We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:
Is Dwyane Wade to the Cavs to reunite with LeBron James a possibility now that cap is announced? — Michael Rodriguez
As much as they may want to team up again, the Cavaliers don’t have the cap room to make such a move even thinkable. Cleveland is paying $54MM in luxury taxes and has more than $74MM committed in payroll for next season, without factoring in James, J.R. Smith or Richard Jefferson. James and Wade joining forces again may be fun to think about, but it’s no more realistic than LeBron’s “superteam” fantasy of someday teaming up with Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul.
With the moves the Lakers are making, does this mean that the pick the Sixers have from the Lakers next year [top 3 protected] is worthless? Are the Lakers now not a lottery team? — Anthony
The pick may be worth a little less, but it’s a long way from being worthless. Remember, this is a Lakers team that won just 17 games this season, lost Kobe Bryant and underwent a coaching change. Adding Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng is certainly an upgrade, as is the drafting of Brandon Ingram, but the Lakers have a long way to go to be considered a playoff team. They have a talented young core with a few veterans mixed in, but the Sixers will almost certainly be holding their lottery pick next June.
What in the world does the Magic depth chart look like now? — Pastor Mike Chandler
It looks really good from here, pastor. Orlando added two elite shot blockers with the trade for Serge Ibaka and the signing of Bismack Biyombo. They also kept Evan Fournier, signed a versatile forward in Jeff Green and a veteran point guard in D.J. Augustin and sent a 2019 second-round pick to the Pistons for Jodie Meeks. That’s a lot of talent and experience added to what was already a promising young roster. The Magic should be one of the league’s most improved teams in 2016/17.
Don’t think Mozgod and Deng will add that many wins. I say 25/30 wins tops. He other teams in the West are on the rise too. Only team I see being worse then them could maybe be the Kings.
The mavs aren’t going to be better than they were last year, but the west is tough. I’m hoping Durant goes to Boston. We need to thin out the west.