I didn't wake up thinking I'd talk about Leonard, but whatevs. I've seen him destroy us a lot, and I'm pretty sure he shoots about 1,000% on threes against us, so at least we wouldn't have to face the guy. But hey, there are better guys out there to target for sure. Obviously, though, those guys may not be super attainable with what we have. Looking at a number of angles, though, I'd be curious if grabbing Leonard wouldn't be a bad idea at the deadline if nothing else materializes.
First, Leonard makes $11M this year and is expiring. He's not an ideal guy for being a defensive center or a good rebounder. That said, he's not a terrible rebounder (probably gives you about 9 rebounds per 36). If you were moving on from Bradley and Davis, he's certainly a big drop in rebounding, so it leaves you a bit thin in that regard. But you can trade him for both Davis and Bradley:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=rmzfu3r
@Handlogten's Heros mentioned that Miami is hard capped and has some other moves they'd like to make but can't. He'd have to weigh in on that. But this move saves them over $4.5M in cap space, plus luxury tax. I'd expect some kind of asset in return that we would look to parlay into something else, or at least be a chip to close another deal around the fringes. Since we’re saving them money by getting rid of a guy they don’t need, plus giving them a “prospect” in Bradley with a higher ceiling, and Ed who can be serviceable if he looks anything like he has in any other year.
Next year, Davis and Bradley are slated to make a combined $8.5M which a deal like this slashes from our payroll. That's not small.
As far as benefits now, Leonard can be Conley's pick-and-pop guy off the bench to open the lane for him. Granted he hasn't played a ton of games the past few years, but he's been scorching the net from deep with 42%, 45%, and 47% this year. His TS% has been in the high 60s the past two years. He should open up the lane and draw a defender out. Should be a big man. Now, you could say that teams could just switch a smaller guy on him to defend the perimeter, but here's an interesting video from when Houston tried to do that this year:
He’s played the 4 before, not that he’s ideal there, but he does give you that option if someone like the Lakers go big with Dwight and Davis, you can play him with Gobert where you can pull one of those guys away from the basket.
Here’s his 30 point WCF game against the Warriors:
If you make this move, I think you become a bit limited off the bench with bigs (hell, we currently are), but you’d have to sign an Udoh, Noah, or Bogut and give one of those guys 10 minutes per game, just for defensive versatility, but Leonard is currently playing 20 mpg right now. We really just need someone who can give us 16 somewhat dependable minutes. I think if you do this move, it’s not just for Leonard, but because of 1) whatever asset you can get from Miami to include in a deal elsewhere and 2) clearing $8.5M from next year’s books.
Flame away.
First, Leonard makes $11M this year and is expiring. He's not an ideal guy for being a defensive center or a good rebounder. That said, he's not a terrible rebounder (probably gives you about 9 rebounds per 36). If you were moving on from Bradley and Davis, he's certainly a big drop in rebounding, so it leaves you a bit thin in that regard. But you can trade him for both Davis and Bradley:
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=rmzfu3r
@Handlogten's Heros mentioned that Miami is hard capped and has some other moves they'd like to make but can't. He'd have to weigh in on that. But this move saves them over $4.5M in cap space, plus luxury tax. I'd expect some kind of asset in return that we would look to parlay into something else, or at least be a chip to close another deal around the fringes. Since we’re saving them money by getting rid of a guy they don’t need, plus giving them a “prospect” in Bradley with a higher ceiling, and Ed who can be serviceable if he looks anything like he has in any other year.
Next year, Davis and Bradley are slated to make a combined $8.5M which a deal like this slashes from our payroll. That's not small.
As far as benefits now, Leonard can be Conley's pick-and-pop guy off the bench to open the lane for him. Granted he hasn't played a ton of games the past few years, but he's been scorching the net from deep with 42%, 45%, and 47% this year. His TS% has been in the high 60s the past two years. He should open up the lane and draw a defender out. Should be a big man. Now, you could say that teams could just switch a smaller guy on him to defend the perimeter, but here's an interesting video from when Houston tried to do that this year:
He’s played the 4 before, not that he’s ideal there, but he does give you that option if someone like the Lakers go big with Dwight and Davis, you can play him with Gobert where you can pull one of those guys away from the basket.
Here’s his 30 point WCF game against the Warriors:
If you make this move, I think you become a bit limited off the bench with bigs (hell, we currently are), but you’d have to sign an Udoh, Noah, or Bogut and give one of those guys 10 minutes per game, just for defensive versatility, but Leonard is currently playing 20 mpg right now. We really just need someone who can give us 16 somewhat dependable minutes. I think if you do this move, it’s not just for Leonard, but because of 1) whatever asset you can get from Miami to include in a deal elsewhere and 2) clearing $8.5M from next year’s books.
Flame away.
