Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

Very interesting if true. Not sure it definitely means we trade tonight, but at some point it would make sense.

 

Absolute BS

 

What would make it likely top 5?

Claxton, Bridges, and Thomas are a solid starting point.

They have an expiring contract in Ben Simmons and the suns picks.

They can cut Bogdanovic and be 20 million under the cap.

They easily could have gone for the playoffs next year.

 

But it’s not a King’s ransom if they don’t get the picks from the Rockets. A bunch of late 20s Knicks picks do not start a successful rebuild.

 

There are lotto teams and there are lotto teams. If Brooklyn doesn't choose to tank, there is absolutely no way they will be worse than Detroit, Portland, and Washington. It is also very unlikely they would be worse than crappy teams that will actively tank, like San Antonio, Utah, and Toronto. They will also prob be better than Charlotte, and Atlanta and Chicago will likely tank, too.

 

"They also have the potential to end up with the Suns' 2025 first-rounder if it's better than the one the Rockets end up with after swapping with the Oklahoma City Thunder."

I think this goes overlooked.

The Thunder will likely swap us a late #1 for our pick next year.

The suns could be picking 10 spots ahead of where we would be without this additional swap. That puts us in arms length to move into the back of the lottery if we see someone fall.

 

All you really need to do is wait closer until then and acquire one from a top 5 team. The potential 27th pick in the draft is low cost.

 

If I was Stone I would’ve called the Nets bluff and forced them to keep Bridges or trade him without getting their picks. I understand he’s trying to build relationships around the league but **** them, we shouldn’t help them because no one helps us. We should have let them suffer for trying to build a super team with a guy we helped turn into a superstar. It was also some tampering goin on to get him there. Smh

 

since posting this I’ve already read 10 messages explaining how nets don’t move bridges without the rockets piece…. Well don’t then. That is not a crucial part of evaluating this trade at this stage.

They had no path to improvement either! They would have been a 20 win team with a little bad luck they were a high chance at Flagg. Is that more valuable than pretty much every pick we got. I think so.

Plus, the Rockets had all the leverage in both situations. They can’t make that next deal without them therefore if they don’t they trade bridges to us plus the picks or we keep your picks. (Obviously that won’t happen) Or that makes them take that overpay from the Knicks anyways because we weren’t giving them that kind of trade Hall for bridges.

 

It doesn’t take much to happen for the suns to win like 35 games. Which would be about the 9-10th pick or so. Whatever the Nets pick would have been vs what the Suns pick is going to be is not likely to be some wide canyon. Unless of course the Nets pick jumped up again which no one will ever know now.

 

I would be curious if a team like the Lakers would be desperate enough to offer future picks with no protection for #3.

Was thinking like a 2028 pick swap and 2029 unprotected #1. I'm just not sold on this draft or playing time for who we would take.

 

Just saying we recoup a bit with moving from thunder pick to suns pick.

I agree, not a huge difference than nets with Bridges... maybe 10 spots....

 

Reeves for #3 and Brooks. Do you do it?

 

They had 20 million in cap space by waiving Bogdanovic. They have an expiring 40 million contract in Ben Simmons.

They could have offered the suns picks and simmons for Mitchell or some other player and end up a 5 or 7 seed in the east.

They could have taken players and picks for Bridges.

They weren't much worse than us last year.

 

I probably would if I thought Reeves starts. I'm not crazy about Brooks contract.

I think Reed could be better than Reeves... might prefer to gamble on a rookie contract...

 

Oh boy. This place would explode.

 

Some of this is 'time will tell' kind of deal. Betting on PHX being worse than BKN down the line.

People really like the upcoming 2025 (Flagg/Bailey/Harper) and 2026 class. Will have to see what happens for the PHX pick years down the road.

 

I don't think this is right, but the details are super confusing. I bolded the key line per SportTrac;

OKC has the right to swap its 2025 1st round pick for HOU's 2025 1st round pick protected for selections 1-10 or the LAC' 2025 1st round pick; HOU then has the right to swap its pick or the OKC pick for BKN's 2025 1st round pick; if the HOU pick falls within its protected range, then HOU's obligation to OKC will be extinguished and HOU will instead have the right to swap its pick for the BKN pick.
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This swap breaks the OKC spell over future first obligations.

 

No that just refers to obligations in 2025.

We owe our 2026 pick to OKC top 4 protected no matter what.

 

so..... do we like it or not? what was stopping us from holding pat and pressures keep building on the nets to not endure through another mediocrity? we certainly had much better leverage. nets couldn't tank but how many more years of 32-50 seasons could they take? could we have squeezed more out of BKN? betting against PHX sounds reasonable given the last season's big 3 failure and KD's age (and beal's terrible contract) but isn't that similar to BKN's previous position - not great but not terrible either? Actually, they finished 49-33 last season. Is it really more likely their situation will be worse than what it was for BKN? at best, wouldn't this be incrementally enhancing move but something that helps BKN a lot from the standpoint of organizational direction? Why did we need to do this for them basically is my question when it doesn't help us in a real significant way