2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 6 - The Playoff Quest for a Title

[sunsbg]

Fire Vogel. He's best at massaging star players ego and seems they still don't like him. He doesn't have the balls to move Beal to the bench if that's the best for the team.

Trade Nurk for defensive C. Robinson has been brought up but he's super injury prone and his FT% looks like 3PFG%. Pass. Any chance we convince Nets to give us Claxton by including the pick ? They can also take Beal for Simmons + another of their bad contracts. Maybe Cam J is seen as one now. Nets owe us some help after the fleecing that was the KD trade.

The Nets owe us nothing and will give us nothing for free. This is the real world here, there's no sweetheart deals we'll be getting from BRK.

That was a joke. Still Nets look like a good trade partner to me.

[Puff]

The biggest priority this off season is getting a couple more bigs that defend and rebound. Unless we dump either Booker or Beal there really is no need for another point guard other than as a back up. A Vet minimum could solve that problem.

The biggest issue is coaching.

[Slim Charless]

Fire Vogel. He's best at massaging star players ego and seems they still don't like him. He doesn't have the balls to move Beal to the bench if that's the best for the team.

Trade Nurk for defensive C. Robinson has been brought up but he's super injury prone and his FT% looks like 3PFG%. Pass. Any chance we convince Nets to give us Claxton by including the pick ? They can also take Beal for Simmons + another of their bad contracts. Maybe Cam J is seen as one now. Nets owe us some help after the fleecing that was the KD trade.

The Nets owe us nothing and will give us nothing for free. This is the real world here, there's no sweetheart deals we'll be getting from BRK.

That was a joke. Still Nets look like a good trade partner to me.

I don't see how. Here's how those conversations would go:

Us: Hey what would it take to get our picks back?
Them: Booker

Us: Hey we'd like to see about getting Mikal/CamJo/Claxton?
Them: Booker

I'm confused as to why anyone would think they have anything to offer us-that doesn't involve us giving them Booker. If you think giving them Booker-just for the rights to our picks back....so we can then tank and HOPE to get a player as good as Booker...well I'm gonna straight disagree with that statement.

The Nets and Cavs make 0.00 sense to post about as neither 1 of them will happen. I don't understand why some guys think that it should happen with those teams.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Watch on YouTube

[Ghost of Kleine]

Spoiler:

I'm gonna go on record that this whole doubling down and running it back as is, is a horrible mistake that'll end in possibly even worse fashion than this last season did and will set us back even further, resulting in an even longer and more painful drawn out rebuild! However, IF it's actually true that Ishbia and the suns front office are staunchly commited to this "fools errand" then as a near 50 yr suns fan, I'll help out some with their lack of responsible or even coherent planning!

So to give this team the very best and most realistic chance for improvement even without any cap flexibilty or assets, I've come up with this outline list for them to miraculously find improved depth and shore up some of our glaring weaknesses creatively!

1- Find a trade for Nurkic and Nassir Little (this is important if we can find a more athletic and mobile option while hopefully picking up an additional pick in the draft. Now there will be some teams out there with little to no center options, that'll still want to try and be competitive and need a legit starting level center. And for better or worse, Nurkic is still that as a productive playmaking double/double contributor with size! The primary teams that I'd aggressively call are:

Brooklyn
Now this team doesn't really have picks to offer which kinda sucks for our needs, BUT still, they have pieces we can use for depth. And in any situation wherein we aren't getting a pick back, I'd look to the UDFA range to fill that need reasonably well. Anyways:
Nurkic for Schroder/ Day'ron Sharpe. Schroder would help immensely as a backup point guard with some playmaking ability. And Sharpe is not as polished as Nurkic is yet, But he has very similar size, moves better, and is a good playmaker too.

San Antonio
Nurkic for Zach Collins and the 35th and 48th picks. IF that is just too much returning value for San Antonios' tastes, I'm willing to instead do Nurkic for Devonte Graham/ Charles Bassey/ 35th and 48th picks. Bassey and the two 2nds are the most important inclusion to this deal for me! Bassey is more versatile than it appears. He's a good shotblocker, can hit the three, is mobile and athletic, and can playmake some too. Devonte Graham is a salary filler for value exchange, but is only partially guaranteed, and can be cut at a discount. The 35th and 48th picks are important because in those ranges, we can add legit impact positional cost controlled depth pieces.
35- Ryan Dunn (if he somehow falls) otherwise Jaylon Tyson or Dillon Jones.
48- Ajay Mitchell or Tristin Newton.

