Everything Off Season

[slaw]

The other counterpoint: the Washington Wizards gave Porter that contract. And it was pretty widely regarded as an overpay at the time.

The Porter contract was an outlier and time and place deal. Looking at last year’s extensions, the Dejounte Murray deal (4/64) and Levert’s deal 3/52.5) seem like they are in the right ballpark. Taurean Prince got (2/29) so something around 15-16 would be my guess.

[G__Deane]

Freds an American too. I'm sure his family can have an extremely beautiful life as a multi(multi multi) millionaire in New York City. I know we love Toronto guys but let's be real here

The problem with the Knicks isn't New York City, it's the Knicks.
And Dolan.
There's a reason why no star has gone there in years even though it's a great city to be a rich athlete in. A lot of guys for different reasons, stopped signing with the Rangers and Yankees too.

[S.R.]

Big question is whats the center rotation look like? I dont trust any current options to play heavy minutes.

Centre is changing. Take a look at the teams left, who they played at centre (often guys who don't even finish games, but not always), and how much they paid (some of these are final contract years, so keep that in mind):

Lakers - McGee & Dwight, $6.5m combined
Clippers - Trez, $6m
Celtics - Theis, $5m
Heat - Olynyk and Leonard, $11m each
Rockets - Tucker, $8m
OKC - Adams, $26m

Pretty clearly possible to get functional minutes at the 5 relatively cheaply in a way that compliments a perimeter-heavy, 2020 NBA roster. The Raptors might be halfway there with Boucher and Hernandez. I'd add a third bigger body on the cheap and platoon the position. Then try some longer runs with the small lineups anyway, they never really went to that at all this year because 2 of the top 7 rotation guys were centres.

[DanH]

The difficult part in adding a C is the 2021 cap room. We have room for a max slot, a Fred-sized slot (~21M), and then a bunch of minimum salaries (alongside our two first rounders) to fill out the roster. If Fred is back, we can't afford to add a C with 2021-22 salary. So it would need to be a trade for a rental or signing on a one year deal. I don't think sending assets for a rental would make the team better than just keeping one of the vets and maybe Boucher and seeing if our internal options (including Hernandez who I am sure they want a real good look at before summer 2021) are halfway decent. And the guys willing to sign one year deals in FA are likely no better than those options anyway.

[planetmars]

I think we could get Giles or Baynes on a cap friendly bi-annual exception salary (about $4M/yr). Those would be my targets.

[golden]

You do that to your guys and you just develop a reputation for doing that. And lose them to other teams in FA anyway, just for less money, because they want a bigger role than you are willing to offer.

What reputation? Going into this season, everybody expected Fred to be the defacto backup PG and Powell to get the starting SG spot. There would have been nothing shady about that from an organization standpoint. And we'd also have a better understanding of Fred's skills as a PG, especially when you're contemplating paying him $20M+/yr, as the heir apparent to Lowry. Starting Fred at SG was an unorthodox move, not the obvious one.

[planetmars]

The one advantage we have going into free agency is we can deliver on a starting spot. Not many teams can do that. Assuming we let both Serge and Marc walk.

[G__Deane]

Is this official?

No. Officially they just said "after Christmas"
Could be a Boxing Day kickoff or New Years too.

[S.R.]

No. Officially they just said "after Christmas"
Could be a Boxing Day kickoff or New Years too.

Seems prioritizing trying to get a restart with actual fans in attendance was pushing back the start date, they're hoping for that more than they're hoping for Christmas games, I think.

[KeonClark]

Bring back Serge. Impact beyond net rating.

[planetmars]

I love how so many players when they come here absolutely love it here.

DeMar, JV, Biyombo, Amir, Jose, now Serge. It's like there is something special in our water.

To bad Kawhi likes a different brand

[DanH]

What reputation? Going into this season, everybody expected Fred to be the defacto backup PG and Powell to get the starting SG spot. There would have been nothing shady about that from an organization standpoint. And we'd also have a better understanding of Fred's skills as a PG, especially when you're contemplating paying him $20M+/yr, as the heir apparent to Lowry. Starting Fred at SG was an unorthodox move, not the obvious one.

Everybody? Does that include Fred?

We'd just be asking ourselves if we should be committing that money to Fred because we only had bench minutes to judge by.

[KeonClark]

I love how so many players when they come here absolutely love it here.

DeMar, JV, Biyombo, Amir, Jose, now Serge. It's like there is something special in our water.

To bad Kawhi likes a different brand

Don't forget Lou Will, Danny Green, T Ross...the list goes on...

It's been the model culture since Tim and Masai took over. I think another major turning point was shipping out Rudy Gay and Bargnani, and giving the keys to the franchise to Demar and Kyle.

Demar was a great man and a great leader and his work ethic and loyalty and compassion still linger in the dressing room today. Some people here think I just trash the guy, no. There is no championship without him. But there is also no championship with him.

[DogeLover1234]

Centre is changing. Take a look at the teams left, who they played at centre (often guys who don't even finish games, but not always), and how much they paid (some of these are final contract years, so keep that in mind):

Lakers - McGee & Dwight, $6.5m combined
Clippers - Trez, $6m
Celtics - Theis, $5m
Heat - Olynyk and Leonard, $11m each
Rockets - Tucker, $8m
OKC - Adams, $26m

Pretty clearly possible to get functional minutes at the 5 relatively cheaply in a way that compliments a perimeter-heavy, 2020 NBA roster. The Raptors might be halfway there with Boucher and Hernandez. I'd add a third bigger body on the cheap and platoon the position. Then try some longer runs with the small lineups anyway, they never really went to that at all this year because 2 of the top 7 rotation guys were centres.

Good point. Might be a case where you accrue 3-4 cheap bigs who can all play depending on matchup and go small with OG when it counts. Loved his effort rebounding in those minutes and with a bit more experience I could see those lineups working really well in limited minutes. Even more than shooting, those lineups added penetration - something we were sorely lacking.

[TrueTorontoFan]

again i'd like to sign demarcus cousins on the cheap and re up serge for a year... but that's just me...