2014 Free Agent Wish List

[charlesnba23]

Lance Stephenson. Give that dude a contract.

[isaacthompson]

Lance Stephenson. Give that dude a contract.

Indy will offer him an extension for sure. $$ would have to be astronomical for him to come our way.

[Balls of Steel]

From this list I'd just target a SF. Assuming the Raps don't draft one of course. I like both these guys if the price is right. Though I doubt the situation is right for Deng. Hayward though can be added to a young rebuilding core, though I wouldn't want to throw too much money at him, and I can see some team putting in a crazy offer.

Lots of other names....some are obviously not worht chasing/likely too expensive.

I might keep an eye out for PGs too, especially backups. Pretty solid crop with guys like Nelson, Blake, Ridnour, Hinrich, and more all likely available. And Vasquez of course, who I'd happily re-sign if he has a good enough season.

I like Hayward but not as an overpay - as in no more than 10M / season. Otherwise, Ross at SF with Landry backing him up.

[Balls of Steel]

Lance Stephenson. Give that dude a contract.

This man is gon' get PAID!!!

[magoon]

I like Hayward but not as an overpay - as in no more than 10M / season. Otherwise, Ross at SF with Landry backing him up.

Utah was reportedly offering Hayward a $9m rookie extension and he turned it down because he wanted more. Somebody (possibly Phoenix) is going to overpay Hayward.

[saints91]

I think Monroe would be a huge pick up for us. Basically we would have a great three man rotation of bigs. JV, Amir, and Monroe all could play 30+ minutes. Monroe has the size to play PF/C (6'11, 250), and Amir would be able to stay in the 4 spot, although he has show in the past that he can play the 5.

JV/Monroe/Hayes
Monroe/Amir/Hansbrough

With we-uping Amir we have roughly 47.5 million tied up (including the cap hold for our 2014 draft pick), with most likely a 59 mil cap.

The only issue is being able to resign Lowry. Are we able to go over the cap to retain him? If we are, we would basically have the midlevel and other exceptions to fill out the roster

JV/Monroe/Hayes
Monroe/Amir/Hansbrough
Ross/Fields/Novak
DeMar/Fields/
Lowry/

Draft Pick, hopefully a SF, or PG

Midlevel

[white men can't jump]

I think Monroe would be a huge pick up for us. Basically we would have a great three man rotation of bigs. JV, Amir, and Monroe all could play 30+ minutes. Monroe has the size to play PF/C (6'11, 250), and Amir would be able to stay in the 4 spot, although he has show in the past that he can play the 5.

JV/Monroe/Hayes
Monroe/Amir/Hansbrough

With we-uping Amir we have roughly 47.5 million tied up (including the cap hold for our 2014 draft pick), with most likely a 59 mil cap.

The only issue is being able to resign Lowry. Are we able to go over the cap to retain him? If we are, we would basically have the midlevel and other exceptions to fill out the roster

JV/Monroe/Hayes
Monroe/Amir/Hansbrough
Ross/Fields/Novak
DeMar/Fields/
Lowry/

Draft Pick, hopefully a SF, or PG

Midlevel

My thoughts:

-I understand why people like Monroe....but I'm not too big on him. Though I'd be curious to see how he does defensively (my biggest concern) in a better system, which Casey has proven he can implement (except for last year's disaster, but 2/3 years of being a very good defensive team is proof enough for me). Still though, he's got the classic problem for a F/C: too slow to keep up with PFs, and too soft (not terribly soft, but still) to bang consistently with Cs. I like his O, including his passing, but I obviously have concerns, so his price would be a huge deciding factor for me, and I'm not sure we actually have the space to make a competitive offer. Also he's restricted, which means Detroit can match and basically force a sign and trade, and I'm not sure I'd want to give up extra assets on top of a high price tag.

-Lowry is an UFA, but we will have his bird rights, so we can at least go into tax territory if we want to re-sign him. The questions for me with Lowry is will some team offer him a stupidly inflated contract? This is always possible in today's NBA.