New York
Nurkic for Robinson/Mcbride/ 38th pick (Baylor Schiermann or Keshad Johnson)?

A trade for Little
- Orlando for the 47th pick ( Alex Karaban or Peyton Sandfort)
OR
- Detroit for the 53rd pick ( Keshad Johnson or Trevon Brazile).
Undrafted Range gems for our two ways
- JT Toppin ( 6'9 High level versatile lockdown jumbo wing alternative to Dunn) Or Jalen Bridges (a 6'9 version of Crowder).
- Joel Soriano (Nurkic replacement with size and physicality).
- Ariel Huktpori ( a 7'0 254 lb athletic version of Capela- defensive rim protecting big).

Free agency signings

Backup Point Guard (1st option = red/ 2nd option = blue)
1- Ask Chris Paul if he's willing to come back for a chance to win a title?? And pray he says YES!!! Otherwise immediately pivot to Kyle Lowry as our 2nd option.

Small Forward options
- Kelly Oubre.
- Kenyon Martin Jr.
- Naji Marshall.

backup Power Forward
- Bol Bol.
- Dario Saric.
- Thad Young.

Backup Center
- Goga Bidatze.
- Bismack Biyombo.
- Damion Jones.

Lastly, Offseason adaptations!!
1- Have Beal concentrate the entire offseason on his playmaking skills and court vision along with Booker and KD. He will eventually become a competent playmaking combo guard next to Booker.IF Paul accepts, he can help mentor Beal on being a floor general! IF Beal succeeds, this is how he reestablishes his value.

2- Booker will no longer concentrate on playmaking duties and go back fully to being a killer elite shooting guard.

3-Durant will focus solely on being an elite, clutch offensive closer playing off of the other two, and roaming defensively. And IF everything goes according to plan, Our new and improved opening night roster will look something like:

Beal/ Booker/O'neale/ Durant/ Bidatze.
Paul/ Allen/ KMart Jr/ Bol Bol/ Sharpe.
Schroder/ D Lee/JT Toppin/ Soriano/ Huktpori.

- Bidatze- 6'11 250 lbs.
-Bol Bol- 7'3 220 lbs.
- Sharpe- 6'11 265 lbs.
- JT Toppin- 6'9 236 lbs.
- Soriano- 6'11 265 lbs.
- Huktpori- 7'0 254 lbs.
That's a significant size increase with tons of strength and physicality.

Here’s the thing with Nurk, he’s literally the perfect matchup for Joker. If the Nuggets make the finals again I don’t think there’s any way we can let him go.

We just can’t be afraid to bench him if the matchup dictates it. He doesn’t have much value against the Thunder / Wolves / Celtics. It took Vogel too long to realize this.

That's perfectly fine and I agree with you IF we had a matchup with Denver. So IF that's the plan, then quite simply we need to get clever and creative in finding a way to add that alternative center option that is big, long, very athletic and very mobile and versatile too. But how do we find that big with those rare attributes/ talents in free agency for the minimum in our situation seeing as that's all we can offer now that our from office and GM have irresponsibly and aggressively emptied every single asset cache that we had left? IF we're unwilling to move any of the big three, and unwilling to trade Nurkic, where do the means of actually being able to acquire this critical acquistion come from?

I hope people better understand now why I've put so much work/emphasis into underlying/outlier considerations like the 2nd round - undrafted ranges of the draft, or even the currently unsigned nba vet/G league pools. And recently mentioned names like Kai Jones and Dwight Howard or Demarcus Cousins or Stanley Johnson, Feron Hunt, Shaq Harrison, etc. It's not that I've convinced myself that these are some premium talents being overlooked. But rather given our incredibly limited situation, these are honestly the best and most realistic cost effective options that ARE ACTUALLY AVAILABLE to us, and that we could actually get!

Either pathway that I've previously repeatedly shared here was exactly for this outcome situation that was unfortunately fairly predictable once they ignored even trying to address our season long weaknesses both in terms of depth and positional needs.

