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Fans have begged ownership to pick a direction, and it appears that is in the works.

Hayward not finishing the season with us is obvious. The biggest question has to do with Miles.

Is it worth paying big money to a 26 year old borderline allstar with off court issues if you plan on continuing the rebuild mode.

I have a feeling that Richards and maybe even PJ may want to start packing.

My only concern is this FA class is very weak and Bridges may be the best FA available.

So are we overpaying to keep Bridges or will we add more players before the trade deadline?

Should be fun to see what direction they go.

Feels like some higher level strategic thinking and planning is finally taking place.

yosemiteben wrote:

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Feels like some higher level strategic thinking and planning is finally taking place.

We definitely have some options.
1. Buyout Lowry/Hayward and wait to the summer to either sign guys or we can sign guys.
2. We could flip Hayward or Lowry now for a bad contract like Wiggins and hope to to get an asset, limits our options in the offseason.
3. Wait to the summer and take on contracts for teams trying to open space in FA or take on contracts for teams looking to avoid tax.

JMAC3 wrote:2. We could flip Hayward or Lowry now for a bad contract like Wiggins and hope to to get an asset, limits our options in the offseason.

Yeah - I've liked the idea of a Hayward for Wiggins (+ a little something tasty).

MPM wrote:

JMAC3 wrote:2. We could flip Hayward or Lowry now for a bad contract like Wiggins and hope to to get an asset, limits our options in the offseason.

Yeah - I've liked the idea of a Hayward for Wiggins (+ a little something tasty).

I worry if Wiggins can't find his game in GS with Curry and Kerr then it would be worse than Batum here. Wiggins has 3.5 years still, hard pass.

JMAC3 wrote:

MPM wrote:

JMAC3 wrote:2. We could flip Hayward or Lowry now for a bad contract like Wiggins and hope to to get an asset, limits our options in the offseason.

Yeah - I've liked the idea of a Hayward for Wiggins (+ a little something tasty).

I worry if Wiggins can't find his game in GS with Curry and Kerr then it would be worse than Batum here. Wiggins has 3.5 years still, hard pass.

I get it - awful contract - but if the pot was sweetened enough pickwise I'd be down. A Bertrans/Roberson move only you hope you have something serviceable on the court and movable down the road (don't think Roberson ever saw the court in OKC - complete sunk cost).

No deal to Wiggins. It's like Batum 2.0, do not want.

The upside of Wiggins just isn't worth the downside. If GSW wants to give us Podz or Kuminga then yeah I say why not, but they are rumored to not want to move those guys even for Siakam let alone dump salary.

I think GSW will look to add a piece over salary dumping for a Lowry type of move.

I can, at a minimum, respect picking a direction and commiting to it with conviction.

Hornets issue has always been the "We're going to rebuild.. well..... maybe not", "We're going to go for it.. well..... maybe not". "Maybe we'll just keep hoping they'll get healthy..."


I'm okay with failure. I'm not okay with being scared to commit to something.

JMAC3 wrote:The upside of Wiggins just isn't worth the downside. If GSW wants to give us Podz or Kuminga then yeah I say why not, but they are rumored to not want to move those guys even for Siakam let alone dump salary.

I think GSW will look to add a piece over salary dumping for a Lowry type of move.

Agreed, I'd bet money that GS is calling teams offering them Chris Paul's expiring contract and their 26 first for the best return they can find. They'd probably like to move Wiggins too, but they'd have to be getting a decent player back to attach assets to him.

I want to move on from Miles, I'd hate the risk of Wiggins being a bum the next 3 years but if they're willing to attach a top 3 protected first to him I'd be tempted.

Assuming Woj is right about us not dealing and looking to add assets. I wouldn't put it past us to make 1-2 more trades.

Richards seems like the most likely trade candidate in my opinion because we aren't asking for a first back and he is cheap.
PJ maybe next, but Idk if they are moving him without getting a first.
Lowry/Hayward will be constantly available I assume.
Bridges, I have been through his trade limitations before. Just hard to find a deal that Charlotte isn't just gifting a top 75 player away.
Martin feels pretty safe at this point

Miller, Nsj, Melo, Mark I assume are untouchable based on the rumors.

Nobody else has any value. I put the number of trades we make at 1.5. I think at least 1 more guy is moved and then maybe we find a taker for one of the big expirings.

JMAC3 wrote:Assuming Woj is right about us not dealing and looking to add assets. I wouldn't put it past us to make 1-2 more trades.

Richards seems like the most likely trade candidate in my opinion because we aren't asking for a first back and he is cheap.
PJ maybe next, but Idk if they are moving him without getting a first.
Lowry/Hayward will be constantly available I assume.
Bridges, I have been through his trade limitations before. Just hard to find a deal that Charlotte isn't just gifting a top 75 player away.
Martin feels pretty safe at this point

Miller, Nsj, Melo, Mark I assume are untouchable based on the rumors.

Nobody else has any value. I put the number of trades we make at 1.5. I think at least 1 more guy is moved and then maybe we find a taker for one of the big expirings.

Agreed, 1.5 over/under for more trades. There will at least be one more.

I would keep PJ for now. He is a ceiling raiser type role player who doesn't have much use on a tanking team, but he still fits the timeline and playstyle of LaMelo, so I would just try to keep him around through the rebuild and hope for a quick enough turnaround to start getting use out of him a season or two from now when they come hopefully out of the other side.

Its not like hes going to be eating up usage or making the team too good to tank in the meantime and if it they are taking too long to get any traction going on the rebuild they have plenty of time to trade him over the next couple years. I think he can fill a useful role with this core once they have a functional roster and better coaching situation.

yosemiteben wrote:

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one thing to remember ( if it's ok by league rules)....we can trade that future pick. Gives up options. We'd all love to get a lottery pick in 28 for it, even though it's so far off, but the trade value for a future first is good stuff.

Big name players I would consider trading for Dejuante Murray/Mikal Bridges those players are worth trading for and fit our timeline.

I think they need to add some veterans in the offseason via free agency, but I think they need to make sure they sign the right kind of veterans and this upcoming free agent class sucks. Most of the guys I would like them to target shouldn't be very expensive (Tyus Jones, DeAnthony Melton, Olynyk, etc), so I think they should look into potentially taking on a year of bad salary for the 2024/2025 season from a team with cap issues in exchange for draft compensation.

I think they should be weary of taking on any bad money that goes past 2025 and they need to save some space for this offseason to sign some role players, but I think they can delay trying to make a big splash for another year. Being bad next season and staying in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes is good and they don't really have a reasonable path to make a one year turnaround anyways. They should have been doing this kind of stuff during LaMelo's first couple years, but they didn't and are now backed into a corner a bit and don't really have much time left to screw around, but I think they have one more year left where it will be tolerable for them to be bad and the target should be to be competitive by the 2025/2026 season.

Also I still want them to try to trade Miles to avoid paying him this offseason, which is relevant to this upcoming free agency.