You're the GM this offseason. What do you do?

[Jingled]

It isn't perfect to spend $13 million on a backup C who can play some at PF, but then again, Gobert isn't perfect by himself. He is pretty terrible for some matchups and we will need the flexibility that Favors provides.

That doesn't really seem to matter because Rudy gets his 33-35 minutes and closes every game regardless of whether or not Favors matches up better. Including the playoffs I can only think of 3 games that Favors closed instead of Gobert the entire season, and one of those games was the Houston game that Rudy got thrown out of in the 1st quarter.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

We keep talking about how much cap space we can have if Korver retires, I'm I the only one who doesn't think he's going to retire?

It also doesn't remove our obligation to him... we can waive and stretch him and take his cap number down to 1.2M. I think its 50/50.

I have a question... Korver is a limited player best used as a backup and may not play much in the playoffs... Was valuable in the regular season and definitely contributed to our success. Why don't we want him to hang around another year at 7.5M and we use space to get a good backup center... which would likely cost no more than 6-7M... wouldn't that be a potentially better use of space than waiving Korver, keeping Favs? Its a similar question... how much value does a guy have when his best use is a backup player and they may not play as much in the playoffs.

 

[Jingled]

Oh... so Ricky, Thabo, Crowder or Korver then? We know Exum wasn't in the deal.

I believe Andy Larsen said it was Rubio, Thabo, Udoh and Neto.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Let's say you've run the numbers and you have more than what you need with a $3M life insurance policy. Cool. You've got one. In fact, it's actually a $4M policy. Now you're looking at your budget and you could go get some disability insurance. Nah. **** that. Go spend it on another $1M in life insurance!

Honestly I'm not sure if it'd be better if Rudy got hurt if we didn't just fold the season and do a one year tank... won't get to the bottom, but could get us to 10-12 range and with new lotto odds that could turn into something.

Just waive Favs and sign Dedmon or take one of the 5 or so overpaid backup bigs and get an asset while doing so. Deciding to keep $18M in Favs is such a short term waste. Next year's FA is really bleak... this is the time to shoot your shot and pivot.

 

[LoPo]

Why do we simultaneously proclaim Favors incredible value and then imagine we can waive him and have no team pick him up and... then also sign him to a team friendly long term deal? The timeline to do that is really silly. By July 7th some teams will have obviously whiffed... claiming Favs on a one year deal looks viable at that point. If Dallas or either LA team are offering 3/36M and a starting center spot are we sure he takes our 3/40M... knowing his name has been out there in trade for a while? I think that is beyond rosy.

I think it is safe to assume that we either keep him at $18M or he isn't on the roster... way to much "assumption" in this 3/42M, 3/40M stuff.

If we waive Favors on the first day of the moratorium, that's not July 7th. Somebody clarify the rules for me, but wouldn't his 48 hour waiver process happen right when we do it? So only teams with the cap space on July 2nd or a trade exception large enough could pick him up.

Regardless of timing or that rule, I just refuse to believe that any NBA team would pick up Favors for $18 million expiring on the first day or two of free agency. Maybe they would do it a few weeks into free agency when they have failed, but I just don't see the Lakers making LeBron and their fanbase happy by picking up Favors for 50% of their 2019 summer cap space.

Once a team picks him up, they can't trade him as a large expiring until the deadline. He's not worth $18 million as an expiring.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I believe Andy Larsen said it was Rubio, Thabo, Udoh and Neto.

Forgot Udoh... that is good salary filler and that seems closer to matching. That makes sense.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Yeah and you can sign one of those guys for 18 mill or less.

Do you mean $12 or less? Which impact players are you signing for that? And when did you become LoPo?

 

[NUMBERICA]

Absolutely, but does that take us to the next level?

Not substantially if we're hell-bent on clogging the lane.

 

[SCS]

Why doesn't Lamb play more minutes. Seems like Kemba needed lots of help... really curious, not trying to dog the guy. I know Borrego was new and that Lamb wasn't a big favorite of the previous coach (name escapes me... dude in Orlando).

Hornets season goes south every year because their bigs are bad and once Zeller or Howard was hurt they were relying on Frank the Tank and Biyombo. Maybe Lamb running some offense with good shooting or bigs who set picks and have some gravity unlocks something for him.

I think he could be had for 12-15M a year. Middle tier guys generally come at a bargain or get overpaid... so $18-20M could end up being what it takes. 2s and 3s likely command a premium too, so who knows how crazy it gets.

Yikes we're already talking about guys like Lamb as an option? Yuck

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

If we waive Favors on the first day of the moratorium, that's not July 7th. Somebody clarify the rules for me, but wouldn't his 48 hour waiver process happen right when we do it? So only teams with the cap space on July 2nd or a trade exception large enough could pick him up.

Regardless of timing or that rule, I just refuse to believe that any NBA team would pick up Favors for $18 million expiring on the first day or two of free agency. Maybe they would do it a few weeks into free agency when they have failed, but I just don't see the Lakers making LeBron and their fanbase happy by picking up Favors for 50% of their 2019 summer cap space.

Once a team picks him up, they can't trade him as a large expiring until the deadline. He's not worth $18 million as an expiring.

Dallas has a $21M trade exception so they could claim him. I believe teams could claim him, but I am not sure when the waiver claim process starts. I think it might actually delay the waiver wire process further... it is a moratorium after all.

If we waived him now a team could pick him up... like Dallas and waive him again if they don't find anyone by July 5th.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Guys that can't shoot, dribble (create) are finding they asses on the bench in the playoffs. If Rudy got played off the floor it is likely that Favs isn't the best solution to the issue... he does some different things, but isn't so different that it cures the issue. Even if we miss the big free agents I think it's a bad idea to guarantee his deal. I am not entertaining the fantasy world where we waive him and he comes back for a team friendly deal because while he knows it isn't a good fit he'd rather not move his family (even though I think his wife is in Georgia closer to family). The guy would know we wanted something better, we failed in getting something better, and he would likely be back in trade rumors.

I don't think his market dries up so much that he can't get full MLE money (4/40) or a 1+1 with a player option in a market where he can start and show everyone he's worth more. If his market did dry up doesn't that tell us something... if we were the highest bidder for his services even though we have a player entrenched at his best position.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Not substantially if we're hell-bent on clogging the lane.

When we had a PG that could shoot Favors and Gobert played well together. The season with Hill the put up 110 offensive rating and 91 defensive rating in our second most used lineup of Hill, Hayward, Ingles, Favors, and Gobert. The year before our 2 most used lineups that had Neto and Mack as our starting PGs with Favors and Gobert we were +9 rating for those lineups. This year with Neto at PG those two played together well, albeit limited minutes. The offensive rating was 127. Same things when Mitchell started at PG with Favors and Gobert together. Although those are getting pretty low minutes.

The point is Gobert and Favors have always played well together when we have a PG that can shoot. If not they are terrible together.