There really aren't many reasonable center options for us in free agency for the vet minimum, unless you're hoping for a Damion Jones or maybe Bismack Biyombo? There are really no decent center options once you pass the 20's of the draft and enter the 2nd round this year, HOWEVER there are a number of strong, athletic, mobile center options or 4/5 options once you move beyond the 2nd round and dip into the undrafted ranges this year. No hidden stars for sure, but definitely a fair number of good- really good underrated and versatile defensive or even somewhat two-way center options. And from the unsigned vet/G league pool, there are numerous decent options too. The catch is that our Gm, has to actually be willing to do some damn research and put some actual time into exploring these options. Outside of being openminded to/doing that, There's really only trading Nurk as an asset, because you aren't getting jack (aside from maybe another underwhelming player w/equitable salary and a late 2nd) for Nassir Little. And I'm guessing no one here would want to trade Allen for depth pieces either?? This is why it's irresponsible to carelessly hemorrage assets in trades like Jones or Jones/Ishbia (whatever) did in the KD, Bal trades, and more recently ALSO in the O'neale trade.

[Ghost of Kleine]

The biggest priority this off season is getting a couple more bigs that defend and rebound. Unless we dump either Booker or Beal there really is no need for another point guard other than as a back up. A Vet minimum could solve that problem.

The biggest issue is coaching.

The size, physicality and defensive rim protecting center options are fairly easily addressed in the undrafted ranges of the 24' NBA draft as you'll have names like:
- Ariel Huktpori.
Roughly a 7'0 254 lb athletic, mobile bigger version of Capela with good defensive recovery skills but little offensive game yet.
- Ryan Kalkbrenner.
A 7'1 thin but very mobile long center option with some floor spacing and face up ability. Not a strong rebounder though due to slight frame.
- Joel Soriano.
A 6'11 265 lb burly and very physical 4/5 double/double machine (2nd only to Edey) with strong rebounding, rim protection, some passing and developing faceup game and 3 Pt shooting. He's a more mobile version of Nurkic and with a little more bounce.
- Vlad Goldin.
A 7'1 240 lb physical, gritty, blue collar utility center. **IF he declares? A bigger version of Marcin Gortat.
- Jamarion Sharpe.
A 7'5 225 lb with a 7'8 wingspan rail thin bigger, longer, and slightly more mobile version of Gobert that'll offer nothing much aside from high level shotblocking and rebounding.
- Quinton Post.
A 7'0 255 lb long, skilled, physical two-way power forward/center with impressive faceup game with great range, solid defense and physical style of play. Good fundamentals, Is a more mobile better faceup version of Jacob Poetl.
- Omar Ballo.
A 7'0 260 lb physical, strong but somewhat slow and mechanical bruising big that can give you double /double production, but has a pretty low bench role ceiling.
-Tomislav Ivisic.
A 7'1 wiry thin and lanky but somewhat mobile center. Has skill, but is a basic center with length that moves ok and has some decent skills.
- Nfaly Dante.
A 7'0 250 lb with a 7'6 wingspan athletic, long defensive version of Ayton but with much less offensive polish. Plays with intensity and is an intimidating post presence. The defensive version of DeAndre Ayton with a solid motor, physicality, and elite athletic traits.

Long, athletic, physical two way jumbo wing forwards
- JT Toppin.
A 6'9 fluid very efficient, high motor two-way jumbo wing with ELITE advanced defensive metrics/attributes and defensive versatility. JT is a high motor elite defensive version of Larry Nance Jr.
- Trevon Brazile.
A 6'10 225 lb long, high motor super athletic, quick, elite vertically explosive shotblocking,rebounding pogo stick 4/5. He's a slightly bigger, quicker, more athletic version of Jared Vanderbilt, BUT with a 3PT shot.

[Puff]

The biggest priority this off season is getting a couple more bigs that defend and rebound. Unless we dump either Booker or Beal there really is no need for another point guard other than as a back up. A Vet minimum could solve that problem.

The biggest issue is coaching.

