But in a world where all of them are options for the Kings I'd say Gasol or Draymond Green. In fact I'd probably put Green #1. If the Kings were to jump to #2 or #3 in the lottery and grab Russell and sign Draymond Green they'd be a very potent team. Two very versatile forwards starting next to Cuz, plenty of outside shooting, a full size PF/C off the bench in JT a solid PG rotation in Collison/Russell (and possibly Russell/Collison by the end of the season), and added defense and passing via Green.

Cousins
Green
Gay
McLemore
Collison

with a bench of:
Russell
Casspi (assuming he resigns)
Thompson
Stauskas (or veteran shooter)
Moreland

is a very solid lineup IMO. Gasol/Cousins is a more potent frontcourt but Cousins/Green gives you a more versatile team that helps Boogie more.

 

[Amit149]

If the Kings were to renounce all of their free agents this year, the Kings would have $10,372,971 in cap space (9 players, 1 rookie cap hold - #6, 2 undrafted rookie cap holds = 12 players accounted for).

DeMarcus Cousins - $14,728,844
Rudy Gay - $12,403,101
Carl Landry - $6,750,000
Jason Thompson - $6,431,250
Darren Collison - $5,013,559
Ben McLemore - $3,156,600
Nik Stauskas - $2,869,440
Ray McCallum - $947,276
Eric Moreland - $845,059
1st Round Pick Cap Hold (6th Pick) - $2,831,900
Undrafted Rookie Cap Hold - $525,000
Undrafted Rookie Cap Hold - $525,000
Total Payroll - $57,027,029
Salary Cap - $67,400,000
Cap Space - $10,372,971

If the Kings were to use the stretch provision on Landry's contract, that would decrease his contract from $6,750,000 to $2,700,000 leaving us $4,050,000 in savings. However, since we removed a player from our roster, we have to add another undrafted rookie cap hold ($525,000) leaving us with a net gain of $3,525,000 more cap space to work. Add that to the original cap space ($10,372,971) and we now have $13,897,971 in cap space.

So now on to the question at hand...

Rather than splitting that cap space up to bring back multiple players lets say we had to spend all of it or the bulk of it on just one player. Which player would you target with our cap space? Any position in particular? What would be your best case scenario target versus what would be your most realistic target?

I think we should target a 3 and d wing for our team. a guy like D. Green or Middleton would be great (and someone like Butler will be highly unlikely yet better) and we have enough cap to get one of them imo. signing another wing could make our wing rotation too packed and could maybe cause to a trade- considering Denver is in rebuild mode and Karl want Ty- DC and Ben (and maybe some 2nd rounders) for Ty might happen.

If we get one of them and make the trade than you can go about the draft in two different ways- if you draft WCS than you build a very big lineup, drafting WCS while leaving our rotation looking like this:

PG- Ty, Ray, Miller
SG- Green/Middleton, Nik
SF- Gay, Casspi
PF- WCS, Moreland, Reggie
C- Cousins, JT, SIM!!!

Or drafting Winslow or Stanley and moving Gay to the 4:

PG- Ty, Ray, Miller
SG- Green/Middleton, Nik
SF- Winslow/Stanley, Casspi
PF- Gay, Moreland, Reggie
C- Cousins, JT, SIM!!!

The first one gives you terrific size, the 2nd option is what I think coach Karl is dreaming of (and if he really does and we can make that happen i'm all for it).
I can see both lineups working great for us- the first one will create a great (at least on paper) front court, while the second will give us great wing defense and a lineup suited for the tipe of up-tempo basketball we seem to wanna play on he one hand with enough size to not get killed on defense doing so.

I really hope one of those scenarios becomes real, I can see us improving our offense and defense in both. both will give us some great things and I especially like the fact that at least on paper defensively we should be able to switch great with WCS's ability to defend guards on the one hand and Winslow's strength on the other.

 

[9x1x6]

We don't have any 2nds to trade, dunno why we are brining them up.

Ben is about to hit the years where SG usually make their biggest jump, why would we give up on him now, especially since he's Boogies best friend on the team? People talk about loyalty and trading Ben would be the craptiest way to do it.

We won't get any of the top tier FAs unless a unicorn craps an egg in our lap, same with moving up in the draft.

Keep our pick, trade Landry for scraps (2nd rounder right there!) And aim at two 8-10 mil guys in FA, DeMarre Carrol, Middleton (likely gonna get bid up), Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Will Barton for example.

