The Celtics are getting a max free agent this summer...maybe

http://www.celticsblog.com/2017/3/3/14792150/boston-celtics-max-free-agent-2017



The Celtics are getting a max free agent this summer...maybe



Getting a max free agent isn’t as cut and dry for Boston as it seems



by Keith P Smith  


Mar 3, 2017, 9:35am EST


Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images




Part I dealt with the idea that Cleveland and Golden State are unbeatable. Part II handled the NBA Draft and whether or not the Nets pick is a lock to deliver a superstar.

We’ve handled that the Cavs and Warriors are not guaranteed to meet in the Finals. We also looked at the Draft not being a lock to deliver a superstar. Now we move forward to the summer. The Celtics are a good, but not great team this year. They have a pick that is going to be very high, probably no lower than third or fourth in a good draft. They have a terrific All-Star talent in Isaiah Thomas and several good to great role players surrounding him. They have talented players stashed overseas and in the NBA D-League. And they have an uncommon amount of salary cap flexibility for a good team, due to having three starters (Thomas, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder) locked in to contracts that are far under market value.

That brings us to fallacy number three. It is widely assumed that Boston will land the number one pick in the draft and, playing the optimist, let’s run with that. The leaves the Celtics with a cap picture of the following for the summer of 2017:


Boston Celtics 2017 Cap Sheet Keith P. Smith


That leaves Boston over the projected salary cap of $102 million by almost $18 million dollars. The Celtics can get to a maximum of just over $36 million in cap space, but that would mean renouncing all free agents, waiving Demetrius Jackson, Jordan Mickey and Tyler Zeller and agreeing to not sign any of the draft picks. That is an extremely unlikely scenario.

What then is a is likely scenario for the Celtics, considering the assumed desire of adding a max free agent this summer, Gordon Hayward perhaps? That leads us straight to that pesky third fallacy.

It is presumed that Hayward is the Celtics number one target in free agency, and making the link to having played for Brad Stevens previously and the fact that Hayward tried to leave Utah once, it might not be off base. However, Hayward’s starting salary as a max player, and he will be a max player no matter who he signs with, is $30.6 million dollars (assuming a cap of $102 million). How do the Celtics get to the point where they can offer Hayward that starting salary?

First, they renounce all their free agents. Gerald Green and James Young are probably not an issue. Boston already has as good, if not better, options on the roster. Jonas Jerebko and Amir Johnson both need to go too. And so does Kelly Olynyk, which might be the most unlikely of all the free agents given Boston’s investment in him to this point in his career.

Then the Celtics have to waive Jackson (eating the $650K guaranteed), Mickey and Zeller. Not the biggest issue there either, as none are regular contributors.

The next tricky part is that they have to get Guerschon Yabusele to agree in writing that he’s not going to sign an NBA contract in 2017-2018 and will stay overseas for another year. That could certainly happen, as he could use another year of seasoning and can draw a good paycheck in China or elsewhere for the year.

Make all those moves and the Celtics are still shy of the $30.6 million it would take to sign Hayward by about $1.4 million. Before you say the math is off, remember that you have to add what is called an Empty Roster Charge for every spot unfilled by a Player or Cap Hold under 12. The above scenario puts the Celtics at three Empty Roster Charges at a total of almost $2.5 million.

And therein lies fallacy number three. Even with making every move possible, Boston can’t get to the max number for Hayward. Even if Boston traded Terry Rozier without taking any salary back (let’s say for a future lottery protected first round pick), which is made possible by drafting his replacement with the Nets pick, the Celtics still fall about $300K short of the space needed to make Hayward a max offer. Starting to see why adding Hayward isn’t the slam dunk many assume it to be? And don’t even bother bringing up trading for George or Butler and passing on Hayward, because that makes the cap situation even more untenable for adding talent in the summer, as George or Butler would, in effect, be the big salary addition. And the Celtics would no longer have the benefit or trading expiring contracts like Johnson or Jerebko to get either All-Star, which further depletes the roster of talent.

The other option is to move Avery Bradley out in trade. This seems like the next most logical move. It would free up considerably more cap space than trade Rozier would, but it would also put a bigger hole in the rotation. Given Boston’s affinity for Bradley, it seems unlikely he’s going to the one who moves on somewhere else, but it is certainly possible. He’s due a big pay day in a year and it would make it far easier to bring in a max free agent this summer. Definitely something to watch moving forward.

