Post#30 » by MrSparkle » Thu Apr 17, 2025 11:41 pm
Is there a shot clock on his EVP job? 24 years?
I've soured on the man, almost entirely. The "stealth smart killer" persona was a good myth. In truth, he's easy to read as a sports manager. I've found myself somewhat correctly predicting his summer and deadline moves. I don't know if his goal is to prove to every player and agent that he does exactly what he says he'll do, but I can guarantee that being an "open book" is not the best way to run a pro sports franchise. (Atleast not every year, for 4Y straight?)
He caught 3 breaks this year with Matas, Giddey and the Zach trade (although the return was not as much a great deal as much as a good bail-out return on a bad max contract). He really needed them. These were about as lucky as the breaks get. You had a talented #6 pick with an underage sex scandal on an elite emerging team that really didn't need his talent set. A top-3 consensus pick who dropped to #11 due to a garbage development team that folded. And of course the equally least winning franchise, the Sacramento Kings, doubling down on their stupid Demar trade by facilitating and absorbing Zach. The crazy thing is he didn't "own" any of these trades. He narrowly passed them with concessions, as far as most commentary went.
I can't fault him for the team laying an egg in the play-in. He did make a deadline move that made the team much more enjoyable for a month and half. At the cost of a decent shot at Cooper Flagg.
The moral, ethical dignity of not tanking is valiant and all, but I'm pretty nervous about this draft. So far, the only good picks AK made were higher projected prospects who slipped majorly on draft night: Ayo and Matas. The Chicago connection almost made them too comically obvious.
Every "under the radar" reach has been a bust or a completely replaceable player (Marko, Pat, Terry, Phillips). I hope the latter 3 become useful for our sake, but AFAIC the kids who visit NBADraft.net are able to draft about as well. (There was a lot of talk about Devin Carter. What a disaster and waste of a lottery pick he would've been, if Matas hadn't dropped.)
So my next prediction, is that if Kasparas does drop to our late lotto slot, he will be our next decent pick. Reasons being the Illini connection, and he was a top-5 consensus pick who dropped to 13 or wherever the hell we go. Secondary option being Malauch, with the Deng connection and also dropping out the consensus. God help us if they're taken, and AK gets cute with his next prospect. I could almost see him skipping on Queen, despite the talent, keeping Vuc, and seeing Queen become a ROY candidate.
Very nervous about Pat's $18m and the Josh negotiations. Not going to sweat it. Not looking for surprises. I do expect a humbling Vuc trade, just because his time is really up. That alone should make us better. I think we're stuck with Pat. The next "rehab value" project. As if we needed more after 2Y of re-signing Zach and Vuc and immediately being incapable of trading them for anything remotely enticing.
