Lowry has arrived: a long ass Woj article....

[white men can't jump]

Gay would have to be a different sell because Gay already had a monster contract and even if he ends up being a journeyman for the rest of his career he'll still get paid $8M plus (on the low end) to do it. You'd have to sell Gay on doing what's necessary to win, not on doing what's necessary to having an NBA career.

Yeah. It wouldn't be the exact same conversation, but it'd definitely be interesting to hear it. Because Gay has a lot to lose as well. He needed to show he can be a consistent force, and help a team win....He hasn't. He's definitely hurt his chances of securing another big contract. So while Masai may not have mentioned playing on the low end of the NBA payscale, he may have mentioned never getting another good deal on a good team. He'd be relegated to never breaking out of his "overrated" and "overpaid" reputation, and just be another wasted talent.

*He may end up getting 8-10 million as a journeyman, but not sure any good or well-managed team offers him that. Do you want to be the overrated bum who keeps getting good deals on bad teams? The low IQ, low effort player who has a limited future as a player and probably no future after that in the NBA? Salary discrepancy and potential earnings aside, I think the situation in Toronto was as much Gay's "last chance" as it was Lowry's to solidify himself as a good player making a positive impact and fully utilizing his talents.

[Jack_Bauer]

Lowry doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would want to go back to a team that traded him, despite expressing regret for not gelling with McHale. Hopefully, he stays loyal to Toronto; I'm sure Masai will make him a fair offer. A few months ago Zach Lowe wrote on Grantland that Lowry may not have many suitors this summer and the Raps could retain him for something like 3/24. That doesn't seem likely now given the teams rumored to be interested in him. I'd be happy with anything up to 4/40.

It's too bad the Raptors couldn't have extended Lowry during the season to avoid a summer bidding war. The new CBA prohibits inseason extensions (they're allowed, but have inane restrictions that makes entering free agency in the best interest of the player), which will make it tough for teams in "less desirable" markets to retain players.

[Charlie Brown]

Depends. Toronto is the best fit for him as far as letting him play his natural game is concerned, it's his team and he has a huge impact on the result of the game every night. I get the feeling he thrives off that and loves it.

It's hard to say, you make valid points but in the end it's gotta be hard to turn down James Harden and Dwight Howard for Demar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas.. He could be the man on a middling team or go to Houston and chase a ring..

Can't help but wonder if a similar conversation played out between Ujiri and Gay before the season started.

----

I still see the Lakers as the biggest threat. The Houston stuff is interesting, but they'd have to dump Asik and Lin to make a good offer. Doable, but not a given. Not sure any other situations are enticing enough...unless some crazy team offers him a close to max deal.

They were trying to move Asik and Lin anyways, so it works out

[white men can't jump]

They were trying to move Asik and Lin anyways, so it works out

Yeah, but they were trying to get actual value back for them. They'd have to pretty much throw that out the door. Likely have to settle just for 2nd rd picks.

[Jack_Bauer]

It's hard to say, you make valid points but in the end it's gotta be hard to turn down James Harden and Dwight Howard for Demar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas.. He could be the man on a middling team or go to Houston and chase a ring..


They were trying to move Asik and Lin anyways, so it works out

If the Rockets move just one of Asik/Lin and, say, Garcia's minimum contract, they will have enough cap room to make a run at Lowry.

[Jack_Bauer]

Yeah, but they were trying to get actual value back for them. They'd have to pretty much throw that out the door. Likely have to settle just for 2nd rd picks.

They may even have to include an asset (first round pick, young player etc.) to move Lin. He'll be receiving his balloon payment next year. Asik, I think, still has some value.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Yeah. It wouldn't be the exact same conversation, but it'd definitely be interesting to hear it. Because Gay has a lot to lose as well. He needed to show he can be a consistent force, and help a team win....He hasn't. He's definitely hurt his chances of securing another big contract. So while Masai may not have mentioned playing on the low end of the NBA payscale, he may have mentioned never getting another good deal on a good team. He'd be relegated to never breaking out of his "overrated" and "overpaid" reputation, and just be another wasted talent.

*He may end up getting 8-10 million as a journeyman, but not sure any good or well-managed team offers him that. Do you want to be the overrated bum who keeps getting good deals on bad teams? The low IQ, low effort player who has a limited future as a player and probably no future after that in the NBA? Salary discrepancy and potential earnings aside, I think the situation in Toronto was as much Gay's "last chance" as it was Lowry's to solidify himself as a good player making a positive impact and fully utilizing his talents.