Just for fun, let’s say Hayward says “I’m good with leaving $300K on the table to play for Coach Stevens and to play in Boston” and the Celtics move forward. That would give them a roster of:

PG – Isaiah Thomas/Marcus Smart/Markelle Fultz (assumes he is the pick)

SG – Avery Bradley/Jaylen Brown/2nd Round Pick

SF – Gordon Hayward/Jae Crowder/Abdel Nader

PF – Veteran signed with Room Exception/Veteran Minimum Signing/2nd Round Pick

C – Al Horford/Ante Zizic/Veteran Minimum Signing

That is a team that is very deep on the wing and has questionable depth up front. Let’s say the Veteran signed with the Room Exception is someone like old friend Jerebko or Johnson, who we know the Celtics are comfortable with, you are still pretty shallow up front and probably have to play small quite often with Jae Crowder at the four.

Let’s flip it forward to the summer of 2018. The roster looks largely the same, except you replace a couple of the Veteran Minimum Signings or the 2nd Round Picks with Guerschon Yabusele and the 2018 Nets pick. And likely another Veteran signed with an Exception. The Celtics could use their own pick in the 2018 draft to stash another player or could cut another 2nd Round Pick or Veteran Minimum Signing to bring in additional rookie.

In 2018, because Boston is already limited cap-wise from signing Horford in 2016 and Hayward in 2017, you are probably looking at them trying to retain their own free agents in Thomas, Bradley and Smart. It is safe to assume that all three will be looking at contracts at, or north of, $20 million. In Thomas’ case, you are probably looking at a max or near max contract, assuming he doesn’t fall way off in production over the next year. And that pushes the Celtics way over the Luxury Tax. Millions upon millions over the tax line.

That leaves Boston with a 2018-2019 roster of (assuming the youngster develop as hoped for):

PG – Isaiah Thomas/Marcus Smart/Markelle Fultz

SG – Jaylen Brown/Avery Bradley/2018 Draft Pick

SF – Gordon Hayward/Jae Crowder/Abdel Nader

PF – Al Horford/Veteran signed with an Exception/Guerschon Yabusele

C – Ante Zizic/2018 Draft Pick/2nd Round Pick from 2017

Once again, that is a good, but probably not great team. Golden State and possibly Cleveland are still title contenders, but the Celtics could battle them.

Zach Lowe put it best on a recent episode of The Lowe Post podcast exclaiming “The Celtics are trying to have their cake and eat it too. But what happens if there is no cake?”

That quote is a very real scenario for Boston. What if Cleveland or Golden State or both prove beatable in 2017? What if the Nets pick doesn’t land in the top three? What if the Celtics can’t work the cap gymnastics to bring in Gordon Hayward or Hayward simply chooses to stay in Utah? Those are all very real scenarios, even if the Cavs/Warriors seems like the most unrealistic of all.

But let’s say all plays out as expected. Cleveland and Golden State meet in the 2017 NBA Finals, proving everyone right that there was no point going all in this year. The balls bounce the Celtics way at the Draft Lottery and they pick Markelle Fultz (or Lonzo Ball if you prefer). Then Gordon Hayward leaves money on the table (or the cap bumps up slightly) and he joins the Celtics. Ante Zizic comes over and is ready to contribute right out of the gate. And Boston retains just about everyone else. Is that 2017-18 team or the following team in 2018-19 competing for the NBA title?

That brings us the biggest “fallacy of the predetermined outcome” of all. Nothing is locked in for Boston. Even if that all plays out, they’ll be counting on young players to be better than expected earlier than expected. They’ll be counting on Danny Ainge to maybe swing another big trade where he consolidates some of those role players to bring in another star to pair with Thomas, Hayward and Horford.

Acquiring George or Butler wasn’t a clear path, but none of the others are any clearer. There aren’t right or wrong answers here, no matter how many people scream from one side or the other. We’ve never seen an NBA team navigate these waters before. Remembering that there are no predetermined outcomes is key for Celtics fans to keep their sanity, as the next few years may not play out exactly as many are expecting them to.



bob



.

