2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[DanSchwartzgan]

Personally I don't like Harris at that big salary, even for the cost in assets being favorable.

I also wonder if this sort of clever complex cap/asset maneuvering to pick up slightly better picks and minor advantages is a Mav type of move. That is to say, if they wanted Harris, would their thinking stop at a simple 2-team deal with THJ + ______ to match the money, and done? Before Nico, it seemed like they preferred pursuing the simplest solution possible, rather than noodling at the edges too, both re trades and also the draft.

Let me add that I think the money for Harris - in relation to what he offers AND what he doesn't -- will be a deal-killer for Cuban. Harris might offer about 20M (or maybe less) of "value" to the Mavs, in relation to what their salary scale seems to be, yet he's paid about 38M. As far over the tax line as the Mavs will be, that 18M overpay becomes enormous when you add in the extra tax his overpay represents. I think Cuban would balk at committing 38M to Harris for solid 2-way non-star wing play (when his roster pays guys like that 12M, 10M, and 9M).

On top of that, this doesn't really solve your big man issue, and probably makes it worse even though you used up your main trade pieces and took on huge money to do it -- Powell gave you almost 1800 minutes during the season, you absolutely don't want the wear-and-tear of playing even more undersized for 82 games, and increasing Kleber's workload would be a killer come playoff time. If I squint, I can envision tweaks to this basic deal that might somehow address the need for a big man and lessen the salary differential, but I don't think it gets that far.

So, the argument against this is mainly that it is too clever, Harris makes $18mm too much and I used up our main trade pieces without addressing the center position.

1.  Thanks.  I thought moving up in the draft and getting a second in a deal that actually makes sense for Philly was pretty clever.  Plus, who besides Philly might give actual value right now for Hardaway sight unseen following an injury?  Maybe they could do Harris for Favors without Dallas, but at what cost?  Dallas used to make this kind of trade fairly regularly in the pre-championship days.  Not so much since.  I'm hoping our new cap-guru will help there.

2.  You and others here are constantly touting that we should spend the TPE AND TP MLE to try to improve.  That combo costs $17mm in salary plus gobs of extra LT.  Here the version that includes Brown is only $4mm more than current guaranteed salaries in 22/23.  There is only a $9mm difference in total salaries for the life of the contracts, but I see value in getting to flexibility a year earlier than you would with Hardaway.  I get the concept of salary scale, but as was just discussed the other day, Wiggins and Horford were once thought to be overpays and now both are important contributors in the finals.  Does Harris make more money than he's worth?  Absolutely.  Is he worth $9mm more than THJ, Powell and Brown?  Yes (without even considering the extra draft capital).

3.  I thought I acknowledged that I hadn't addressed Center yet.  But, Holmes for the TPE or Smith for the TP MLE (or both or any number of other players in those ranges) are still in play.  The deal improves our draft capital and we still have Green to trade.  The one thing I did was give away Powell's expiring contract.  Powell and THJ are simply not going to get us a player who is worth AND is paid $20mm in June or July.  They are not assets, they are filler.  But we don't have the draft capital for them to be the filler for anything substantial.  They won't be enough (even with two picks) for someone like Gobert (who most here hate).  Other teams will offer more.  So, I'm not sure I gave away anything of value.  But, I did get a shot creator from another position besides PG (desperately needed) and I left a path/paths to getting a center to replace Powell (which I pretty clearly noted in the post).

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BTW, if we simply MUST go get a huge-salary guy, I'm back to considering the Gobert pursuit that I seem to waffle back and forth on.

If it looked like the following, I think it solves the "issues" we are trying to solve, each in our own way.
*Mavs trade THJ, Powell, Brown, Chriss, Green (recent FRP showing promise, still on cheap rookie contract), Pick 26
*Jazz trade Gobert, Oneale

Obviously the Mavs get the 2 playoff-playable pieces they would be seeking, a C and a 2-way wing.

The hidden benefits to the Mavs include
Salary increase (vs non-trade) for 2022-23 is only 5M, Mavs get new 11.1M TPE, leaves 2 open roster slots

As much as I would like that to work, I think other teams will offer better packages for Gobert.