Potential Zach Trade Partners? 24/25 Edition

[boozapalooza]

Zach’s level of play has gotten to the point where we begin to have real leverage here. If Zach can keep playing near this well, we deserve to get back at least a couple of real assets for him in a trade. Frankly I’m surprised there isnt more interest him and another team hasnt come to the table with a strong offer. He has played at an all star level this year, on the second lowest usage rate of his career.

I can’t blame AKME for asking for a strong trade package all along. You don’t trade this version of Zach as a salary dump.

[sco]

Zach’s level of play has gotten to the point where we begin to have real leverage here. If Zach can keep playing near this well, we deserve to get back at least a couple of real assets for him in a trade. Frankly I’m surprised there isnt more interest him and another team hasnt come to the table with a strong offer. He has played at an all star level this year, on the second lowest usage rate of his career.

I can’t blame AKME for asking for a strong trade package all along. You don’t trade this version of Zach as a salary dump.

I just think that those few teams that are looking for a player like Zach have very little in terms of assets and contract flexibility.

I'm rooting for SAS going all in on this season and trading for Zach. They have some nice assets.

[Chi town]

Zach’s level of play has gotten to the point where we begin to have real leverage here. If Zach can keep playing near this well, we deserve to get back at least a couple of real assets for him in a trade. Frankly I’m surprised there isnt more interest him and another team hasnt come to the table with a strong offer. He has played at an all star level this year, on the second lowest usage rate of his career.

I can’t blame AKME for asking for a strong trade package all along. You don’t trade this version of Zach as a salary dump.

I just think that those few teams that are looking for a player like Zach have very little in terms of assets and contract flexibility.

I'm rooting for SAS going all in on this season and trading for Zach. They have some nice assets.

Bingo. It’s the up and coming teams that should be but won’t. Spurs. Magic. DET

[PaKii94]

I've watched only a handful of games this year but Zach has improved/adjusted how you would want him to now that he's come to terms with "being the man". His kind of game would fit well if we could get a superstar or two. Alas it came too late and now the thought is dumping him

[Muzbar]

Zach’s level of play has gotten to the point where we begin to have real leverage here. If Zach can keep playing near this well, we deserve to get back at least a couple of real assets for him in a trade. Frankly I’m surprised there isnt more interest him and another team hasnt come to the table with a strong offer. He has played at an all star level this year, on the second lowest usage rate of his career.

I can’t blame AKME for asking for a strong trade package all along. You don’t trade this version of Zach as a salary dump.

Zachs level of play may give you leverage, but then comes his contract, which, IMO, takes some of that leverage away.

Teams need to be able to match his salary, that's the problem, not his level of play and then they've got to justify paying Zach as possibly a third star and worried about the aprons.

It's not as simple as, well Zachs playing well so teams should give the Bulls the farm.

[Chi town]

Zach taking his scoring game up a notch.

We are a different team when we aggressive Zach all game. We still aren’t more than a 6th seed but we won’t lose the game we should win when he plays like this.

[Muzbar]

Zach taking his scoring game up a notch.

We are a different team when we aggressive Zach all game. We still aren’t more than a 6th seed but we won’t lose the game we should win when he plays like this.

His scoring has been really good, especially his last 7 or so games. His scoring was never the problem.

Zach contract is the problem, it's a hard number to match without giving up too much and worrying about tax/apron implications.

[Chi town]

Zach taking his scoring game up a notch.

We are a different team when we aggressive Zach all game. We still aren’t more than a 6th seed but we won’t lose the game we should win when he plays like this.

His scoring has been really good, especially his last 7 or so games. His scoring was never the problem.

Zach contract is the problem, it's a hard number to match without giving up too much and worrying about tax/apron implications.

I see no way Zach gets traded until the summer. Unless DET decides they will use their space and they include Ausar or Holland.

Best path fwd to be competitive would be to trade Vuc Carter Craig. Keep our pick. Draft a potential lead offensive player. Resign Zo and Giddey cheap and use the cap space to get a defensive C.

Zach and Coby could both be traded on draft day to truly rebuild.

I think AK will keep everyone. We will make the playoffs and get destroyed by BOS or CLE.

[ChettheJet]

Seeing the story that DET might be ready to do more than park some contracts why not add in PORT and LAL to make it complicated and maybe not even but it could go like

CHI IN Ayton and Avdija from PORT Thompson and Stewart from DET,
OUT Lavine, Vucevic, Terry and the PORT pick

DET IN Lavine from CHI Knechte from LAL
OUT Stewart, Thompson, THJ

LAL IN Vucevic CHI
OUT Hachimura, Knechte

PORT IN Hachimura LAL, Terry CHI, THJ DET, the rights to their pick back CHI
OUT Ayton, Avdija

CHI seems to get a lot but it's an expensive bunch, moves off the two high priced guys that are just not the future, gets a new younger, maybe over paid center, a maybe too expensive backup center moving Smith to the PF Avdija to pair with Williams up front, and a young guard. They shift from a guard glut to size up front that they have lacked

DET spends their money on an efficient scorer next to Cade, a young shooter, gets rid of Stewart and his contract so they play Reed and Duren

LAL give up the same pieces they always offer for a win now center

PORT moves an expensive Ayton, moves a SF for a PF with a shorter deal, and an expiring THJ and an easily cut Terry. It doesn't solve everything but they start doing something

the numbers work, CHI, DET, LAL get what they need PORT starts clearing some cap space, time for Clingan ,still have plenty to trade looking at next year can now trade picks