-I think there will be some value later in this draft. I'm still hoping that if the Raps just end up in the 20ish or so range, give or take, Ennis will be available to draft and groom as a starter for the future. He needs to start playing worse for Syracuse

-I love the season Ross is having, but given his tiny rookie-scale deal, he could have great value around the draft. I see him as our best chip to move up into the top 10. And I'm glad there has been a bit of "this draft ain't so strong" rhetoric coming out recently. If the draft in general starts to look worse, teams will be open to more possibilities. Still though, it wouldn't be "trade Ross to get a higher pick", it would be trading him with a specific target in mind that Masai believes will be a gem. I actually don't want to trade him...but yeah, can't see a better chip on our team for adding a pick/moving up.

[charlesnba23]

This man is gon' get PAID!!!

Of course he is! But IMO he's the best FA we could possibly get. I see him as the next revelation, a bit like Paul George did about 2 years ago. I remember us talking about trading DeMar for George. Now, I really like DeMar as a player but Indiana would never give him to us. I mean, I'm not even sure they would trade him for LeBron. It sure is a gamble, but I think he is worth it.

[white men can't jump]

Of course he is! But IMO he's the best FA we could possibly get. I see him as the next revelation, a bit like Paul George did about 2 years ago. I remember us talking about trading DeMar for George. Now, I really like DeMar as a player but Indiana would never give him to us. I mean, I'm not even sure they would trade him for LeBron. It sure is a gamble, but I think he is worth it.

I don't remember any such discussion.

Also, Stephenson is not worth paying while we've got solid SGs in DeMar and Ross. Just my opinion though. Also, I think if Lance had DeMar's role, while he may still put up good all-around numbers, his scoring efficiency would dip quite a bit. And we'd still have a need at SF.

[charlesnba23]

I don't remember any such discussion.

Also, Stephenson is not worth paying while we've got solid SGs in DeMar and Ross. Just my opinion though. Also, I think if Lance had DeMar's role, while he may still put up good all-around numbers, his scoring efficiency would dip quite a bit. And we'd still have a need at SF.

Maybe we did not talked about it a lot but I know the idea has already been thrown around. As for the need at SF... I don't really see a need right now. The need that I see is a legit backup wing. Right now, our 3rd wing is John Salmons. He's playing well but he's averaging 6PPG. I think that DeMar can start at SF. I would like to see Stephenson and DeMar starting together with Ross as the 3rd wing player.

[charlesnba23]

Anybody with me on this one?

[JawsGT]

I like Stephenson too. But I also think he is going to be overpaid and I wonder if he would be better paired with Ross than Demar?

[planetmars]

Not to be a downer... but how do you expect to pay for a good free agent like Lance or Greg? The cap hold on Lowry is about $9M... they would have to renounce him, Patterson, and probably GV... they would also need to waive Salmons... If say Stephenson is signed, then would GV be enough to sustain their current level of play next year? Or do you trust a rookie point guard to take the reigns (assuming that's what the Raps draft)? Free agency should be about Lowry only.. 2015 should be when we talk about free agency, as that is when Fields and Hayes are off the books.

[Bendit]

I believe the trade route is what MU should pursue to upgrade the team at this time. We are still in a tenuous position with the cap and you dont want to mess with the depth players too much (especially those acquired in the Gay trade).Going after "a" level type f/a s should be done before the big push hopefully for the 2016 season and when we have some expirings coming off the books and our picks have matured some more.

[charlesnba23]

Not to be a downer... but how do you expect to pay for a good free agent like Lance or Greg? The cap hold on Lowry is about $9M... they would have to renounce him, Patterson, and probably GV... they would also need to waive Salmons...

I didn't thought about all that... But are you sure of this? And Salmons is paid 7M$. Hansbrough, more than 3M$. If we need to not get those 2 back to get Stephenson, I'd do it anyday.