It seems unfortunately Bridges has maxed out what he can be........a 20 ppg 2 way guy near max but not quite max level.
To me Lauri and Bridges are both elite role players nothing more, so it's only a question of fit. The fascination with Mikal Bridges is that as a wing he was a DPOY candidate and those are extremely rare. Those kinds of players are almost always outperforming their salary because defense is undervalued in the NBA. On offense he's an excellent shooter when assisted, excellent in transition, great at cutting to the basket, can be a primary scorer against benches or bad teams or bad defenders. Meaning he's the perfect 3rd scorer. The main idea for me is to be as non-disruptive to the core as possible. I don't want to bring in any more competition for the core 6 unless it's a star iso scorer. If I were less invested in our core, yes I could see a case for Lauri too. - You have to take into account the knock-on effects. Getting Bridges improves things A LOT for the other 4 starters without taking the ball out of their hands much. Right now FVV and Green are shooting way too many 3's for their skill level. Jabari was league average at just 4 or so attempts. Bridges taking all of Brooks' 3's plus taking a few away from Green/FVV/Bari makes a massive difference for our offense. Lauri can do this for us too, but just addressing one of the things that's great about getting Bridges. - Bridges is MUCH better than Brooks imo. If you're a slightly better defender and a much better offensive player, that's a significant upgrade. There's nothing else in basketball but offense and defense. Brooks can do nothing on offense but make open 3's. He can't drive, he has no mid range, terrible rebounder and to top it all off he's inexplicably atrocious in transition offense. Bridges can RUN with our young guys. - We're intending to play with more pace and space next season. Bridges is excellent for that. Lauri not as good for pace but excellent at spacing the floor. Brooks horrible at high pace and a below average shooter. - Lauri's offense is fully optimized, it's highly unlikely he'll get more efficient here. What we've seen is his ceiling on a winning team. Bridges has spent the last 2 seasons very non-optimized trying to create more than he's capable of. On the Suns he was marginalized and didn't have the benefit of two years working on his handle. If these guys are equivalent players right now, I would say the likelihood of Bridges exceeding expectations is much higher than Lauri exceeding expectations. - Swapping a SF for a PF involves systemic risk. We're changing the constitution of the roster if we do that. My position this offseason is one of insanely low risk. I do not want to change the product at all. I want to make the moves that have the least impact on system/culture and the highest impact on efficiency. - I'm totally unwilling to have Bari come off the bench for Lauri. In the case of Bridges, I'm replacing two vets (Brooks, Jeff Green) with one vet which opens up MORE minutes for young guys rather than reduce their minutes. - I'm not at all confident enough to leave the SF position to Tari (injuries) and Amen (non-shooter). For an actual max-worthy PF maybe, but Lauri IIRC is assisted on over 70% of his shots and his defense is mediocre. - I do not believe in a Sengun/Lauri defensive combo long term. Our PF has to be a better defender than that. Lauri current team has Kessler and his last team had Allen/Mobley so I bet his advanced defensive stats are benefitting a lot from that. I would much rather bet on a Sengun/Jabari tandem to take care of our defense since they just put up a top 10 defense for us. I think Jabari will be a clearly better defender next season.
Of course, if we could get Bridges for #3 and Dillon we do it. I see no indication that the Net’s idiotic FO would make the deal, and, frankly they could probably get more for Bridges. I think you are right that Bridges should be our target and would be willing to throw the 26 nets pick with top 4 protection along with this year’s #3. Still don’t think it gets done. Their FO thinks he is going to get a grade A star in FA in 25 when Simmons comes off the books.
Fair points. I'll just add that think you like Bridges a lot more than I do, especially defensively. He has really dropped off as a defensive player and I'm not sold that he was ever as good as advertised. I don't know if I see him as a better defensive player than Dillon. And I'm just really not interested in spending actual assets to add a 28-year-old to this roster. Feels irrelevant to me--adding a few wins now for a guy we're going to end up trading or letting walk by the time we contend for a championship? Meh. And that's if the deal is a fair one--Brooklyn isn't seeking a fair deal, they're, again, seeking an overpay. For me, Lauri has turned himself into a low-level star, not a roleplayer. That kind of depends where you draw the line, but I have him well above Bridges on my personal player rankings. He is one of the best off-ball shotmakers in the league right now; he has a truly elite skill, whereas Mikal has fallen off to the point where he's a jack-of-all-trades. How do you feel about the possibility of Jabari playing the three? I have been vocal both thinking he's a 4/5 long term, but maybe he could do it for a season or two.
In no way is SF or C a need. Those are our two deepest positions. Brooks/Cam/Amen/Tari Alp/Adams/Jock/Jabari PG is a need, SG possibly
I see your point but I have a gut feeling about this thing. I think Marks has leaked a lot of BS to the press (re: rejecting 4/5 picks) and I think us getting the #3 pick could be the final straw for his theatrics. I have a feeling his job is in jeopardy and so either he will be forced to get realistic with asking price or the new GM will take care of it. The way I see it Brooks can be converted to an expiring contract and a mediocre FRP. So we're giving them like #3 and #20 and an expiring contract. I had a look at the rest of the league in terms of draft capital and situation - I don't think anyone in this league is going to give them 3 picks that will be better than the 2 picks we're offering. I think it's possible for example someone will offer them a #10, #15 and #20 pick for Bridges but that's just not better than ours because you wouldn't trade #3 for #10 and #15. I'd be willing to give them the equivalent value of an additional FRP by sending them a bunch of non-guaranteed contracts (which they can decline, creating immediate cap flexibility) in exchange for a big contract of their choice (not Simmons obviously). Help them clear the cap and get the rebuild started. If they want more than that, we're good. We should pick BPA and let Marks dig his own grave.
