Why not iritate the group with my off-season plan.
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Renegotiate and extend Buddy. Offer him a $9mil bump this year, and then 3yrs - $51mil. Essentially getting 3 years - $60mil.
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Decline Bruce Brown and offer him 3 years - $51mil as well. I think it’s nice starter money and gives him more guaranteed income with a shot at another deal after this one.
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Don’t guarantee McConnell and let Nwora walk, saving $7.5mil in cap. McConnell hurts, but no reason to keep him if he ain’t playing.
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When Smith declines his deal, which he will. Offer him the MLE which I think will be $10-12mil annually for the next 2 years. Turner will be expiring again, so maybe Smith can take another step up to starting caliber 🤷
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Extend qualifying offer to Obi, then offer 2 years - $14mil.
This should put us at about $160mil without our rookie picks and we’ll under the luxury tax line still.
C. Turner / Smith (or Jackson if Smith walks)
PF. Toppin / Walker (Walker starting midway)
SF. Hield / Nesmith
SG. Brown / Mathurin
PG. Haliburton / Nembhard
Obviously the ideal is we get a star caliber forward onto the team, but easier said than done.
Unpopular hot take: long term, Brown is the odd man out, not Buddy
Look I LOVE Brown’s signing
But some of us must have realized this by now, he and Mathurin don’t function well together
Mathurin’s been moved to the bench for now, but we know that’s temporary. For this team to take the next step, we need Mathurin to continue to grow and regain his starting spot
When that happens, Brown becomes a very expensive backup. He’d still be a great bench piece to have, just expensive
Buddy otoh has great rapport with the team, and is great for team culture and chemistry. Not to mention he’s Tyrese’s best friend on the team. Buddy is the perfect type of bench vet for us
Resigning Brown and letting Buddy walk would be a mistake
I 100% agree, I actually view Brown as one of our biggest trade chips.