The Brian Schmitz Report: Magic Maximum Capspace

[Marcos_Beck]

Yeah, the market for Durant/LBJ is sizeable but I could see a number of tier 2 agents that would sign with ORL. Great core, already have a 1st option and I like the moves they've made.

To look for complementary pieces makes more sense IMO,

Depends, where we're headed we're not looking at ourselves as a Tier 2 team so we won't downsale ourselves when the reality is we do have a young Superstar who does have a ring, we have good young players, we've made some moves to improve our supporting cast, and we have capspace to offer so we can make a strong case for any Tier FA(s) we intend to go after.

If we don't get our target whoever he or they may be, we'll still have the caproom to improve and as stated Paul George is locked in, he's not expiring so no worries of him leaving or FA's perhaps looking at it as maybe a 1-2 yr short term deal and not too many other potential suitors can say that (CHI- Rose expiring DET- Teague Williams expiring though they have Drummond) the Pelicans seem to be the huge threat.

We're keeping Love and specially Rose at any price and they have zero reason to leave. We're in a great position IMO.

[WillyJakkz]

You forgot about: Sacramento, Phoenix, Washington and, especially, San Antonio. Also I think you are a level behind Detroit, Chicago or Phoenix. But that's only my opinion. Will be an interesting offseason. However, I think there are some teams ahead of you right now. At least if it comes to LBJ and KD.
I also think, the argument andrei mentioned once, is a very important one. Like andrei, I think that KD and LBJ want to be the superstars on the team they join. In Orlando they would have to share the spotlight with PG.

That's debatable considering how LeBron got to Miami in the first place and KD once sharing the spotlight with Westbrook.

Not quite buying that also as Wiggins future superstar of Phx Wall superstar in DC.

[Dennis]

Just saying, that in your case a lot has to happen to sign KD or LBJ. I'm not sure why they should leave their mother teams for orlando. However, player agents said pitches will be very important. So I don't rule out anything.

[Marcos_Beck]

Nothing is ruled out but I can see someone joining LeBron / Durant easier than they leaving money to join not only Orlando but any team. So if SAS and MIA play it right, they are the front runners to keep their players.

I see Durant signing a 1 year max with SAS, depending on the market next year (how many good teams will be able to pry him from SA next year?) If there are lots of contenders for his services next year I don't see any negatives in waiting for his 10th year in the league to come and cash in an even bigger deal.
For LBJ in my mind everything is wide open but yeah there are few contenders with better chance of landing him either via S&T or even offering money. There are teams who can offer MIA good players and stay very attractive for LBJ so should he decide to leave those teams become a very nice destination because they can give the full max deal for 5 years plus stay as top contenders. He would leave no money behind while playing for a real contender

[WillyJakkz]

Nothing is ruled out but I can see someone joining LeBron / Durant easier than they leaving money to join not only Orlando but any team. So if SAS and MIA play it right, they are the front runners to keep their players.

I see Durant signing a 1 year max with SAS, depending on the market next year (how many good teams will be able to pry him from SA next year?) If there are lots of contenders for his services next year I don't see any negatives in waiting for his 10th year in the league to come and cash in an even bigger deal.
For LBJ in my mind everything is wide open but yeah there are few contenders with better chance of landing him either via S&T or even offering money. There are teams who can offer MIA good players and stay very attractive for LBJ so should he decide to leave those teams become a very nice destination because they can give the full max deal for 5 years plus stay as top contenders. He would leave no money behind while playing for a real contender

I kinda agre to an extent I mean, why leave mother team for Orlando or any team?

That's what the pitch is for and why teams clear cap in the first place to try to get those guys.

The word "real contender" is very very debatable considering ORL prior to Paul George injury beat Chicago, a "true contender" with a healthy Rose etc, with and without George we beat Miami without and with a GM 2 of 3, lost to Spurs which was the game George got hurt scoring 8pts in 4mins first time then lost again without George.

Honestly the one East team we had no answers for admittedly was Boston whether George was hurt or not and we played DET got swept with injured Batum, who knows if we still get swept, maybe but they still would've beaten us easily I feel cause we weren't ready for them, they're superior and head and shoulders the class of the Conference.

Sales pitch comes down to what a team can offer any FA and what will the team have left if any FA decides to do a S&T and goes to a new situation and if the player he intends on building a franchise with is soon to be a FA themselves like a Derrick Rose or etc and will team realistically be able to keep team intact with new cap in place or will they have to pawn off depth etc...?

FA is designed specifically for this and we're up for the challenge.

[Dennis]

Yeah like said, the pitch will be important. Every team that puts in some work will have chance. In the end only one (or two as we have KD and LBJ) team can win and the mother teams have an advantage. However, there is still the chance for other teams to impress the Player Agents. That is also the reason why the process for those two will take a few days. The review of a good pitch needs time and I as an admin would expect a great pitch for special talents like them. And Im sure the PA have a pretty similiar opinion.