Hayward does not address our needs, we have 2 productive improving 2-3's in Smart and Jaylen and I'm happy with Crowder at the 3. I don't think Hayward is mobile enough to play the 2, I'd rather use those minutes to further develop Brown, who is already a better defender, as is Crowder....not worth a max contract, were gonna have to pay our own core guys later down the road.

Nice player but he's not an elite player - I don't think that he would put the Celts over the top.

swish

the point of the article is that ANT max player free agent is almost impossible to fit next year.

some of us have been saying this when all year, when the inevitable trade idea was bantered about here and someone would say, why trade for (insert player name here) when we can just sign one in the off-seaon.

problem is ..no we can't..not a max player without gutting the team.

so replace Hayward with Durrant or anyone else you want to add. very very hard to make it happen.

and before someone says "i don;t worry about the numbers"...well you need to, the NBA does.

The salary cap will also flatten in the years after next (compared to HUGE increases of the past two years) that makes future deals for max player FA signing even harder.

just the reality.

if we need TWO all-stars more on this team, they will NOT come from UFA's. hell even ONE is unlikely now.

thanks Horford!

kdp59 wrote:the point of the article is that ANT max player free agent is almost impossible  to fit next year.

some of us have been saying this when all year, when the inevitable  trade idea was bantered about here and someone would say, why trade for (insert player name here) when we can just sign one in the off-seaon.

problem is ..no we can't..not a max player without gutting the team.

so replace Hayward with Durrant or anyone else you want to add. very very hard to make it happen.

and before someone says "i don;t worry about the numbers"...well you need to, the NBA does.

The salary cap will  also flatten in the years after next (compared to HUGE increases of the past two years) that makes future deals for max player FA signing even harder.

just the reality.

if we need TWO all-stars more on this team, they will NOT come from UFA's. hell even ONE is unlikely now.

thanks Horford!

More likely to happen via a trade.

swish

Swish,

I think that Hayward would put us over the top IF we already had another scoring or rebounding star to team up with Hayward and Thomas next year.

But, since there is no such 'other" star is on the roster, Haywood (as you mentioned) would not be enough no matter how much he gets per year as a potential max salaried player.

And, as much as Hayward may like paying again for Stevens, he is not likely to leave millions of bucks on the table to do so. His team in Utah is also still a growing and improving team, articles from there seem to indicate that he is clearly not unhappy there, so why would he leave?

I much prefer going the route of finding some young talent (Nerlins Noel as an example) who already has some NBA experience and physical talents and then let Stevens and his staff develop this guy (or, maybe two such guys) into stars as he (and they) have been doing with guys like Bradley, Rozier, Crowder, Smart, Thomas, etc, etc, etc. I believe that two guys like Noel can be signed for less than one max player if you are thinking that money is an issue. The new guys can be added to and brought along in the current culture without having to rip apart the core of the team. Building the core of the team has worked very well so far without having all stars at every roster spot.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Hayward does not address our needs, we have 2 productive improving 2-3's in Smart and Jaylen and I'm happy with Crowder at the 3. I don't think Hayward is mobile enough to play the 2, I'd rather use those minutes to further develop Brown, who is already a better defender, as is Crowder....not worth a max contract, were gonna have to pay our own core guys later down the road.

I'm with you on Hayward. Nice player, but not worth a max contract. Next max contract we give has to be player where there are no doubts he's worth a max. I'm sure someone will give him a max, so maybe "Worth" is not the right word, but I think its too much salary for a non-transcedent player.

Why Hayward? We are already good at the 3. We need help at the 4. And the 5.

My plan- dump Mickey, Zeller, Jackson, Green, Johnson, and Olynyk...that leaves us with 12 players on the roster which includes our #1 pick, Yabu and Zizic Young and Jerebko and leaves us $17M under the cap. If Jonas signs for less than his current $9.5M, good. If not we let him go and pick up another $9.5 M in cap space giving us $26.5 M in room and 11 players. We'll figure something out. We could even let Rozier go and save another $2M. We're up to $28.5 M in cap space, enough to sign one semi-stud for $20M and four role players for a total of $8.5M.

We'd have a roster of Yabu, Zizic, our #1 pick, James Young (never thought I'd say that in August), and Avery, Jalen, Jae, Al, Marcus, Isaiah, and four others to be determined. It'll work out. Yabu and Zizic are going to be special and Jalen will soar.

worcester wrote:Why Hayward? We are already good at the 3. We need help at the 4. And the 5.

