I don't know that I'd use that game as an example. He made 7 two point FG's, which was his most in the playoffs. Even a quick glance at the quarter by quarter breakdown disproves that he "just kept chucking". 1st Q: 1/4 threes, 0/0 twos 2nd Q: 1/3 threes, 3/5 twos 3rd Q: 0/3 threes, 2/3 twos 4th Q: 0/2 threes, 2/2 twos
Man if orlando is wanting to blow up their roster, we could send EG, BK, Chris and Melo(for fans in the stands) and get back Gordon AND Vucevic. This gets them into a better balanced roster as well as getting a legitimate starting Guard and not have to resign Ross. They make room for Bamba to get even more minutes without Vuc in the way. and we get 2 players who will help us in the front court immediately. we would have to attach some draft compensation but with 2 legit guys to go with our already potent roster, i think it would be worth it and get us over the hump. Thoughts?
Personally i like Gordon, not a fan of getting Vuc, he's a good player but basically another Kanter we wouldn't be able to play when it matters, and to resign anyway, wouldn't move more assets to get him. Would be curious to know what they think about Gordon and Isaac going forward though, cause now they're playing Gordon at the 4 and Isaac at the 3, but it seems like it's not working out well, and i think Isaac is going to be a 4 going forward, if that's true, they'll have to make a decision at some point.
Been beating this drum forever, AG and Isaac play same position and Magic are horrible at setting up their players for success. They stunted AG's growth similarly when they traded for Ibaka and moved AG to SF.
Tilman is demanding we play for HCA because he needs the money to be made with more home games. I get what you're saying. But this year I feel different. I don't fear any seed, and I don't care about HCA. (albeit, if I were still a STH, I sure would.) In fact, I would rather play GSW earlier in the playoffs than later...primarily because history has proven (Nene and Paul) that we are more likely to have nagging injuries the longer we play. For me,,,and this is jmo,,,It's all about not playing Paul hardly at all, like he's just going out there to keep himself loose and lowering Harden's minutes, and to give Capela and the kids chances to practice with him, against real NBA defenses.
Let's not get delusional here. There's no way Rivers has a higher ceiling than Gordon. Unless we're getting an actual Gordon replacement (3rd scorer), then hell no.
That sounds amazing, but some key player is always going to get injured at an unfortunate time right when we're getting into a groove. That seems to be the super-annoying pattern.
The question isnt who we should trade, its who we should trade for. I think once we know who is available it becomes easier to determine if EG is worth parting with or not, and that is a much more difficult question. There are some players that would obviously be worth it, but many are not as clear - for example: Kevin Love is a great player, but he is also frequently injured, defensively a drop off of what PJ does, and does not give you better rebounds or 3-point shooting than PJ (at best, they are a wash at 3 point shooting). More importantly, the Cavs most important series to date - the 7 game series over the Warriors - was won in spite of Kevin Love, who was awful for almost all of it and dominated on both ends by Draymond Green. Love scored over 10 points twice (11 game 4 and 17 game 1), and was basically benched a few games - game 6 he logged 11 minutes on the court, ending the night with 7 points and a +/- of -6 (the second lowest starters +/- that night was JR Smith who was +20). Game 7, Love scored 9 points while Draymond Green scored freakin 32 points and almost single-handedly won the game. I'm not trying to knock Love, but you get the point - he hasnt fared well in big games, is much more expensive, and there's no guarantee that he fits in. Plus, he'll cost PJ + pieces. I wouldnt make that move. When you start applying a similar level of scrutiny to other guys in the market, it becomes a lot easier to start thinking of trades in terms of - how good is the player? does he have a strong track record of big game and playoff performance? and will he fit in our system (see: Carmelo Anthony)?
I think if we need to move him for the betterment of the team than we thank him for his service and move forward. See Otis Thorpe Not worried about ceilings but the here and now should be our main concern. Our level of play only matters while the championship window is open.
We should be aiming to trade Knight before considering Gordon, especially since EG was coming out of his slump before he got injured.
I would if there was a market... Best we could ever hope for would be the LAL: Paul, Melo, Ennis, Hartenstein & Chriss + FRP For Ingram, Kuzma, Ball, Hart, Rondo & KCP (Lots of players involved because of Paul’s salary) Paul, Labron & Melo Harden & Capela with the youngsters Rondo, Harden, Ingram, Tucker, Capela With crazy depth and size all playable Value contracts Way under the cap, too Sure let’s trade
Keep Gordon and Knight can't be traded. There is no market for Knight. Plus there aren't many players that truly make sense even if they move BK. Maybe you get a serviceable player in Courtney Lee and save some money. The Knicks are trying to trade him now. Who knows maybe they will go full Knicks and give us a pick for Knight lol. That said even Lee doesn't really make sense. He's basically just injury insurance.
I like a lot of what you post but this idea that EG is dispensable right now because we have Rivers just doesn't work. We need both precisely because of CP3. We have to make him last. The only tool we have to keep Rivers is the TP MLE. It's all we'll have no matter what we do. Downgrading an asset in throwing away EG when we are in win now mode makes zero sense to keep Knight because we are protecting picks. Ryno was a mistake that cost us greatly that Morey turned into a manageable mistake with the Knight trade. At some point we have to pay for that and you don't do that by keeping the mistake. We need to upgrade our assets by jettisoning the contracts and players that don't work. We will have future 1sts but not ALL of them. Those 1sts we wanted to give up will not serve us except maybe the last two. We go big game hunting and if there is a player worth it then we should do it. How much do you really want to protect a middling future pick to sacrifice years of building this winner. There will never be another Harden and by the time we are done maybe never another CP3 or Capela. In any other era we would have a championship team. Now it takes more than that and we know from winning last year and this one that we have that type of team. You have to give this team every shot it needs to win. Golden State is likely to lose Durant and may break up more. You have to think short term and long term and remember the past. It has been 25 years of waiting and we suffered through the McGrady/Yao era to know what it is like to squander potential greatness. That is why the Butler play was the right one. If there is an asset to upgrade EG then trade him but otherwise we have to use those 1sts and count on being able to wait for future advantages we cannot see right now. You have to pay for a winner because they may never come along again. Harden and CP3 are HOFs and Harden is legendary. You have to do everything you can because that extra 1sts you invest now may be the difference in saving his and CP3s health. You just never know. Tilman is willing to dump dead salary but was also willing to spend on Butler. What does that tell you? He needs a championship to raise the value of this franchise and is not going to waste luxury tax on dead weight. Morey's directive is clear to churn the roster and deliver a winner...and this is from someone that is not a Tilman fan.
