I'm actually not too worried about it. Word is that he has apparently made strides in his shooting over the off-season, but even if those rumors are exaggerated (as they always are) he is good enough as a passer and high-post decision-maker to not be a drain in the offense.
I’m in awe of the returns teams are getting for players. Gobert and Mitchell are really good players but the Jazz definitely got more than their value’s worth; especially in the Gobert deal. Is Danny Ange just that much better of a negotiator than all of the other GM’s?
Yeah but it’s not the same as everyone on the floor clearing out to 3pt line for you and Gobert setting a pick. Definitely less space than he’s used to. I also think it’s worth keeping an eye on whether they can guard anyone with that backcourt. It might totally neutralize the twin towers given how often they’d have to recover. Again I’m a fan but they need one more evolution before becoming serious contenders imo and obviously Mobley is going to improve so much.
You have to look at the circumstances to understand it. Historically losing teams (take LBJ out of Cavs history) without easy ability to easily acquire stars have to overpay to acquire stars from Jazz that has unique Ainge that decides we can't win with these stars and has to rebuild. Knicks from the outset believe they are gifted Mitchell and don't have to pony up. Cavs come in when Knicks overplay their hand and go all in. Minny same problem. Same can be said of the Murray trade. Hawks building for the first time and have to shoot for the stars while Spurs are in full rebuild and timetable didn't work with Murray. The Houston, OKC, Detroit tanks are playing off of the Hinkie model that was like Moneyball to the NBA. I would consider Orlando and Sac the same organization that is continuously in confused uncoordinated rebuild with no purpose or end in sight. OKC tanked first on accident but got lucky like GSW with the lotto. The key to success to this model is what we do NEXT summer. You have to use those two max slots on superstar FA while you are building with the lotto picks that hit. That is when you get the biggest bang for your buck using the free Bird rights to keep everybody like what GSW did. GSW vs OKC is a great example of why those two organizations went in drastically different directions. One patiently paid the tax and continued to add assets and one dumped Harden for nothing because they didn't want to be in the tax.
Cavs look good on 2k .. They'll be 50 wins and out in 2nd round for years to come.. I call that eventual purgatory!
You said this deal didn't benefit the Jazz. Except it gave them more chances to draft a superstar, or trade for one. How exactly did that not benefit them? Sorry bozo, just another stupid take by you. One in a long line of many lately. Hey, how's that Memphis being the league's shield against the Warriors going? Yikes.
Same here. I get why the Cavs did it, but still a steep price. Anything goes wrong, and they won't have draft capital to fix it.
I think this is a good point. As I think about next year, who should we target with those 2 salary spots? https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/2023/ As been discussed before, someone like WIggins could fit our team/timeline, but I'm not really seeing anyone else I'd want to lock in long-term. The other way is via trade and that maybe our best route, except once we trade EG we won't have enough salary to move. Which leads me to the idea that maybe Stone is searching for one of those players this year. Packaging EG, KMJ, and someone like JC plus picks may get us to someone interesting. We may have to include another young player as well, but this may be his best route to find one of those max slot players. Too lazy to explore who that might be, and it would likely take a multi-team deal to make it work, but I do think this could be an approach he's considering.
We have no clue if Garland or Mobley makes that next step. I also do not think the EC is so much harder, 2nd round in the West equals an EC spot in some years. Donovan is a more known guy 23-26+ ppg dude with some minor stats.
It was pointed out to me quite a few weeks back, that with all the cap room we don’t have to send out matching salaries in a trade.
Yep. East getting strong is good news for us. Nets will face stiffer competition, tougher schedules, and likely lower in the standings.
theDude brought it up recently but I have been after Wiggins since we traded Harden. I still think for tax purposes and players they need to resign (Poole and Green) that GSW will trade Wiggins for EG, Nwaba, leftovers from Dallas trade and a couple of small picks NOW. To me, that is our best move now and then move around a couple of pieces like Tate with nothing back so we are in position to maybe get Harden back. You have to look at this in context of using your money for FREE. We can get Wiggins, resign KPJ for something, and really have nothing leftover OR we can get Wiggins, sign Harden or perhaps Middleton, and use Bird rights on KPJ and then get NTMLE, BAE to fill out the roster. Its a tight fit under hard cap but it works. If Wiggins comes here, he resigns here. If we have THAT team, it is very easy for Harden to come back here if we get Victor or Scoot with all of those Nets assets in tow. I wish we could trade the 2023 Nets pick swap and I would dump that into the trade as well.
We're still in the patience part of the rebuild. We now have to see how the young pieces develop. If nobody seems like a cornerstone (and I'd say no one does yet) you have to let it percolate before you tie your hands with a bunch of veteran contracts. We still have great picks for what, 4-5 years with Brooklyn's help? Stay the course. The name "James Harden" should cause us fright right now. Tilman Fertitta wouldn't spend up to the line with a western conference finals team. He's not going to do it now. Right now we have to wait and hope the flashes we see in these young players turn into a full on storm. If we spend on aging vets like Middleton and Harden we close our draft/rebuild window. What happens if that doesn't open a contention window? We're right back in 2020 again.
It's the opposite. You don't get to do this forever. Circumstances affect your rebuild. We have this year to tank and then we have to give back our picks for a period of 3 years. Its in our interest to hit the accelerator and that gives our young players room to grow where its not ALL on them. You only have one shot to use FA to your advantage for free stars. Everyone else we have Bird rights to use. If we do what I recommend then we still have the Nets bounty to build our team and extend the window for after the FAs are gone. You cannot stay in a continuous rebuild forever, ESPECIALLY when we have been incentivized to WIN. Our picks go to OKC, Brooklyn's picks go to us. There is no incentive or reason to lose and no reason to be in a rebuild with drafting 3 lotto players and other young players that will develop. You have to maximize every resource, every asset you have at your disposal and you don't get forever to put off decision making. Timing is important and the time is now. Good contracts don't tie your hands, bad contracts (Ryno/Wall/Westbrook), lack of talent, and depth does. Ask Brooklyn after Kyrie and KD are gone. Also, FA looks to be changing as the old group of stars are aging out. Most players have already reupped with their current team early so future superstar FA may be a thing of the past as we move forward. Here is a potential lineup in 2023-2024. Green/Christopher Harden/KPJ Wiggins/Eason/KMJ Smith/NTMLE/BAE Wemby/Sengun OR replace Harden with Scoot and Wemby with Turner depending on the draft. Then every year you have the TPMLE and likely 4 Brooklyn lottery picks. If even two of those Brooklyn picks hit this team is potentially set up for decades. Our ridiculous deal with Brooklyn already eliminated the OKC pick swap we owed in 2025. If we are a playoff team in 2023 and beyond then the picks in 2024 and 2026 we owe OKC are in the 20s. EVERY team that has ever had a bounty like we might have quickly and foolishly traded it off for that third star when they were already compromised with cap, age, and giving away depth. Like GSW, we never have to do that and our entire team is young except for our FA stars. Philly is another team that took advantage of what I am proposing. We can get Harden or Middleton and ride out the rest of their talent while we add lottery pick year after year and stay young. That would be the only aging player on the team.
