Looming scenario: Lakers take Russel, Embiid is up in the air, who do you pick?

[ratedrdb]

ok how about young, Clarkson, Kelly... for noel and Covington.
on espn trade machine it works and it improves your team by 4 wins.
3 shooters to go with your big post man.......

[Ericb5]

The only downside to taking Okafor is his fit with Embiid, but even that could work to our advantage, and if it doesn't, and Embiid gets healthy then you trade Okafor for a ransom. If Embiid doesn't get healthy then we build around Okafor as our center.

I can understand people wishing that we took Porzingis instead, but I don't see how you could have preferred Russell.

They were on different tiers as prospects imo. I think Porzingis and Okafor were on different tiers as well simply because of the risk with Porzingis. Now that we know that he isn't going to bust, I think his upside is is up their with Okafor's, and he fits with Embiid way better, so in that sense I think that hind sight being 20/20 we could have taken Porzingis.

We still don't know if Russell is going to bust, but he doesn't have the upside of Okafor or Porzingis.




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For me Okafor isn't the same tier as Porzingis. KP is probably a little higher. He's great defensively already, he protects the rim, and he has great impact on team D. Offensively he's great shooter, and he's long enough to fight on boards.

Basicly he's great fit to every team in the league. Okafor is much better on lowpost, but it's not that important anymore in this league. He can be batter defensively, but it's not the same level as KAT or Porzi... Unfortunately.

I meant the same tier as prospect in the draft, and not how we evaluate them now when we have already learned that the biggest risk with Porzingis hasn't happened.

The problem with Porzingis as a draft prospect is that he had a really high bust potential. Now we know that he isn't going to bust, but at that time we didn't know that.

Nobody would have taken Porzingis over Okafor at the draft, and rightfully so. Okafor came with basically zero risk, and risk has to be factored in to any top 5 pick.

Today I would trade Okafor for Porzingis, but that is only because of my belief in Embiid. As a franchise cornerstone on his own, I would take Okafor all day over Porzingis.


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[Ericb5]

ok how about young, Clarkson, Kelly... for noel and Covington.
on espn trade machine it works and it improves your team by 4 wins.
3 shooters to go with your big post man.......

So basically Noel and Covington for Clarkson? No thanks.

If we come to the conclusion that we need to trade Noel, then we will be able to get more than that. The league is filled with teams that would love to have Noel.

For example, if the Celtics end up with the 5th pick from the Nets trade then they might easily be willing to trade us that for Noel, and we would only entertain that if we decided that we needed to trade Noel because of fit. We aren't there yet.

Clarkson is a good young player, but he isn't a potential star. He isn't going to be able to be traded for someone like Noel.

I wouldn't trade Noel for Russell straight up either.


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[Crooked-I]

hi lakers fan here how about randle and Russell for okafor and top 3 pick protection changed to top 8??
you would have ...
embiid....noel....randle as your front court with Russell at PG

Laker fan here in peace please dont flame me lol. But would Sixer fans really not take this trade? I think Randle is a really good fit with both Noel/Embiid and Russell who at worst can be a pretty solid starting PG. Is Okafor really that good? I'll be honest I've only seen in one game.

For the record Im not saying I would do the trade, I don't really know much about Okafor and its far too early to be trading two young players.

If we assume Russell and Okafor are a wash, changing the pick from top 3 to top 8 protected basically means we're trading a ~50% chance at a top 5 pick for Randle. I don't think he's worth anywhere near that.

Well trading a 50% chance for a pick from 4-14. I think maybe I just value Randle more than any player that's projected to go in that range. Also add that if it's top 8 protected then you just don't get it this year but get it next(as i think the pick is top 1 protected next year, maybe im wrong). But I do see your point. Thanks for the response.

[Sixerscan]

Laker fan here in peace please dont flame me lol. But would Sixer fans really not take this trade? I think Randle is a really good fit with both Noel/Embiid and Russell who at worst can be a pretty solid starting PG. Is Okafor really that good? I'll be honest I've only seen in one game.

For the record Im not saying I would do the trade, I don't really know much about Okafor and its far too early to be trading two young players.

If we assume Russell and Okafor are a wash, changing the pick from top 3 to top 8 protected basically means we're trading a ~50% chance at a top 5 pick for Randle. I don't think he's worth anywhere near that.

Well trading a 50% chance for a pick from 4-14. I think maybe I just value Randle more than any player that's projected to go in that range. Also add that if it's top 8 protected then you just don't get it this year but get it next(as i think the pick is top 1 protected next year, maybe im wrong). But I do see your point. Thanks for the response.

I'd be shocked at this point if they lakers didn't have a bottom 5 record. Therefore it's going to be top 5. Just a question of whether it's top 3 and doesn't convey.

[One Love]

I know Okafor is putting up solid numbers but most GM's, including Mitch, have Russell higher than Okafor... I don't see either team making a move if this magnitude... Russell is a smart and efficient player that will blossom once Kobe retires...