Grimes has no chance of happening. Grimes has a no trade clause and if he is traded he loses his bird rights, so the team that gets him can’t pay him more than the MLE on his next contract if they don’t have cap space (we won’t). Grimes wants much more than the MLE, therefore he would not approve any trade because it loses him money. Also - Grimes can shoot and defend and is a fine SG, but he is not a particularly good ball handler, passer, or decisionmaker. Philly fans just want him to catch and shoot or catch and drive only - no decisionmaking. Not sure why he’s relevant to a PG discussion.
If Rockets truly had the chance and the trade made sense they would do it. I see the why. The only why nots are the injury situations and no trade clause certain players have... I don't give a damn about all the personal and political bs.
I'm still not sold we need a point guard. I think Amen/Sengun/Reed might be enough playmaking, and Fred will come back and still be under contract, even if it's not until next season. Shooting guard actually looks like it might be the easiest spot to upgrade right now, albeit it may not be a dire need either if Okogie can keep his 3P% reasonably high. I hear you on the contract situation with Grimes though. That's my concern. Is a sign-and-trade next offseason a possibility, I wonder?
The reason we need another playmaker is to lessen the usage of KD...though his shot attempts are not high, but he's getting beat up on double teams, driving to the basket, etc and we need his body fresh for the playoffs. Our offense is pick and roll with Amen/Sengun, if Sengun doesn't get a good look then its pick and roll with Sengun/KD...Sengun passes the ball to KD late in shot clock and everyone goes to watch mode for him to score. KD is at his best when he's in action with pin down screens/pick n roll action and shouldn’t be use in much iso early in the game as we're doing now. Maybe, Reed will be the answer as he continues to solidfy his defense. My gut feeling is we're not trading FVV because he did us a favor in restructuring his contract...we will ride out this current roster until players are getting bought out. The Kings are on fire sale so Westbrook $3M contract is up for grabs on December 15th...Westbrook can still breakdown defenses and is definitely an upgrade from Okogie
IMO Grimes is gonna get paid primarily to be a 20 ppg scorer somewhere and we do not have a need for a guy to come in and provide value as a single minded scorer. Across Sengun, KD, Amen, Jabari, Reed, Tari a lot of USG% is spoken for; at least that's the plan. Adding someone with significant usage rate takes it away from someone else. I don't believe in the traditional PG ideal either (nor do I believe we definitely must make a significant addition at all this season), but in terms of skillset -- we are certainly lacking in the ballhandling / passing / on-ball decision making / PnR handler department. If this thread is about supplementing those skills, Grimes doesn't help IMO.
I'll admit I'm partly thinking about the future beyond KD. I know he is under contract for two more seasons now, but (knock on wood, no jinx intended) I'm pretty concerned that at some point before the end of his contract, his production could either steeply decline or he could have a career-ending injury. If either of those things happen, we will suddenly have a big void in the "shotmaking" category, a void that having Grimes might do a good enough job of filling, while in the meantime still being an overall upgrade over an Okogie-type 3nD roleplayer. In any case, when KD is gone, I think we certainly will need someone to play that role. Doesn't mean we have to solve that issue right now though. Edit: One other quick note that I forgot to mention about this is that KD is currently averaging nearly 36mpg, which at his age and given his injury history is not exactly ideal. I'd much rather see him getting the Tim Duncan treatment during the regular season where he starts but basically plays 6th man minutes, but there just isn't enough perimeter shotmaking without him on the floor, so Ime keeps running him out there like he's still in his prime.
But how does it happen? My understanding is to get him this year he would lose his bird rights and we could only offer him like 10 mill or something? And he'd get a whole lot more from a different team on the open market. Is there a scenario that works out in us retaining him long term?
That's kind of what I'm thinking also. It doesn't sound like he's actually a reasonable option for us as far as being attainable goes. So it doesn't make too much sense dwelling on it unless someone can actually explain to us how this is reasonably possible (to both acquire him and keep him long term).
Bradley Beal out for remainder of year with hip surgery...its keep getting worse for the Clippers. We may get an opportunity to trade for Harden if FVV agrees to it
Reed Sheppard is emerging. I think the best course of action is to wait on a vet to shake loose during buyout season.
You don't remember the 13 turnover game? I still have PTSD. The biggest problem I see is a point guard who can handle the backcourt pressure of the Thunder. I'm not sure Harden is that guy.
Keon Elis from the Kings is pretty good value if we can trade him for our future 2028 1st. He was excellent when he was given chance last season when their starter was out and great shooter and ball handler as well for sub $5 mil contract. Were most likely get two1st round picks in 2027 draft so we don’t need more picks in 2028
Yeah, but his 2nd best player was Eric Gordon, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza??? Harden doesn't need to be the guy with our current roster! We have Sengun and KD who are way superior than Dwight (past his prime with the Rockets) and Eric Gordon. Harden is one of the best pick-n-roll players in the game. How crazy this may sound I prefer to have Westbrook because we can get him for cheap and how teams are playing us defensively he's one of the better players who can destroy press defenses
Reed is improving and gametime is increasing his value if we were to want to include him in a trade. We can't do much with trades until after Dec 15 anyway. Josh and Reed are holding their own for sure and increasing their value at the same time. It might be it ends up being prudent to roll with what we have. Seems to me we wait until close to the deadline to determine what we need for the playoffs. Reed's trajectory is good imho.
I just thought about Keon Ellis and determined that he would be the perfect acquisition for us. I signed in and I see that you already made the same suggestion. The Kings are a mess and every player on their roster should be available soon. Ellis is on a really great contract. He'll be a free agent this coming summer and we might not be able to afford to retain him. He'd likely be a rental. He's not a primary ballhandler but is a good defender and has become an excellent 3-point shooter. He can dribble the ball up the court which is what we need. I think Jeff Green and some draft capital for Keon Ellis would really upgrade our bench. I'd be fine with a protected first but I think I'd start with three 2nd-round picks as the initial offer. We own the Kings 2029 2nd-rounder for what it's worth.
