I mostly agree, excepting that I am higher on Yabusele than most. However, if the Celtics are looking to unload him, that's a big red flag to other teams.
Only $450,000 of Nader's contract is guaranteed, so waiving him saves 3/4 of his salary.
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Only $450,000 of Nader's contract is guaranteed, so waiving him saves 3/4 of his salary.
Yes, although the balances owed to Yabu and Nader could be stretched, as Demetrius Jackson was.
I believe Yabu has promise. So does Nader, if he would only take the blinders off and look for his teammates once in awhile instead of shooting or trying to bull his way to the basket every time he touches the ball.
I believe Yabu has promise. So does Nader, if he would only take the blinders off and look for his teammates once in awhile instead of shooting or trying to bull his way to the basket every time he touches the ball.
Sure, but as a team that wants to stay out of the tax and will be taxpayers in future years, does it make sense to stretch your bottom of the roster guys to replace them with other bottom of the roster guys?
Even if you stretched Yabusele this year and replaced him with a minimum guy, if the replacement was anything but a rookie free agent, the savings would be around 400K at most, while adding 900K on to your tax bill for 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Nader even at only 450K being stretched, would cost you more money unless replaced by a rookie FA.
Disagree with Nader having promise tho. He's just a guy. No shot he's ever a rotation player.
Anyway, my point was another team isn't likely to take either guy off our hands. Not that they couldn't be waived.
It depends how close to the tax line we are. We stretched Jackson because we needed that extra margin to free the space for Hayward. I could see that playing out with Nader if we are withing spitting distance of the tax this year and doing so would make the difference.
Yabusele is different because I don't believe we are going to give up on a #16 pick that's basically done what we expected so far. He is a very good rebounder who was flashed man defensive skills and scored with reasonable efficiency for a rookie in extremely limited but not exclusively garbage time minutes.
For example, with sample size warnings, his BPM was -0.7, which is actually pretty good for a rookie. (Nader's was -5.6.)
His RPM was -1.19. (Nader was -5.38.)
CARMELO projects Yabusele as having modest positive value over the next few years, in line with his contract and options. It projects Nader to be with -$6.9 million next year.
Nader doesn't really help you save money unless you're going to leave a roster spot open. Can't replace him with a zero salary.
I could see them cutting Nader because he can't play, but unlikely to just save money.
I am probably more trusting of those advanced stats than most, but the fact that Yabu had an ok RPM means less than nothing to me. Did you watch the guy? If ever there was an argument for the old fashioned eye test. The dude looks like someone who has only ever played pickup basketball.
I did watch him. I saw someone who is a very good rebounder and is agile for his size but who was playing a step behind everyone because, as with most rookies, the game hasn't slowed down for him yet. I also saw a big guy who can shot and scored with reasonable efficiency for a rookie. The player he was last year isn't an NBA player, but there is an NBA rotation player there if he figures out how to put the pieces together. The same cannot be said for Nader.
If Danny doesn't have a rebuilder that wants him, you obviously keep Yabusele on the roster as #14/15.
Sounds like JakeRae has a bid for Yabu, maybe they can find an NBA GM with his mindset.
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If Smart opts for the QO, I think Danny would be nuts to go a few dollars over the tax threshold and start the clock on the repeater status this year rather than next, for the merest of marginal gains to the team's win expectancy. Relative to not paying the $4.50-per-dollar rate when they've got Brown and Tatum et al still here in 2021, that would seem like selling the future for some tinkering with the present. And if there's one GM in the league about whom you can say he doesn't overvalue the present, it's surely Trader Danny.
Totally agree.
I’m also confident that Danny has the situation in hand. If he was the least bit concerned about staying under the tax, he would’ve traded #27 or drafted a stashable Euro player instead of taking R-Will.