2021 Free Agency Discussion

lonzo ball signing a 4 yr 85 million deal with bulls.. chicago is sending santoransky,temple & 2nd round pick to pelicans..
pelicans might be interested in kemba.
rockets offering daniel theis a 3 yr deal.
lowry to miami about to become official….on a 3 yr deal..
conley returning to utah 3 yr 68 million
kelly olnynk signing with pistons….3 yrs 37 milion.
hardaway jr returning to dallas 72 million over 4 yrs.
noel and burks returning to ny…
tj mcconnell came to terms with pacers

charlotte didnt give malik monk a contract,he’s available..his off court issues might lower his price…
i also saw online that okc looking at devonte graham..seems like they r trying to acquire every point guard….
commercial appeal a memphis newspaper reported grizzlies might be interested in derrick rose….that 1 i had to give the side eye….

P.S.
Agent Rich Paul is Dating Singer Adele….

So the Lowry deal to Miami is a sign-and-trade, I assume involving Dragic. Do the Heat still have anything left for DeRozan?

Heat are giving Butler $184 over 4 years, Bam’s new deal kicks in, Lowry comes in on $30 million a year, Duncan Robinson getting $90 million over 5 years. I’d figure Dragic has to be moved as those players fill up the cap virtually otherwise.
Lonzo Ball getting to run the Bulls point will be good for him. NOP want Zion to be main ball handler apparently. Fair few teams have now moved to point frontcourters – Jokic, LBJ, Zion potentially Barnes at Toronto and of course Draymond.

Paying Lowry that money when he is 35 is a slight risk but Miami are a superbly run team and are clearly looking to remain in mix around Butler over next few years.

Nerlens Noel finally gets a good long term deal after famously turning down something like $76 million over 4 years from Dallas.

Spurs have dropped combined $64 mil on Doug McDermott and Zach Collins. Does this make sense? Between them they have exactly one proven, above-average NBA skill. I guess Luka Samanic is officially a bust?

lakers seem to be signing former lakers they r bringing back dwight howard,wayne ellington and trevor ariza..they have 5 guys over age 35..

speaking of former lakers devin booker might’ve talked javale mcgee into signing with the suns..mcgee signed a yr 5 million dollar deal…..

Losing Caruso was big for Lakers and he only got MLE I thought he could get up to 12mil a year.

i hate seeing caruso go.1 of the best defenders in the nba..lakers had a net positive when he was on the floor…always made the right plays…and fit in good with lebron….
shams reported his camp went back to lakers after bulls offer to see if the lakers would counter their offer..lakers said they will not..
i wanna see how he performs in another system….

Evan Fournier is a sneaky pick up for the Knicks.

fournier signing barely moves the needle for knicks..looking at their roster as it stand today. they still look like a first round exit!!

The Lakers know who they are, and that their window is now. I think the concern over Westbrook’s shooting in the playoffs is a little misguided because the Lakers don’t oppose the mid-range. Him taking two dribbles and pulling up as opposed to launching threes is a much more palatable idea there than it was in Houston, and will mean the results will look better. What separates them from Golden State right now is that they know you can’t half go for a title. The Warriors are trying to middle it, and it might cost them on both ends. That said, the Lakers are going to need a few young legs just to get through the regular season. I think they need to keep Talen Horton-Tucker at this point, and might have to overpay him. They also probably need to find a few second chance prospects. Maybe check in on Justise Winslow, maybe inquire about Mo Wagner. I don’t know if any team will gamble on giving Malik Monk money, and if not he could be an option. I kind of like their summer league fliers. Mac McClung, Austin reeves, and Joel Ayayi are the standout names. The Michigan duo might be worth following in the summer league. Vic Law might be a name to follow as he has done well in the G-League and Australia after his time at Northwestern. Jordan Floyd was a DII All-American who lit up the 2nd division of Italy. With them getting into both Sacramento and Las Vegas, it will be interesting to see if he gets any run. He might have just slipped through some cracks, and surprises.

