my take on some of the top Free agents this off-season.

some early Saturday morning thoughts here:


Rankings from NBC sports.

1. A. Davis- Stays at LAL

2. B. Ingram- stays at NO

3. F. Van Vleet- moves on for big money elsewhere, one of the top 3 FA’s this year.

4. D. DeRozen- opts out and gets a new multi-year deal with a new team, the top likely FA this year.

5. G. Hayward- opts out and sings new mutli-year deal with a new team, changed my mind on this after the recent reports. Hayward would be one of the top 3 FA’s if he opts out.

6. M. Harrell- He’ll move to a new team if he can get paid, Had issues with P. George last season, so I think one of them is gone.

7. B. Bogdanovic- Restricted and stays at Sacramento, but it IS the Kings

8. D. Gallinari- Will move on from OKC, the highest ranked player who may have to take a MLE ($9M plus)

9. E. Fournier- he may opt in on his $17M salary, with the team revenues down right now. In a normal year he would opt out.

10. D. Bertans- Someone will overpay for him, I think. Put up big numbers on a very bad Washington team last year.

11. J. Harris- I think the Nets pay up to keep him.

12. J. Grant- A guy who should get a look from a lot of teams, but in the end I see him staying at Denver

13. A. Drummond- he isn’t turning down that $28M option! But that’s what I thought about Hayward too?

14. T. Hardaway- probably takes his $18M option this year.

15. M. Morris- I think our old buddy will stay with the Clippers, but IF Harrell resigns Morris moves on.

16. G. Dragic- The 34YO will stay at Miami on a good one year deal or a one year and team option for year two, Miami is still leaving cap space for Giannis in 2021.

17. S. Ibaka- Gasol is reportedly playing back in Spain next year and Van Vleet will be too pricey to keep. They will pay to Ibaka , IMO.

18. C. Wood- Buyer beware for me here, did the light finally come on in year FIVE or did he simply play for a BAD Detroit team with no other options. I think someone pays him, but they may end up disappointed in who they have.

19. H. Whiteside- No way he gets anywhere near his last deal, but he did resurrect his career this past season at Portland. The full MLE may be all he can get however, as his negatives are well known.

20. O. Porter- come on man……no WAY he opts out of that bloated $27M salary!! BTW, who was the GM in Washington that signed Porter and Wall to those BAD deals?

21. T. Thompson- I can see him wanting to play for a team that can contend, especially since I see Drummond staying at Cleveland. But is the full MLE close to his likely deal?

22. P. Millsap- 35YO now and obviously slowed down a lot. Was always an undersized PF to boot? Lots of online talk about the Celtics being a good fit at the lower MLE we will have, but I would take a hard pass on him.

23. J. Crowder- He won’t get a long term deal at Miami (see Dragic above), but I see him staying.

24. J. Clarkson- I‘m not sure he gets what his last deal was ( $13M this past year), but he can score, so maybe someone pays up for him

25. D. Favors- at 29 YO, I see him wanting to play for a contender, but like T. Thompson he may have to decide between more money and losing or the MLE and winning.

26. M. Beasley- Pointing a gun at your son will shut down any chance you had of getting teams to want a rotational NBA player.

27. K. Caldwell- Pope- has a player option and LeBron will tell him to take it.

28. D. Saric- he’s a RFA and the Suns would be stupid to let him walk.

29. Justin Holiday- should be able to get the MLE for some team this year.

30. DJ Augustin- Will be a solid back up pint guard for some team next season, likely no more than $5M though.


Some other notables from NBA sports:

Derrick Jones Jr (Mia)- this is a wing who may get a strong offer from someone, though he is not a good 3 point shooter.

A. Baynes- We all know him and many Celtic fans would be happy if he replaces Kanter next season here.

D. Howard- Should probably finish his career with Lebron and stay away from the tranny clubs (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

W. Matthews- I think he opts out but re-signs at Milwaikee.

R. Rondo- May opt out, but like Howard is probably best suited to finish his career playing with the King.

Very good job Kdp with your reasonable analysis.
I do think DeRozan opts in and then gets traded to a contender.
Yes, there are teams with cap space like the Knicks, Hawks and Pistons.
They don’t make sense for him and he doesn’t make sense for them.
DeRozan needs to play for a contender.

Drummond absolutely will opt in.
Whiteside might be getting only the veterans minimum.
As we saw often in the playoffs, these guys are not playable unless the are guarding a Jokic or Nurkic.
It’s a rough time to be a slower center in the NBA.

thanks for reply....I give only my opinions and certainly am no expert. I do try to be fair to players and call them as I see it.


I can see DeRozen doing that so that the Spurs get something back, for sure. The lack of cap room around the league could make for some interesting one years deal for sure.

gonna be an interesting and FAST free agency period.

Hoop Central
@TheHoopCentral
· 23h
Free Agent Centers salary projections using @johnhollinger players’ worth in his valuation tool:

Whiteside - $17,200,380
Christian Wood - $15,830,309
Drummond - $14,906,274
Jakob Poeltl - $13,166,442
Favors - $12,652,855
Ibaka - $5,521,235
Dwight - $3,137,516

via @johnhollinger


Bob


.

bobheckler wrote:Hoop Central
@TheHoopCentral
· 23h
Free Agent Centers salary projections using @johnhollinger players’ worth in his valuation tool:

Whiteside - $17,200,380
Christian Wood - $15,830,309
Drummond - $14,906,274
Jakob Poeltl - $13,166,442
Favors - $12,652,855
Ibaka - $5,521,235
Dwight - $3,137,516

via @johnhollinger


Bob


.

This is interesting.
Ibaka should make the most out of this group.
Poeltl is probably a minimum salary player.
Whiteside puts up big rebounding and block numbers.
It will be interesting to see how much Whiteside will receive.

dboss wrote:kdp59

This is very informative.  Who do you think would be a good fit for the Celtics?  I like Baynes.  

lots on that list would make the Celtics better, but most are out of the teams price range with that MLE of around $5M or so.

perhaps the only ones that Ainge could temp from the list at that price point would be Justin Holiday and maybe A. Baynes.

both would help fill our biggest needs, but of course Ainge could only sign one of them I have been touting Holiday as an option as a scorer off the bench for the team.


now IF Hayward does opt out and signs with another team, then the list of players improves somewhat, as Ainge will have the standard MLE of around $9M to offer.

players who I feel might sign for that include:

D. Gallinari
H. Whiteside
T. Thompson
P. Millsap
D. Favors
D. Saric
Dj Augustin
D. Jones
D. Howard
R. Rondo

now some of those players will likely get a deal more than that $9M, but I think all are in that ballpark salary at least next season.

Out of those I already said I would like to see Ainge go after Thompson or Favors. Whiteside might be an option I guess.

my guess would be Ainge will go after Gallinari , as I remember his supposed man crush he had for him a few years back. And Ainge always does the opposite of what I want , which is why I am NOT an NBA GM.