It’s interesting that 3 out of the 4 teams that are in the playoffs right now were built through mainly trades so the argument that you trade for a star goes heavily on your favor if you want to judge the success of all these teams compared to the Rockets. All of the players of 3 out of the 4 teams left in the playoffs that are greatly impacting their teams playoff success were acquired by trade
This is why you don't stand pat, we don't have a star yet, we have a couple of maybes....in Amen, and Cam.......and a longshot in Reed, but the rest are at best good NBA players, but not superstars. DD
Sengun is already an All Star at 22 and is "at best" a good NBA player Seems legit, where can I subscribe to your newsletter?
Might have to fact check this to be sure, but on a quick prompt GPT says the majority of historical NBA champions were built organically. Then the others made free agent additions or trades if needed to get over the hump. Develop a young team organically, Then make smaller moves or trades that make sense down the road. Strategy NBA Titles Won Historically: Drafted All-Stars ~55% of champions Traded for All-Stars ~30% of champions Free Agent Core ~15% of champions Also asked how many NBA treadmill teams were created due to bad or impatient trades NBA Treadmill Teams Historically Created by Trades: ~20 treadmill teams historically were largely created by trades that mortgaged future assets for short-term gains. The mistake is usually overvaluing present competitiveness and undervaluing picks/youth. Treadmill status often comes from: Chasing the 8th seed Overpaying for a fading All-Star Trading away flexibility (picks or cap space)
His baby boy, KPJ, is already a superstar, by the way, and way better than Sengun, who is merely a good NBA player. Would you like to subscribe to my newsletter too? If not, you'll miss my highly entertaining takes, which boast an impressive 99% inaccuracy rate. E.H.2025
Worth noting that none of them were established stars at the time of their trades. Kudos to the teams investing in them. Actually the teams that acquired the more established player were the losers.
Not even at star level but the level of not caring to mix it up with high end role players and shooters.... Resting on non existing laurels is what he does.
The argument falls apart the second you look past the surface: 1) SGA became a star in OKC. 2) Edwards, drafted 1st overall by the Wolves 3) Haliburton, drafted by the Kings, but became a star in Indiana. 4) Brunsen, NYK signed him as a free agent. He was grossly undervalued by the Mavs and didn't even get any playing time until the playoffs. The four best players in the playoffs right now were not traded for when they were stars; teams didn't panic, trusted them, and developed them.
SGA and Haliburton were all traded, just ahead of their time but still 11-16 ppg players ....which would net 20 million bucks. Their ceiling was sky high but their floor was great as well.
That’s beside the point. None of those players were even close to All-Star level when they were acquired—their current teams patiently developed them into who they are today. The success isn’t just in the trade itself, it’s in the long-term vision, coaching, and system that nurtured their growth post-trade. Simply trading for a player doesn’t guarantee success.
2025 Knicks: Signed Brunson/Payne/Shamet/Tucker, traded for Towns/Anunoby/Bridges/Hart/Achiuwa/Wright, drafted Robinson/McBride/Dadiet/Kolek/Hukporti Pacers: Traded for Haliburton/Siakam/Nesmith/Toppin/Bryant/Jackson, signed McConnell/Johnson/Bradley, drafted Turner/Mathurin/Walker/Nembhard/Sheppard/Furphy Thunder: Traded for SGA/Caruso/Ken.Williams, signed Hartenstein/Dort/Joe, drafted Chet/Jal.Williams/Jayl.Williams/Wiggins/Wallace/Topic/Mitchell//Dieng/Jones Wolves: Drafted Edwards/McDaniels/Dillingham/Shannon/Miller/Minott/Clark, traded for Gobert/Randle/Conley/NAW/DiVincenzo, signed Reid/Ingles/Garza Brunson: spent first 4 years (age 22-25) backing up/splitting time with Luka, left to have his own team Haliburton: spent 1.5 years backing up/splitting time with Fox, Sac chose Fox, traded Hali for Sabonis (Hali/Hield/Tristan Thompson for Sabonis/Jeremy Lamb/Justin Holiday) SGA: 20 year old with the Clippers who averaged 10.8 points; traded for PG in Kawhi/PG package deal So sure, can you spot the next Harden/Haliburton/Brunson wasting away on the bench, ready to become a superstar with an increased role? (In before DD says Cam)
Trading is a lost art that Stone is just not great at. There is no point in defending Stone ....he is just a one trick pony.....and one trick ponies can only go so far even with the massive talents he drafted. Udoka is not great at developing, and only uses ready players such as Amen. Simply trading? When has Stone traded for a big name or a major young player in the last 2-3 years? It is not like it is modus operandi.....you talk like Stone trades every month.....which he is not. Trading is not only trading, it is doing business with your business partners, if one side sits on his eggs, others are swooping in to take what is theirs, tale old as time. Also the reputation is that the majority are not choosing you as the Number 1 trade partner secretly.