The Heat are expensive, but like with the Lakers know they can’t half go for it. They know who they are, and want to go for it. Good luck to them. I think Jimmy Butler is going to age better because he didn’t have a ton of mileage coming into the NBA because of the uniqueness of his path, the quasi-redshirt as a rookie, and the fact he takes great care of his body. I’m not so sure Kyle Lowry has three more years at his current level, and it might be a stretch to think two. He is a culture fit, but it is a gamble with a small guard going into year 16. I really think that they need a bounce back year from Tyler Herro, because he will be the only chip they have left.

The Bulls front office and Donovan have now made it abundantly clear that they don’t like what they inherited. On that front, they aren’t wrong. It is just that they are going down a risky path. Lonzo is a risk that could pay off. I don’t think the Alex Caruso contract possibly can. They probably need a leap from Patrick Williams and for a surprising contribution from Marko Simonovic to be in the playoff mix. If Minnesota ends up being the team that grabs Markkanen, maybe they can get Taurean Prince on the way back, but they might want to save the money to use the trade exception from the Theis sign-and-trade. They still have moves to make.

The Knicks are better off with Evan Fournier. Once they go down that road, I don’t think they give three years to Alec Burks. Make no mistake, Burks is a nice guy to have on a team that struggled to shoot, but his role will be diminished by the presence of Fournier. I also don’t think Nerlens Noel as a backup center merits a three year contract, much less at that money.

Andre Drummond backing up Embeast… smh

a few yrs ago didnt embiid said he has real estate in andre drummond’s head? lol…

DeRozan for Markkanen sign and trade…? Marc Stein rumors possible.

Melo and Monk to the Lakers. Melo fits the reunion of the 2012 US National Team. Monk is only 23, and had his best year as a guy who gets hot once a week. If it is for close to the minimum, that isn’t bad.

So the Bulls lineup looks like probably: Ball, LaVine, DeRozan, Williams, Vucevic; with White, Caruso & Markkanen the top guys off the bench.

How good do you think that team is? My first thought is: Ridiculously fun on offense, pretty terrible on D. Probably balances out to around .500 and a spot in the play-in round at least. Am I underestimating them?

Kendrick Nunn to Lakers now. He’s pretty good…

The Bulls definitely have defensive concerns, but should be competitive in the East if it isn’t comically bad on that end. I would add that White will miss time after shoulder surgery. It was reported as a 4-6 month timeline from a June 10th operation, so bet on a December-ish return. Also, I don’t think they want Markkanen back. He is inconsistent in availability as well as having impact on games when in. The theory of Markkanen has been much better than the reality. He has an intriguing skillset, but given the likely price is a gamble. My guess is he still gets moved in a sign-and-trade. If they fill out the rotation capably, they are probably in that 4-6 range in the East. They need Patrick Williams to grow. It would be helped if Ayo can play a little wing off the bench. At 6’5″ with a 6’10” wingspan, he might be able to offer some minutes as a 2nd unit 3. My guess is Simonovic will take a year to get something closer to an NBA body, but maybe he can get a few minutes here and there.

OhCanada do you think he can beat out Zach Collins and Drew Eubanks for the backup C spot?

Kemba to the Knicks after OKC buyout!!!

The Spurs have $25 million in expiring contracts between Young and Aminu, plus the still-only-21 Samanic who does not appear to be in their plans given the McDermott and Collins signings. Got to be able to do something with that, either now or at the trade deadline …

LaMarcus Aldridge making a return and probably going to the Bulls.

Khem Birch returns to the Raptors for 3yrs/ $20M. Kelly Oubre is talking to the Hornets. Lemon Pepper Lou Returns to the Hawks

Dennis Schroder signs with the Celtics for 1yr/$5.9M. From $84M to $5.9M, sheesh man he pulled a Nerlens Noel, even worse damn