The size, physicality and defensive rim protecting center options are fairly easily addressed in the undrafted ranges of the 24' NBA draft as you'll have names like:
- Ariel Huktpori.
Roughly a 7'0 254 lb athletic, mobile bigger version of Capela with good defensive recovery skills but little offensive game yet.
- Ryan Kalkbrenner.
A 7'1 thin but very mobile long center option with some floor spacing and face up ability. Not a strong rebounder though due to slight frame.
- Joel Soriano.
A 6'11 265 lb burly and very physical 4/5 double/double machine (2nd only to Edey) with strong rebounding, rim protection, some passing and developing faceup game and 3 Pt shooting. He's a more mobile version of Nurkic and with a little more bounce.
- Vlad Goldin.
A 7'1 240 lb physical, gritty, blue collar utility center. **IF he declares? A bigger version of Marcin Gortat.
- Jamarion Sharpe.
A 7'5 225 lb with a 7'8 wingspan rail thin bigger, longer, and slightly more mobile version of Gobert that'll offer nothing much aside from high level shotblocking and rebounding.
- Quinton Post.
A 7'0 255 lb long, skilled, physical two-way power forward/center with impressive faceup game with great range, solid defense and physical style of play. Good fundamentals, Is a more mobile better faceup version of Jacob Poetl.
- Omar Ballo.
A 7'0 260 lb physical, strong but somewhat slow and mechanical bruising big that can give you double /double production, but has a pretty low bench role ceiling.
-Tomislav Ivisic.
A 7'1 wiry thin and lanky but somewhat mobile center. Has skill, but is a basic center with length that moves ok and has some decent skills.
- Nfaly Dante.
A 7'0 250 lb with a 7'6 wingspan athletic, long defensive version of Ayton but with much less offensive polish. Plays with intensity and is an intimidating post presence. The defensive version of DeAndre Ayton with a solid motor, physicality, and elite athletic traits.

Long, athletic, physical two way jumbo wing forwards
- JT Toppin.
A 6'9 fluid very efficient, high motor two-way jumbo wing with ELITE advanced defensive metrics/attributes and defensive versatility. JT is a high motor elite defensive version of Larry Nance Jr.
- Trevon Brazile.
A 6'10 225 lb long, high motor super athletic, quick, elite vertically explosive shotblocking,rebounding pogo stick 4/5. He's a slightly bigger, quicker, more athletic version of Jared Vanderbilt, BUT with a 3PT shot.

I would hope James Jones or his replacement could find someone to fit the role that we desperately need. He could be one of your suggestions. He does not need to be a 3 point shooter but that would be nice. He needs to play with an edge and not necessarily well liked by our opponents.

We all remember what CP3 brought with him but lost in the conversation is what Jae Crowder brought. We need that kind of guy in the worst way.

The way Ish has turned a very successful roster to crap in such a short time is depressing.

[Revived]

Yeah maybe. A lot of people said the same of the Pelicans as well. Maybe it's true but they aren't a perennial contender when this is their first year being a contender.

Not every rebuild is the same and not every rebuild is going to be smooth either.

Sure it’s not. Rebuild isn’t fun, it’s a lot of losing mostly. But if done properly with appropriate leadership, you can likely get rewarded with a mostly homegrown team at the end instead of trying to buy a cheap title with “stars” and zero quality players around them. And right now there’s a chance to get a proven guy for that “appropriate leadership” in the market.

I'm not entirely convinced he'd be interested even with a fat pay check. If I was a proven, multi-championship winning GM, I wouldn't be interested. Remember, he left the Dubs for a few reasons, one being that he (and most people) saw the limit of that team with that roster and the limited pathways that team could pivot to. Steph is still really good but who else, Klay is a shell of his former self, Dray on most nights is more bark than bite and all the lotto picks he took in the 2020's hadn't really turned out to be great (Kuminga has the most promise). They've got OK pieces around them but I don't think that core of Steph/Klay/Dray can carry a team like they used to anymore and I also don't think their younger guys with talent is ready to take their game to the next level.

I could envision him looking at our situation and see similar roster limitations. He's still a relatively young guy from a GM perspective and I think if he was to jump back into the mix, it'll be in a situation with considerable upward projections where he isn't expected to turn a team with no cap space/limited trade options into a legit contender in like 2 seasons.

That’s the thing, we wouldn’t be asking Lacob to build this team into a contender in 2 seasons, we would be telling him to blow it up, create assets like draft picks and cap space and a rebuild and build a contender organically.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

The Nets owe us nothing and will give us nothing for free. This is the real world here, there's no sweetheart deals we'll be getting from BRK.

That was a joke. Still Nets look like a good trade partner to me.

I don't see how. Here's how those conversations would go:

Us: Hey what would it take to get our picks back?
Them: Booker

Us: Hey we'd like to see about getting Mikal/CamJo/Claxton?
Them: Booker

I'm confused as to why anyone would think they have anything to offer us-that doesn't involve us giving them Booker. If you think giving them Booker-just for the rights to our picks back....so we can then tank and HOPE to get a player as good as Booker...well I'm gonna straight disagree with that statement.

