If i'm trading Bari, I'd rather target Trey Murphy III. I don't think his value is exponentially higher than Smith's with age playing a factor.
I don't think Scoot would require more than DFS and a protected FRP. He's a distressed asset. Bari is coming off of his best season and is on a positive contract.
I'd trade KD for Jrue, Scoot and a pick. Make the playoffs lose 1st or 2nd round this year. Draft Tyran Stokes to replace KD next year. EZPZ
agreed, we should target better players like Murphy if we are giving up good young cost-controlled players like Bari. Bari is a better player and better asset than Scoot right now. I’d trade for Scoot if we can get him at a good price. If he takes a step and increases his value next yr you have another core piece or a valuable asset to trade. But u have to understand what’s up with his health if you trade for him.
In a league obsessed with immediate production from 19-year-old rookies, Scoot has been understandably disappointing. To be fair a lot of recent guys have come in ready to go, and even at the PG spot (which is the hardest to learn), you see Dylan Harper at 19 being one of the most dependable guys on that SA team. And while his stats haven't been great, I think what's promising to me is this: He's shown flashes of nearly every skill you want from a young PG. He's just been unable to put it all together (due to injuries, lack of vet support in his first 2 years, and just being less NBA ready than we thought) He can defend. And at 6'3" 210 with a 6'9" wingspan, he can switch pretty easily off PGs and onto bigger Gs. Learning from Jrue clearly helped as well. He can hit the 3. He's been at 35.3% for the past 2 seasons, but shot 46.4% in the playoffs and his J looked more pure as the season progressed (43% over the last 20 games of the RS). He can create for others. We saw him more off-ball this past year, but he averaged 7apg/36 in his first 2 years. The TOs are still high, but the ability is there to at least be a solid playmaker. He can get downhill and to the rim with ease with his strength/speed combo. His touch at the rim has been disappointing so far in the pros, but I'd much rather have a guy who can get there at will and struggle with touch than someone who has touch but can't get there consistently at all. And to be fair his FG% from 0-3 feet has gone up from 50% to 59% to 62% in his three seasons. He's not afraid of the moment. Very small sample size, I know, but he stepped up against SA, when most of his (older) teammates took a step back. Granted he came back to earth when SA started focusing more on him, but his first 3 games were impressive. Most PGs need time. Scoot falls into that category. Guys like Harper, Luka, Cade, Ja and even Trae have made people forget this golden rule. I'm not saying he's going to be a star, but I think he's on track to become a very solid 2-way starter if he gets in the right situation. And I think this would be a great spot.
but, wait. There’s more. Truly realistic 3/way originating from Dubs, only they (or)I could do this: KD to Hawks for AD. + DFS & Sarr & FRP. AD to Dubs +FRP. Rich Paul err all three teams are in grin mode.
They trade KD and its not for a person of his quality, you're not extending a timeline, you're starting over. Once they made the decision for KD, then you're either all in or starting over. Being a play in team is no man's land. Not to mention you have the Spurs and OKC who are younger than the Rockets and much better. In terms of Garland, he's a all star caliber pg who is 26. If healthy, he's a good shooter from 3 levels, he's a good assist to to guy. Even before Spyder, he was a top 6 pg in nba. He's ready made, ready to go right now.
it’s a false choice to say KD or start over. One of the big selling points wuth the KD trade was that we could pivot out of it if it didn’t work. All of our core prospects are 24 or younger. We’re just effectively deciding not to pivot out of the KD business even though the outcome this past seasons was bad. It’s a choice. You can choose to recoup assets for kD. Make smart moves to add more talent. You know, the job a GM is supposed to do. The reality is that we have no direction. If our direction is win-now we are doing a terrible job. If the direction is kerp building the foundation to contend in the future, we are doing a terrible job. Not picking a direction is a terrible approach. It’s so clear this is just not good enough going into yr 7 of a rebuild. What is the vision?
How long are they going to be young? Amen is basically Ben Simmons in terms of shooting. Bari is a tall jump shooter who is a avg athlete. Sengun is a liability defensively and can't shoot. Reed needs time and strength. None of the young core made the jump necessary to elevate and support with a aging star like KD. What confidence do you have to say they will make the jump?
I don’t have a lot of confidence, but they still have a lot of talent. They’re not throwaway prospects. Maybe shake up your player development, make some big investments there. Maybe churn though a couple plsyers u feel you are ready to move off of and collects some picks. Maybe do a consolidation trade for a young rising star u think has big upside and fits well with core player u want to keep like Amen. Add more picks and recommit to building more through the draft. There are lots of ways to improve the long term success of this team. That’s what a good GM’s do. Stone needs to do his job. just to flip ur question on its head, if u aren’t confident in the young core taking a leap, why do u think they are a good enough foundation to contend with KD?
Scoot 2 years was one of the worst high drafted NBA players I saw in my recent memory. Whatever criticisms people thought about Jalen Green, applied to Scoot 3 times worse. To put it in perspective, Scoot and Daishen Nix were the same recruitment rank a couple classes apart.. and Scoot at times looked the "Nix" part Scoot did graduate high school year early to go the G League route. Maybe that was premature, stalling himself more than helped But it a credit that Scoot's improved into being mid, with upside. In the 90's, he'd be a college senior going into the draft. Still I just don't "trust it". So no thanks to dealing assets for him
