Sengun has played a lot this year including in Europe where he dominated. He needs to rest a bit... which is what he's doing. Recently lost to the kings and dallas. We've been trash against crap teams when our shots werent falling. I think we need to concentrate more on defense - Rocket basketball - and hold the opponents down to 100 like before. It's not fun to watch but it's our identity. With Tari and DFS healthy and getting their legs back, we should be able to get it going again. KD and Alpi won't put up single digits in the playoffs. Amiright?
If Giannis was 29/30, I would begin to think really hard about this. However, he is not. We have so many young players that are really good. People are beginning to lose perspective. I certainly understand how intimidating OKC and San Antonio look this year and for pretty much the next five years, but I don’t really have a lot of teams that I write highly above us other than them. We’ve opened a with Durant. Our odds are certainly not amazing, but we are certainly one of the teams that could end up winning the title. there are certain flaws on display that are so obvious, of course they are known to the front office. We all know why they essentially have to wait to fix it. The interesting thing to me is about their intentions with Freddy. I haven’t seen an article come out yet swearing that they are intending to keep him so I am beginning to wonder. I do believe he would accept a trade in the best interest of the team and considering how well we treated him. even if we don’t want to trade, Freddy, there are still ways to upgrade. And even just adding a singular veteran ball handler for 25 minutes a game that can set up. The offense does quite a bit for us. I don’t think the intention is to let Kevin initiate the offense for the last 30 games in the playoffs as he has been doing. I think that this is a combination of necessity and allowing him to fill out some of his teammates. Amen and Reed are getting repetitions in running the point and I think they have done fine as well. None of those three options are gonna be great for the playoffs as far as a go to. Senhub would be helpful, but we have seemed to cut down on the motion around him and we don’t look to pass out of that anymore as much. There are a few ways we can go specific to 2025/2026. if we are healthy going into the playoffs, I like our chances. I do believe that a move will be made. Maybe this is a big fish or maybe it’s just bringing in a solid vet pg.
Westbrook, another player mostly relies on athleticism, dropped off significantly after 33. Giannis is 31. His physical abilities will likely go down hill fast after two years from now. When that happens, he will probably morphing into Shaq-lite.
Without Sengun and a starting PG. ...DFS not in game shape yet. While I would have rather won that game, a knee-jerk trade for Giannis is not the way. He'll cost a ton and will likely fall off a cliff in a couple of years.
Russ is also small, giannis is massive. Russ also is a FAR inferior player, and he stopped being able to shoot free throws which is bizarre. He’s the comp people use but it’s a terrible one.
Russ is actually a better shooter and playmaker than Giannis. But they are different in size and in skillset. The comp is only about their reliance on athleticism. Like I said, Giannis will become a smaller version of the declining Shaq in 2 or 3 years. Shaq started to decline after 32.
It's hard to quantify but I think he'll drop off so hard because of how heavily he relies on his athleticism to be good. Like if you put him in space jam and the aliens zapped his athleticism, what kind of player would he be? I think he would be impacted by this a lot more than guys like Westbrook or Shaq. I think he's at an unprecedented level of reliance on his athleticism relative to his opponents. I don't think he has anything to fall back on, there's a shocking lack of basketball skill beneath it all, and I think he's really unique in that regard.
Shaq was also incredibly lazy and out of shape, if shaq had a work ethic he would not have declined like that IMO.
Ya who knows. I hate taking this side of the debate because i really dislike him lol but i think the "lack of skill" stuff is overblown. You can't lack skill and average 29/10/6 on 67% TS. Gerald green was a monster athlete and sucked, there's dozens of guys like that. Players also don't really ever go from great to mediocre immediately (occasionally it will happen with small guards but not wings/bigs).
If it was a straight up deal with only filler... i would consider it... it would maximize the KD window.... but anything more - and i'm def out. I wouldnt be thrilled about adding another aging star... but i assume it would enhance our window for the next year or two...
Exactly. How quickly people forget, willing to trade a rising and still improving 23 year old all-star for a declining 31year old former MVP who lately can't even get the team out of the first round 3 years in a row and has them at 15-20 in the Leastern conference. Mind you, it wouldn't even be a straight up swap which would be excusable, but you would have to give up other starting players and picks for it to happen. Way to ruin a franchise with short- term thinking and knee-jerking.