I find Gay to be quite similar to Maggette.

Loads of talent, frustrating amount of potential, all-star caliber when engaged and dedicated to performing at both ends of the court, consistently fill the stat sheet, never really help their team win, wind up bouncing around while making decent coin.

[Jack_Bauer]

I find Gay to be quite similar to Maggette.

Loads of talent, frustrating amount of potential, all-star caliber when engaged and dedicated to performing at both ends of the court, consistently fill the stat sheet, never really help their team win, wind up bouncing around while making decent coin.

That's a very good comparison. I think Gay is a slightly better defender and Maggette was better at attacking/getting to the line. But they are very similar players.

[white men can't jump]

If the Rockets move just one of Asik/Lin and, say, Garcia's minimum contract, they will have enough cap room to make a run at Lowry.

I don't see how. Moving one of those guys and Garcia would lift about 16M from their books...and they currently project to owe just under 72M. That would put them at about 56M, with this year's cap being about 58.7M.....so they'd be about 3M under the current cap, and likely not much more under the new cap if numbers go up (they don't tend to go up that much). They will need at least 8-10 million in space to make a serious offer, which means at least getting under 50M, and Asik and Lin are their only significant contracts after Howard and Harden.

[3inthekeon]

Aren't Asik and Lin owed $15 million each next year? Houston would be the team giving up picks if they don't take back a lot of salary.

[Letter N]

They may even have to include an asset (first round pick, young player etc.) to move Lin. He'll be receiving his balloon payment next year. Asik, I think, still has some value.

I believe both their balloon payments are next year. It's tough for a GM to convince an owner to swallow $15M for a centre of Asik's talents, even if it's not that much against the cap.

[white men can't jump]

Aren't Asik and Lin owed $15 million each next year? Houston would be the team giving up picks if they don't take back a lot of salary.

Possibly. In the absolute best-case they maybe get a 2nd rd pick from somebody. But really, what team with capspace would give up an asset for one or both of those guys?

No team with the space will care about giving up an asset for an upgrade (since most of those teams will likely expect to stay bad). More likely it's a Utah-GSW scenario, where they have to send pick(s) with whoever they trade in order to take nothing back.

*Asik being a decent quality C, I can see him maybe having value, but still damn hard if they don't want to take any salary back....Lin is not going to though. No team will give up an asset for him.

**It may be a situation where they can dump Lin with a pick to take nothing back....And then for Asik they can just try to dump like half his salary or so, while eating a contract to fill the rest, and may even get a 2nd rd pick. Maybe Milwaukee would have interest? Ilyasova could work in that deal. Cleveland with Jarrett Jack? I don't know what teams would have interest, but I could see something like that working out.

[BobLoblaw]

Yeah, but they were trying to get actual value back for them. They'd have to pretty much throw that out the door. Likely have to settle just for 2nd rd picks.

Well, they'd get Kyle Lowry in that scenario, so it's more than solid value.

[Jack_Bauer]

I don't see how. Moving one of those guys and Garcia would lift about 16M from their books...and they currently project to owe just under 72M. That would put them at about 56M, with this year's cap being about 58.7M.....so they'd be about 3M under the current cap, and likely not much more under the new cap if numbers go up (they don't tend to go up that much). They will need at least 8-10 million in space to make a serious offer, which means at least getting under 50M, and Asik and Lin are their only significant contracts after Howard and Harden.

The Rockets have approx $63m on the books next year. If they get rid of their non guaranteed contracts (except for Beverly), and accounting for their draft pick (25th overall right now), their salary obligations would total $61m. Next year's cap is still yet to be determined, but it's being predicted to be $62.9m. Thus, if they get rid of Lin and Garcia, and accounting for cap holds, they should have approx $10-10.5m in cap room. Of course, I was assuming the cap would go up. If it stays flat, you're right, they will have a tough time carving out enough cap space.

EDIT: It looks like you were using Lin/Asik's actual salary. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe their "cap number" is $8.3m, and used for calculating cap space, trades, etc. Usually actual salary = cap number, but the contracts Lin/Asik signed are treated differently. Again, I'm not 100% sure of this.

[Jack_Bauer]

I believe both their balloon payments are next year. It's tough for a GM to convince an owner to swallow $15M for a centre of Asik's talents, even if it's not that much against the cap.

Good point!