Summer of 2016: NBA Offseason Thread

[Ichabod Drain]

I think Ryan should be restricted. He is in the same position as Seth with three years of service.

I am curious about which sites have him as unrestricted. I checked a few, including ones that I do not think are all that reliable and they all have him as restricted.

Ryan Kelly: 2016 Salary: $1,724,250
1 year remaining

He is listed as UFA here which was accurate for everyone else.

http://www.spotrac.com/nba/los-angel...rs/ryan-kelly/

Also here is an article from back when he signed in 2014. It says it's a 2-year deal and the $1.72 was for last season.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers...721-story.html

[awhom111]

He is listed as UFA here which was accurate for everyone else.

http://www.spotrac.com/nba/los-angel...rs/ryan-kelly/

Also here is an article from back when he signed in 2014. It says it's a 2-year deal and the $1.72 was for last season.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers...721-story.html

Spotrac is one of the sites that I would usually consider unreliable. It is possible that they could have an inside source on the Lakers opting to not extend the qualifying offer to him, which would make him unrestricted. The deadline for that is soon so the Lakers could decide to move on even if it has not been announced yet.

RealGM has him as restricted:
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/...y/Summary/2193
Basketball Insiders also has him as restricted:
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/lo...s-team-salary/
NBA.com free agent tracker also concurs:
http://www.nba.com/freeagents/2016/

[CDu]

Spotrac is one of the sites that I would usually consider unreliable. It is possible that they could have an inside source on the Lakers opting to not extend the qualifying offer to him, which would make him unrestricted. The deadline for that is soon so the Lakers could decide to move on even if it has not been announced yet.

RealGM has him as restricted:
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/...y/Summary/2193
Basketball Insiders also has him as restricted:
http://www.basketballinsiders.com/lo...s-team-salary/
NBA.com free agent tracker also concurs:
http://www.nba.com/freeagents/2016/

Yeah, Kelly is a third-year guy and thus in theory the Lakers have his rights. It could be that Spotrac knows that the Lakers won't extend a qualifying offer (they have until Friday). Or they could be confused by the fact that the Lakers had already gone through this once (Kelly's original deal was a 1-year deal, so he was a restricted free agent in 2014 too).

[Skitzle]

Yeah, Kelly is a third-year guy and thus in theory the Lakers have his rights. It could be that Spotrac knows that the Lakers won't extend a qualifying offer (they have until Friday). Or they could be confused by the fact that the Lakers had already gone through this once (Kelly's original deal was a 1-year deal, so he was a restricted free agent in 2014 too).

Hoops rumors Lakers off season outlook also has Kelly as a RFA. Sounds about right.

[oakvillebluedevil]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 18m18 minutes ago
The Sixers plan to be serious suitors for Golden State restricted free agent Harrison Barnes at the start of free agency, league sources say

The dark joke that is being a Sixers fan just falls deeper and deeper into the abyss

The only thing that would salvage this would be if right when Barnes goes to sign the max contract, all he gets is a Skype from Sam Hinkie saying the offer is going to someone else. (and yes, I know Colangelo is now the GM, but this is my fan fiction )

[JasonEvans]

The scuttlebutt is that D Wade is not happy with Miami and may seek a new home. If he wants $20+ mil a year, he will have a hard time finding suitors, I suspect, but if he will settle for something a bit more reasonable I bet a lot of contenders will be eager to add him.

There is no way Lebron signs anything but a 1 year deal with Cleveland (or a deal with a played out after one year). The difference in the contract he can sign this year (4 years, $138 mil) and next year (5 years, approx. $235 mil) is $100 million dollars!!!! That's the impact of the rapidly escalating salary cap. I would not be at all surprised if Durant did the same thing, coming back to OKC for one season and then signing his mega mega deal next year.

Lastly, not sure if you all have followed this story about the Buck's #10 draft pick, Thon Maker. Apparently, some NBA teams were concerned that Maker might not be his stated age of 19, but might be older. The Bucks didn't care and took him in the mid-lottery. Well, a school in Australia has just produced a picture of someone named Thon Maker who looks exactly like him. If the picture is Thon Maker, then it means he graduated from a high school in 2010. If Maker graduated from high school in 2010, it makes him about 23, not 19. Yikes!!



-Jason "there's a stroy in the WSJ that says Lance Thomas has more than a dozen teams interested in talking to him... the expectation is that he will be able to get something like $5 mil/season from someone" Evans

[BD80]

... If the picture is Thon Maker, then it means he graduated from a high school in 2010. If Maker graduated from high school in 2010, it makes him about 23, not 19. Yikes!! ...

That there is some serious reclassification!

That just tells me he is more serious about education than money. He could have been running the clock on his rookie contract instead of re-doing his senior year five times. I'm assuming he hasn't grown much since then, so his protential has been there all along.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

That there is some serious reclassification!

That just tells me he is more serious about education than money.

Are you on the UNC PR team?

[luburch]

Lastly, not sure if you all have followed this story about the Buck's #10 draft pick, Thon Maker. Apparently, some NBA teams were concerned that Maker might not be his stated age of 19, but might be older. The Bucks didn't care and took him in the mid-lottery. Well, a school in Australia has just produced a picture of someone named Thon Maker who looks exactly like him. If the picture is Thon Maker, then it means he graduated from a high school in 2010. If Maker graduated from high school in 2010, it makes him about 23, not 19. Yikes!!



-Jason "there's a stroy in the WSJ that says Lance Thomas has more than a dozen teams interested in talking to him... the expectation is that he will be able to get something like $5 mil/season from someone" Evans

Maker's camp acknowledged that the picture was indeed him, but reiterated that it is not a photo from a high school yearbook. It was from an english school or something of that nature.

