The Bouknight explosion has me in the edge of my seat, just brimming with excitement.
Yo psyche! Suck on Svi’s nuts sonnn!! (You know, sounds like “deez nuts”). Just trying to keep humor topical at the end of this season.
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Very fair question(s) to ask. I do think the trade looks better now that Svi is contributing, and doing so at a level beyond what I expect any of us thought he could. He looks a genuine rotational player. I like his all round game … he can shoot from deep, he can facilitate, he can defend. He seems like a good team player, and I’d be happy to have him back. I’m sure he’d be very keen too.
That’s a tough one. I wasn’t a fan at first for sure, but I see now that they created more space for our other bigs and got a wing that is exactly the kind of player we needed. If the argument is that we’d let him walk in free agency, then it was a fine move. Svi has more than earned his keep this past month.
There’s quite the puzzle to put together this off season, with our many draft picks, Bridges, rotation creation, etc. It could certainly be said that this trade helped us accomplish something bigger.
BTW, if you haven’t listed to @Plowright’s latest podcast, it’s worth a listen. Inside the Hive: Listener Mailbag.
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I’m not paying too much attention to the Svi noise. He’s just a guy filling the void of a bad team with no one to score. It’s largely junk food stats.
Having said, he’s not a bad player. Id like to see this trio signed for el cheapo: DSJ, Theo, and Svi.
And send Oubre and PJ down the tube to save salary cap dollars.
The one player in that grouping of three mentioned above that is a “must keep” is DSJ. I have a feeling he’d be willing to take a hornets friendly deal, and that there’s good mutual interest there. I just think that locking in DSJ and Theo Maledon would be a very inexpensive way to solidly the backup PG rotation.
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Cameron Payne was the backup PG I wanted last year, but he took a sweetheart deal to stay with the Suns to try win a championship.
If Svi was playing that in garbage time, I’d agree, but he’s putting up numbers in key minutes against teams with playoff ambitions. Got to give the guy his due. I’m not saying pay him a lot, but he’s doing real things out there.
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I completely wrote Svi off when we got him, wondering why the hell he would get playing time over our young prospects if he wasn’t gonna be part of the long term plans. More trade filler than flyer.
Man I was wrong. He reminds me a lot of the Bogdanovich guys who are somehow not related. He’s not a simple catch and shoot guy like Korver or Kapono. He actually has breakdown ability with his handle, creating space for step backs and floaters with pretty good ease. And with good size and shooting touch.
I think he’s more the bigger one, the Detroit one - the Atlanta one seems like he’s smaller and quicker. But his shooting touch seems on par. And honestly, I always thought a Bodganovich type would be perfect for this team.
Call me crazy, I feel a Panther-esque type offseason turnaround. They were rock bottom until firing Rhule the fraud, getting the best coaching staff with all the hot prospects, trading for the #1 pick, filling the holes with actual performing pros.
Hornets are not there yet, but the sports gods may be washing some of their magic dust on us in this little mid Atlantic piedmont with temperate weather and good bbq. Unless its them washing their sweaty drawers on us, which would explain the odors coming out of the Gashouse.
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I’m sorry to disagree,
But this entire final stretch of the season has been garbage time. The lineups we’re rolling out is laughable.
I’d be happy with returning all three of our PGs next season. I like DSJ in the main rotation and Theo is able to come in and run the offense functionally. Both still have upside. So that’s three PGs and three Centres.
There’s some rationalisation required on the Wings. Terry, Bouknight, Cody (will he be ready next season?), Bryce, and Hayward are all under contract and there’s Kelly and now Svi to consider too. I still think we’re lacking a starting SG, while both Terry and Bouknight are 6th men IMHO (Terry being a very good one). Hopefully, we make some trades to balance things out and don’t make the mistake of overpaying for Kelly.
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This is a theme that we see the game differently. I think the standard definition of “garbage time” is that the game is either settled or has no purpose (both teams out of contention or already solidified their playoff spots) so coaches will throw anybody out there to get some burn. Typically, both teams are doing it, so you can see a guy get a quick 10 points on deep backups that may not be playing great defense. If that were the case, I’d call that your “junk food stats.”
But that hasn’t been the case. We’ve been playing mostly competitive games against teams who are trying to win for a playoff run. And the guys we are rolling out there are mostly stepping up against the starters and regular rotation players who are clearly playing to win. Granted, the other teams probably aren’t prepping for Svi like they would Melo, so you can argue that the other teams might not be as prepared. But the flipside is that our squads are having to come together and execute with whoever they can get to the arena. So, in my mind, those are offsetting.
I don’t think you can take anything away from guys who have put in the work to either be ready OR develop their game over the season and are now stepping up to the moment, even if we’re out of the playoffs. You have to respect what most of these guys are doing out there. They don’t control the context for when they play or who they play with. But they do control how they play on the court, and a lot of our guys are stepping up against very good competition.
Now, again, that doesn’t mean you start handing out huge contracts. Most NBA players are capable of a solid stretch of games. You certainly have to see who is worth the money and is going to be able to perform that way over the life of the contract. But, I have nothing but respect for what our guys are doing in these couple of weeks.
