SameOldNudityDrew wrote:Here are the guys currently on the salary roll for next year:
Rubio/Tyus
LaVine/Dunn (though yes, he'd be playing more PG and pushing Tyus to the bench)
Wiggins/Bazz
Dieng/Bjelica/Payne
Towns/(Pek)
KG could also pick up his option. And we could pick up the option on Rudez.
So we've got 4 roster spots available. What free agents would you target to fit in there? The most obvious spot is the 4 and 5, which would move Gorgui to playing as the first big off the bench if we could get a guy like Horford or Deng. I'd really love to land a free agent like that, though I don't want Whiteside. Who would you want?
The Noah $30 million rumor really has me puzzled about what to do. We have plenty of cap space for the next two years, but giving a player a big contract for 3-4 years is going to cause big cap issues in the year we have to pay Wig and Zach. Still, I really covet Deng, and would offer him a 2-year contract at whatever the market dictated. I also think Dunn's press conference comment about looking forward to playing with KG might be a signal that Thibs/Leydon told him he's coming back. I prefer Dunn at PG and Wig at SG until he becomes a better rebounder, so my roster would look like this:
Rubio/Dunn/Tyus
Wig/Zach
Deng/Muhammad/Rudez
KG/Belly/Payne
KAT/Dieng/Pek/banger
Let's say Deng costs us (gulp) $20 million against the cap next year, Dunn's rookie contract is $4 million, and KG opts in after we sign Deng plus one other free agent. The 13 players under contract (before KG) would add up to $79.6 million (including the remainder of the KMart deal), If the cap is $92 million, we would still have an additional $12 million to spend on one more big banger...plenty of room to sign a guy like Aldrich, Jordan Hill, or Roy Hibbert,
Dunn and even Muhammad's ability to play some minutes at SG gives enough depth there behind Wig and Zach. There's obviously uncertainty at PF, but I am quite optimistic about Belly in his second year, and G can always play there too. But if KG opts out, we would likely be looking at PF's like Marvn Williams, Nene or David Lee...several options out there that would fit under the cap.
Clearly the KG situation needs resolution before a final free agency strategy can be laid out.