The Nets and Cavs make 0.00 sense to post about as neither 1 of them will happen. I don't understand why some guys think that it should happen with those teams.

BKN owns our picks. HOU owns BKN picks. Booker to BKN would be bad for HOU, I imagine.
OKC owns LAC. UTA owns CLE. NYK and Pels have lots of picks to throw around.

All these shenanigans create interesting scenarios. Teams having an interest in others doing poorly could lead to some funny results.

[thamadkant]

There are NO athletic big available that could help Suns in the playoffs... at least without trading one of the big 3. Suns had Azuibuke who is massive and explosive as heck, but just low awareness and skills.... adding other bigs who lack skills just mean bench gets longer as these players wont play key games.

I actually think Drummond would be good on the Suns... he doesnt fix the defense issue but he does protect the rim a bit better than Nurkic, BUT Drummond is athletic and huge 7'6 wingspan who isnt afraid to dunk it.

[Slim Charless]

That was a joke. Still Nets look like a good trade partner to me.

I don't see how. Here's how those conversations would go:

Us: Hey what would it take to get our picks back?
Them: Booker

Us: Hey we'd like to see about getting Mikal/CamJo/Claxton?
Them: Booker

I'm confused as to why anyone would think they have anything to offer us-that doesn't involve us giving them Booker. If you think giving them Booker-just for the rights to our picks back....so we can then tank and HOPE to get a player as good as Booker...well I'm gonna straight disagree with that statement.

The Nets and Cavs make 0.00 sense to post about as neither 1 of them will happen. I don't understand why some guys think that it should happen with those teams.

BKN owns our picks. HOU owns BKN picks. Booker to BKN would be bad for HOU, I imagine.
OKC owns LAC. UTA owns CLE. NYK and Pels have lots of picks to throw around.

All these shenanigans create interesting scenarious where teams having an interest in particular other teams doing poorly could lead to some funny results.

Funny you mention Hou as they are a legit Booker team imo. They wanna win now and Booker would have no problem going there....

Tari Eason
Sengun
Amen Thompson
BRK picks

Not too bad once we get a legit PG. Maybe Caruso, then draft that Kolek dude GoK is always talking about.

[Ghost of Kleine]

The biggest priority this off season is getting a couple more bigs that defend and rebound. Unless we dump either Booker or Beal there really is no need for another point guard other than as a back up. A Vet minimum could solve that problem.

The biggest issue is coaching.

The size, physicality and defensive rim protecting center options are fairly easily addressed in the undrafted ranges of the 24' NBA draft as you'll have names like:
- Ariel Huktpori.
Roughly a 7'0 254 lb athletic, mobile bigger version of Capela with good defensive recovery skills but little offensive game yet.
- Ryan Kalkbrenner.
A 7'1 thin but very mobile long center option with some floor spacing and face up ability. Not a strong rebounder though due to slight frame.
- Joel Soriano.
A 6'11 265 lb burly and very physical 4/5 double/double machine (2nd only to Edey) with strong rebounding, rim protection, some passing and developing faceup game and 3 Pt shooting. He's a more mobile version of Nurkic and with a little more bounce.
- Vlad Goldin.
A 7'1 240 lb physical, gritty, blue collar utility center. **IF he declares? A bigger version of Marcin Gortat.
- Jamarion Sharpe.
A 7'5 225 lb with a 7'8 wingspan rail thin bigger, longer, and slightly more mobile version of Gobert that'll offer nothing much aside from high level shotblocking and rebounding.
- Quinton Post.
A 7'0 255 lb long, skilled, physical two-way power forward/center with impressive faceup game with great range, solid defense and physical style of play. Good fundamentals, Is a more mobile better faceup version of Jacob Poetl.
- Omar Ballo.
A 7'0 260 lb physical, strong but somewhat slow and mechanical bruising big that can give you double /double production, but has a pretty low bench role ceiling.
-Tomislav Ivisic.
A 7'1 wiry thin and lanky but somewhat mobile center. Has skill, but is a basic center with length that moves ok and has some decent skills.
- Nfaly Dante.
A 7'0 250 lb with a 7'6 wingspan athletic, long defensive version of Ayton but with much less offensive polish. Plays with intensity and is an intimidating post presence. The defensive version of DeAndre Ayton with a solid motor, physicality, and elite athletic traits.

