NBA - the King passes Cap, but his team are still crap.

[Maithanet]

2 hours ago, Proudfeet said:

The deadline is today, but Bridges/Johnson/Crowder, 4 first rounders and a swap and you want more?

Bridges is a solid foundation piece. Johnson is a decent rotation player. I don't rate Crowder but he has had success with Boston/Miami/Phoenix. What else do you want? An all-star?

Edit - Also, at some point, it's not about what you are worth but what others can afford.

For Durant?  Yes.  That is less draft capital than the Nets gave up for Harden and Durant is a lot better than Harden.  I would have expected the Suns to have to part with Ayton if they wanted to get this done.  Bridges is a decent starter, a good complementary piece for a contender, but nothing more.  He's not good enough to be even 3rd banana on top 10 team. 

 

[Rhom]

 

 

[briantw]

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

For Durant?  Yes.  That is less draft capital than the Nets gave up for Harden and Durant is a lot better than Harden.  I would have expected the Suns to have to part with Ayton if they wanted to get this done.  Bridges is a decent starter, a good complementary piece for a contender, but nothing more.  He's not good enough to be even 3rd banana on top 10 team. 

 

The Nets are also screwed because Houston owns their next four or five first rounders (a couple are swaps, but still), which means they have absolutely no incentive to rebuild and tank.  They have to try to win right away.

[Rhom]

Lakers really are on a mission to try to be relevant just one more time aren't they?

Pat Beverly to the Magic for Mo Bamba according to Woj.

[Rhom]

3 minutes ago, briantw said:

The Nets are also screwed because Houston owns their next four or five first rounders (a couple are swaps, but still), which means they have absolutely no incentive to rebuild and tank.  They have to try to win right away.

I wonder if its a viable plan to be competitive and entertaining even if you know you can't really compete to win the entire thing?  Keep fan interest.  Then go at it again when you have some picks?

[briantw]

1 minute ago, Rhom said:

I wonder if its a viable plan to be competitive and entertaining even if you know you can't really compete to win the entire thing?  Keep fan interest. 

I mean, Utah and Denver have basically been doing that for decades.  

[Rhom]

2 minutes ago, briantw said:

I mean, Utah and Denver have basically been doing that for decades.  

That probably works out there... but Brooklyn feels like it needs a bit more to be relevant in their own town.

[briantw]

Just now, Rhom said:

That probably works out there... but Brooklyn feels like it needs a bit more to be relevant in their own town.

Right now they don't have much of a choice.  They have none of their own picks and their salary cap is still fucked, and they've got the albatross that is Ben Simmons' contract on the books for another two seasons.

[Relic]

18 minutes ago, Rhom said:

That probably works out there... but Brooklyn feels like it needs a bit more to be relevant in their own town.

it's not their town =P 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Maithanet said:

For Durant?  Yes.  That is less draft capital than the Nets gave up for Harden and Durant is a lot better than Harden.  I would have expected the Suns to have to part with Ayton if they wanted to get this done.  Bridges is a decent starter, a good complementary piece for a contender, but nothing more.  He's not good enough to be even 3rd banana on top 10 team. 

 

Considering there were obviously better trades out there and even a better one with the Suns I have to believe Durant strong armed the front office and said he's only going to the Suns and not if they include any of their three key players. The Nets have to be so done with all the BS at this point and gave in because they really didn't have a choice. They needed to remove the toxicity from their franchise. And now they will be in Winter for a very long time.

How does Sean Marks still have a job considering what he got for his three star players? Not even one single thing to build around knowing all your picks are years away. Just terrible.

[Calibandar]

7 hours ago, Maithanet said:

Luka has got to be wondering why he his team couldn't swing a deal like that.  Durant + Luca would be a legit title threat, and instead he's on the eternally sinking ship that is the Kyrie Irving experience.

The west just got a lot more interesting.  The up and comers in Denver and Memphis may hold on to the top seeds, but the Suns, Lakers and Warriors have the biggest names, championship experience and (possibly) the help of the refs. 

Phoenix could offer more than Dallas it seems, Dallas for instance cannot give up many picks at all ( Phoenix gave 4 ) plus Bridges is a (slightly) more appealing player than anything Dallas could give. So I am not sure Dallas had any chance here.

But it is interesting to consider if Kyrie would have gone to the Mavericks ( and not the Lakers ) if they knew Durant would really want to leave. But then again surely they considered that as a very real scenario after a Kyrie trade? 

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

Lakers really are on a mission to try to be relevant just one more time aren't they?

Pat Beverly to the Magic for Mo Bamba according to Woj.

All the Lakers moves here are wins. Getting rid of Westbrook, Beverly, some other ancillary pieces and you get Russell, Beasley, Vanderbilt and Bamba back. And all they gave up was that 2027 pick.

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Considering there were obviously better trades out there and even a better one with the Suns I have to believe Durant strong armed the front office and said he's only going to the Suns and not if they include any of their three key players. The Nets have to be so done with all the BS at this point and gave in because they really didn't have a choice. They needed to remove the toxicity from their franchise. And now they will be in Winter for a very long time.

How does Sean Marks still have a job considering what he got for his three star players? Not even one single thing to build around knowing all your picks are years away. Just terrible.

Its not great. I wouldnt say terrible. He does have some decent players but you're looking at years of mediocrity.