[Ichabod Drain]

Maker's camp acknowledged that the picture was indeed him, but reiterated that it is not a photo from a high school yearbook. It was from an english school or something of that nature.

Here is a complete rundown of the situation on reddit.

It's pretty compelling evidence.

[BD80]

Maker's camp acknowledged that the picture was indeed him, but reiterated that it is not a photo from a high school yearbook. It was from an english school or something of that nature.

Do the other kids pictured, his "peers," seem to be 12 - 13, or 17 - 18? The picture was 6 years ago and he claims he's now 19 ...

[BD80]

...

-Jason "there's a stroy in the WSJ that says Lance Thomas has more than a dozen teams interested in talking to him... the expectation is that he will be able to get something like $5 mil/season from someone" Evans

Lance is one of the ten potential steals in free agency according to this piece:

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/ev...als-to-be-had/

This athletic five-year veteran is a 40-percent 3-point shooter. ... His length is a boon defensively, which complements his outside touch. Thomas also wants to win. ... and you don't get the sense he's stat-hunting. Thomas could wind up getting less than eight-figures in free agency, which in this market is a steal. ...

But then, so is Tyler Zeller:

This guy is a rim protector who hasn't rim protected. ... but it's hard to believe his athleticism won't be helpful in that regard somewhere else. ... Zeller is a functional third or fourth big entering his best seasons.

[CarmenWallaceWade]

I'm not an ESPN insider, but I love who they use as the poster child for this article.

http://espn.go.com/nba/insider/story...ed-free-agents

[kAzE]

-Jason "there's a stroy in the WSJ that says Lance Thomas has more than a dozen teams interested in talking to him... the expectation is that he will be able to get something like $5 mil/season from someone" Evans

That's funny . . . Just yesterday, I signed Lance to a 2 year, $9.6M contract in the 2016-17 season of my Milwaukee Bucks franchise in NBA 2K16 (in which he is currently a respectable C+ perimeter defender and a VERY good 84 rated standing three point shooter). He's made himself into a prototypical 3 and D guy off the bench. It's not surprising that a lot of teams wouldn't mind having him, even at that price. Good for Lance, I hope he finds a nice role with a good team. (OKC again?)

[JasonEvans]

The other 5 who will be overpaid: Evan Turner, Hassan Whiteside, Dwight Howard, Arron Afflalo, DeMar Derozan

whoever signs Howard should know better. Also heard an NBA writer on the radio the other day ripping Whiteside as a guy he'd
happily pass on...of course the new salary cap is going to make just about everyone look overpaid.

Can someone explain to be how Whiteside could be overpaid with a max deal? He seems like he's easily the best rim protector in the world right now, he rebounds well (double-digit rebounds in each of the past 2 seasons), and he's turned into a highly efficient scorer (14 ppg on 60% FG shooting), with a FT percentage (65%) that prevents him from being a hack-a-xxxx liability (like other elite centers such as Jordan and Howard). He's not a good shooter from outside the paint, a skill which is highly valued in today's NBA, but he seems to check every other box. He's even 27 which means his next 4 seasons should be among his prime years. What's more, he put up his career numbers this past season for a team that was a winner who advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs. What is not to like? I'd be elated if my team could sign him to a max deal.

-Jason "above quoted posts come from the Olympic team thread but really belong here which is why I moved the conversation" Evans

[Wander]

Can someone explain to be how Whiteside could be overpaid with a max deal? He seems like he's easily the best rim protector in the world right now, he rebounds well (double-digit rebounds in each of the past 2 seasons), and he's turned into a highly efficient scorer (14 ppg on 60% FG shooting), with a FT percentage (65%) that prevents him from being a hack-a-xxxx liability (like other elite centers such as Jordan and Howard). He's not a good shooter from outside the paint, a skill which is highly valued in today's NBA, but he seems to check every other box. He's even 27 which means his next 4 seasons should be among his prime years. What's more, he put up his career numbers this past season for a team that was a winner who advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs. What is not to like? I'd be elated if my team could sign him to a max deal.

The rap on him, which may or may not be fair, is that he goes for blocks so aggressively that it's actually to the detriment of his overall defense.

[BD80]

The rap on him, which may or may not be fair, is that he goes for blocks so aggressively that it's actually to the detriment of his overall defense.

Statistics show the team plays better D when he is on the bench than when he is on the floor.

[CDu]

Just to tie a bow on the Ryan Kelly situation: the Lakers had until today to extend Kelly a qualifying offer in order to make him a restricted free agent. They have not done so yet. If they don't (and it appears that they won't), he will indeed become an unrestricted free agent.

[JasonEvans]

Statistics show the team plays better D when he is on the bench than when he is on the floor.

The rap on him, which may or may not be fair, is that he goes for blocks so aggressively that it's actually to the detriment of his overall defense.

I did not know that. That certainly changes my outlook on him... though there just aren't all that many good centers in the NBA right now. I'd think he could be trained to be more careful about going for blocks.

-Jason "side note - Durant apparently says he is 90% going to return to OKC, it would take a truly awesome proposal to pry him away... though I'll be shocked if he does not sign a 1 year deal" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Just to tie a bow on the Ryan Kelly situation: the Lakers had until today to extend Kelly a qualifying offer in order to make him a restricted free agent. They have not done so yet. If they don't (and it appears that they won't), he will indeed become an unrestricted free agent.

Seeing as the Lakers earlier today gave qualifying offers to their other restricted free agents, it seems highly unlikely they will do the same for Ryan at the last minute. He didn't exactly contribute much to the team last season. A new situation might be good for him (assuming he can find one, he won't be a highly sought after free agent).

-Jason "Ryan made almost $4 mil in his short Laker career... not bad work if you can find it!" Evans