2016 NBA Free Agency Thread

The NBA free agency period officially starts July 1st at 12:01AM. Rather than keep posting in the trade rumors thread, I figure it make things a bit more tidy to start a new free agency thread.

The obvious big headline of this free agency period is Kevin Durant. He seems to be planning a meeting with a lot of teams in New York, but the Knicks are not one of them. Derrick Rose trade was a red herring, the Knicks remain completely not in the running for Kevin Durant. Personally, after all this, I still look for Durant to stay in OKC.

Lebron is staying in Cleveland. Done.

Plenty of other reasonably big name free agents out there to discuss as well.

As far as the Knicks, how hard do we push for Joakim Noah or Pau Gasol? Probably pretty hard.
Do we let someone else outbid us on Lance Thomas? Hopefully not.
Do we let someone else outbid us on Lance Galloway or Derrick Williams? Not sure how high anyone else values these guys, but we'll see.
 

tiger0330

Legend
Posted this in the trade rumors thread but this is the more appropriate thread. Thanks htr10.

I think DRose is the only marquee name we sign this off-season because PJ is going to have to fill so many roster spots. Possible exception is if PJ can get Pau to sign for a reasonable deal off his relationship with him in LA.

Looks like a lot of money is going to tossed around this off-season, I think before we're done we get more 20M/yr deals signed this off-season than ever before.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/new...29gn4m5?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The summer of crazy spending in the NBA is only days away and it is likely to start in Washington. But we’re not talking about the Wizards’ pursuit of Kevin Durant, which most observers regard as slightly delusional.

According to sources, the Wiz are locked in on making a major offer to Joakim Noah. The Wizards are said to be willing to offer Noah, coming off shoulder surgery that KO’d him in January, a full maximum contract. His deal would start at $26.6 million and reach nearly $120 million over four seasons.


Yeah, it’ll be that kind of crazy money for the soon-to-be former Chicago Bull.
The Wizards are prepared to go all out for the 2014 NBA Defensive Player of the Year because they have glaring holes up front and already are anticipating having to win an intense bidding war.
Three other teams — the Knicks, Timberwolves and Bucks — are also planning to make substantial offers to Noah, who played only 29 games last season before suffering a shoulder injury. If the Bulls come calling, he probably won’t even take their call. He has no intentions of re-signing in Chicago and is ready to move on, according to a source.
The Wizards’ main competition when free agency starts July 1 will be from the Knicks. Newly acquired Derrick Rose is close to Noah and some observers see that putting Phil Jackson in the lead. The Knicks can also offer Noah a starting job, having sent Robin Lopez as part of the package to the Bulls in the Rose trade and creating a vacancy at center.


Noah has ties to New York — he spent most of his high school days at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep — and is said to want to come to the Big Apple. He’d be an automatic Garden favorite with his relentless hustle and fiery demeanor.
Money-wise, the Knicks will have around $30 million to spend on free agents. They’ll first try to get Durant, as much as they look like long shots, with Oklahoma City the favorites to retain the summer’s top free agent. If Durant moves, Golden State has the wherewithal and interest to bring him in as a significant upgrade over restricted FA Harrison Barnes, who fizzled in the Finals. The way the Warriors collapsed at the end of Game 7 against Cleveland in the Finals, there’s a need for Durant’s scoring, even for a team that won a record 73 games.
As for Noah, Jackson might not be willing to match Washington’s max-deal offer for a player who also had knee surgery in the 2014 offseason. But the Wizards can’t reinvest in Nene, approaching his 34th birthday and missing 133 games since 2011.


So this will be an intense competition. Several NBA GMs think that Noah could be more heavily recruited than the other top bigs who will go on the open market. Dwight Howard will scare away some teams with his character issues. He is said to want the Knicks, but more than they want him. Pau Gasol is a Jackson favorite who turned down a chance in 2014 to be reunited with his former Lakers coach and headed to Chicago instead. If Noah takes Washington’s max money, Jackson might have to turn to Gasol, who turns 36 on July 6.
“If teams are convinced Noah is healthy, he will get a max deal, and Washington is panicking because Nene is done and they didn’t make the playoffs last season,’’ said one GM. “They’ll overpay for Noah — they always do.’’