Long, athletic, physical two way jumbo wing forwards
- JT Toppin.
A 6'9 fluid very efficient, high motor two-way jumbo wing with ELITE advanced defensive metrics/attributes and defensive versatility. JT is a high motor elite defensive version of Larry Nance Jr.
- Trevon Brazile.
A 6'10 225 lb long, high motor super athletic, quick, elite vertically explosive shotblocking,rebounding pogo stick 4/5. He's a slightly bigger, quicker, more athletic version of Jared Vanderbilt, BUT with a 3PT shot.

I would hope James Jones or his replacement could find someone to fit the role that we desperately need. He could be one of your suggestions. He does not need to be a 3 point shooter but that would be nice. He needs to play with an edge and not necessarily well liked by our opponents.

We all remember what CP3 brought with him but lost in the conversation is what Jae Crowder brought. We need that kind of guy in the worst way.

The way Ish has turned a very successful roster to crap in such a short time is depressing.

Very true man! Although there are also numerous very high end 3 point shooters to be had from the undrafted ranges too:
names that immediately come to mind are Ben Humrichous, Blake Hinson (42% from three on 11 attempts per game), 50% on twos. You also have 6'10 wing Ben Humrichous, Chad Baker Mazzaro, Moss Wood, Jaylen Wells, Puff Johnson, etc.

And there actually is a 6'9 two way wing in the mold of Jae Crowder that plays his azz off defensively in Jalen Bridges (Baylor) in the undrafted range too.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I don't see how. Here's how those conversations would go:

Us: Hey what would it take to get our picks back?
Them: Booker

Us: Hey we'd like to see about getting Mikal/CamJo/Claxton?
Them: Booker

I'm confused as to why anyone would think they have anything to offer us-that doesn't involve us giving them Booker. If you think giving them Booker-just for the rights to our picks back....so we can then tank and HOPE to get a player as good as Booker...well I'm gonna straight disagree with that statement.

The Nets and Cavs make 0.00 sense to post about as neither 1 of them will happen. I don't understand why some guys think that it should happen with those teams.

BKN owns our picks. HOU owns BKN picks. Booker to BKN would be bad for HOU, I imagine.
OKC owns LAC. UTA owns CLE. NYK and Pels have lots of picks to throw around.

All these shenanigans create interesting scenarious where teams having an interest in particular other teams doing poorly could lead to some funny results.

Funny you mention Hou as they are a legit Booker team imo. They wanna win now and Booker would have no problem going there....

Tari Eason
Sengun
Amen Thompson
BRK picks

Not too bad once we get a legit PG. Maybe Caruso.

You'd think they wouldn't want to run or Jalen Green or Booker at the 1 given our recen results. FVV played the most minutes for them last year. And I think they'd need to keep Sengun. If anything I wondered if they might want to facilitate a trade to put Booker elsewhere. OKC and UTA with picks galore...

Back when we were rebuilding post-2013, the only team with a crazy number of future picks was Philly. It was tough to sell players for picks in that environment. Now, plenty of teams are flush with picks, and it's pretty hard to add a Top 20 player in this league. We have two of them. Personally, I'd love it if Ishbia were in a mood to cash out and start over, because I don't think this team has a foundation. It's just a pillar - and IMO, our choices are to knock it down or let it crumble. Rebuild>>>>>ruin.

[Slim Charless]

BKN owns our picks. HOU owns BKN picks. Booker to BKN would be bad for HOU, I imagine.
OKC owns LAC. UTA owns CLE. NYK and Pels have lots of picks to throw around.

All these shenanigans create interesting scenarious where teams having an interest in particular other teams doing poorly could lead to some funny results.

Funny you mention Hou as they are a legit Booker team imo. They wanna win now and Booker would have no problem going there....

Tari Eason
Sengun
Amen Thompson
BRK picks

Not too bad once we get a legit PG. Maybe Caruso.

You'd think they wouldn't want to run or Jalen Green or Booker at the 1 given our recen results. FVV played the most minutes for them last year. And I think they'd need to keep Sengun. If anything I wondered if they might want to facilitate a trade to put Booker elsewhere. OKC and UTA with picks galore...

Back when we were rebuilding post-2013, the only team with a crazy number of future picks was Philly. It was tough to sell players for picks in that environment. Now, plenty of teams are flush with picks, and it's pretty hard to add a Top 20 player in this league. We have two of them. Personally, I'd love it if Ishbia were in a mood to cash out and start over, because I don't think this team has a foundation. It's just a pillar - and IMO, our choices are to knock it down or let it crumble. Rebuild>>>>>ruin.