How's that defending Stone? We can criticize his decisions without pretending every outcome has been a failure. But to say he’s a “one-trick pony” who just drafted talent and did nothing else ignores the fact that the team did develop Amen and Sengun into what they are now. Let's also give Ime some credit, he doesn't just use ready guys. Amen wasn’t “ready” when the season started; he became that through progress, discipline, and coaching. If Udoka was only playing polished guys, Amen would still be buried behind Aaron Holiday.
The point isn't trading for superstars, the point is that he is not trading that well overall speaking. You are just the one that is dragging superstars into the conversation. The Pacers are not there where they are without a functioning bench and depth.....Haliburton is not everything.
Please have a look at the best 3PT shooting teams vs the best rebounding teams in the playoffs and tell me whether it was a good idea to voluntarily lessen the minutes of our FEW shooters in favor of rebounders who can't shoot: Best shooting teams: Bucks (lost Lillard) Cavaliers (lost Garland, Mobley) Suns (lost reality) Wolves Nuggets Thunder Clippers Knicks Pacers Celtics (lost Tatum) Now here are the top 10 rebounding teams (REB%) looking like a coin flip correlation with success: Clippers Kings Bucks Heat Bulls Magic Celtics Warriors Rockets Hawks Our coach saw that we are not a very good 3PT shooting team and decided to bet on rebounding. This was one of the most misguided things I've ever seen from a Rockets coach. He literally saw a team that was not very good at shooting and thought it was a good idea to bench some shooters for rebounders. It's so dumb and you will realize it the moment this 4-year veil is lifted from this spacing-starved team. Sad part is that to this day we are the 3rd most efficient 3PT shooting team in the playoffs. The stupid part? We took the fewest 3's in the entire playoffs out of all 16 teams. We took 28.3 attempts per game. In the year 2025 we took 28.3 attempts per game. We took like 20 attempts in game 7? Do you understand how efficiently we would have had to make our 2's in order to cover the gap of the Warriors taking TWICE as many 3's as us regardless of how poorly they shot? Do a little math, you will understand this was an impossible mountain to overcome. You would have had to see Amen or Sengun or Jalen make midrange jumpers at a higher rate than Kevin Durant or Chris Paul in order for us to win that game. That's so so dumb. There should have been more minutes and 3PT shots for Bari and Holiday. More 3PA's for Sengun and Brooks. This is a pattern with Udoka against Kerr. In the Celtics-Warriors Finals he lost the exact same way: played non-shooters too much and while he was outshooting the Warriors from the 3PT line he kept taking the wheel and swerving it towards "tough guys" who can't shoot because he's nostalgic about 90's basketball while we are in the middle of a war that needs a leader. He doesn't understand the math, you don't have to beat Curry at 3's but you have to push your team to take as many as they can reasonably handle. You can't demolish your own team's attempts and then shrug your shoulders when all you get is midrange shots for poor midrange shooters. Bari taking a 3 is a WAY higher percentage than Amen/Sengun/Green in the 15-feet midrange. Kerr dared him in both series to attempts more 3's, and Udoka's response was to try to forcefully win it inside. AND he had 2 superstars in Boston so don't tell me it's about superstars. I hope these playoffs opened his eyes up. Even if we stand pat, there's no excuse for a 3rd consecutive season with the same TS% as Stephen *****ng Silas. His roster is MUCH better than Silas, the TS% should be somewhat better to say the least. This 90's nostalgia has to end. He has to motivate and develop his players to take more 3's even if it doesn't go well for a bit you have to push through. Also you can't be scared of every single turnover as if we have to achieve a 90's turnover rate to be successful, good teams apply some force and take some risks.
