But he's not just a counting stats guy... he's also the second-most efficient scorer in the NBA who takes over 12 shots per game (behind Jokic). I agree he's not a high-end creator, that's why he can't be the #1 on a championship team. But he's phenomenal at running the pick-and-roll with a strong perimeter threat. BTW he seems to be improving as a perimeter shooter--the last three seasons combined he hit 39.6% of his threes. Very low volume so he's only shooting them when wide open, but he is keeping defenses somewhat honest at least. As far as whether Sabonis or Sengun are better--it depends on how you evaluate their respective defensive capabilities. Personally I think it's very close between the two of them right now. Good news is Sengun is a lot younger
Next year Brown/Holiday/Green/Sengun/Brooks/Reed/Amen total over $195MM. That's getting you really close to the projected 2nd apron.
I think we would have to move one of Green/Brooks if we did Simmons' proposed deal. Maybe on a salary dump type of deal to a team with cap space. Something like Dillon for Marcus Sasser and second round picks, perhaps? I believe Detroit has the cap space to mostly eat his contract. Alternatively, maybe we send out Dillon instead of Jabari, if they would accept that trade. His declining salary does help them.
You're not wrong - Brown (53), Jrue (32), Sengun (35), Green (33), Brooks (23), Reed (10), Amen (9). 196, pretty close to the projected second apron of 207. That leads me to my next question - does the money in that proposed trade even work? Jrue and Brown (85 mil) for FVV, Bari, and Tari (less than 60 mil).
Nope, and actually there's another problem I just thought about--I don't think Boston is allowed to aggregate Brown and Jrue into a single trade for salary-matching purposes, are they? You could maybe do something like two separate deals--I think that's allowed? Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong: Accidentally included the same pick in both trades, lol. That part is whatever though, doesn't matter for salary matching purposes. Edit: Also, lol at trading Aaron for Jrue
Utility Sports put up this trade in this week's Mock Draft Monday on YouTube. Rockets Trade: Jalen Green Dillon Brooks Jock Landale Cam Whitmore #10 Pick - Kon Knueppel #59 Pick 2028 1st Rnd Pick Rockets Receive: Lauri Markannen Collin Sexton 2 future 2nds Not sure how I feel about the proposal. I'd say leave the #10 out and you got a deal. I'd rather add Kon to this squad. I think that deal is an overpay. I much prefer the trade I posted last night. Trade 1: #10 Pick, Jock Landale for Nic Claxton. Trade 2: Jalen Green, Future 1st for Dyson Daniels PG - FVV / Sheppard SG - Daniels / Brooks / Whitmore SF - Thompson / Eason PF - Sengun / Smith Jr ..C - Claxton / Adams Just went to level 10 on Defense and got a little more versatile on the offensive end.
Interesting. Not saying this is incorrect, but where did you get this figure from? How much money does this save Boston? If the savings is significant then sounds like Houston is bailing out Boston financially and has leverage. @aelliott
I don't think the Rockets would do this because they value defense too much. Our offense gets better here but our defense takes a massive hit. Also, Lauri's contract is looking really bad right now. They should be paying us to take him, not the other way around
Giving up Jalen, Cam, Dillon and 2 frp’s for Lauri and Sexton? Lmao Utility Sports must be based in Salt Lake City.
All these trade scenarios giving away Jalen Green for a bag of chips is insane. Didn't you guys hear Draymond Green? Their plan was to take out Jalen Green because the Rockets are basically unbeatable when he scores over 30pts. I think the Rockets were like 31-4 when scores over 30. Other players did not make the Warriors pay when they blitzed Green. We need to stay the course and let these guys grow and learn from a valuable playoff experience and continue to better/improve this team by adding what it needs by using other assets/players and not give up on our current/future core (Green, Amen, Alpi, Jabari).
Dude, look at what you wrote. You said Sabonis "could be the #2" and then went on to name 2 max players as examples of what you need next to him. If you have a player the caliber of Mobley or JJJ + Sabonis then you're 2nd Apron or the rest of your squad is trash. That's the point. Sabonis is not a playmaker. He can not create his own shot. Unless he's 1st team Defense caliber or has a ton of room for growth (neither apply) then he's way overpaid. And even pandering to your supposition I'll retreat a bit and suggest there is no Championship team composition where Sabonis is a #2. Can he be a #2 on a top 4 seed? Maybe. Mayyyyyyybe. But forget about chips.
Kings and Rockets are 3-3 in the last 6 matchups although Sabonis missed their last W. Sengun averages more points, more steals, and far fewer turnovers in a few less mpg. Sengun is 20/9/6 on 2 TO in 32 mpg. Sabonis is 18/12/6 on 5 TO in 34 mpg. I'm not even sure Arvydas or Vivek could use anything in this data to argue that Sabonis owns Sengun. Dude, you have jumped the shark. 100%. https://ibb.co/nNJJ6gY4
First of all, JJJ is not currently a max player (though he will be soon). He is getting paid $23M next season. Generally, contending teams are going to need to have some guys that outperform their contracts, unless ownership is willing to be an apron team. That's just how it is trying to a win a chip in a system with a salary cap--you gotta end up #1 of 30, and that requires having a really great roster. Second, I was giving an example of an archetype--it doesn't necessarily have to be a guy at the top end of the archetype. It could perhaps be a guy like Jaden McDaniels or something. Serge Ibaka, if you could de-age him by like 5 years. Jabari, if he gets a bit better defensively. I do think Sabonis is perhaps a little bit overpaid. But maybe only by like $10M per year or so. You can easily make that up in other parts of a roster, and what he does bring is a level of offensive skill that's not so easy to find. He's a very good passer and an fantastic scorer around the rim, and one of the best rebounders in the league. He doesn't have anything even approaching to the worst contract in the NBA, come on. Just off the top of my head, Joel Embiid, Paul George, Bradley Beal, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Jamal Murray, Jerami Grant... I'm probably not even thinking of half the contracts worse than Sabonis'.
Ok here I'll just say it in a sentence. Alperen Sengun is a better all-around player than Domatas Sabonis while simultaneously being younger and on a cheaper contract. I loathe the rest of this discussion b/c it's simply stubbornness trying to argue on the margin. I don't have time for that.
I think they're very close just as current players, but I agree that Sengun has more value all-around right now due to his age and contract. I would not trade Sengun for Sabonis. I just see Sabonis as a really good player, so I get a little tired of people constantly underrating him around here. It's possible for both of those two guys to be really good players, you don't have to tear down another player to build up ours.
