'21-'22 Roster Construction

[G__Deane]

I meant just trade. Lol. That was my suggestion last off-season before Lavine blew up huge and everybody around here hated it.

Got it. I don't need any more help being confused about budgets and salaries and contracts

[golden]

1) No thanks, both are similar impact players but Lavine will be easy to target defensively in the playoffs.
2) Chicago wouldn't have done it then and wouldn't do it now.

It's such a neutral move for both teams that they both likely lose the trade due to lack of familiarity and time to get up to speed.

Lavine and FVV might have similar impact when you look at aggregates (like a stats guy would), but Lavine provides the crunch-time, alpha scoring that we need to win games. There's a reason why our expected W-L is 31-29 and our actual W-L is 25-35.

And there's nothing to say that if Lavine is optimized to the level that FVV is by Nurse with the Raps, that his impact can't go much, much higher. And Lavine would be surrounded by plus defenders in Toronto. I mean, look at Julius Randle. Nobody in their right mind was calling him a plus defender, but he's the leader of a team with a top 3 defense. Defensive reputations can change with the right coaching. And Nurse is the best coach in the NBA ... right?

And in terms of Chicago not doing it.... they may have no choice if they keep losing like this. Better to get something, than lose the asset for nothing.

[magoon]

Like others mentioned, this team needs 2 things: A pure go-to scorer, and a C that can anchor the paint while also being a non-zero factor on offence.

If we have those, I think we can run with any team in the East because our other guards & wings are solid 2-way players, several of which with very deep playoff experience.

To me the most logical path to get those 2 things is to get a lottery pick this year, then SnT Lowry. That combination of assets will refill the pantry, and from that we can make further moves to specifically get the scorer and the C (if they're not already coming in on the draft or on the trade)

Realistically, a sign-and-trade for Lowry isn't going to return that much. The bright side is that at this point we don't need that much, because Trent is clearly a go-to scoring type, which means our only real hole is rebounding and rim protection.

Honestly, I'd love to see Kyle come back and finish out his career with us, but unless he's willing to go to about $15m per year - which would give us the cap room we need to sign a decent starting center and then bring back Khem with the over-tax MLE - I don't see it happening. There are really only two centers worth talking about given our needs, anyway. Jarrett Allen will probably command more $ than we can afford if we keep Kyle - Cleveland traded for him to replace Andre Drummond (which was absolutely the right call) and can afford to spend money on him because they have his Bird rights. Richuan Holmes is probably more affordable.

This is compounded by the fact that there aren't really any good rim-protector bigs in the top half of the draft - Evan Mobley needs to put on muscle to protect the rim (which will take years), Kai Jones has the same issues as Mobley while being a worse on-ball defender, Usman Garuba is a good defender but he's only 6'9" - and that's all the centers in the first round, most likely. Maybe we use a second-rounder on Kofi Cockburn or Ibou Badji and hope they turn out to be diamonds in the rough, but realistically we need to sign our starting C, which means either Holmes or Allen, and use our first-rounder on whichever wing or guard Masai and Bobby like best.

That gives us a very solid team skeleton of

PG: Fred, Malachi
SG: GTJ, Bembry
SF: OG, Yuta
PF: Pascal, Boucher
C: (Allen/Holmes), Birch

And then fill it out with draft picks, vets, G-league projects like Gillespie and whatever we can get back in a Kyle S&T that's worth a damn.

[LJ2]

Realistically, a sign-and-trade for Lowry isn't going to return that much. The bright side is that at this point we don't need that much, because Trent is clearly a go-to scoring type, which means our only real hole is rebounding and rim protection.

Honestly, I'd love to see Kyle come back and finish out his career with us, but unless he's willing to go to about $15m per year - which would give us the cap room we need to sign a decent starting center and then bring back Khem with the over-tax MLE - I don't see it happening. There are really only two centers worth talking about given our needs, anyway. Jarrett Allen will probably command more $ than we can afford if we keep Kyle - Cleveland traded for him to replace Andre Drummond (which was absolutely the right call) and can afford to spend money on him because they have his Bird rights. Richuan Holmes is probably more affordable.

