NBA Off-Season Thread: USA Wins Gold!!!

[NYRaider]

With Dinwiddie now a Wizard, does Beal commit to the Wizards long-term? Seems like it'd be pretty dumb of him to commit now as opposed to keeping his options open. He should just play this year out, see how it goes, and if he wants to stay in Washington he can sign a max deal with them next summer. If the season doesn't go well, which I'd assume is likely, he could opt out and enter free agency. 

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Per ESPN's salary cap expert Bobby Marks, Beal can sign a contract with the Wizards worth about $181.5 million over four years this offseason ($45.4M annually), or wait until next offseason and sign for about $235 million over five years ($47M annually). He currently has a player option for the 2022-23 season, which was the second year on the two-year extension he signed in 2019, worth a projected $37.3 million.

So there's really no incentive to signing a deal this off-season because even if he wants to secure the bag in Washington he can get $50M more if he just waits. 

Boston actually played it very well this off-season moving Kemba's contract for Horford and adding Richardson, Kanter, Dunn, and Fernardo who are all on expiring deals. Horford's $26.5M cap hit in '22-23 decreases to $14.5M if the Celtics don't make the finals. 

So in theory even if they keep Horford they'd be at $72.3M before picking up any options or qualifying offers on their young players. And would be able to offer Brad Beal a 4 yr/$164M deal and they'd still be a few million dollars under the cap with his $38M cap hit in '22-23. I believe since they own the bird rights for guys like Smart, Nesmith, Bob Williams, etc they could also pay them after the Beal deal is official and go over the cap. Is this correct @Deadpulse

Beal's relationship with Tatum and their ability to give him a max deal definitely make Beal to Boston a very real possibility next summer. 

[NYRaider]

4 hours ago, the lone star said:

Who are the biggest winners and losers of the NBA offseason so far?

I'd say the Clippers are the biggest winners of the off-season for me. They were able to retain Kawhi Leonard, Reggie Jackson, Nic Batum, and Serge Ibaka in free agency. Ideally Ibaka will be healthy next season but I'm not sure what the deal with his back is or how it will effect him long-term. It's obviously a bummer that Kawhi could potentially miss the entire season. They're essentially bringing their entire team back from last season and I loved the moves they made in free agency and the draft. 

Keon Johnson was one of my favorite prospects in the class and was a steal at #21. He's raw offensively but he's in the top 1% in terms of athleticism and is a good defender. Jason Preston was one of the most underrated prospects in the draft, he won't play much this year but provides them with a cheap replacement for Beverly/Rondo when their contracts expire next summer. And Brandon Boston Jr late in the second round was a nice value pick, he's another guy that won't contribute much as a rookie but definitely worth a swing that late in the draft. 

I absolutely loved the Justise Winslow signing for them. Winslow had some good years in Miami but hasn't been able to stay healthy. The Clippers were able to revive Batum/Jackson's careers and I wouldn't be surprised if they're able to do the same thing for Winslow. 

[FinneasGage]

37 minutes ago, 49ers fan said:

FWIW this is like my 5th account over the last 12 years. 3 got banned and IDK what happened to my legit account. 

if i was a mod you woulda never snuck back on the site but luckily mods on this site are lazy and perhaps even dumb in some cases. the day i'm mod almost everyone will be gone 

[11sanchez11]

43 minutes ago, 49ers fan said:

FWIW this is like my 5th account over the last 12 years. 3 got banned and IDK what happened to my legit account. 

I have been on here like 12 years and I don't think I have ever even got a warning lol

 

Suns trade Saric for Lauri please. Saric is better but he's gonna be out the whole year and I still believe in Lauri. 

[CWood21]

1 hour ago, NYRaider said:

I'd say the Clippers are the biggest winners of the off-season for me. They were able to retain Kawhi Leonard, Reggie Jackson, Nic Batum, and Serge Ibaka in free agency. Ideally Ibaka will be healthy next season but I'm not sure what the deal with his back is or how it will effect him long-term. It's obviously a bummer that Kawhi could potentially miss the entire season. They're essentially bringing their entire team back from last season and I loved the moves they made in free agency and the draft. 

Keon Johnson was one of my favorite prospects in the class and was a steal at #21. He's raw offensively but he's in the top 1% in terms of athleticism and is a good defender. Jason Preston was one of the most underrated prospects in the draft, he won't play much this year but provides them with a cheap replacement for Beverly/Rondo when their contracts expire next summer. And Brandon Boston Jr late in the second round was a nice value pick, he's another guy that won't contribute much as a rookie but definitely worth a swing that late in the draft. 