I think that they'd actually want Jalen Green or Sengun in the trade. Jalen has taken off astronomically in the period of Sengun's injury. Not sure if you follow them alot but Jalen was lighting the world on fire and was legit a top 15 player for a good month or 2. I don't think it was a coincidence that that happened when Sengun went down.

I think they move 1 or the other-if they're making a star trade this summer. I'd try for Sengun as he fits our team at the 5 (once we trade Nurk for w/e we can get for him) then we just aquire more defense 1st dirty work guys in Eason and Amen. We're good to go after that with our BRK picks added on.

Only issue would be if Houston would want to move Jalen as opposed to Sengun. That's fine with me but I think that Jalen was soooo good for them, they'll wanna keep him and make a fearsome backcourt pairing with him and Booker along with FVV.

[lilfishi22]

Sure it’s not. Rebuild isn’t fun, it’s a lot of losing mostly. But if done properly with appropriate leadership, you can likely get rewarded with a mostly homegrown team at the end instead of trying to buy a cheap title with “stars” and zero quality players around them. And right now there’s a chance to get a proven guy for that “appropriate leadership” in the market.

I'm not entirely convinced he'd be interested even with a fat pay check. If I was a proven, multi-championship winning GM, I wouldn't be interested. Remember, he left the Dubs for a few reasons, one being that he (and most people) saw the limit of that team with that roster and the limited pathways that team could pivot to. Steph is still really good but who else, Klay is a shell of his former self, Dray on most nights is more bark than bite and all the lotto picks he took in the 2020's hadn't really turned out to be great (Kuminga has the most promise). They've got OK pieces around them but I don't think that core of Steph/Klay/Dray can carry a team like they used to anymore and I also don't think their younger guys with talent is ready to take their game to the next level.

I could envision him looking at our situation and see similar roster limitations. He's still a relatively young guy from a GM perspective and I think if he was to jump back into the mix, it'll be in a situation with considerable upward projections where he isn't expected to turn a team with no cap space/limited trade options into a legit contender in like 2 seasons.

That’s the thing, we wouldn’t be asking Lacob to build this team into a contender in 2 seasons, we would be telling him to blow it up, create assets like draft picks and cap space and a rebuild and build a contender organically.

He'll be starting from near the back of the line though with our lack of draft picks and the money tied to 3 players. Sure he could move a bunch of players but I just don't see the attraction to coming into a team that has done so much winning over the past few years (mostly in the regular season) and the job he comes back into the NBA for is firstly to turn this team into the worst team in the league. For someone who has done so much winning (at the very highest level), I find it very hard to believe he'd be interested in that.

I think he's going to be in a situation where he only comes back for the right situation. It won't be like an announcement that he's back and he'll be interviewing for different jobs. No, I think when the right situation comes up, he's going to have the discussion in the background and we'll only know when he's close to signing a new deal to become the new GM for a team.

Also just a small point of correction, the Warriors ex GM is Bob Myers, not Lacob who's the owner

[lilfishi22]

Well since I brought this up, I'll answer. It's mostly due to multiple factors. Some of which include:


-We'll get WAY more for him as he's younger and locked up.
-There will be a wider net of teams that want him as KD is only feasible to small number of teams and those all need to be title contenders.
-KD+Beal should more or less be able to do what KD+Booker can while Beal+Booker CANNOT do the same. We would still have the weird pairing in our backcourt.
-KD is the best player out of the 3, age notwithstanding and as such it makes more sense to keep him and try for this with someone who is 1 of the 13 best players of all time.
-Beal and KD's deals both end before Booker's does, giving us a theoretical chance to get some cap room sooner.

That isn't everything, only a portion. I'd say the main bonus being, that we get more. Also since we're stuck with Beal it would help if we had a sensible team that fits. But FTR, I'm not 100% sure of this I just wanted to throw it out there for discussion. I'm fine with moving Durant too, I just feel the selection of teams and by extension the assets we can reap from a trade are more limited if we move him. As opposed to Book.

If fans hated this team now, I can't imagine what the reception would be with KD and Beal as the main guys after trading the franchise player.

It'll be a tough sell, but if they're winning and playing well it's better than running it back and playing the same lame uninspired ball as this season. There won't even be the hope for flipping the switch that we forced ourselves into believing this season

That's why I think we're going to make a coaching change.