I agree you spend cap wisely. I think the sort of moves Phil should look at is what he did in 2015, not 2016. He went for Rolo on a longterm deal, and it was a good investment. He got a starting level C for a bargain. Easy to trade and an asset. Obviously we traded him. DWill and Afflalo's contracts were nice as well. Not maybe good enough players for us, but they came at a good price.
I don't mind moves like Lee, though, He has shown to be an asset to this team and will be easily moved in a trade. Noah is the type of move you avoid at all costs. An injury prone player on decline who you hope will get back to his best but never will. That's a bad investment at that price.
Outside of Noah I like the free agency moves so far
These guys are easily movable in a trade or can be quality role players and we used capspace to sign them:
Lee 12$M a year
Thomas 5$M a year
O'Quinn $4,5M a year
Willy $2M a year
Kuz $2M a year
Outside of Noah Phil has done exactly what this thread asks. The Noah contract is the really bad one. I don't think we get out of that one for 2 more years. The other thing is Melo and Rose make a combine $47M I believe. That can change this summer. Rose is a free agent. Melo may be traded. Believe it or not, if we trade Melo to the Clippers for Rivers, capspace (Jamal gets send to a third team attached to a few second round picks) and a first round pick, our highest paid player will be Noah and the cap situation looks real good moving forward.