This is compounded by the fact that there aren't really any good rim-protector bigs in the top half of the draft - Evan Mobley needs to put on muscle to protect the rim (which will take years), Kai Jones has the same issues as Mobley while being a worse on-ball defender, Usman Garuba is a good defender but he's only 6'9" - and that's all the centers in the first round, most likely. Maybe we use a second-rounder on Kofi Cockburn or Ibou Badji and hope they turn out to be diamonds in the rough, but realistically we need to sign our starting C, which means either Holmes or Allen, and use our first-rounder on whichever wing or guard Masai and Bobby like best.

That gives us a very solid team skeleton of

PG: Fred, Malachi
SG: GTJ, Bembry
SF: OG, Yuta
PF: Pascal, Boucher
C: (Allen/Holmes), Birch

And then fill it out with draft picks, vets, G-league projects like Gillespie and whatever we can get back in a Kyle S&T that's worth a damn.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sign a C from overseas. There's a bigger pool of available bigs with the type of skills this team likes in their C's outside of the NBA.

Boucher might be the odd man out of next year's roster. He's good enough to command more than what this team can afford to pay him on his next contract and can probably land a starting role somewhere. Raps may hold onto him until next seasons trade deadline, but I think this summer would be the best time to move him.

[The Claw Reborn]

Posting here too...

Here is my retool proposal....

Trade Siakam for KAT
Trade Van Vleet/ Boucher and 2 SRPs for Brogdon and Sabonis

Sign GTJ for 15 million
Sign JJ Redick for the MLE

select Kai Jones/ or Giddey/ or Kispert/ or Wagner (whoever is the Best Player available)

retain Yuta, Birch, Bembry and Watson

Sabonis
KAT
OG
GTJ
Brogdon

Flynn
JJ Redick
Birch
Yuta
Bembry
Watson
2021 FRP project

[saints91]

I think a OG, Flynn, Trent Jr, Pascal and FVV, Yuta, Birch is a good base to build off of. Fred and Pascal are going to have to take a step back in their usage, they shouldn’t be the lead guys.

if we get lucky in the draft, we’re set going forward. I would like to see Boucher moved for a legit 5. I think Birch is a good starter if you can surround him with talent.

I think we should bring back Lowry on a 1+1 (25M or lower) with a team option. I see a lit
of potential in Flynn, I think he could use Lowry’s guidance for another year. It’s not
like there is much else out there.

[Gonzz]

Freddy Gillespie signed to a 2 year minimum contract as per Blake. Well deserved and was expected.

[G__Deane]

Freddy Gillespie signed to a 2 year minimum contract as per Blake. Well deserved and was expected.

So is it pretty likely we come back with Birch and Dizzy as our bigs? Need to see them against Embiid and Giannis in the post season, maybe next year.....

[Shredder]

I feel like we might see a "bench mob" type team next year.

With the news today the Philly will pursue a sign and trade, I've mentally prepared myself to not have Lowry back.

So next season we will probably look something like:

Starting lineup
FVV
GTjr
OG
Pascal
FA

Bench
Flynn, Maxey???
Thybulle???, 1st Round pick
Bembry, Yuta
Boucher
Birch, Freddie

Everyone for the most part can defend (some at an All NBA level). No one jumps off the page but we don't know FA signings and where we fall in the draft (call me an optimist but I feel like we are picking top 4 due to the year we've had). I can see a hockey style line change happening, to keep the bench guys familiar with the players they will be playing with.

Nonetheless it will be interesting to see how they move on from a post Lowry team.

[DanH]

Freddy Gillespie signed to a 2 year minimum contract as per Blake. Well deserved and was expected.

Worth noting 2nd year is mostly unguaranteed.

[Primer]

Cap nerds, what would a Lowry to Philly sign and trade this off-season look like? What are the possibilities assuming Lowry gets $25M or around there?

I know salary needs to come back but not how much or what players would fit that coming from Philly. Do they need a 3rd team?

