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

[LoPo]

Hornets are screwed no matter what. That sucks for them. I wouldn't offer the super max if I were them.

If we fail in free agency, the Hornets are the type team we should be looking to deal with. Favors is much better than Biyombo, MKG, and Marvin for that team. If they re-sign Kemba, that means they are going all in on the now. If we could send out Favors and bring back bad expiring contracts and some picks, that would be wise for both sides. Something like...

Favors
for
MKG, Biyombo, 2020 1st and a 2021 option to swap 1st round picks

Hornets get to stay under the luxury and get a much better fit at C for them. We get two expirings and a pick to use at the deadline.

 

[framer]

I's hard to see Kemba turning down the supermax and losing all that money. If the Hornets are willing to pay him that much then I think he stays in Charlotte for sure.

If the Hornets give Kemba the supermax, you can write off basketball in that town for the life of that contract. You "supermax" to lock in a competitor. Think of the disaster if we had been able to supermax Hayward. Although Kemba is better than Hayward, the Hornets have zero of anything else and are likely to get nothing more with that kind of contract eating cap space.

 

[framer]

If we fail in free agency, the Hornets are the type team we should be looking to deal with. Favors is much better than Biyombo, MKG, and Marvin for that team. If they re-sign Kemba, that means they are going all in on the now. If we could send out Favors and bring back bad expiring contracts and some picks, that would be wise for both sides. Something like...

Favors
for
MKG, Biyombo, 2020 1st and a 2021 option to swap 1st round picks

Hornets get to stay under the luxury and get a much better fit at C for them. We get two expirings and a pick to use at the deadline.

If Hornets supermax Kemba, they will not be giving up draft picks. They will need every single one of those to survive. They will be looking to acquire picks rather than giving them away.

 

[LoPo]

If Hornets supermax Kemba, they will not be giving up draft picks. They will need every single one of those to survive. They will be looking to acquire picks rather than giving them away.

I disagree because I think they convince Kemba to stay by saying they will go get guys who can help them right now. They have been striking out on mediocre draft picks for years. If they can shed some money to get under the luxury AND get a center upgrade with Favors over Biyombo, I think they would definitely forfeit a pick.

 

[Jingled]

I disagree because I think they convince Kemba to stay by saying they will go get guys who can help them right now. They have been striking out on mediocre draft picks for years. If they can shed some money to get under the luxury AND get a center upgrade with Favors over Biyombo, I think they would definitely forfeit a pick.

The only thing they have to do to convince Kemba to stay is offer him the supermax.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

Can't win with Kemba- not efficient enough offensively to make up for his lack of size and how he would targeted on switches and killed defensively in the playoffs. Especially on the jazz where it would leave them with two small guards and you can't win with two small guards in today's league- unless they are 60%+ TS type guys- which Kemba and Donovan aren't close to.

 

[LoPo]

The only thing they have to do to convince Kemba to stay is offer him the supermax.

Well that does help. Once they give him the supermax, they have to scramble to avoid the luxury. I think they value missing the luxury more than another 1st rounder in the early teens. They just aren't the luxury paying type team.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Well that does help. Once they give him the supermax, they have to scramble to avoid the luxury. I think they value missing the luxury more than another 1st rounder in the early teens. They just aren't the luxury paying type team.

They need to shed salary in the worst way... if they bring Kemba back... that supermax will become toxic and they may end up having to move him.

They will need to dump salary and get better which is really tough to do. If he signs those picks get traded... they likely don’t retain Lamb. I’d sign it if I was Kemba and then ask out in a year or two if they can’t figure it out... $80m more is just bonkers... his great great grandkids will thank him.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Well that does help. Once they give him the supermax, they have to scramble to avoid the luxury. I think they value missing the luxury more than another 1st rounder in the early teens. They just aren't the luxury paying type team.

Honestly they will be in the tax it’s a matter of doing a little tax or going OKC... no way in hell they do megatax but I could see them going in the tax a little.

Ooooffff.... I’d probably just begrudgingly rebuild... MJ hasn’t had the stomach for it.

 

[framer]

I disagree because I think they convince Kemba to stay by saying they will go get guys who can help them right now. They have been striking out on mediocre draft picks for years. If they can shed some money to get under the luxury AND get a center upgrade with Favors over Biyombo, I think they would definitely forfeit a pick.

If they convince Kemba to stay it will 100% have to do with the money. There is no "here's how we are going to compete" magic that they can pull which ANYONE will believe.

 

[Sandman822]

Can't win with Kemba- not efficient enough offensively to make up for his lack of size and how he would targeted on switches and killed defensively in the playoffs. Especially on the jazz where it would leave them with two small guards and you can't win with two small guards in today's league- unless they are 60%+ TS type guys- which Kemba and Donovan aren't close to.

I'm of the impression that Kemba can be a much more efficient player than he already is if he doesn't have to rely on Jeremy Lamb or 85 year old Nic Batum to be his 2nd options, and he actually gets to play in a lineup with more than one or two shooters on the floor.

There's a fair concern around him and how he goes surviving a 4 year max at his age and size but efficiency is one of the last things I'd knock Kemba for given the dog **** rosters MJ puts around him year after year which he can borderline drag to the playoffs year in and year out, even with all of his defensive deficiencies.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

If we fail in free agency, the Hornets are the type team we should be looking to deal with. Favors is much better than Biyombo, MKG, and Marvin for that team. If they re-sign Kemba, that means they are going all in on the now. If we could send out Favors and bring back bad expiring contracts and some picks, that would be wise for both sides. Something like...

Favors
for
MKG, Biyombo, 2020 1st and a 2021 option to swap 1st round picks

Hornets get to stay under the luxury and get a much better fit at C for them. We get two expirings and a pick to use at the deadline.

Just using their pick and signing Kemba to supermax they will be paying about 19M in tax. Total payroll of 160M+. The lose Lamb and Parker in this scenario and fill out the rest of the roster with minimums... so they end up worse. So...

How about this. We send Jae and Kyle to Charlotte during the draft... they send MKG, Marvin, or worst case Zeller... with the #12. The salary matches even though Kyle's number isn't the full 7.5M. they can waive and stretch Kyle so now instead of those guys at 13M, 15M, or 14.4M they have Jae at about $9M... between the pick salary and the salary difference they save like $20M... still have their future picks, so a rebuild is still on the table if they need to trade Kemba and pivot.

We'd obviously prefer Marvin... but all of those guys are rotation players... Zeller can be the 3rd big, but he has an extra year... in the trade we might snake one more asset if we did take Zeller. They could argue that Jae is an upgrade... maybe not over Marvin, but its close... so it isn't like they are just dumping money. I can't see us taking back dead salary like Biyombo, but I could see us taking rotation players that are expensive if it gave us some assets.

Creates a little issue for us getting all the way to max money if Tobias said yes, but still close enough to figure it out.