New Contracts- who to pay and how much

[Wes Mantooth]

We have a big decision with Favors coming soon. He has had a great regular season. Not surprising to see anyone stay healthy in a contract year. I will be watching closely to see his effort in the playoffs. I want him to work out so badly, but I'm not sold yet. I can easily see us going after Parker, Gordon, or Randal to replace him. Which Favors will show up for the playoffs, the one that plays with passion or the one half asleep? The last 2 nights are a great example. He played with energy against the Warriors, but his effort against Portland was not good enough. He appears to lack motivation at times. I'm sorry but if you can't get motivated for a NBA playoff game I don't want you on my team. Seriously, what do we have to do before the game to get this guy amped up. Get this guy some bulletin board material. He may have zero chip on his shoulder. I love everything else about Favors (except for the 3 point attempts) and I want him to work out. He is a good player, great teammate, and most importantly he wants to be here. But if he can't "bring the juice" as coach Quinn would say we have got to move on.

[Firefistus]

Honestly, we looked tired last night. We were hitting ever shot short and were very slow on rotations. I think we just spent too much energy devastating the Warriors. Same thing happened to Denver, they probably would have won their game if they weren't on a freaking back to back at the end of the season.

That's just bull crap scheduling imo.

[Wes Mantooth]

Honestly, we looked tired last night. We were hitting ever shot short and were very slow on rotations. I think we just spent too much energy devastating the Warriors. Same thing happened to Denver, they probably would have won their game if they weren't on a freaking back to back at the end of the season.

That's just bull crap scheduling imo.

Good point. However, if we beat ATL once we are not in this position.

[Firefistus]

With how well Favors is playing, I'm guessing he's going to leave Utah. Someone is going to offer him 20+ million a year and I just don't think we're going to match it. I LOVE what he's doing out there, but he deserves a big paycheck, and I don't see us doing that.

[dhopisthename]

With how well Favors is playing, I'm guessing he's going to leave Utah. Someone is going to offer him 20+ million a year and I just don't think we're going to match it. I LOVE what he's doing out there, but he deserves a big paycheck, and I don't see us doing that.

we will see. there aren't a ton of teams with big cap space and honestly I don't think Favors would fit on a ton of teams like he does ours. If he can learn to hit that corner 3 with 35%+ efficiency he and Gobert are probably good enough against any team that isn't the warriors or houston which will just kill us from 3.

[Wes Mantooth]

The Cavs are struggling. The worse they do the more likely it is that Bron is gone. IF Lebron leaves I think the Cavs start over. A Love trade is likely if they blow up the team. Could be an opportunity for us.

[Firefistus]

The Cavs are struggling. The worse they do the more likely it is that Bron is gone. IF Lebron leaves I think the Cavs start over. A Love trade is likely if they blow up the team. Could be an opportunity for us.

what possibly would you like to improve? Honestly, what would you want to improve? We're already number 1 defense with this roster by FAR. Our Offense hasn't even been that good and we are totally blowing out OKC. If we bring in other players like Kevin Love, he's 3 years older than Favors, and more injury prone than Favors.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind having LeBron IF he was willing to play in our system. If he doesn't though, he honestly wouldn't help us. He would be a monster on our team in our system. But he would have to be cool enough to let Snyder coach.

But being realistic about it. Favors is at the point now that I would like to re-sign him at 20 million a year and keep him a lifer at Utah. He's improving his three point shot to the point where it's not detrimental. He slowly improves every year and he's only 26. I would still like to pick up Jabari Parker if it's possible, but I don't think we'll wind up with him.

[chipurmunki]

i agree. we've assembled quite a damn good team despite having our nuts in a vice by he-who-i-will-never-ever-name and being stuck with leftovers. we've got quite a different team/dynamic from last season despite relatively few changes to our core, and i expect we'd be best served addressing our depth. no changes to our starting 5 and replacing burks, if we can, getting a quality 3rd big, and another wing to take the bench load off royce. we've proven to be able to win with favors+gobert, and if he's willing to stay i think we shouldn't mess with a great thing. this team is almost as good, and definitely a more rounded team, than our wcf losing team so i'm 100% against any changes to any of our main guys.

[chipurmunki]

i just crunched some numbers, and our team as it is without burks or exum's contracts would allow us to offer favors 15-20. is there any way we dangle exum on a sign-and-trade to escape burks's contract without throwing in an important draft pick? i think it might be worth trading our 1st rounder cuz it won't be worth much to us this year, and mitchell's progress is such that i don't think we'd miss not picking in the first round this summer.

i reckon escaping burks's stupid contract without giving away too much is wishful thinking.

[Wes Mantooth]

I agree with everyone's assessment of Favors. He may be the best fit with what we are trying to do on defense, and I think he will sign for a reasonable price. However, there may be a better long term option if we are going to compete with the NBA's elite.

Exum is another story. I have no idea what to do with him. I trust Dennis and Quinn. They will make the best available choice.

[dhopisthename]

if we want to keep favors we don't need cap space we can just sign him. However if we go into the free agent market moving off of burks deal would be interesting. It would put us near the max level money if we get rid of exum and Favors. The qeustion is where are we trying to improve? is it Rubio's spot? is it Favors spot? is it Ingles spot? Being 31 next year would ingles be ok coming off the bench again?

[Wes Mantooth]

if we want to keep favors we don't need cap space we can just sign him. However if we go into the free agent market moving off of burks deal would be interesting. It would put us near the max level money if we get rid of exum and Favors. The qeustion is where are we trying to improve? is it Rubio's spot? is it Favors spot? is it Ingles spot? Being 31 next year would ingles be ok coming off the bench again?

Chris Paul is the only good PG free agent this summer. We have Rubio for one more year. Rubio has played too well to try to replace. We can take one more year to decide.

Exum is another story. He is really struggling in the playoffs. Houston is just daring him to shoot. The amount I'm willing to give him just went below 10 per year.

Favors for $15 per year is a yes for me. I also like Aaron Gordon but not for the money it would take to get him out of Orlando. Of course if Favors wants more than 15 per year I'll take Gordon. Julius Randle is a no for me. I don't see him as a fit with our system. Jabari is the obvious intriguing player for us, but his defense is so bad it may change our team identity.

[Raupie]

Right now, we have 3 centers on the roster, not counting Favors. So I think at least 1 change next year is reducing that number.

I really like Exum. I am ok that his play has fallen of a bit during the playoffs, that hopefully drives down his contract number. Give him an offseason to work with Mitchell. He just needs some consistency so he can improve. But he is finishing at the rim much better this year and gets to the rim at will.

With Favors, there are nights where he will gets lots of playing time, and there are nights that we will need more of a stretch 4. I think we need to add 1 stretch 4 to the roster. So get rid of a center, add a true strech 4. I liked Grant from OKC, he is a free agent this year. Him, or someone like him would be the type of person I would like to see added to the roster.

So I love Favors. I love how unselfish he is. How focused he is on the team. So he should be given the choice and 15 mil a year is what I would anticipate.

Definitely some tough decisions....

[Ironman5219]

I think the Houston series will tell us a lot for up coming signings. We are currently one of the top 8 teams in the NBA and top 4 in the est- we proved it by beating OKC. Houston is the best, they proved it by their record this year. If we can hang with them we may be closer to the finals than we think. I wish we had Ricky and Thabo, their defense would be very helpful this week.

I would say sign Favors and keep Exum

[chipurmunki]

in game 2 exum did what we needed him to, collapse the d and hit the shot. i still think he's a bigger risk than reward at this point with his injury history, but at the right price i'm fine with bringing him back.