Nets could look to package Cam Johnson in a trade to acquire a 2nd lottery pick, per NY Post

Which Jalen are we talking about? If it is Jalen Green, he is neither average or a role player......

When he plays well, he looks like a superstar, when he is bad he looks like a Zero ....like the 400th player in the NBA......

That is far from being average......there is no average with him.

All his other stats beside scoring, shooting, etc are a tad below average.

 

Exactly how I feel about it.

The Rockets have a new goal now. That is win playoff series.

If the goal was to just make the playoffs, then maybe you make this move, but it's not. At the end of the day what's going to happen is in the playoffs, teams will double whoever is hot, and our offense will instantly die, because we have no go-to guy, no shot creator, no real tough shot maker, unless either Amen or Sengun makes a significant leap in their defencies or unless Jalen Green can actually be consistent for an entire year.

Either way, Cam isn't worth the price. Hell, I'd go so far as to say 1-2 years of Durant is worth #10 pick WAY above Cam, since Durant can be that guy for a playoff series.

Agree on that point that its a marginal upgrade at best and I don't think that's worth #10 pick definitely and I don't even think its worth Jalen even if I think Jalen is who he is. For a marginal upgrade I'd rather bet on the 23 year old player than the 29 year old player.

While the odds are not great that Jalen will ever be the franchise player we want him to be and it is far more likely that he's just a good 6th man scoring spark kind of player, the odds are still better than Cam Johnson moving the needle for this team. At the end of the day I feel acquiring him would be mostly irrelevant.

Right now, this team either makes a big move for a big player that we don't expect OR Amen or Sengun takes another leap...or this guy we draft at 10 is good or maybe even Reed starts to show potential. Either way, I don't see Cam Johnson really doing much for this team.

 

That's average.

Those are his average stats. That's how all those kind of players look, hot one night, not the next. That's how scoring sparks are in the NBA. That's why he averages 20ppg on alright shooting because he has hot and cold streaks like your average NBA SG, if he had more cold streaks he'd just be useless and would be on the bench and if he had more hot streaks then he'd be at least a top 10 SG, since he fluctuates so much, he is then just average.

 

I know the NBA finds a median for about anyone but that is not average.

He is below average....because his so called March Madness only encompasses for a small part of the season.....

Udoka already enhanced alot of his deficiencies like Defense, rebounding etc but with another Coach he is going to revert back.....

He is a below average NBA player with almost elite scoring that is all.
That one specialty isn't going to make him average.

 

I say that because the average player is on average dependable......but Jalen is highly unreliable.

I think we fans do wish he would be average, and he is giving effort in many games, I give him that.

In a couple years when matured, not now. He could be even better than average.

 

Doesn't matter, you can't cut out parts of the season and go "Well these don't count." His stats are what they are for the season and tell you what they are for the season. It was more than March too, that's unfair, if he only had a good March then his stats would be a lot lower. Jalen just would be on a night or not, which is really not uncommon for average scoring guards. It's just that those guys are put into their proper role of being a tertiary scorer and not your main guy.

If Denver made MPJ their main guy you'd see something similar. Instead, he's just a scorer so he's allowed to have bad nights because they have Jokic.

The problem with Jalen is right now he's not playing up to the role we want him to play. If he were instantly put on the Knicks they would love the hell out of him because those bad nights would be easily forgotten and people would instead blame Brunson or Kat for not making up for it.

 

I know what you mean, but he is not there yet and you have to count the Silas years as well......

He can be average, it is not hard to achieve, but right now he is not.

And it is the flaw that he is being easily taken out of the game.....that prevents him from being an average player.

Also he is not a normal role player ....he is a specialist right now......a guy who is scoring and putting in special defensive situations......someone you have to create a plan for, defensive tasks included.

Those guys are not necessarily poisonous assets but they need special teams......and not every team is built to accomodate them.

 

When this happens, before announcing the trade, Ime needs to get the team together and say “I have a special announcement, Cam will be starting next season” let everyone clap, and then immediately after that, Cam Johnson walks in.

 

If saving money is the goal, then you are correct. If getting a decent return for Durant, FVV’s expiring contract and #10 might be desirable. It might also be the best they can get and Durant wants to leave. I’m not sure there is a deal out there for Durant that will save them money this upcoming year. They will have to take back matching salaries no matter what and no team that would want Durant has enough cap space to absorb a decent amount of his contract. They are looking for expiring contracts and draft picks, because it is the best they can do. The Rockets could also include Landale who they can immediately release which will save at least 8m in salary and probably another 8m in luxury tax.

 

I'd say that Jalen's stats dont actually tell the whole story. They tell a better story for him than is actually true. If a player averages 22 PPG across 3 games on 43% from the field is that good? Eh. Its alright. If he does it and across those 3 games he scored 8, 14, and 44 and went 1-2....is that good? That's the Jalen Green experience. I've almost never seen anything like him before. He finesses his averages to somehow look passable and his highs are so high that he tricks people into thinking that its a resource to be tapped. Then when push comes to shove...he gets walled off by Stephen Curry across 7 games.

Maybe we should just include his playoff games into his season average and he might look better.

 

With the second apron windows are going to open and close very quickly

Within a year the Rockets will be too expensive to keep together - not great if that's a 2x first round loser team

Acquiring guys like Durant for a year or 2 and then not extending them/losing them for "nothing" - which is an over used/dumb phrase - will probably become more common under the CBA

 

This is a nuance a lot of folks on this forum do not understand. Everything that the FO does has to be viewed in this context. It is why running it back is such a poor idea.

 

I think people over think it. He's spark, he's a scorer, no different than MPJ or other players that has played that role. The problem is right now we're treating him as a key to the offense and a franchise player, which he hasn't lived up to.