I absolutely loved the Justise Winslow signing for them. Winslow had some good years in Miami but hasn't been able to stay healthy. The Clippers were able to revive Batum/Jackson's careers and I wouldn't be surprised if they're able to do the same thing for Winslow. 

Clippers are big winners?  That might be one of the oddest takes I've seen.  Kawhi Leonard was always supposed to re-sign with the Clippers.  And the fact that the two main teams that were projected to be interested in him (Miami and Dallas) quickly pivoted.  They re-signed Reggie Jackson to a large 2 year deal (although, I'm sure it's a 1+1 deal) who was pedestrian until Kawhi Leonard was out of injury.  Nic Batum was a solid signing, but nothing special.  And Serge Ibaka is going to eat up more salary, and worse going to be a significant hit on the luxury tax.  He's played in 86 games over the last 2 years.  It's far more likely he gets injured then he is to stay healthy.  Oh, and Kawhi is projected to miss most (if not all) of the season.  It's a currently projected luxury tax bill of $95M.  I know that Ballmer can print money, but that's insane for a non-contender.  The Clippers are done.

[11sanchez11]

 

[MookieMonstah]

1 hour ago, 49ers fan said:

Lol I have matured a lot since then!

I’m just saying I’m pretty sure they can ban you for making a new account lol

[MookieMonstah]

1 hour ago, 11sanchez11 said:

I have been on here like 12 years and I don't think I have ever even got a warning lol

 

Suns trade Saric for Lauri please. Saric is better but he's gonna be out the whole year and I still believe in Lauri. 

I don’t get the hate for Lauri. Hes 100% that guy people had high expectations for but now that the expectations are low he’ll become super coveted after this year lol

[Kirill]

The Wizards had a good offseason signing Dinwiddie and drafting Kispert and trading Westbrook to a contending situation and firing Scott Brooks. They should’ve traded Beal too but he wanted to stay so what can you do.

OKC had the worst offseason. They should’ve traded all of their future picks and 3 picks this year and Darius Bazley for Cade Cunningham then went after a max leve player in feee agency to form a big 3 with Cade and Shai. Instead they drafted josh Giddey and got two other pointless future picks.

 

 

 

 

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

Clippers are big winners?  That might be one of the oddest takes I've seen.  Kawhi Leonard was always supposed to re-sign with the Clippers.  And the fact that the two main teams that were projected to be interested in him (Miami and Dallas) quickly pivoted.  They re-signed Reggie Jackson to a large 2 year deal (although, I'm sure it's a 1+1 deal) who was pedestrian until Kawhi Leonard was out of injury.  Nic Batum was a solid signing, but nothing special.  And Serge Ibaka is going to eat up more salary, and worse going to be a significant hit on the luxury tax.  He's played in 86 games over the last 2 years.  It's far more likely he gets injured then he is to stay healthy.  Oh, and Kawhi is projected to miss most (if not all) of the season.  It's a currently projected luxury tax bill of $95M.  I know that Ballmer can print money, but that's insane for a non-contender.  The Clippers are done.

Reggie Jackson was pedestrian until Kawhi was out with injury? Did you miss the Mavericks series? Batum played well for them in the playoffs and was one of the main reasons that their small ball lineup worked so well because he could stretch the floor and switch defensively. Ibaka was hurt last year, assuming he's healthy he gives them a solid small ball 5, he averaged 15/8 his last two years with the Raptors and he's only 31 years old. Do you think Steve Balmer is concerned with the luxury tax? The team almost made the finals last season even after Kawhi got hurt and they brought back their entire team. Not sure how you can call them a non-contender when they gave the Suns a more competitive series than the Lakers, without their best player, on dead legs after playing a crazy amount of games in a short span. If Kawhi is able to return later in the year they're probably the best team in the Western Conference. 

[11sanchez11]

Edit

Edited August 7, 2021 by 11sanchez11

[TheRealMcCoy]

Congrats to Frank. 

Wasn't feeling how there was no certainty around his job. 

He isn't the perfect coach. There are some guys around the league I would take over him and wish he had a better coach with offense to support him, but he's a great defensive mind and we're gonna need it with some of the defenders we lost this off-season and some of the "defenders" we replaced them with lol.

