What would you have done as GM that would have gotten you an A+ this off-season?

[DanSchwartzgan]

So I’m seeing lots of people saying this off-season was a failure and the FO didn’t do enough.  Let’s be honest with ourselves - Lowry was going to Miami, Ball was going to Chicago, Kawhi was staying in LA, Collins was staying in ATL.  After the top few guys, this FA class got weak very quickly.  I’m not certain there were really any needle movers after the top few guys.  One of the biggest risks I saw was locking in a bad contract on a guy just in the name of “doing something”.  (I personally think Lowry is included in that. I feel like this is the basketball version of the Emperor’s New Clothes) 

Rather than grade the FO on what they did do, I want to hear what people would have done this off-season that would have been better.  Let’s please stick to realistic options.  And for arguments sake you can go ahead and take credit for them offloading JRich for nothing.

I see what you are doing Soog.  You are trying to use logic and facts and reality to try to diffuse people’s anger.  Well, it won’t work mister.  A year from now, no one will remember the nuance of your point.  What they will remember is we had $30 million in space and all we got was Bullock and THJ (back) and Sterling and Moses.  The narrative that will survive is this is the third off-season in a row blah blah blah blah.

I actually don’t think the issue for most is what we did.  It is what we didn’t do or could have done.  Bullock for the MLE seems like good value.  Sterling at $3 million is a contract with some risks and some nice upside.  With WCS being free next summer and Boban a year older, I don’t mind Moses as a developmental big (developmental in terms of he might be a good backup some day).

If you are going to make an argument for something different, it costs you THJ and you are probably operating under the cap.  Maybe NO or Detroit would do a S&T for Hardaway and send you something minor.  In the real world, we can’t make favorable trades happen just because we think they should.  Also, Bullock would eat cap space instead of the MLE if he is part of the plan.  I’m not sure Fournier/Bullock or Norman Powell/Bullock is any better than THJ/Bullock (and I’m really not interested in Graham at the cost of a first rounder).  As Chicago points out DeRozan would have cost THJ AND Bullock.

For me, the only thing I might consider is turning THJ into more value contracts (Bullock would be one).  I would have loved Batum.  Maybe Theis or Holmes (given we know what they got in perfect hindsight).  Patty Mills?   I guess if I were king for a day and could make people come here and could know dollar amounts in advance, I might have done Holmes/Theis plus Batum plus Bullock and would not have kept WCS.  But, there is a reason the Hardaway’s and Trent’s and Powell’s and Fournier’s of the world all got $18mm.  I’m afraid my value contract approach would have missed Hardaway’s ability to hit 3’s at a high volume.