The Wiz are prepared to write some massive checks as the league’s salary cap explodes from $70 million this season to $94 million for 2016-17. They waited too long to get Bradley Beal at a reasonable price, so now they’ll have to overpay to retain their top free agent. Beal could command $22 million as a starting salary in a max deal, despite suffering from recurring stress injuries to his right fibula during his first four seasons.
If the Wiz do make an offer to Noah that more than doubles the five-year, $60 million that is about to expire, it could end Minnesota’s pursuit of one of Tom Thibodeau’s favorite players.
Thibodeau has Noah atop his free-agent board and hopes he can land the player who brought him leadership on and off the floor, along with his trademark high intensity. But even if a non-scoring threat like Noah finished fourth in the MVP in 2014 for Thibodeau, Minnesota probably isn’t willing to break the bank for a player who has missed 94 games in the last five seasons, including the final 43 last year.


Noah also has a big fan in Jason Kidd, who has soured on Greg Monroe, only one season into a deal that has two seasons to run. The Bucks tried to trade him in recent days, but the Celtics and other teams had no interest.
Kidd has told associates he thinks Noah’s toughness and experience will greatly help his young rising stars, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker. He’ll have to convince Noah, though, that he can be happy relocating to a small market.
The Bucks are looking to bounce back from a disastrous season after they made the playoffs in 2015. As Kidd sees it, Noah’s addition would be perfect as the Bucks try to live up to their “Own the Future’’ marketing campaign.
With what Noah is about to get, he’ll own the future, too.
 
Durant's 6 free agency interviews reportedly so far: OKC, GS, SA, Clippers, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics.

So, after all that speculation, Washington Wizards don't even look like they will make the cut. Houston Rockets are like us and would love Durant, but not likely to get a real meeting.

Of the 6 team meetings listed, Celtics and Clippers seem like long shots. You can never count out Miami with Pat Riley and SA, but similarly, neither of those teams have NBA Championship contender written all over them for 2016-17, even with Durant, in my mind. Free agency decision for Durant should boil down to stay in OKC or take the easy way out and hope for the easy chance at a championship with GS.
 
Posted this in the trade rumors thread but this is the more appropriate thread. Thanks htr10.

I think DRose is the only marquee name we sign this off-season because PJ is going to have to fill so many roster spots. Possible exception is if PJ can get Pau to sign for a reasonable deal off his relationship with him in LA.

Looks like a lot of money is going to tossed around this off-season, I think before we're done we get more 20M/yr deals signed this off-season than ever before.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/new...29gn4m5?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Good link, thanks Tiger. I agree that the big deals are coming, even for tier B impact players. People will scoff at a big contract for Noah, but even if his play on the court isn't close to what it used to be, he is a culture changer for a franchise. He is a high character guy who bleeds the elements you need to hold together a successful team.
 

mafra

Legend
Thankfully, the C market is so deep that NYK won't have to overpay for their guy. Like last year, we might miss out on a Monroe but we could end up with another ROLO. Guys like Al Jefferson & horford come to mind.

Then, look at the SG market: Evan Turner, Eric Gordon, Beal & DeRozan, Fournier...

After that, re-sign LT & DW & seraphim... And, well, there you go.

Any chance, if Whiteside leaves & Durant shuns MIa.. Any chance Wade comes to NYC for a season? Lol.
 

mafra

Legend
Updates from June 25...

