Everything Off Season

[planetmars]

thanks for the clarification, makes sense. God they are doing a lot of good moves and management

Yup.. Pelinka should easily win executive of the year. He deserves it.

[Joey]

What's with all the love for Beal? He's been in a weak East conf for years and not even sniffed a conf finals yet. He's not a top 15 guy, maybe not even a top 20.

Beal is a stud. I'd put him Top-20 for sure. Get him some help and he'll really shine. But I agree with others that Washington likely won't be moving him any time soon.

[MixxAOR]

yeah Beal on this team would be dope. But he's pretty committed to Wiz so who knows

[The Great One]

Yeah, I'm becoming more partial to Beal over Giannis for this roster. You need that Mamba Mentality, contested shot, clock winding down, fearless guard/wing scorer if you want to win in the playoffs. Beal has proven to be that kind of guy. Like others mentioned... the Siakam + Giannis fit is a bit awkward.

Giannis + Beal is actually the best fit of all. Maybe Masai joins them both in Washington?

Give me an elite winger over an elite big man anyday. An elite winger is the most important player in basketball. You're not winning anything without one. As good as Giannis is, he's not winning a chip without an elite winger on his team.

[Puffer]

thanks for the clarification, makes sense. God they are doing a lot of good moves and management

Relatively easier to have good management and make good moves when Lebron goes there because he wants the LA California lifestyle attention, and then a flock of other players want to join Lebron and will take less money to play with him in LA than other places.

[The Great One]

The Wizards aren't winning because their roster is horribly built. If you pair Beal with FVV and Siakam and you add someone like Gobert?...that's a championship core right there.

[slaw]

Yup.. Pelinka should easily win executive of the year. He deserves it.

Pelinka? You mean Lebron, right?

[planetmars]

Pelinka? You mean Lebron, right?

The Klutch/Lebron thing has been so bad for the NBA. I can't wait for Lebron to leave so that we get a little more parity in the league again.

[Jclaw]

Time for "Everything Alex Len"

[LJ2]

I've got reservations about Beal too, but if the last 2 playoffs have proven what we've known all along... it's that you need a guy who can "go get a bucket" when the offense stalls. Even Giannis can't do that. Beal has flaws (*cough* defense), but he's one of handful of guys that can get his shot, when everybody in the building knows excactly what's coming. The guy is a 30 PPG scorer, ffs.

I mean, KG and AD never sniffed a conference finals until they joined good franchises, so it's hard to use that argument against any player.

That's the problem with Beal..he's only good for scoring. kG and AD were/are elite 2 way players and first ballot Hall of Famers.

No way I'd take him over Giannis on this team. That's crazy talk.

[S.R.]

I've got reservations about Beal too, but if the last 2 playoffs have proven what we've known all along... it's that you need a guy who can "go get a bucket" when the offense stalls. Even Giannis can't do that. Beal has flaws (*cough* defense), but he's one of handful of guys that can get his shot, when everybody in the building knows excactly what's coming. The guy is a 30 PPG scorer, ffs.

I mean, KG and AD never sniffed a conference finals until they joined good franchises, so it's hard to use that argument against any player.

Bold is something I was thinking about - clearly it's a gap in the Raptors' roster post-Kawhi. This is what they needed vs Boston in the 2nd round and they didn't have it. The two highest scoring and highest usage offensive options had terrible efficiency. Fred and Siakam can both be locked down in the playoffs (so far).

Either - those guys need to develop further or this would continue to be a playoff issue even in the dream scenario of acquiring Giannis.

That said - I'd expect Nurse to be a lot more creative in working around playoff defences walling off Giannis than Bud has been. Part of Giannis' playoff problems have been Bud/Milwaukee problems. They don't adjust.

[The Claw Reborn]

Alex Len welcome, good get to bolster the big rotation

[nba_4_life]

Relatively easier to have good management and make good moves when Lebron goes there because he wants the LA California lifestyle attention, and then a flock of other players want to join Lebron and will take less money to play with him in LA than other places.

we would've easily been in that position if Lenard wanted to stay with us

[The Claw Reborn]

San Antonio is interesting what they would do with the expiring of Aldridge

[DanH]

Plan B has to be keeping a roster that is flexible enough so that whenever a legit top 5-7 talent is available we have the assets (either cap space, or contracts for a trade) to bring that player in.

Harden is most likely the next super star that is going to leave. Maybe Houston keeps him for the year and tries to trade him next off season. We miss out on Giannis, we use our cap space, picks and young talent to bring him in. Beal could be that guy as well (although he's not a top 7 talent, more like top 15).

We just want to be as flexible as possible going forward.

My thinking on plan B is this:

With all the free agents that summer with Bird Rights, plus the unguaranteed deals of Baynes and Boucher for that summer, we would be in a position to both have practical cap space and be over the cap at the same time. A Schrodinger's Cap sort of situation.

We could clear space, and let's say we miss out on Giannis (although I'm going to not bet against Masai just yet). Then other teams with FA stars would be nervous we poach them instead. Oladipo, Gobert, etc. Not Giannis level stars, but all-stars or thereabouts. We leverage that ability to sign them outright into talking sign and trade. Let's use Gobert as an example - we send Baynes, Boucher, Bembry and a re-signed Norm (18.5M starting salary or higher, should be about right) to Utah in exchange for Gobert. So long as Gobert comes in a little shy of the max (31.8M starting salary instead of 33.7M), we avoid the BYC stuff that makes those deals difficult. And we can keep Lowry's cap hold on the books, allowing us to re-sign him while keeping our entire core together and adding that max player.

There are obviously loads of variations on the above, including maybe just signing the FA outright, or not targeting a FA but just re-signing/keeping everyone and chasing a star via trade if that opportunity ever arises. But options are good.