Which 2 Suns Centers?

[Hoop Head]

If we can move Chandler this offseason without taking back any contract that is longer than a year, if even that, I'm fine with paying Len $10-12 million a year for 3 years. We don't need $25 million or a quarter of the cap tied into the Center position when they're average players, at best. I hope we don't sign Len for more than 3 years though, maybe a team option for the 4th season but not a 5 year extension unless he's willing to take $50 or less for the 5 years. I know it's a slight gamble to let him be a free agent after his 7th season when he's 27 but I'm fine with that. He could either be hitting his prime and worth a raise or has fizzled out completely by then.

If Williams can be signed for 3 or 4 years at around $2-3 million a year I think it's a no brainer to retain him. I doubt he commands much more than that in the open market, especially if he is a restricted free agent. Getting him locked in around $10 million for 4 years would be a good deal, it's less than a rookie contract of a lottery pick and won't hurt us long term. He could be our 12th man for that cost without much of a problem with how high the cap is. In his case I think we'll get lucky and be able to resign him for cheap since he was an undrafted D-Leaguer who we took a chance on. Not that he owes us anything but it could be similar to when we resigned PJ a few years back, we were able to get him to resign quickly on a good contract. Those sort of players who break into the league the hard way, going undrafted and playing overseas or the d-league, usually look for long term security over anything else. Williams is a hometown guy also, which should only help during negotiations.

 

[pokerface]

This is tougher than I thought.

Len is so frustrating. He still flashes occasionally but IDK if he's ever going to bloom.

Chandler has a managable salary, can still contribute and he's a veteran leader. I dont like leaving the center position up to Len and Williams so I said Williams/Chandler but I'm not that happy about it.

That was my vote too. I'm more comfortable with that duo because they have more abilities and arnt leaving me feeling frustrated.

 

[AzStevenCal]

If Williams can be signed for 3 or 4 years at around $2-3 million a year I think it's a no brainer to retain him. I doubt he commands much more than that in the open market,

I don't really have a feel for this but honestly, I was thinking it would take closer to 8M a year to keep him in today's market and that was with a home town discount. I guess we'll see.

 

[Mainstreet]

This is tougher than I thought.

Len is so frustrating. He still flashes occasionally but IDK if he's ever going to bloom.

Chandler has a managable salary, can still contribute and he's a veteran leader. I dont like leaving the center position up to Len and Williams so I said Williams/Chandler but I'm not that happy about it.

I said Williams and Chandler but I left an opt to sign Len to a reasonable contract.

I cheated.

 

[Mainstreet]

If we can move Chandler this offseason without taking back any contract that is longer than a year, if even that, I'm fine with paying Len $10-12 million a year for 3 years. We don't need $25 million or a quarter of the cap tied into the Center position when they're average players, at best. I hope we don't sign Len for more than 3 years though, maybe a team option for the 4th season but not a 5 year extension unless he's willing to take $50 or less for the 5 years. I know it's a slight gamble to let him be a free agent after his 7th season when he's 27 but I'm fine with that. He could either be hitting his prime and worth a raise or has fizzled out completely by then.

If Williams can be signed for 3 or 4 years at around $2-3 million a year I think it's a no brainer to retain him. I doubt he commands much more than that in the open market, especially if he is a restricted free agent. Getting him locked in around $10 million for 4 years would be a good deal, it's less than a rookie contract of a lottery pick and won't hurt us long term. He could be our 12th man for that cost without much of a problem with how high the cap is. In his case I think we'll get lucky and be able to resign him for cheap since he was an undrafted D-Leaguer who we took a chance on. Not that he owes us anything but it could be similar to when we resigned PJ a few years back, we were able to get him to resign quickly on a good contract. Those sort of players who break into the league the hard way, going undrafted and playing overseas or the d-league, usually look for long term security over anything else. Williams is a hometown guy also, which should only help during negotiations.

I keep Len if he can be signed in the 10-12 million range and worry about the rest later. I'm hoping Williams can be signed to a reasonable contract. Chandler should have trade value if the Suns want to go this way.

 

[Hoop Head]

I don't really have a feel for this but honestly, I was thinking it would take closer to 8M a year to keep him in today's market and that was with a home town discount. I guess we'll see.

I'm probably lowballing it because I'm not used to the new salary cap but I highly doubt he'll get $8m a year. It'll probably be close to $6 million next season, which will be about the MLE next season. It was only $5.6 million this season with the increased cap and since it's based on average salary of contracted players it'll take a couple more years before that gets up that high because there has only been 1 offseason of insanity so far.

Apparently the new CBA ties the MLE to a percentage of the cap though. I'm not sure if that goes into effect this offseason or next, which could change the market value on a lot of players. I highly doubt someone like Williams will get a teams full MLE, plus there aren't as many teams with crazy amounts of cap space to throw around either.

http://hoopshype.com/2016/11/04/hoopshype-explains-what-is-the-nba-mid-level-exception/