EXACTAMUNDO !!!

worcester wrote:My plan- dump Mickey, Zeller, Jackson, Green, Johnson, and Olynyk...that leaves us with 12 players on the roster which includes our #1 pick, Yabu and Zizic Young and Jerebko and leaves us $17M under the cap. If Jonas signs for less than his current $9.5M, good. If not we let him go and pick up another $9.5 M in cap space giving us $26.5 M in room and 11 players. We'll figure something out. We could even let Rozier go and save another $2M. We're up to $28.5 M in cap space, enough to sign one semi-stud for $20M and four role players for a total of $8.5M.

We'd have a roster of Yabu, Zizic, our #1 pick, James Young (never thought I'd say that in August), and Avery, Jalen, Jae, Al, Marcus, Isaiah, and four others to be determined. It'll work out. Yabu and Zizic are going to be special and Jalen will soar.

next year we will crush the Cavs, just curious are you giving up on Kelly O? bobby h is not gonna like that.

It seems to be fashionable now to equate elite player status with a max salary - a practice that I find opens the door to the rating of players of sub elite status, such as HAYWOOD, to the the same level as those players that have gained all-nba status on multiple occasions. There just aren't that many all nba players that could reasonably be expected to be available in the market place during any given year. Winning teams like the Cavs, Warriors, Spurs, Rockets and Clippers already have their Elites. I'm not so sure that Danny can land one for next year. He has the chips - but it takes a willing partner to wrap up a deal.

swish

It seems to me that the Horford signing last summer as a max level contract guy may have soured many of our board members towards wanting to sign another max level contract guy.

Not that Horford has been a terrible player, but if you had to take Horford at $30M to build our team around or take Crowder to do the same thing at $7M per year I believe that the vast majority of us would pick Crowder.

I`m singing with the rest of the choir. Last year I was desperate for a shooter and wanted Heild in the draft . Our shooting has improved to the point where we are an above average shooting team . Hayward may be a better shoooter than Crowder , but what else can he do better? I`m not for gutting the team for a guy that may be a slight improvement over the players we have. I wasn`t very enthusiastic over the Horford signing and am less so now. If it takes an extra season or two to build a team through the draft, so be it, There is always the trade route if somebody extraordinary becomes available. I know hardly anybody here agrees with me , nor did Ainge, but I thought Boogie Cousins could have been a difference maker.Certainly more so than Gordon Hayward.  I doubt very seriously Yabusele will agree to spending another year overseas.

there are 8 players with fully or partial guarantees on the list . Add in the rookie and Zizic and Yabusle , that equals about $73.2M in cap space for 11 players.

leaving Danny with lees than $30M in cap space for 4 additional players.

we can assume one of two may be very low paid so maybe we have $28M left with two roster spots.

so signing a guy like Noel or Ibaka and maybe keeping Kelly is certainly possible. But any ideas of signing another max player is very, very hard to see happening.

[quote="kdp59"]

there are 8 players with fully or partial guarantees on the list . Add in the rookie and Zizic and Yabusle , that equals about $73.2M in cap space for 11 players.

leaving Danny with lees than $30M in cap space for  4 additional players.

we can assume one of two may be very low paid so maybe we have $28M left with two roster spots.

so signing a guy like Noel or Ibaka and maybe keeping Kelly is certainly possible. But any ideas of signing another max player is very, very hard to see happening.



[/quote

kdp59

If the max contract is acquired in a trade its very possible - provided we trade out sizable contracts in the deal - Therefore creating a lower net gain in salary

swish

If there is a max  salary player available through trade who would be worth the players necessary to achieve such a trade while at the same time matching the salary ,go for it. I doubt very seriously that that will be the case .Lebron, Curry , Westbrook and their like are not walking through that door.

jrleftfoot wrote:If there is a max  salary player available through trade who would be worth the players necessary to achieve such a trade while at the same time matching the salary ,go for it. I doubt very seriously that that will be the case .Lebron, Curry , Westbrook and their like are not walking through that door.

