Looking Ahead: 2016 Free Agency

[SkywalkerAC]

Maybe Jan Vesely has rounded in a legit player and is ready for a return? Not sure if he has any of the floor-spacing skills we would want, but he's still a hell of an athlete, and is a veteran of the game now. The new MLE is going to be competitive against a lot of offers in Europe.

[charlesnba23]

According to HoopsHype, Pau Gasol as said he is willing to take a paycut for a last title chase. We should really look at him. 2017 may very well be our year.

[charlesnba23]

Just checked, 16, 17 and 3 assists for Gasol tonight in 32 minutes.

I know he's old. But if he is willing to come here for cheap, he's definitely the answer. The way Lowry and DD are playing and with the young core improving every day, this team would be really scary come next spring.

[Scraptor]

Pau is the piece you get after the next piece. He's not any sort of answer if he can't play D.

[charlesnba23]

Gasol can play D. And how many pieces do you need?

[charlesnba23]

Gasol can play D. And how many pieces do you need?

Like seriously, how many pieces do you really think we need? We are really not that much far away from a real contender.

Also we have that pick coming in. If we are able to bring back Biz (midlevel), we don't need anything else in my opinion. Lets not forget we also have Carroll.

Valanciunas/Biyombo/Nogueira
Gasol/Patterson/Scola
Carroll/Rookie/Caboclo
DeRozan/Ross/Powell
Lowry/Joseph/Wright

[Scraptor]

Gasol can play D. And how many pieces do you need?

Gasol's best defensive attribute is primarily up-and-down rim protection, and his worst defensive attributes are lateral movement and help D. http://www.blogabull.com/2015/12/30/...-good-defender

This is why you can't have him as a PF anymore, he has to play C. And if he plays C here he's totally redundant.

As for how many pieces we need, I think we need at least one more major piece like a KD or a Horford, before we can start adding high-level role players, which is what Pau would/should be with us as a backup big.

[Scraptor]

Like seriously, how many pieces do you really think we need? We are really not that much far away from a real contender.

Also we have that pick coming in. If we are able to bring back Biz (midlevel), we don't need anything else in my opinion. Lets not forget we also have Carroll.

Valanciunas/Biyombo/Nogueira
Gasol/Patterson/Scola
Carroll/Rookie/Caboclo
DeRozan/Ross/Powell
Lowry/Joseph/Wright

We'll see how far away we are in the playoffs. My feeling is that we're a second round squad with an outside shot at the ECF. As awesome as our performance has been so far this year, we won't be able to compete with the Warriors or Spurs in a 7-game playoff series.

[blackjitsu]

Maybe Jan Vesely has rounded in a legit player and is ready for a return? Not sure if he has any of the floor-spacing skills we would want, but he's still a hell of an athlete, and is a veteran of the game now. The new MLE is going to be competitive against a lot of offers in Europe.

Definitely an interesting guy. It looks like he's figured things out. The Wiz were trying to make him a SF, but Fenerbache has let him play the PF role and he's been able to take advantage of his athleticism ... January MVP of Euroleague -- not bad. How that translates is a big question.

You would think that the Raps can't keep both Scola and Biz. Hopefuly they keep Biz. If 2Pat finally becomes the starter, can Jan be the first PF off the bench? He's got a mid-range game, but he's no stretch 4. He's only hit 2 Euroleague 3Pt shots all year.

Looking free agency, after Horford there's a serious drop in quality. Lots of immobile old guys and players who can't get minutes on their rosters. The draft isn't much better. Other than Rabb, Davis and maybe Bender the PF position looks populated by D League players with potential. If Jan is available, he might be a legit top 10 option.

[Primer]

According to HoopsHype, Pau Gasol as said he is willing to take a paycut for a last title chase. We should really look at him. 2017 may very well be our year.

If he really wants to chase a title he will sign with one of the 4 teams ahead of us in the standings (GSW, SA, OKC, CLE), or he'll pretend to chase a title and actually chase a tan in Miami. We simply aren't good enough to attract a HOFer looking for one last ring.

[Primer]

Definitely an interesting guy. It looks like he's figured things out. The Wiz were trying to make him a SF, but Fenerbache has let him play the PF role and he's been able to take advantage of his athleticism ... January MVP of Euroleague -- not bad. How that translates is a big question.

You would think that the Raps can't keep both Scola and Biz. Hopefuly they keep Biz. If 2Pat finally becomes the starter, can Jan be the first PF off the bench? He's got a mid-range game, but he's no stretch 4. He's only hit 2 Euroleague 3Pt shots all year.

Looking free agency, after Horford there's a serious drop in quality. Lots of immobile old guys and players who can't get minutes on their rosters. The draft isn't much better. Other than Rabb, Davis and maybe Bender the PF position looks populated by D League players with potential. If Jan is available, he might be a legit top 10 option.

We almost definitely can't afford to keep Biz (he might get double the MLE which is the most we can offer), and we could keep Scola, but why the hell would we do that?

Using the MLE on someone like Vessely actually sounds like a pretty reasonable move to help shore up the PF position. Unless we get someone like Ellenson with the Knuggets pick, we're probably going to use the MLE on a PF. Getting a bang for your buck guy by taking someone from Europe seems smart.

[charlesnba23]

I still think (and hope) that Bismack can accept the mid-level to continue his career here. How much money is it worth?

[Barolt]

I still think (and hope) that Bismack can accept the mid-level to continue his career here. How much money is it worth?

In this summer's market? Who knows.

$10 million? $15 million? I wouldn't be completely shocked if he got a JV type deal, honestly. Someone's going to have a lot of money/cap space and run out of targets.

[Hotshot]

I still think (and hope) that Bismack can accept the mid-level to continue his career here. How much money is it worth?

Biz can probably get around 8 or 10 per year on the open market.

[charlesnba23]

I was asking about the mid-level, but thank you guys.

Another guy we could look at is Powell from the Mavs