KD has higher aspirations than to finish his career out in Memphis, TN. They might have a war chest, but KD would never agree to an extension there. He's thinking both on court AND off court at this point. Now I could always be wrong, but that's why he's not a T-Wolf today. Where Memphis could be a player is facilitating a deal as a 3rd team now and allowing a team like Miami, LAL, NYK, etc to up their offer and get back something nice (not KD) for some of those picks.
Sounds like my Brazilian-born wife. My dad came down from Iowa to meet her in Houston after she'd been here a year. We were standing in the parking lot of a Sam's Club. He fake-whispered to me, "It's July, 95 degrees, why is she wearing a sweater?" To which she laughed. Now back to the thread.
Yeah, Durant is control of where he goes. Memphis has no chance, but this haul they got makes them players in a lot of trades and especially as a third team. If we are including Jalen the deal is done and he is coming to the Rockets. I don’t like it, because I think FVV, filler, and #10 is the best offer the Suns are going to get. If someone is foolish enough to pay more Durant then back off.
Banchero vs Jabari is like a debate between Harden and Curry in 2014, but a couple steps down in quality on both sides. No doubt at that time, one guy was putting up much bigger stats, contributing more to winning even because of his heliocentric status. But the other has a higher ceiling of contributing to a championship contending team. While both players are rare in the NBA, one will always be capped in terms of the absolute greatest heights they can take a team to.
The Bane trade is good for us. It reinforces the trade value of good players in their 20's on sub max contracts with a bunch of years of team control. Just like the Mikal Bridges trade did. Meanwhile "stars" who aren't top 10 players and have 1 year left on their contract and max or supermax expectations? Look at what De'Aaron Fox went for and compare it Bane or Bridges. If you're the Rockets, you look at the Bane trade and continue to think, as you should: "No way am I just throwing in any of my legit young guys into a trade... they're worth multiple first rounders each". And don't forget - Desmond Bane is turning 27 next week. Our guys are 20-23 years old.
I like the comparison. But I am not sure who is who in the analogy. Harden had the faster start to his career and made the finals first. Steph, on the other hand, had a slower start to his career and did what he did ( I take no joy in praising Steph). I guess Palo is Harden, but Jabri has a ways to go to match his production and perceived value and be the Steph in the analogy. I do think Palo is closer to his ceiling than Jabri is to his own.
Carl always has good takes. We are going to end up with Durant. I just hope it’s FVV and filler and draft pick(s). Anything other than that is seriously bad.
Spot on. As in - stop throwing your blue chip young players into a package like they are worth a second rounder lol.
I would take this with a sigh of relief. It’s a modest overpay, but better than sending Jalen and one pick.
Tbh it seems like the over valuing for KD,in this stage of his career, and like many mention not worth depleting young assets on 2nd seed team. It would be either Jalen filler 2 first or Fred filler and 2 first. When they start wanting more thats when you just leave conversation and move on. Tbh the rockets dont need KD, but the Suns needs it draft capital.
I with you in general terms, but setting aside Amen and Sengun, how do the rest of our players compare to Bane in value? Let’s start with Jalen Green. Comparable salaries. Longer contract for Bane. Bane is a great shooter, good scorer, strong defender, plays well in the playoffs. Green is a really good regular season scorer and has become an average to slightly plus defender. For a team trying to make a playoff push, it isn’t close. Bane is much more valuable than JG. The only thing JG has is youth and potential for growth. Someone can talk themselves into valuing JG more than Bane, but I don’t think it is close. Yes, JG could get you a couple of lottery picks (definitely two, maybe three from a team willing to gamble), but not the haul that Bane got. Jabari Smith. Much younger, much cheaper, totally different role and skillset. Very limited offensively because he can’t dribble to save his life. Has value, but hard to see a team giving up multiple potential lottery picks for him. Maybe one lotto and another late first. Or multiple late first rounders. Tari Eason. High injury concerns, but extremely high ceiling. I can see multiple lottery picks for Tari. Cam whitmore. Headcase, but lotto talent. I could easily see a team giving up a mid to late first round pick for him. Reed Sheppard: could get some kind of a lotto pick for him, probably outside of the top 8-10.
