06-01-2022, 05:20 PM
(06-01-2022, 12:57 PM)F Gump Wrote: I wonder if WAS wants to get off of Gafford's contract, now that they have KP taking the minutes, and if so, what he might cost. He might be seen as too expensive for a backup in WAS. But his big raise doesn't hit until next season.
His contract has a future big extension. So Mavs can send pick and/or small salary player like Green, Brown, etc. but the salary jumps in 2023.
It doesn't move Powell, but it might address the need for a better center.
The structure of Gafford's contract (small number in 22 and bump in 23 when Maxi and Powell are FA's) would be a really smart cap management move. No need to dump either of our current centers now as their expiring contracts might come in handy at the TDL. Plus, do we have enough history to really say we trust Gafford in a playoff series? Until he proves himself and we get to the TDL, I might prefer Gafford join a center position that is more of a bullpen/committee approach. 2023 might be a different story though as Dallas can make some decisions about 2/3's of the committee.
A couple of other things...Gafford is not a fantastic rebounder. In fact team defensive rebounding went down by over 3 boards per game when he was in versus when he was out. He is a high level shot blocker and until this past season scored well as a defender. 21/22 saw a drop off there. The biggest challenge to me is figuring out what Washington might want from us. I don't see Green or any other low dollar guy nor the 26th pick being all that attractive. They need a starting level PG. If you take Brunson off the table, we'd need to find a third team that has a PG and has more use for Green/26 than they do for Gafford. For instance, Brogdon ends up in DC and Green/26 is part of the compensation Indy gets from Washington. Washington has $4mm and $5.2mm TPE's that carry to February should they be necessary.
One other note. If you did something like this on the cheap AND if Philly really would take THJ (with Green hurt) and Bertans for Tobias, you've taken a bunch of non-contributors to the recent run and turned them into Gafford and Harris adding paint protection and another player who can create some for themselves in the front court.