  jr

   The best chance to make a trade for an elite player with a huge salary would be  when that teams management might be interested in downsizing because of high payroll  commitments along with a fear that the team is past its peak or failing to play up to their potential.
Case in point could be the Clippers who have a very high payroll - who have both Paul and Griffin up for unconditional free agency this year and Jordan in 2018. A breakup could be on the horizon in L A. - With Jordan as the prize trade bait for future draft choices. And Ditto for Detroit who is also operating with a huge salary commitment and is bogged down in the middle of the pack. Another mediocre season next year and perhaps they too will be looking to do a rebuild -  with Drummond as the trade bait. Of course this is all pure fantasy world stuff on my part but its the fantasy world stuff that I witnessed in 2007-08 when Danny got both Allen and Garnett.  And of course any deal that had the Celtics sending out sizable expiring contracts would also enable the Celts to remain below the salary cap - with cap space to bring in additional free agent help. Now back to the real world.

  swish

swish wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:If there is a max  salary player available through trade who would be worth the players necessary to achieve such a trade while at the same time matching the salary ,go for it. I doubt very seriously that that will be the case .Lebron, Curry , Westbrook and their like are not walking through that door.

  jr

   The best chance to make a trade for an elite player with a huge salary would be  when that teams management might be interested in downsizing because of high payroll  commitments along with a fear that the team is past its peak or failing to play up to their potential.
Case in point could be the Clippers who have a very high payroll - who have both Paul and Griffin up for unconditional free agency this year and Jordan in 2018. A breakup could be on the horizon in L A. - With Jordan as the prize trade bait for future draft choices. And Ditto for Detroit who is also operating with a huge salary commitment and is bogged down in the middle of the pack. Another mediocre season next year and perhaps they to will be looking to do a rebuild -  with Drummond as the trade bait. Of course this is all pure fantasy world stuff on my part but its the fantasy world stuff that I witnessed in 2007-08 when Danny got both Allen and Garnett.  And of course any deal that had the Celtics sending out sizable expiring contracts would also enable the Celts to remain below the salary cap - with cap space to bring in additional free agent help. Now back to the real world.

  swish



 

Very good point, swish. We just don`t want to be on the Brooklyn end of  somebody else`s fire sale. Do you think the guys you mentioned bring us over the top , though. If only there was a designated free throw shooter, Drummond would be all world.

jrleftfoot wrote:

swish wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:If there is a max  salary player available through trade who would be worth the players necessary to achieve such a trade while at the same time matching the salary ,go for it. I doubt very seriously that that will be the case .Lebron, Curry , Westbrook and their like are not walking through that door.

  jr

   The best chance to make a trade for an elite player with a huge salary would be  when that teams management might be interested in downsizing because of high payroll  commitments along with a fear that the team is past its peak or failing to play up to their potential.
Case in point could be the Clippers who have a very high payroll - who have both Paul and Griffin up for unconditional free agency this year and Jordan in 2018. A breakup could be on the horizon in L A. - With Jordan as the prize trade bait for future draft choices. And Ditto for Detroit who is also operating with a huge salary commitment and is bogged down in the middle of the pack. Another mediocre season next year and perhaps they to will be looking to do a rebuild -  with Drummond as the trade bait. Of course this is all pure fantasy world stuff on my part but its the fantasy world stuff that I witnessed in 2007-08 when Danny got both Allen and Garnett.  And of course any deal that had the Celtics sending out sizable expiring contracts would also enable the Celts to remain below the salary cap - with cap space to bring in additional free agent help. Now back to the real world.

  swish



 

Very good point, swish. We just don`t want to be on the Brooklyn end of  somebody else`s fire sale. Do you think the guys you mentioned bring us over the top , though. If only there was a designated free throw shooter, Drummond would be all world.

jr

 I believe that either player would make the Celts a serious contender - and I believe that it could happen because I think that Both the Clippers and Pistons would be interested in taking back high draft picks or young players considered to have potential. The Celtics could also offer players of value that have short term contracts that expire in a year.   As to the horrible free throw shooting by both Jordan and Drummond -  I share your concern about both players free throw shooting problems but I anticipate league action in the very near future that should lessen the impact of poor free throw shooting on the game.

 swish

I could see us going after the PF Griffin but not Drummond.

But it remains speculative to think that Danny will go after another expensive free agent. He has his own free agents to deal with first.

dboss

By the way Griifin has a player option so he can either take the option or opt out and sign a long term contract.  The Clippers have an owner with deep pockets.  I would expect Griffin to stay in LA.

