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Scheming on Devin Booker and Draft Picks......

Basketball Insiders listed the three worst free agent signings of this past summer. Biggest Free Agent Mistakes The list includes Kyle Singler, 5yrs/24M; Omer Asik, 5yrs/$33M; and, Tyson Chanlder, 4yrs/$52M.

Because of these deals, there is still a slight chance we can use our cap space to help teams who've gotten themselves into financial trouble with bad deals. Opportunities are limited, since the salary cap is expected to go up to around $95M next year, and around $117M the year after. The NBA's mega-television deal not only increases the cap, it also gives each team extra revenue to eventually makeup for luxury taxes they may owe this year.

That said, these are for-profit businesses, and saving money is important to small market teams. Plus, we have plenty of draft picks to add to a deal if what I propose is not enough.

OKC

First, I've discussed ad nauseum how much I wish we could exploit OKC's luxury tax troubles. Cameron Payne is the target.

As Basketball Insiders article details, the $5M Kyle Singler gets a year isn't much in the abstract. But they have to re-sign Kevin Durant this summer, then Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka the next year. This is after giving Enes Kanter huge dough.

He’s not just having a bad season, Singler is enduring a historically bad season.

Over the 292 minutes he’s played during the 2015-16 campaign, he is shooting just 29.2 percent from the floor, 22.2 perceny from three-point territory, and 50 percent from the free-throw line. Consider this: Per Basketball-Reference.com, Singler is on pace to become the first NBA player in 55 years to average over 10 minutes per game, yet shoot below 30 percent from the floor and post a True Shooting Percentage south of 37 percent. He also may become the first qualifying player in NBA history to ever shoot below 24 percent from three-point territory and 30 percent from the field in the same season.

I would love to take Singler off their hands if Cameron Payne comes with it. Of course, they can have cheaper options in return, like Isaiah Canaan, Nik Stauskas, Hollis Thompson and/or Kendall Marshall. I'd also give them back their draft pick, if necessary.

NO

New Orleans is disappointing, mightily. Part of the reason is because Omer Asik has been terrible. Then, on top of injuries to their best guards, they were expecting Quincy Poindexter to join the team and contribute, but he's now out for the season.

First off, they're a team that could use Hollis Thompson. Tyreke Evans is playing the three for them. They lost Al-Farouq Aminu over the summer to free agency. Now, Poindexter.

Maybe we can get one of those second round picks back for Hollis?

As for Asik, I don't think there's much of a deal there.

New Orleans has first round pick that's looking mighty attractive. But Asik only makes $6+M/yr. So the Pelicans can just eat his salary without suffering any luxury tax penalty. And they get some flexibility as the cap goes up.

However, New Orleans overpaying for Asik (and the Suns overpaying for Chandler, not to mention Enes Kanter and Tristan Thompson) demonstrates how much NBA GM's still covet big men. This could be important for the draft.

If New Orleans jumps past the Sixers in the draft to #2, they might be more interested in a center than Brandon Ingram. That could give the Sixers an opportunity to move up, if NO really likes a big man like Jakob Poeltl. Or, the Sixers may unclog the logjam by trading one of our bigs (and picks?) for that #2 pick.

I wonder how Dario Saric and Anthony Davis would work together?

PHX

Phoenix seems like a better trading partner than New Orleans. Here's why:

Tyson Chandler is stealing a ton from the Suns. $52M! It was one thing to overpay him while they were expecting Eric Bledsoe and Markieff Morris to make them a respectable ballclub. They could've contended for a playoff spot in the West this year.

But now...

While others will get a lot of flexibility when the cap goes up, very few teams will have the vast amount we will. We can sign two max free agents, and still have space left over. And since in all likelihood we're not signing two max free agents, we can afford to take on a contract Chandler's, and it won't affect us for years.

Besides the fact that we can afford him, he'd actually be useful to us, as a mentor for Jahlil, Joel and Nerlens. If veteran mentorship comes best from someone on the floor, then its Tyson who should be teaching/showing/demonstrating how to excel on defense in the league.

But don't we have too many bigs as it is?

Depending on what we get back, I would be willing to give Carl Landry and Richaun Holmes. That's a veteran power forward with a shorter deal, and about the same amount of effectiveness. They also get a young big man on a four year minimum deal. We actually reduce our logjam in the middle by one.

Phoenix stockpiles draft picks (CLE16, MIA18, MIA21), and we have plenty to give them.

What's the price? The two assets Phoenix has that we need are Devin Booker and their 2016 first round pick. For saving them tens of millions, replacing that production and giving them a young bunny, I'd want Devin Booker,but I'd prefer their unprotected pick. That's a trade deadline deal.

As for draft day, PHX is also a team who could possibly (prayerfully) want a big man instead of Ingram if they were to get the #2 pick. I don't think you give Chandler all that dough if you think Alex Len is your center of the future. Again, we could trade up if PHX likes a center further down in the draft, or we could trade one of our bigs (plus sweeteners) for PHX16.

With Jerry Colangelo on board, I'll expect some deal between the Sixers and Suns. And if his job is to expedite the process by getting us veterans, I'll be expecting that Chandler and Booker for Landry, Holmes and Stauskas any day now.



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