 

[206Fan]

Very nice breakdown.
I went SG mostly because most of the SGs would most likely at least consider us.

To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if someone like Marc Gasol would actually want to play next to Cuz, but I don't think he'd leave Memphis.

Draymond Green is a player I'd want the Kings to try hard to get. However, I think it's almost guaranteed that the Warriors match any offers.. I really hope some team offers Draymond the max... just to put the Warriors in a nice position.

Matthews and Middleton are interesting players. I'd probably throw money at either one of those players. I'm more interested in Matthews who's a proven player. If you sign Matthews, it makes one of our SGs expendable. We can pack one up with our draft pick and get a legit starting piece. OR we can pack one of them up with our pick and move up in the draft. Or maybe even trade for a draft pick?

Green is a player who I wouldn't spending 10million on. I'm not sure the Spurs want to PAY both Green and Leonard together.. Green is a guy who I see taking less to stay with the Spurs. However, if he wants a bigger role, he can always go westward..

I think we should heavily go after Draymond Green.. even have Cousins recruit him. Then go after Matthews Middleton, and Green.

 

[pshn80]

Any one of them that can be made to fit. Don't target to the extent that we miss them all.

 

[Amit149]

We don't have any 2nds to trade, dunno why we are brining them up.

Ben is about to hit the years where SG usually make their biggest jump, why would we give up on him now, especially since he's Boogies best friend on the team? People talk about loyalty and trading Ben would be the poopootiest way to do it.

We won't get any of the top tier FAs unless a unicorn poopoos an egg in our lap, same with moving up in the draft.

Keep our pick, trade Landry for scraps (2nd rounder right there!) And aim at two 8-10 mil guys in FA, DeMarre Carrol, Middleton (likely gonna get bid up), Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Will Barton for example.

You are right about the 2nd rounders, although we can still trade our 2018 one. I also agree with you about getting big names FA or moving up the draft.

I disagree with the notion that you think we can get something for Landry when the much more realistic thing in my eyes is that we will pay for someone to take his contract away and they will want something for it.

About trading Ben- it's all about how do you see his future, I personally am not that optimistic about his developement. look at what you are offering- adding two 8-10 mil guys to our wing rotation which already consists of Gay, Ben and Nik (and that is if you decide to get rid of Casspi) you just don't have enough minutes to go around.
my main problem with Ben at that scenario is that i really don't see him as a good bencher- unlike Nik he is very passive imo.

You can choose to keep Ben and try and Groom him into a starting SG nd there is a chance you will succeed, but the question is if you think a team where he starts in is good enough- if you put him in the bench, one of him and nik is useless as a 3rd replacement and I see Nik being better of the Bench.

 

[Gilles]

We don't have any 2nds to trade, dunno why we are brining them up.

Ben is about to hit the years where SG usually make their biggest jump, why would we give up on him now, especially since he's Boogies best friend on the team? People talk about loyalty and trading Ben would be the poopootiest way to do it.

We won't get any of the top tier FAs unless a unicorn poopoos an egg in our lap, same with moving up in the draft.

Keep our pick, trade Landry for scraps (2nd rounder right there!) And aim at two 8-10 mil guys in FA, DeMarre Carrol, Middleton (likely gonna get bid up), Danny Green, Tobias Harris and Will Barton for example.

I don't understand, why people keep mentioning Middleton - Kings have 0% chance of getting him.
Hawks have huge amount of money and only two major FAs on a team, that is likely going to ECF - they are keeping the team, so no, Carroll or Milsap are not leaving.
What Harris and Barton are doing on this list? One is likely getting close to MAX and a bad defender - high volume scorer, who plays better at PF, second is barely worth MLE and a meh defender.
Market of very good to elite 3&D guys is very thin, and consists of DGreen (gets a lot of open shots, so his shooting is not as good as his overall percentage indicate) and Matthews - you won't know, if he's ready to play until September, and guys coming off of Achilles experience serious drop off in efficiency and movement, so both 3 and D parts of his game will be affected.