2:30 pm: Durant has informed the Knicks he will meet with them, and the Knicks are very confident they'll be in Durant's top three teams this off season, Tommy Dee tweeted Saturday afternoon.
 

mafra

Legend
The Lakers plan to "aggressively pursue" Hassan Whiteside in free agency, according to ESPN's Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne.
In other words, it sounds like they might offer him a max contract. The Lakers have a gaping hole at center with Julius Randle logging the overwhelming majority of his minutes at power forward, so they will be investing most of their cap space on a center. The Heat have made him their top priority and are likely the frontrunner to have him next year.
 
Updates from June 25...

2:30 pm: Durant has informed the Knicks he will meet with them, and the Knicks are very confident they'll be in Durant's top three teams this off season, Tommy Dee tweeted Saturday afternoon.

I was actually kind of happy when I heard Durant might not even meet with the Knicks, even if it made us look bad. Every offseason I worry that we spend too much time chasing the superstar who is not coming here instead of getting clever with more obtainable options, like the guys you listed a few posts above. Oh well, let's do this Durant thing then. It seems inevitable.
 

mafra

Legend
We tried getting clever last year, and went after Monroe right after midnight... He still turned us down.

For the most part, lesser free agents wait for the market to be established anyway... Waiting for domino pieces to fall.

With that said, we should be chasing the SG & C we really want too... Just as hard.
 

tiger0330

Legend
DeRozan going nowhere unless the Raps don't pay him the max. I'm betting he's the first max contract signed this off-season. With the cap rising the add'l year amounts to 39M for a team to keep a current max player. That's a lot of cheese that should give teams a big advantage in keeping their FA's from going elsewhere.

Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan does not plan to schedule meetings with other teams at the start of free agency, opting to focus on working out a contract to return to the Eastern Conference finalists, a source told ESPN.com.

– via ESPN.com

The Raptors can offer DeRozan a five-year maximum contract worth $153 million with the salary cap at a projected $94 million. Other teams would be able to offer him a max deal of $114 million over four years.
 
Last edited:

New New York

Quiet Storm
I was actually kind of happy when I heard Durant might not even meet with the Knicks, even if it made us look bad. Every offseason I worry that we spend too much time chasing the superstar who is not coming here instead of getting clever with more obtainable options, like the guys you listed a few posts above. Oh well, let's do this Durant thing then. It seems inevitable.

When has it ever burned us?

Plus us making a pitch to Durant doesn't mean we won't be talking to other Free Agents. Remember when Lebron rejected us, within hours David Lee was traded to Golden State for Tarif Anthony Randolph and Azebuke in a sign and trade, that deal had to have been on the table for a couple days (meaning in the works for a week or so) and was contingent on "The Decision"

RoLo was just about inked but we waited on DeAndre Jordan to make his choice.

It's like buying a house, you have your dream house but never do you limit yourself to just that one place!

The team that gets burnt the worst for investing too much time in chasing the top free agent is usually the players current team!

Pat Riley said himself that by time Lebron had informed them he was going to leave Miami they were two far out of contact with Melo to entice him to come.

I bet OKC does not have a plan B, they haven't allowed themselves to think about it...but they better!
 

CoolClyde

Moderator
I agree Knicks should not be offering another max contract this year, but spreading those Dolan bucks on quality players to complement Rose/Melo/Porzy - Knicks might have to wait and see who, out of obvious choices for SG/C, gets those max deals, and then make competent offers for their services.

Just hoping Lance, Gallo and Seraphin don't get poison pilled by other teams. I assume Seraphin will be back, seeing how he went to Latvia with Porzy, KOQ and Sasha.

would love to see KD sign a 1 year deal with OKC and go on this ride all over again next year, when everyone in the league has big bucks for multiple max contracts. Maybe that's why Melo is hanging with Durant, showing him just how awesome living in NYC could be...
 
When has it ever burned us?

Plus us making a pitch to Durant doesn't mean we won't be talking to other Free Agents. Remember when Lebron rejected us, within hours David Lee was traded to Golden State for Tarif Anthony Randolph and Azebuke in a sign and trade, that deal had to have been on the table for a couple days (meaning in the works for a week or so) and was contingent on "The Decision"

RoLo was just about inked but we waited on DeAndre Jordan to make his choice.