[bt]

I think what teams have now or what moves they make before free agency is more important than a pitch. Miami and San Antonio need to make moves to prove to those players they're going to become winners and go deep into the post season and it's New Orleans or Detroit (if Deron opts out) that are the only chances outside those two.

It doesn't matter how many suitors there are, the player agents would need to be fired if they didn't choose New Orleans or Detroit. If joining with a star is a good idea, it'll be New Orleans but if having your own team is the best way, it'll be Detroit.

Can't see how the best pitch in the world from any other team would make any difference.

[bt]

Although, with cap changes, not sure if either NOP or DET have the space still.

[Sun Scorched]

Although, with cap changes, not sure if either NOP or DET have the space still.

We will have the space, but we're not participating. Process will be a cluster fuck and we'd rather not miss out on other free agents for the privilege of talking to LeBron or Durant. We would have our money tied up for a large part of free agency and we'd rather start the conversations earlier with players actually excited about playing for the Pelicans.

The point of having PAs is so that they can create an aggressive market. Half of that is making sure the right teams are interested in your client and show up to bid. With all of the negative press about preferences and greed, not sure why any team would waste their time.

We absolutely smacked Durant around this season - complete season and post-season sweep. We'll look forward to doing so next season as well!

#rivalry

[bt]

Interesting line but pretty much ours also. We'll have the space but won't be participating. This pitch stuff has put me off and I'd rather look elsewhere plus we can then choose to put money aside for future extensions.

[Sun Scorched]

Interesting line but pretty much ours also. We'll have the space but won't be participating. This pitch stuff has put me off and I'd rather look elsewhere plus we can then choose to put money aside for future extensions.

While I respect what you've done / are doing with SAC, not quite what I'm saying.

I fully believe in utilizing every resource available to a team for improvement: cap space, draft picks, trades.

We're going to use our cap space to its full extent with the intent to add long term pieces. Not planning on sitting on our cap space or only using it to sign one year stop gaps.

[bt]

I'm not sure what you mean because I said that exact thing. Not sure why you think otherwise or why you down talk and think you're the only team that believes in utilizing every resource.

I'd rather look elsewhere

[emplep7]

Could be another big rivalry brewing in the West between Sactown and New Orleans here...

[WillyJakkz]

Could be another big rivalry brewing in the West between Sactown and New Orleans here...

That'd be great checking boxscore now

[Sun Scorched]

I'm not sure what you mean because I said that exact thing. Not sure why you think otherwise or why you down talk and think you're the only team that believes in utilizing every resource.

I'd rather look elsewhere

It was more the extension comment than anything else. Sorry for sounding like I was talking down - wasn't intentional.

We are looking forward to offering multi-year contracts. I get the sense that some teams like retaining flexibility, which is fine, but structuring one year deals (Gay, Parker, Beverly) - that's just not our style. I think contracts are more valuable if for three + years (for bird rights) and as potential trade assets.

1 year contracts (especially for UFAs) hold little to no value, IMO.

[NanashiWake]

I'm not sure what you mean because I said that exact thing. Not sure why you think otherwise or why you down talk and think you're the only team that believes in utilizing every resource.

I'd rather look elsewhere

It was more the extension comment than anything else. Sorry for sounding like I was talking down - wasn't intentional.

We are looking forward to offering multi-year contracts. I get the sense that some teams like retaining flexibility, which is fine, but structuring one year deals (Gay, Parker, Beverly) - that's just not our style. I think contracts are more valuable if for three + years (for bird rights) and as potential trade assets.

1 year contracts (especially for UFAs) hold little to no value, IMO.

No no no...you can't be nice, gotta be mean for that rivalry! Lol

[GreenBear]

We are looking forward to offering multi-year contracts. I get the sense that some teams like retaining flexibility, which is fine, but structuring one year deals (Gay, Parker, Beverly) - that's just not our style. I think contracts are more valuable if for three + years (for bird rights) and as potential trade assets.

1 year contracts (especially for UFAs) hold little to no value, IMO.

I can't speak for the other players mentioned, but Beverley was not given a 1 year deal strictly to maintain flexibility. We offered him a 1 year contract after we struck out on several other FAs. So near the end of FA, we had all this cap room and there was no one we wanted to give a multi year deal to. From talking to the PAs, Beverley already had multi year offers for less money. So I decided to throw a big one year offer at him. Can't pocket the money, and this still allowed me to free up cap space for another try at big name FAs this year.

[bt]

I get that and agree (re: 3 year plus deal). Although the situation last season called for a one year deal to Parker as we had no big extension this season and could preserve space that way. This season I won't do it as we have extensions next season and it would be pointless.

[8timechamp]

I feel like Lou Williams might be a good fit as a scorer for the Magic team. Maybe Magic should look at him.