Trying to get rid of Gafford now has shades of Cuban getting rid of Tyson Chandler.
Lively can't play 40+ MPG in a game. He'll get fouled out and/or succumb to injuries.
Does Gafford have flaws? Sure. Lively does too, and he's still a rookie. So I'm totally fine with Gafford @ $13.4M in an equal rotation with Lively over the next two seasons, to have two great roll men for Luka at all times. An equal rotation between the two also means their price will be automatically kept lower, instead of giving one guy the bulk of the minutes and letting him think he's more important than he is, thus risking him asking for a bigger salary than he should get down the line.
And actually, I want to add a 3rd guy to this rotation, i.e., Jericho Sims, to cover for when or if one of Lively or Gafford get injured or in foul trouble... as well as to show them that they are replaceable by the 3rd guy.
Gafford + Lively total next season is just $18.4M... or a mere 13% of the $141M cap max... a small price to pay to have the Center position covered.
While THJ costs $16.1M by himself, to cover nothing.
And Kyrie is $40M, whereas Dejounte is $25.5M... a $14.5M difference.
Lively can't play 40+ MPG in a game. He'll get fouled out and/or succumb to injuries.
Does Gafford have flaws? Sure. Lively does too, and he's still a rookie. So I'm totally fine with Gafford @ $13.4M in an equal rotation with Lively over the next two seasons, to have two great roll men for Luka at all times. An equal rotation between the two also means their price will be automatically kept lower, instead of giving one guy the bulk of the minutes and letting him think he's more important than he is, thus risking him asking for a bigger salary than he should get down the line.
And actually, I want to add a 3rd guy to this rotation, i.e., Jericho Sims, to cover for when or if one of Lively or Gafford get injured or in foul trouble... as well as to show them that they are replaceable by the 3rd guy.
Gafford + Lively total next season is just $18.4M... or a mere 13% of the $141M cap max... a small price to pay to have the Center position covered.
While THJ costs $16.1M by himself, to cover nothing. And Kyrie is $40M, whereas Dejounte is $25.5M... a $14.5M difference.
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