2020-2021 ROSTER TALK: Archived

[omahen]

I agree that Atlanta wants to be paid for Collins.  No way he walks for nothing even if they have to match a big offer and trade him later.

I agree that Atlanta wants to make the playoffs and needs to replace Collins if traded at the TDL without hurting their chances.  But, there are big advantages to Dallas getting Collins now and using his relatively small cap hold to do other things this summer.  Dallas has a history of this (trading for Noel before he became RFA and trying to do it with Kemba in order to have his Bird rights).  They have Schwartz as the agent here to help smooth the way.  He or his firm were involved in both the Noel and Walker deals.

Atlanta doesn't have to have a PF back.  Lineups with Hunter at PF have been quite good and you still have Gallo and Solomon Hill who can take minutes.  Moving Hunter to PF frees up more time at the 2/3 for Bogdanovic, Huerter and Reddish backed by Snell.  They are a little weak at backup PG and C right now.  Point is, if the other compensation is satisfactory, I think you can make a deal for Collins now and Atlanta can still contend for the playoffs.  The benefit would be certainty for both teams.  As we saw with Parsons, there are ways to design RFA offers that make it unappealing for the current team to match...especially if their intent is to match and later trade.

I agree with all of this. But I also think a gentleman agreement between the three parties (Atlanta, Dallas and Collins) could be beneficial for everyone involved. 

Problem with dealing now - which good players at PG and C would you give to Atlanta to move the needle? Brunson and WCS are basically best we can do. Unless we include a third team.