Also how much can Miami realistically throw at Lowry? I'd assume Philly needs to outbid Miami because it seems like Kyle would prefer to go there all things equal.

This is one of the most interesting questions regarding roster construction next year.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Cap nerds, what would a Lowry to Philly sign and trade this off-season look like? What are the possibilities assuming Lowry gets $25M or around there?

I know salary needs to come back but not how much or what players would fit that coming from Philly. Do they need a 3rd team?

Also how much can Miami realistically throw at Lowry? I'd assume Philly needs to outbid Miami because it seems like Kyle would prefer to go there all things equal.

This is one of the most interesting questions regarding roster construction next year.

we just need to take within 25% of the salary to make it work and we could also get a potential trade exception if I am not mistaken. They would still be over the cap which works for us so they can't sign him out right. Seth Curry is one option who makes 8 million, Maxey or Thybulle. I honestly don't know but good quesiton.

[planetmars]

Cap nerds, what would a Lowry to Philly sign and trade this off-season look like? What are the possibilities assuming Lowry gets $25M or around there?

I know salary needs to come back but not how much or what players would fit that coming from Philly. Do they need a 3rd team?

Also how much can Miami realistically throw at Lowry? I'd assume Philly needs to outbid Miami because it seems like Kyle would prefer to go there all things equal.

This is one of the most interesting questions regarding roster construction next year.

Assuming Kyle is taking $25M then the 76ers have to shed at least $20M (125% less) to make the trade work. Looking quickly at their cap situation, they are not going to be a tax team, so that's fine.. but they are also a capped out team, which means they cannot give back any cap space in a deal.. only salary.

How do you make $20M work?

They can guarantee George Hill (about $10M). Add Seth Curry ($8M), and a prospect like Thybulle ($2M). That's enough salary to meet the demand.

They can trade Harris ($34M) but we'd have to add a $3M player (which we don't have) or have Lowry take a bigger contract (say at $31M).

I don't really see any other options. Embiid/Simmons won't be traded. They can do a double sign and trade and include Green or Scott but I doubt we'd want either. We could get a 3rd or 4th team to take on the Hill/Curry contracts, but that just makes the trade tougher although not impossible.

The Butler to Miami sign and trade involved 4 teams too.

[DanH]

Assuming Kyle is taking $25M then the 76ers have to shed at least $20M (125% less) to make the trade work. Looking quickly at their cap situation, they are not going to be a tax team, so that's fine.. but they are also a capped out team, which means they cannot give back any cap space in a deal.. only salary.

How do you make $20M work?

They can guarantee George Hill (about $10M). Add Seth Curry ($8M), and a prospect like Thybulle ($2M). That's enough salary to meet the demand.

They can trade Harris ($34M) but we'd have to add a $3M player (which we don't have) or have Lowry take a bigger contract (say at $31M).

I don't really see any other options. Embiid/Simmons won't be traded. They can do a double sign and trade and include Green or Scott but I doubt we'd want either. We could get a 3rd or 4th team to take on the Hill/Curry contracts, but that just makes the trade tougher although not impossible.

The Butler to Miami sign and trade involved 4 teams too.

The real problem is the hard cap for the 76ers. Really limits what they can take back in salary. I think they can still make 25M work for Lowry but it's really tight, I imagine the pitch is for him to get a 20x3 deal (versus the 25x2 that I expect teams like the Raps and Heat would be offering). That would free them up to trade Hill OR Curry OR do a sign and trade with Scott/Green, keep Curry for depth, and otherwise fill out the roster with minimums. Hill is tricky with the timing of his guarantee, think it kicks in first day of the moratorium, though might be able to get him to push that back.

[DanH]

If there is a Lowry SnT, that's the window where they could chase a center via trade. Flip whatever expiring is coming back plus assets to bring in a larger contract, since the Raps' outgoing salary in the SnT deal is high so they would not need to match salary back to the third team nearly as much. If Memphis or Indy are selling a big, that's likely the timing that is easiest to make work.