They will have a Dallas pick this year and those many Phoenix picks in the next few years , which dont project to be good picks at all.

On another note, looks like Anunoby stays put.

[Calibandar]

The Lakers btw will have a lot of catching up to do.

Even Golden State which has looked ever so poor in many games, is still 3 ahead.. The Clippers are 6 wins ahead, Dallas and Phoenix 5, New Orleans 4 and the Nuggets, Grizzlies and Kings are almost out of range.

[James Arryn]

Rockets fans have approved of all of these Nets moves, btw. 

[Rhom]

Last week, according to reports People were paying up to $75k for tickets to this Lakers v Bucks game.

Now LeBron is sitting out with a sore ankle.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

Phoenix could offer more than Dallas it seems, Dallas for instance cannot give up many picks at all ( Phoenix gave 4 ) plus Bridges is a (slightly) more appealing player than anything Dallas could give. So I am not sure Dallas had any chance here.

I don't think it's about who could pay the most, otherwise he'd be in NO now for Ingram and 4-5 choice picks. I'm 95% sure KD's agent told other teams not to trade for him because he would just demand to be traded in the offseason. 

2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

The Lakers btw will have a lot of catching up to do.

Even Golden State which has looked ever so poor in many games, is still 3 ahead.. The Clippers are 6 wins ahead, Dallas and Phoenix 5, New Orleans 4 and the Nuggets, Grizzlies and Kings are almost out of range.

Utah and OKC are two of the three teams they need to leapfrog and they were both sellers at the deadline. Barring injuries, LA would have to fall flat on its face to not leapfrog them. Essentially they need to make up three games or so over the next 27 to get into the play-in and that's all they really need to do. This new team is better Portland and Minny and they play those teams a combined three times going forward. Overall they have 11 games left against teams between them and the 6th seed.

16 minutes ago, James Arryn said:

Rockets fans have approved of all of these Nets moves, btw. 

Lol, they have a chance to build a juggernaut over the next few years. God help us all if they get Wemby.

[James Arryn]

25 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

Lol, they have a chance to build a juggernaut over the next few years. God help us all if they get Wemby.

Yeah, it’s looking pretty good. Otoh these are the people who just brought John Wall back to Houston. That’s gotta be a buy-out, right? 

[Proudfeet]

8 hours ago, Maithanet said:

For Durant?  Yes.  That is less draft capital than the Nets gave up for Harden and Durant is a lot better than Harden.  I would have expected the Suns to have to part with Ayton if they wanted to get this done.  Bridges is a decent starter, a good complementary piece for a contender, but nothing more.  He's not good enough to be even 3rd banana on top 10 team. 

Sure, but the Nets giving up Allen to help facilitate the trade contributed to their problems, resulting in them having to get Griffin/Aldridge, neither of whom worked out. I'd take it as a lesson learnt instead of using it as a start point. Which was probably why there was no deal over the offseason.

Yes, I agree with you on Bridges. But even so, there is value for such players. He's flexible and fits on any team. Even though you can't build around him, he can fit around the rest of the roster or you can move him to most other teams. He's a good defensive player, so even if your stars are solid defensively, you can let them rest while Bridges takes on the other team's star player. And while he's not an offensive star, he's not just a 3 and D either. Plus, he's on a reasonable contract (low 20m for 4 years). Bridges is not Ayton but is still really valuable.

KD is worth more than both and the picks, but that is also more than what the Suns can afford.

__

I see that the Nuggets traded for a center. Meaning DeAndre Jordan is probably out of the rotation again. Why do they even sign him. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, James Arryn said:

Yeah, it’s looking pretty good. Otoh these are the people who just brought John Wall back to Houston. That’s gotta be a buy-out, right? 

It was the weirdest thing I saw announced. I wonder who will kick the tires one last time on him one last time?

 

[Calibandar]

11 hours ago, James Arryn said:

Yeah, it’s looking pretty good. Otoh these are the people who just brought John Wall back to Houston. That’s gotta be a buy-out, right? 

Yes he will be bought out apparently. Same for Westbrook in Utah they say.

11 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don't think it's about who could pay the most, otherwise he'd be in NO now for Ingram and 4-5 choice picks. I'm 95% sure KD's agent told other teams not to trade for him because he would just demand to be traded in the offseason. 

Utah and OKC are two of the three teams they need to leapfrog and they were both sellers at the deadline. Barring injuries, LA would have to fall flat on its face to not leapfrog them. Essentially they need to make up three games or so over the next 27 to get into the play-in and that's all they really need to do. This new team is better Portland and Minny and they play those teams a combined three times going forward. Overall they have 11 games left against teams between them and the 6th seed.

Lol, they have a chance to build a juggernaut over the next few years. God help us all if they get Wemby.

I do think what teams could give up was very important for the Nets in a KD trade. I think thats obvious, and they got a big haul from the Suns. I am sure Durants input was taken into consideration. But your initial point was that Luka should be wondering why Dallas didnt make this trade and I explained to you that Dallas has a lot less to offer than Phoenix.

I agree this new Laker team is better than Minnesota and Portland, they just need to get quite a few wins to pass some of these teams ahead of them, and wins in a super hard fought conference where many teams are equal, are hard to come by. Losing consecutively 2 games to OKC and the Bucks doesnt help.

[DireWolfSpirit]

After the dust settling on this trade season, I think i favor the Suns and Bucks to make it to the Finals.