[sco]

Seeing the story that DET might be ready to do more than park some contracts why not add in PORT and LAL to make it complicated and maybe not even but it could go like

CHI IN Ayton and Avdija from PORT Thompson and Stewart from DET,
OUT Lavine, Vucevic, Terry and the PORT pick

DET IN Lavine from CHI Knechte from LAL
OUT Stewart, Thompson, THJ

LAL IN Vucevic CHI
OUT Hachimura, Knechte

PORT IN Hachimura LAL, Terry CHI, THJ DET, the rights to their pick back CHI
OUT Ayton, Avdija

CHI seems to get a lot but it's an expensive bunch, moves off the two high priced guys that are just not the future, gets a new younger, maybe over paid center, a maybe too expensive backup center moving Smith to the PF Avdija to pair with Williams up front, and a young guard. They shift from a guard glut to size up front that they have lacked

DET spends their money on an efficient scorer next to Cade, a young shooter, gets rid of Stewart and his contract so they play Reed and Duren

LAL give up the same pieces they always offer for a win now center

PORT moves an expensive Ayton, moves a SF for a PF with a shorter deal, and an expiring THJ and an easily cut Terry. It doesn't solve everything but they start doing something
I keep reading that LAL don't want to trade Rui or Knecht.

I really hate Ayton, but nabbing Avidja, Thompson and Stewart as go-forward pieces sort of interests me. To make something like that make sense, I think we also need to have trades lined-up for PWill and Terry.
the numbers work, CHI, DET, LAL get what they need PORT starts clearing some cap space, time for Clingan ,still have plenty to trade looking at next year can now trade picks

[Chi town]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

[Stratmaster]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

[Chi town]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

[Anderson Hunt]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

What Strat is saying is that Richard Hamilton was a first option on a championship team because the team was built was complimentary players around him. Same with Paul Pierce.

I wholeheartedly agree. LaVine could very easily be the leading scorer on a championship team, he just can't be the leader, and more importantly, he needs a verygood second leading scorer to compliment him the way Billyos complimented Hamilton.

Same with Carmelo. He could lead your championship team in scoring as a first option, but he won't be the leader of the team, and he needed a number two scorer that complimented him.

[Stratmaster]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

I think we are operating off different definitions of "number one".

[waffle]

30ppg Zach is playing like a legit 2nd option on a contender.

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

agree with your disagreement

[Stratmaster]

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

agree with your disagreement

I disagree with your agreement of his disagreement, and agree with the agreement of the other poster Anderson Hunt.

[TheGOATRises007]

I agree with the spirit of your post. But to me the whole first option, 2nd option 3rd option thing is misguided.

A 30 ppg scorer like Zach can be the first option on a contender if the other 4 players on the court are contender quality and complimentary. Can he carry a team to a title on his shoulders? No. But can he be the #1 first option scorer? Sure, if the rest of the cast is right.

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

What Strat is saying is that Richard Hamilton was a first option on a championship team because the team was built was complimentary players around him. Same with Paul Pierce.

I wholeheartedly agree. LaVine could very easily be the leading scorer on a championship team, he just can't be the leader, and more importantly, he needs a verygood second leading scorer to compliment him the way Billyos complimented Hamilton.

Same with Carmelo. He could lead your championship team in scoring as a first option, but he won't be the leader of the team, and he needed a number two scorer that complimented him.

You also referenced two of the best defensive teams ever.

Swap out Pierce for LaVine on the 08 Celtics. Do you think that team is still winning it all? I'm not so sure they are.

[TheGOATRises007]

LaVine's best fit is probably still with the Lakers, but they have garbage assets in the short term for us, so I doubt that happens.

Not sure LaVine fits well with Denver.

I personally would keep him considering he's been a positive player this year and I think he'll age well with his shot-making ability, but if they do trade him, I hope we get good value back.

[Anderson Hunt]

Disagree. I understand what you are saying and think if those four other players are legit that would be a very good team but not nearly enough.

Zach is playing so good in large part because he is more off ball and now Zo and Giddey are getting him 3-4 fastbreak buckets per game. Zach isn’t good enough as a playmaker and still really struggles with ball pressure when he gets blitzed in PNR.

Only way he’s a true 1 is if he were to score even more and basically pull up and raise up and shoot more 3s. Less dribbles. More shots and makes.

What Strat is saying is that Richard Hamilton was a first option on a championship team because the team was built was complimentary players around him. Same with Paul Pierce.

I wholeheartedly agree. LaVine could very easily be the leading scorer on a championship team, he just can't be the leader, and more importantly, he needs a verygood second leading scorer to compliment him the way Billyos complimented Hamilton.

Same with Carmelo. He could lead your championship team in scoring as a first option, but he won't be the leader of the team, and he needed a number two scorer that complimented him.

You also referenced two of the best defensive teams ever.

Swap out Pierce for LaVine on the 08 Celtics. Do you think that team is still winning it all? I'm not so sure they are.

No, I don't think they still win it all because Pierce was a 6'7 228 SF and LaVine is a 6'5 190 SG. I do believe that LaVine could've been the first option/leading scorer on the Pistons replacing Rip Hamilton.