 

[9x1x6]

I don't understand, why people keep mentioning Middleton - Kings have 0% chance of getting him.
Hawks have huge amount of money and only two major FAs on a team, that is likely going to ECF - they are keeping the team, so no, Carroll or Milsap are not leaving.
What Harris and Barton are doing on this list? One is likely getting close to MAX and a bad defender - high volume scorer, who plays better at PF, second is barely worth MLE and a meh defender.
Market of very good to elite 3&D guys is very thin, and consists of DGreen (gets a lot of open shots, so his shooting is not as good as his overall percentage indicate) and Matthews - you won't know, if he's ready to play until September, and guys coming off of Achilles experience serious drop off in efficiency and movement, so both 3 and D parts of his game will be affected.

I'd say our chances of getting Middleton are the same as Green and Mathews so what's your point?

Harris getting over 12 mil would be funny, I'd hope the Lakers did it. Will Barton is a solid player who would improve our bench cheaply.

 

[dude12]

Gasol and Jordan would be great but somehow we would hae to move some guys to get more cap space....those 2 guys are going to rake in money. Wes Mathews is a target I'd be interested in allowing us to move one of the young SG's. but if we are going to pony up big money, then go after one of those bigs......plus getting LaMarcus Aldridge wouldn't suck.

 

[Gilles]

I'd say our chances of getting Middleton are the same as Green and Mathews so what's your point?

Harris getting over 12 mil would be funny, I'd hope the Lakers did it. Will Barton is a solid player who would improve our bench cheaply.

No, they are not - Middleton will be playing in Wisconsin in October.
Barton is very thin and can't shoot. What would he bring?

 

[Sac.Kings]

I would really really like Draymond Green, even if we had to overpay significantly. He would instantly solve a lot of problems. He is a decent enough outside shooter (so Cuz could operate down low), good-great defender, and an excellent team player/glue guy. He has a lot of intangibles, but the problem is the Warriors know this. What would be enough to pry him away? We aren't getting Gasol, and I don't think he would be a great fit anyway, Chandler I like at the right price, and Jordan is intriguing. Chandler fits the bill the best on paper, but he is getting older and Jordan, while a great shot blocker, isn't really all that good at defense in general, not to mention outside of 5ft, he is a complete and utter disaster (including FTs).

Ideally:
1. Get D. Green
2. Draft WCS
3. Get a SG - Afflalo

We could then churn out a lineup of
PG: Collison
SG: Afflalo
SF/PF: Gay and D. Green
C: Cuz

We would have a bench of WCS (giving him time to develop), Nik, Ray, JT(?) and whoever else happens to be there. That's an awesome starting lineup IMO and very well balanced.

 

[Gilles]

Draymond Green is the same pipe dream as Middleton, Butler or Kawhi...

 

[Sac.Kings]

Draymond Green is the same pipe dream as Middleton, Butler or Kawhi...

That's why I wrote ideally... it's what I would prefer to happen. But you never know, they have 2 stars they are paying max money for, Bogut, Lee, Iggy, and the rest of the gang. Maybe Green is the odd man out?

 

[Gilles]

Draymond Green is the same pipe dream as Middleton, Butler or Kawhi...

 

[Sac.Kings]

A man of few words eh?

 

[Gilles]

If there wasn't a huge jump of salary cap expected (from $67 million next season to $105 for 17/18 season), I'd say there would be some chance with massive overpay involved, but even max at $15 million is only one seventh of the cap in 2017 or $9 million in this year's situation. Would you refuse to pay $9 million for any of these RFA right now?

 

[Sac.Kings]

If there wasn't a huge jump of salary cap expected (from $67 million next season to $105 for 17/18 season), I'd say there would be some chance with massive overpay involved, but even max at $15 million is only one seventh of the cap in 2017 or $9 million in this year's situation. Would you refuse to pay $9 million for any of these RFA right now?

Agreed in that regard.. but there are other choices. One can never know anything.. Green would play a larger role here which is maybe something he wants?

 

[Gilles]

All the guys I mentioned are RFAs. Teams can and will match anything for them.

 

[Sac.Kings]

Everyone will match this season. Youre correct

 

[jcwkings]

Draft Justice Winslow
Sign Amir Johnson

PG: Collison/Ray Mac/Miller
SG: Ben/Nik
SF: Winslow/Casspi
PF: Gay/Johnson/Landry
C:Cuz/JT/Moreland

Other options are to make some sort of combination of Ben, Nik, Ray Mac, Landry into a starting SG.

 

[Prince_XY]

None of them will come, so.....

So.....the FO is in big trouble with the fans again!