What is the plan at Center?

[RoaringRiot]

18 minutes ago, Eazy-E said:

With MKG back on the court i'm not that worried about losing Marvin. We need a rim protector in the middle. Starting Frank at the 4 with Dwight at the 5 is better than Marvin and Cody imo, or really Marvin and any other Big we could afford after signing Mavin.

I could buy that I think. 

[MountainHeel66]

With his "bird rights" couldn't we sign Marvin to any contract we wanted to as long as we signed him AFTER signing Howard? I don't know a ton about it but I was under the impression you could use that exception to go over the salary cap.

[HeatCheck]

4 minutes ago, MountainHeel66 said:

With his "bird rights" couldn't we sign Marvin to any contract we wanted to as long as we signed him AFTER signing Howard? I don't know a ton about it but I was under the impression you could use that exception to go over the salary cap.

Not any contract. You can go over the cap with the Bird Rights exception but under the provision we can offer contract that is 175% of his previous salary. His starting salary under this provision would by $12.25 million.

If it gets any higher than that the Bird Rights don't apply.

[MountainHeel66]

Just now, HeatCheck said:

Not any contract. You can go over the cap but his Bird Rights but under the provision we can offer contract that is 175% of his previous salary. His starting salary under this provision would by $12.25 million.

If it gets any higher than that the Bird Rights don't apply.

Well.. that's still something. If he is amenable to something in that range to stay with us that would be the way to go about doing things. That would allow us to throw everything we have left in cap space at a center, possibly a backup pg if Aaron Harrison isn't ready for the big time yet, and/or whomever else we may want to round out the roster. Then just sign Marvin using his Bird rights and call it a day. 

[HeatCheck]

That's what I've been saying too.

If we have to dip into our salary to sign Marvin, I'm not sure I'd be ok with that...unless we have trades lined up.

[Wundrbread33]

I hate when people say Cody is soft. Weak? Sure. Soft? No way.

There is a difference.

[pantherfan49]

I don't want Howard but I'd still rather have him than Marvin Williams.  If signing Howard means we let Marvin walk, then by all means bring him in.

[Carl Spackler]

3 hours ago, Zaximus said:

maybe if his defense was good it could balance, but, it's bad.

Cody's not a bad defender at all

[Zaximus]

20 minutes ago, Carl Spackler said:

Cody's not a bad defender at all

Against centers, he is, or anyone with power.  He's weak and can't bang down low.   To be fair, who expected him to, but that's why he's a tweener and a bench player.

[pantherfan49]

19 minutes ago, El Dandy said:

I'd rather let Frank Kaminsky do what he was hired to do than bring back Marvin. What's the point in drafting players if you're going to have them ride the bench while you overpay for vets.

 

We plan to trade Frank in a year or two.  That's the Cho way.

 

[topher mcg]

i honestly cant see us being able to tempt any of the top centers in free agency to come to charlotte (unless we overpay to the extreme), so presume we need to decide whether to trust the guys we have (in my eyes it would be zeller as starting center), make some sort of trade for an affordable talent with upside (WCS seems like a perfect choice if possible) or go for a perceived lower level center on a 2-3 year contract and take a punt and see how it works. i think the third option seems most feasible and realistic.the amount of cash being thrown around on day one of FA surely means that some guys are going to fall through the cracks and give us a chance of picking up a center at a decent price ($6-8m a year in the climate?). the guys that i would be relatively satisfied with Miles Plumlee, Jordan Hill or dare i say it Roy Hibbert. 

Im guessing Ezeli, biyombo and Mahinmi will go for something close to mozgov's $16m a year (which of course is insane - for mozgov, not so much for the others!).

if we do go with Zeller as starting center, then i think we should also consider Terrence Jones or Motiejunas from the Rockets as front court depth - both looked great 2 years ago and despite injury concerns, its surely worth at least doing due diligence and looking into them?

On another note, i dont think we should go beyond $24m/2 years for Marvin Williams (preferably with the second year a team option, so that we can keep Williams keen to carry on impressing) otherwise think that James Johnson would be a handy (and cheaper) alternative to bring in to fill a small ball 4 role. btw anyone have any idea what Luol Deng will likely fetch? i think he would be great as a replacement and upgrade to Williams, again as a small ball 4, but guess he will command a bit more than $12m a year?

[MichaelNewtonII]

Who is left after Howard?

[YoungPanthers89]

Trade for Monroe, or sumthin'.

[MrBubba]

Howard signing with Atlanta