No, you can’t overestimate talent or contribution on a small sample size. But you can’t dismiss these guys’ efforts and abilities because we’re missing a bunch of starters.
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This has been a terrible, no good season. And I get wanting to find something positive or some glimmer of optimism.
But I’m not getting too excited about a journeyman SF who is filling the void and scoring some points for this horrible roster who is running out of players.
I’m not saying his stats aren’t “calories”. I’m saying that his stats are empty calories.
I agree that we have to be careful not to overreact to a handful of games at the end of a season, but keep in mind that Svi is a 5-year vet. In the two previous situations where he’s played relatively significant minutes (OKC and Det) he’s been similarly productive. That taken together with what he’s done with us now over 17 games tells me that he’s a solid rotational NBA player with a skill set we need.
I’m certainly not suggesting that we should break the bank for him, but I think offering a modest deal slightly above the minimum, maybe something in the 3-4 mil range, would be a great way to round out our second unit with low cost, yet productive players. I love what we did with Nick. If we could bring back Svi and Theo on mirco deals we’d be ensuring quality depth while getting great value, which is an art we’ve struggled to master throughout our history.
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We’re not disagreeing. As I mentioned in an above post, I think it would be reasonable to bring him back on a bargain contract. I’m just not getting too carried away with someone stat stuffing with this roster and this point in the season.
I am interested in what value fans place on current and immediate past contract-adjacent players. I really liked Jalen but I was never in $10m+ feelings over him. My hope was he would cost us unadjusted Jeremy Lamb money; my guess is that he’ll get more like 30m/3 than 21m/3. If that’s the case, we likely shouldn’t have tried to make that work.
Reminders: we will need to re-sign at least four of our 2023-24 cap holds (or free agents) + our two first round picks to not have an incomplete roster charge (though we could also fill this with fluff just as well though I don’t think that makes sense). We should have both the full MLE and BAE, no dead cap (by Nic’s contract), and about $40m in practical cap space.
With the remainder; PJ, Kelly, Dennis, Theo, and Svi (assuming we aren’t going to make a run at Miles while he’s an RFA in 2023), I like them at certain price points and really lose interest beyond. These would be MY avg. annual salary max numbers but interested in others’ thoughts.
| -------- player -------- | ---- avg annual salary max ---- | ---- current cap hold ---- |
|---|---|---|
| PJ | 18m | 17.4m |
| Kelly | 10m* | 16.4m |
| Dennis | 7m | 2m |
| Theo | 3.5m** | 2m |
| Svi | 3.5m** | 2m |
*Pay below what he’d take so I’d just as soon see him walk
**Pay they can likely get more than elsewhere for a bigger role and if so, I’d send a postcard on holidays
I have almost zero interest in re signing PJ. And I know he’s not going to take $12m per year. And even then, I’m still not that excited about having him back. I’m just so down on this team, I’d like to see some new blood.
However, PJ can do a lot of things reasonably well and I’d say 12m per year would be a bargain for the services of an NBA big who can spread the floor. Anything approaching 20m per season makes me cringe. Inside and outside.
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Yup second that for me. Kelly i’d take back at his current salary.
Miles, nope, even if he wasn’t coming with baggage
Trade terry at the draft.
I’d also pick between Thor and Kai just to thin the herd
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Dennis as much as he gets hurt I would only offer 3 on a prove it I can stay on the floor contract . With another 3 if he meets certain criteria games played etc.
Siv I really like how he spreads the floor a good rotation on a cheap price. Two years ay 2 per year. I think he takes it .Theo I keep 3million at 3per year
PJ I would let him get a offer then decide. That position will be hard to fill unless we sign Bridges to it.Kelly I would go 4 years at 18 per year but i think he gets more than that. Something to be said about wanting to be hear.
Don’t believe you can stack unlikely incentives for more than 15% of the total value of the contract. So you couldn’t get to a 50%/50% contract deal.
I am sure you right . I really have no idea. But I would love for players to have a incentive to be on the court. DSJ my only problem with him is so many small injurys over his few years.
If we resign Kelly & PJ, we’ll have somewhere between $90m & $100m tied up in our top four salaried players, not one of whom is a first option on a playoff team. Terry would be the only player I could consider as a second option calibre player.
I understand the calls for bringing back Kelly, as he seems to be a good vet who wants to be here and the front office wants to be in the playoffs next season. If so, mid to high teens seems about right. Plus, he’d be here to take over the starting #3 when we either move GH, or his contract runs out. For PJ, I’m looking at replacing him via the draft. Either we luck out with Wemby or we draft a Jarace Walker or Taylor Hendricks. Maybe where we end up in the lottery dictates what we do with PJ?
The more I think about it, the more is riding on this off season. Whether you want to rebuild or reload, this roster needs work to balance it out. Too many mediocre wings, and no SG I want to start alongside LaMelo, being my main gripes. At least we finally look good at the #5!
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