It's like buying a house, you have your dream house but never do you limit yourself to just that one place!

The team that gets burnt the worst for investing too much time in chasing the top free agent is usually the players current team!

Pat Riley said himself that by time Lebron had informed them he was going to leave Miami they were two far out of contact with Melo to entice him to come.

I bet OKC does not have a plan B, they haven't allowed themselves to think about it...but they better!

It's a fair question. You bring up the Decision with Lebron. While we were pitching him a deal he was never going to take, Pat Riley was pitching him putting together the Wade/Bosh/Lebron trio. Other front offices get creative and make things happen. We just hope for the best and lose out.

I guess I'll answer your question with a question. When has the Knicks tirelessly pursuing the top available free agent ever helped us? Sure, when we bomb out each time, we still have available to us the same type of stale, treading water type deals we make every offseason, but when has that ever been a game changer for us? Look at what some of the other GMs in the league do while we're sitting at the table waiting to be rejected by the tier AAA free agent each offseason. The David Lee trade and signing Robin Lopez were not victories for our front office the way you will see other teams stealthily shift the landscape with roster moves.

Look at what Boston accomplished by trading for Isaiah Thomas. Look at what Indiana has done by adding Thaddeus Young and Jeff Teague to go with Paul George and Monta Ellis. More often than not, spending time being crafty at the B and C player tier levels pays greater dividends for the teams not constantly star struck with whoever that year's top free agent is going to be.
 
I agree Knicks should not be offering another max contract this year, but spreading those Dolan bucks on quality players to complement Rose/Melo/Porzy - Knicks might have to wait and see who, out of obvious choices for SG/C, gets those max deals, and then make competent offers for their services.

Just hoping Lance, Gallo and Seraphin don't get poison pilled by other teams. I assume Seraphin will be back, seeing how he went to Latvia with Porzy, KOQ and Sasha.

would love to see KD sign a 1 year deal with OKC and go on this ride all over again next year, when everyone in the league has big bucks for multiple max contracts. Maybe that's why Melo is hanging with Durant, showing him just how awesome living in NYC could be...

We're in a weird situation for spending money this offseason. Never want to overspend, but if we don't sign any high salary players for at least 2 year deals and Rose doesn't work out so we let his contract expire without resigning, we're looking at 50+ million in salary cap space for the 2017 offseason. As long as we don't sign bad 3 year deals or longer, almost no harm in spending our available cap space this offseason, unless we really think someone high priced not available this offseason will be looking to sign with us in 2017.
 

Broadway

All Star
Noah was the only realistic free big name agent I see us acquiring, the only name I mentioned once we traded for Rose.

 

Broadway

All Star
We are also tied to Jamal Crawford high chance he returns to the Big Apple. I'll give us an outside chance at signing someone like Evan Turner too
 
Last edited:

Broadway

All Star
He fits their style actually although It'll be interesting to see what kind of team they become with the former Miami Heat assistant coach now head coach

 

mafra

Legend
Turner, Crawford, & Noah would be an excellent haul (pending contract details)...

It sounds like WAS may offer Noah the max right now... I doubt we go that high...

But signing Turner & Crawford keeps us in the LT & DW sweepstakes.

Toss in a C (the guy from TOR, or Pau, Jefferson, Horfford or Noah...

Rose
Turner
Melo
KP
C

Crawford, LG, LT, DW, Amundson...

Halfway decent squad that could reach ECF.
 

tiger0330

Legend
What do you guys think of Biyombo as an option at the 5. Supposedly he's looking at Rolo money this off-season, he's younger and cheaper than Dwight, Pau and Noah. Might be paying him for having a nice playoffs but can't deny he's a rim protector though his offensive skills underwhelm.
 
Top