Jabari is the small ball center. Landale showed his value at the end of the season. He’s a great back up. Any center drafted would be a back up. The far and away best player on the team is a starting center
If it takes a “huge” amount of assets you don’t do it. Mathloon was suggesting this year’s #3 and Brooks. I suggest #3, Brooks, and 2026 Net’s pick top 4 protected. I don’t consider that huge either. Bridges may be better than Brooks at defense and is a much more consistent offensive player. The main reason I want him is insurance against Jalen not making the breakthrough we all hope for. I think any of the other trade targets people are talking about would mean giving up a core piece which I think is foolish at this point.
Bridges definitely has not been as good defensively the past two seasons, but I thought that was always expected. It's pretty impossible to be your team's top scorer and playmaker while maintaining elite defense on top defenders. I definitely believe that on the Suns he was a mind-blowingly great defender. I think with Udoka, he will easily return to that. On adding a 28 year old, yeah I hear you but I don't believe that a roster should all be roughly the same age. I believe the best roster is one with young, prime and old players. Any championship team I've seen has a diversity of ages in the starting lineup so if Bridges is 30-31 when our core is 25 I see that as perfect actually. Very subjective I know. On Bari, I really can't see it at this point of his career, maybe later when his defensive experience and handles are better. Maybe half the time or against bench units for now (Tari starts, Bari becomes the backup SF)? We'd be putting a core player at a disadvantage which would be a great learning experience for him (similar to Lauri on the Cavs actually, guarding SF's for a season improved his overall defense) but I'm not sure it's best for the team. Brooks is an amazing defender, which is why Bridges is a nice replacement because he can compete with that calibre of defender. I'm not sure Jabari at the 3 can do what Brooks and Bridges do - so effectively we'd have downgraded our defense at the SF and PF positions, which could negate whatever offensive benefits we're getting from Lauri. Isn't it so nice to have these options? Like if we get Lauri I'm not going to be mad at all, it's still an amazing situation with an exciting future. Just nitpicking among a bunch of excellent options at our disposal.
I think the Nets have been very clear that they're looking for a Gobert-like haul for Bridges, so I'm coming from the perspective of "what would it actually take to get him". But fair, I would do #3 + Brooks, sure. That's a good value for us in this pretty bad draft class. The deal you suggested, to me, is borderline, probably a fair trade. For me, on the "insurance policy to Jalen not working out or Amen being a wing rather than a point guard long term", I'd be looking at guys like Cason Wallace, Coby White, Immanuel Quickley, Anfernee Simons, maybe even Austin Reaves before I'd be looking at Bridges, for a similar package. Simply due to age. Maybe none of those guys are available for a package centered on #3, but then, I don't think Bridges is either.
My issue with trading the pick for Bridges...if that was even a possibility is that trading for a 28 year old vet is more of a "win now" move for a team not ready to win now. By the time most of the core is 25, he'll be 32. Would being able to dump Green for Bridges make the team better? Of course. You probably get playoffs and everything...but as the rest of the young players are coming into their prime, Bridges will be falling out of his.
Just watched the national title game again with Edey vs. Clingan.... why is there so much hype on Clingan? Edey was outworking and outclassing Clingan all game long. Clingan isn't a bad player by any means...but a top 3 pick?? Doesn't seem like Clingan moves any more faster than Edey.. and both players aren't game-breaking bigs at the NBA level - good rotational players for sure. Edey seems more polished offensively than Clingan without a doubt. I don't see how Clingan will be effective offensively in the NBA other than the dunker's spot. Defensively, yes Clingan does offer a lot, but so do players like Capela or Walker Kessler... both of whom were late first rounders. Why not just wait out til next year's draft to get that backup defensive big when we already have Steven Adams for next year anyways... I want to see our young core play with some good spacing for once. We need elite shooting. If you have a chance to go get an elite shooter like Reed Sheppard, you have to do it. The guy not only shoots lights out, but he has great feel for the game and puts in a ton of effort defensively. Kentucky guards always have some weird knack for playing well in the NBA, but Calipari has been terrible for a while now... who's to say if Reed Sheppard was playing for Hurley in UConn's scheme, we wouldn't all be in agreement that he's a surefire #3 pick? For anyone saying the Rockets would be reaching if they picked Sheppard at #3... anybody who is getting picked in this draft at #3, you can make a legit argument that it's a reach of a pick. Picks 1-10 - everybody is basically the same tier. If you're hellbent on trading the pick... you better be getting someone legit and not someone over the hill and past their prime (KD, Paul George, Jimmy Butler). This year's #3 pick, next year's pick, plus Jalen Green and some salary filler for Devin Booker? is maybe the only deal I would entertain for someone who may or may not be available. I doubt that there is anybody else worth trading for... the other NBA teams know that this draft is crap... unless you want someone like Trae Young (I don't).