[CWood21]

21 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Reggie Jackson was pedestrian until Kawhi was out with injury? Did you miss the Mavericks series? Batum played well for them in the playoffs and was one of the main reasons that their small ball lineup worked so well because he could stretch the floor and switch defensively. Ibaka was hurt last year, assuming he's healthy he gives them a solid small ball 5, he averaged 15/8 his last two years with the Raptors and he's only 31 years old. Do you think Steve Balmer is concerned with the luxury tax? The team almost made the finals last season even after Kawhi got hurt and they brought back their entire team. Not sure how you can call them a non-contender when they gave the Suns a more competitive series than the Lakers, without their best player, on dead legs after playing a crazy amount of games in a short span. If Kawhi is able to return later in the year they're probably the best team in the Western Conference. 

Yes.  If you're going to use a 19 game sample size to justify why re-signing Jackson was a good idea, I think you're better off spending your money elsewhere.  He averaged 18/3/3 on 48.4% shooting from the field and and 40.8% shooting from beyond the arc.  Over the course of the regular season last year, he averaged 11/3/3 on 45.0% shooting from the field and 43.3% shooting from beyond the arc.  His career numbers are 13/2/4 on 43% shooting from the field and 34.9% shooting from beyond the arc.  He was fantastic in the series against Phoenix and Utah, but otherwise his numbers aren't terribly far off from his career averages.  The only difference is his efficiency went up, probably in large part due to playing with more talent then he ever had in Detroit.

Nicolas Batum was good last year.  I don't think I've ever disagreed with it.  Serge Ibaka, on the other hand, has been injury prone at best the last 2 years.  This isn't OKC Serge Ibaka.  Hell, it's not even Toronto Serge Ibaka.  He's done.  At this point, the Clippers are best using his contract as a large expiring contract as trade bait. He's done.  They're better off rolling with Marcus Morris as their small ball 5.

And no, I'm not concerned about Ballmer's ability to print money.  But what I'm concerned with is a team that has limited flexibility in terms of draft picks (can't trade a FRP until 2028) and cap flexibility (aside from Serge Ibaka).  The Clippers are maxed out as far as flexibility goes, and they've got their franchise playing coming off a torn ACL.  What exactly is enviable about their situation again?  They're lucky if they limp into the playoffs, and you're hoping that Kawhi doesn't take much time to regain his form even after coming back.

You mean the same Lakers team that was healthy?  Or the one that had a hobbled Anthony Davis and LeBron James?

[TheRealMcCoy]

Damnnnn lol. This is great. Nick getting the Ws putting Colin and Chuck in their place. 

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

Yes.  If you're going to use a 19 game sample size to justify why re-signing Jackson was a good idea, I think you're better off spending your money elsewhere.  He averaged 18/3/3 on 48.4% shooting from the field and and 40.8% shooting from beyond the arc.  Over the course of the regular season last year, he averaged 11/3/3 on 45.0% shooting from the field and 43.3% shooting from beyond the arc.  His career numbers are 13/2/4 on 43% shooting from the field and 34.9% shooting from beyond the arc.  He was fantastic in the series against Phoenix and Utah, but otherwise his numbers aren't terribly far off from his career averages.  The only difference is his efficiency went up, probably in large part due to playing with more talent then he ever had in Detroit.

Nicolas Batum was good last year.  I don't think I've ever disagreed with it.  Serge Ibaka, on the other hand, has been injury prone at best the last 2 years.  This isn't OKC Serge Ibaka.  Hell, it's not even Toronto Serge Ibaka.  He's done.  At this point, the Clippers are best using his contract as a large expiring contract as trade bait. He's done.  They're better off rolling with Marcus Morris as their small ball 5.

And no, I'm not concerned about Ballmer's ability to print money.  But what I'm concerned with is a team that has limited flexibility in terms of draft picks (can't trade a FRP until 2028) and cap flexibility (aside from Serge Ibaka).  The Clippers are maxed out as far as flexibility goes, and they've got their franchise playing coming off a torn ACL.  What exactly is enviable about their situation again?  They're lucky if they limp into the playoffs, and you're hoping that Kawhi doesn't take much time to regain his form even after coming back.

You mean the same Lakers team that was healthy?  Or the one that had a hobbled Anthony Davis and LeBron James?

You're right, I'm wrong. The Lakers are the best.