Drummond is signed long term.  Unless Detroit decides to completely move  away from their low post option I do not see them moving him.  

Both of these players are more than likely to stay put.

Since Boston is looking for some front line help I can see why these players were mentioned.  I think DA wants an athletic 4 with multi-skills that must include stretching the floor on offense and playing defense and rebounding the ball to trigger the fast break.  Those are rare skills.

dboss

dboss wrote:By the way Griifin has a player option so he can either take the option or opt out and sign a long term contract.  The Clippers have an owner with deep pockets.  I would expect Griffin to stay in LA.

Drummond is signed long term.  Unless Detroit decides to completely move  away from their low post option I do not see them moving him.  

Both of these players are more than likely to stay put.

Since Boston is looking for some front line help I can see why these players were mentioned.  I think DA wants an athletic 4 with multi-skills that must include stretching the floor on offense and playing defense and rebounding the ball to trigger the fast break.  Those are rare skills.

dboss

Ibaka comes to mind as the closest player that O can think of right now. He will be a UFA next season and could be in play if the price is right ( 15-18M).

kdp59 wrote:

dboss wrote:By the way Griifin has a player option so he can either take the option or opt out and sign a long term contract.  The Clippers have an owner with deep pockets.  I would expect Griffin to stay in LA.

Drummond is signed long term.  Unless Detroit decides to completely move  away from their low post option I do not see them moving him.  

Both of these players are more than likely to stay put.

Since Boston is looking for some front line help I can see why these players were mentioned.  I think DA wants an athletic 4 with multi-skills that must include stretching the floor on offense and playing defense and rebounding the ball to trigger the fast break.  Those are rare skills.

dboss

Ibaka comes to mind as the closest player that O can think of right now. He will be a UFA next season and could be in play if the price is right ( 15-18M).

kdp59

Yes.  Serge fits the bill.  The question I would  have deals with his production over the next 3-4 years.  I think we may get a better feel for that over the remaining season as we see how he plays with The Raptors.  They do play a similar pace and space style.

We also have the two stashes from the 2016 draft waiting in the wings.  Danny may want to see how they play before making a big dollar commitment to a free agent.  In other words The Celtics may already have the talent to push forward to the top.  They may keep both the Nets picks and make a minor move  or two.

With so many assets they are in the driver seat.  I understand that there is a timeline for young players to improve but the Celtics have a very nice balance of veteran players that provides a solid foundation for guys like Brown and Rozier to get better.  

Celtics fans may be somewhat impatient with this approach and I suppose  that if the picks we are looking at were mid and late round prospects the trajectory  may be longer.  However, we are looking at 2 Very high draft opportunities to add to a team that is by all accounts a top 5 contender.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

dboss

jrleftfoot wrote:

swish wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:If there is a max  salary player available through trade who would be worth the players necessary to achieve such a trade while at the same time matching the salary ,go for it. I doubt very seriously that that will be the case .Lebron, Curry , Westbrook and their like are not walking through that door.

  jr

   The best chance to make a trade for an elite player with a huge salary would be  when that teams management might be interested in downsizing because of high payroll  commitments along with a fear that the team is past its peak or failing to play up to their potential.
Case in point could be the Clippers who have a very high payroll - who have both Paul and Griffin up for unconditional free agency this year and Jordan in 2018. A breakup could be on the horizon in L A. - With Jordan as the prize trade bait for future draft choices. And Ditto for Detroit who is also operating with a huge salary commitment and is bogged down in the middle of the pack. Another mediocre season next year and perhaps they to will be looking to do a rebuild -  with Drummond as the trade bait. Of course this is all pure fantasy world stuff on my part but its the fantasy world stuff that I witnessed in 2007-08 when Danny got both Allen and Garnett.  And of course any deal that had the Celtics sending out sizable expiring contracts would also enable the Celts to remain below the salary cap - with cap space to bring in additional free agent help. Now back to the real world.

  swish



 

Very good point, swish. We just don`t want to be on the Brooklyn end of  somebody else`s fire sale. Do you think the guys you mentioned bring us over the top , though. If only there was a designated free throw shooter, Drummond would be all world.

jr

I should have pointed out that with around 35 mil available for free agency we would have the option of trying to keep Thomas or opting for another free agent that is available via free agency

swish