Pitch-a-free-agent: Sending Otto Porter our best offers

Free agency is when everything is possible. No matter how small your market is, all it takes is one sensational pitch. Because we’re helpful people here at The Step Back, we’re each picking teams and penning our best offers to the free agents we think those teams should chase. Here’s what we have for Otto Porter.

Philadelphia 76ers

Look, Otto, we get it. Your Washington Wizards are likely to match whatever offer sheet we hand you, so no matter how convincing we are, it may not matter. Allow us to try regardless.

Entering this summer, we have just $35.9 million in guaranteed contracts on our books. Though we’re going to pick up the team options for Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes and T.J. McConnell, we could waive Gerald Henderson’s $9 million salary for 2017-18 to carve out enough room for two max players. Since Joel Embiid becomes eligible for an extension this summer and Covington is an unrestricted free agent next July, now is our time to make a big free-agent splash. Your improved 3-point shooting stroke and defensive acumen would be a perfect complement to Embiid’s brute force near the basket and Ben Simmons’ passing vision. You know those open corner threes you feasted on from John Wall drive-and-kicks? Imagine those coming from a 6-foot-10 forward who draws a double-team en route to the rim. After we draft Markelle Fultz with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday, you’d have two premium ball-handlers ready to feed you the ball for open 3-point attempts on drive-and-kicks.

If the Wizards do match our offer sheet for you, they’re going to be mired in salary-cap hell barring a major trade. Next season, their bench may be even worse than the toxic wasteland that it was this past year. Playing next to Wall and Bradley Beal has its obvious benefits, but this iteration of Washington isn’t going to dethrone LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. With you, Embiid, Simmons, Fultz, Covington and Dario Saric in tow, we could well have next in the Eastern Conference once James slows down.

Our offer: Four years, $108.6 million (max)

— Bryan Toporek (@btoporek)

Minnesota Timberwolves

Listen here Otto, a lot of teams are going to be coming to you offering you a lot of money. The team that drafted you, the Washington Wizards, are likely going to wait it out and see what offers you get and go from there.

Sure, sticking with the Wizards offers you the chance to play with John Wall and Bradley Beal as they reach their prime. And sure, you were one game away from facing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, for all the good things that happened in D.C. this season, you were an afterthought for most of the year. Wall and Beal took a majority of the headlines. By season’s end he common fan was shocked to learn that you held one of the highest 3-point percentages in the NBA. You were pigeonholed into the role of 3-and-D wing, but weren’t rewarded for doing that role at a high level.

Here in Minnesota we know the value of 3-and-D. Tom Thibodeau runs the show, the man responsible for creating a defense that helped slow down future Hall of Famers like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Yes, the Warriors look unbeatable now, but if you were to trust anyone with coming up with the proper philosophy to hold them in check wouldn’t Thibodeau be that guy? Wall and Beal are both very good players, but imagine how much easier the game would be sharing the floor with Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Did we mention that Towns is an actual unicorn?

The money might not be as high as some of the competitors, but in the end do you want your career to be about money or memories?

Our offer: Four years, $90 million ($22 million a year average)

— Brandon Jefferson (@Jefferson_Hoops)

Phoenix Suns

Do you know what we see when we look at you here in Phoenix, Otto? We see a potential star. Not the kind of star that gets billboards and shoe deals, like LeBron James, but the kind of star that fans love and stats guys geek out over, like Khris Middleton.

So not really a star, in the conventional sense, but kind of a star. Anyway, that’s you! Do the Wizards think that about you, or are they too busy fawning over John Wall and Bradley Beal to even notice you?

Imagine, if instead of being the third-best player on the team, you were the second-best. Doesn’t second fiddle sound a lot better than third fiddle? Wouldn’t your rather be Stephen Curry than Klay Thompson? Or Scottie Pippen rather than Dennis Rodman?

Nobody wants to be Dennis Rodman, Otto. Come be the Scottie to Devin Booker’s MJ. At the very least, signing our offer sheet means the Wizards have to pay you like a star, because we’re totally willing to do so. Oh, and the weather is super nice here.

Our Offer: Four years, max money.

— Ti Windisch (@TiWindisch)

Indiana Pacers

Yo, Otto. I know, the Wizards are in control here and probably going to match. But we want you to know how much we love you. Paul George is gone and in his place we’ll have a (mini) war chest of picks and other young players. We’ve got Myles Turner and we’re going to rebuild this team. Pace and space aren’t just buzzwords, we’re going to live and breathe them. We’re going to build an exceptional defense with length and athleticism at every position. And the shooters, oh the shooters we’re going to get!

We want you Otto. In the center of the floor. Curling off screens. Posting up small dudes. Facilitating. Dominating from the elbow. Drilling open jumpers. You won’t just be the guy. You’ll be our guy.

Our Offer: Max dollaz, over max yearz.

— Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh)

Atlanta Hawks

Otto, Atlanta would like to extend an offer to you to join our organization. We know Washington is your home, and you must be very, very proud of the fantastic season you just had there. After all, it’s definitely why we’re here.

The development steps you’ve taken over your four years in Washington have been fantastic. We are offering you the opportunity to continue that development here in Atlanta. We see more than just a third banana, trying to facilitate the brilliance of others. No, we see potential for you to find a path to being an All-Star here, someone we can get the most out of and build around.

After all, I’d say we have a pretty solid track record of that. Paul Millsap blossomed from role player to All-Star here. Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schroder developed into starters. Coach Budenholzer knows how to take a talented player and bring out the talents that will help him take the next step, over and over again. And now he’s focused on doing that full-time.

Your unique talents as a finisher, three-point shooter and hard-nosed defender are exactly what we need to take the next step as a team. We want to take you from 3-and-D to true all-around talent, because that’s the type of player that wins games at the NBA level. And you have our word that we’ll work to continue to improve the roster and focus on building the most balanced, cohesive team possible.

Next: Pitch-a-free-agent: Sending Jrue Holiday our best offers

We know that this might all be for naught, and you may be playing across the division from us in the long run. But we want you to seriously consider the benefits playing in Atlanta could give you. If you want to explore your true ceiling while still winning games, give us a call.

Our Offer: Four years, max offer sheet

— Trevor Magnotti (@illegalscreens)