Like I mentioned, if you put him on the Knicks right now, say we traded him for Mitchell Robinson or something because we wanted a defensive big to replace Adams, he'd do just fine because his role would then just to be the third option.

And when you are the third option it's fine to have 8 points every now and then, it's fine to have a week where you struggle to score, it is also easier to score if he had Kat and Brunson to defer to so he would likely be more effective.

As a #1 or 2 option as he is now, its obviously not working and won't work unless he just improves a bunch this upcoming season, but I think people are complicating it.

He's just a scoring guard, his best role is to keep the score moving, keep putting pressure on the other team, push the pace, etc. The role we have him in now, basically, carry a team, he's struggled at.

 

I agree, I don't think there really is a such thing as 'nothing' you do get the cap relief, it's never for nothing.

Fact is, Durant as he is now would improve the team a bunch and would be a good veteran to have. It would open up the offense, give the Rockets a clutch scorer, and young players always always always talk about how much they grow and learn from having a HOF player on their team.

I think he's worth a lot more than people around here have said and I was hoping we'd get him but it is sounding like there is about to be a big Durant market now with teams like the Knicks and Minny feeling like he's their missing piece.

 

This is one of my pet peeves. A player has a contract. You get their performance. A team is not entitled to performance after a contract is over. After the contract over, the team is entitled to no further performance. Perhaps there is a cap mechanism that makes it easier to re-sign a player, but even then, a team is only entitled to use that mechanism if it re-signs the player.

 

I am pro Cam Johnson - even if I think he and Brooks are a wash defensively. IMHO Cam J would be a huge addition in terms of offensive consistency, while also maintaining Brooks' defensive chops.

Put me down for PHX - HOU - BRK - BOS swap
BRK: #10 (via HOU) + Dillon (HOU)
Bk gets that 2nd lottery pick they wanted.
Dillon's contract fits into BRK TPE.

PHX: FVV (HOU) + Cam W (HOU) + 2025 FRP (via BRK) + 2027 PHX FRP (via HOU)
Cam could be a future KD-lite scorer.
Suns waive FVV before June 29th and get out of 1st & 2nd apron so as to begin the rebuild.
Suns get back their 2027 FRP + pick up a not so expensive FRP this year.

BOS: Landale (HOU) + 3 SRPs (via HOU) + 2 SRPs (via BRK)
Starts shaving down some $$$ to get out of the aprons.
I could also see Jrue included in this deal and headed to BRK for draft capital - especially if BK is seriously targeting Giannis.

HOU: Kevin Durant (PHX) + Cam Johnson (BRK) + Sam Hauser (BOS) + pick #19 (via BRK)
Re-sign Unc Jeff on team friendly deal (use part of TPE)
Re-sign Adams for 2 years, $20M (2nd year is PO)

Amen - R33D - A. Holiday
Thrilla - Hauser - Nate
KD - Tari - ??? (TPE)
Cam J - Bari - Unc Jeff
Alpi - Adams - Thomas Sorber (#19) Hoya Saxa!

94 Champs style: R33D - Hauser - KD - Cam J - Alpi (Alpi surrounded by shooters)

Run & Fun: Amen - Thrilla - Tari - Bari - Adams (Adams grabs rebounds, Bari blocks shots, AT&T get steals = off to the races; if fast break is not there, hit Bari for a trailer 3)

 

I honestly am not even sure what type of drug this is, but please send some to Scott Perry.

 

Rockets In: Cam Johnson, Kevin Durant and #36
Brooklyn In: Reed Sheppard, Jock Landale, #29 and 2027 pick swap removed
Phoenix In: Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore, #10, #19 and #27

Rockets keep most of their core and add veterans to make a deep run next year and only giving up one pick and a pick swap.

Brooklyn gets control of their 2027 pick, trades down to the #29 plus picks up someone who they would have drafted last year

Phoenix rolls the dice on young pieces and gets 3 first rounders for Durant. Picks can be flipped for other assets or players.

 

Guys, how many draft picks do you think Nets have this year?

Spoiler: ?

Four currently

#8
#18 (from Bucks)
#26 (from Knicks)
#27 (from Rockets)

They are in year one of replenishing, so it's possible they use all. In the 2021 draft, we used all four (Green, Sengun, Garuba and Christopher).

Adding another pick in a Johnson deal (abeit a higher one), means they're taking five new guys. That's a lot for one year.

1. if Nets is dealing Cam Johnson, they might prefer a future year instead of this draft, since they have four already. Bad for Rockets, since team rather deal this year's pick.

2. It's possible they package 1 or 2 of their later 1st rounders and move around in this draft. Would Rockets be interested, *leaning no, maybe?

Am just pointing out that after dealing Mikal, they're not as draft capital starve as they used to be. Cam Johnson, who the Nets were seeking two firsts in the past was too high for other teams (including the Rockets). Teams did not bite.

A 10th pick for a Johnson is overpay. The Nets sweeten the deal by giving a lower pick back, but would they do that.

He's on a 20m deal, and same age as Dillon (age 29). And what salary do you send out.

They do have cap space to rent, but Jalen's contract, for example, while not great, is not toxic enough where you pay your 10th to get rid of it.

A 10th to another team might fetch more to a team that has four picks this year already.

 

Don’t forget, since we control the ‘27 Brooklyn FRP swap unprotected, Brooklyn trading Cam Johnson away is very good for us. Same with Claxton.

It would diminish Brooklyn’s ability to compete in 2026-27.

Of course, both sides know this. Makes me wonder if we see more draft pick swapping between HOU and BKN around draft day to unlock their optionality to trade away Cam Johnson + Claxton for other picks while keeping their own lottery pick in 2027.

Something like this seems fair:

BKN gets #10, 2027 own FRP swap

HOU gets #19, 2028 PHI FRP top 8 protected, 2031 NYK FRP