So true, but it is true for Harden. Probably because of his attitude on and off court. I was a huge Harden fan when he played here, but there was no doubt he was reffed differently in the playoffs as opposed to regular season and so much of his game depended on getting to the free throw lane.
How about we pick up Kenneth Lofton Jr. with that last spec of cash we have before hitting the cap. Dudes not playing anywhere right now. He's a local boy who should be here. He's a Wemby killer.
I love Clint but so far he hasn’t been living up to his value. I would trade Clint and 2028 our 1st round pick for Keon Ellis from the kings
Can we trade KD for Jalen Green? I'd rather watch the home grown drafted garbage player score 30 on 35 shots instead of watching mercenary KD score 30 on 19 shots. HAHAHA get it Jalen clowns? Oh god - I just don't know how you can't point and laugh at those idiots who said this.
All of the posters constantly posting Trump gifs and memes in the game threads would be delighted in this trade.
Collin Sexton would be the most realistic PG/SG we could get that would be impactful. 15/5/3 on borderline 50/40/90 while making $18 mil a year.
Honestly if Reed keeps playing like he has been, he's already giving us most of what Sexton provides, if not more/better. Sexton is more on the shooting guard side of "combo guard", undersized at the 2, turns the ball over a lot, not a good defensive player. If we do end up making a trade, I'd personally be thinking more about guys like Tre Jones, Scotty Pippen Jr, or Jose Alvarado. Pure point guard type of guys who play intense defense. All three are on very reasonable contracts, which on the plus side would be great for our cap flexibility moving forward, but on the downside, probably means we'd have to give up some real value to get them in terms of draft capital etc.
I'll leave that up to others to decide. I expect the value of that trade is within 4 FRPs either way and did not want to get into how many FRPs it would take. Mostly, I like the idea of putting shooting around Amen and Sengun long term, and put a high number of up to FRPs to be all-inclusive of what people value FRPs and Knueppel at.
I could be convinced a change of scenery / our culture could be a positive for LaMelo. But I can't make that gamble with the injury history. We aren't in a desperate position to gamble on LaMelo with our war chest of players and picks.
Making a play for a high-calibre starting guard makes sense if we think we can go for it this year. Biggest unknown is whether FVV would agree to a trade; without his contract we can only make marginal moves. Lamelo, Trey, Herro, Jrue, Bane, D or C White work salary wise with a mix of FVV, DFS and CC. Herro and Derrick White in particular might become available and I think would be sensible targets for us. Lamelo the option with the highest risk due to injury but also the highest reward.
Derrick would make the most sense. He isn't having such a great season and it's because he's the ultimate role player but is missing Tatum's gravity. He is 31, will turn 32 next year. Do the Celtics want to keep his higher salary around? Who knows. My random trade is a 3 team deal: Houston Receives Derrick White Boston Receives Zach Collins Coby White Suns 2027 FRP (Top 3 Protected) or conveys into a future Rockets FRP (lottery protected) Bulls Receives Fred Vanvleet Tari Eason This helps the Celtics shave off more salary next summer. Not sure if they are looking to do that, but just some quick numbers I ran, I get a total about $140 million in salary next summer, with a projected $166 million in cap that means $26 million in room, $61 million in room under the luxury tax, and $70 million in room under the 1st apron. I know they also have to make a decision on Simmons. For the Rockets, they give up that Phoenix FRP but keep the probably more valuable Brooklyn 2027 FRP swap. I think for Derrick White and the season he is having, this is more than generous since they are also receiving Coby White along with a serviceable center. For the Bulls, it's a bit trickier if they would be interested. I don't think they will be resigning Coby this summer and they certainly can resign Zach next summer if they like him, but they trade them out for Fred who would likely opt in to $25M next summer and Tari Eason who will be owed an extension. I think Fred would be a great compliment from the bench that brings a veteran presence to that team and would help them out tremendously next season, and Eason could potentially break out, just needs the minutes. The extra salary of Fred though likely scares the Bulls away from this deal, but they do extra some value from Coby White if they don't plan to sign him long term.
There is no active deal that makes sense for us at this time. We are riding with Sengun-Thompson-Jabari-Reed-Eason until they show us they can't take us to the WCF.
