Captain_Obvious wrote:Teffer10 wrote:Captain_Obvious wrote:I like to see this team attempt to win. Doubt that puts me into the 0.1%.
But this actually pisses me off a bit. Ky gets hurt and by all accounts he is fighting back ahead of schedule. The actual recommendation here is to not resign him now, because "Half of our problems will go away". Didn't see the same posts with Luka repeatedly getting hurt. Maybe you guys are not so far off Nico as you like to think.
I dont mind winning as long as Nico doesnt sabotage our future in the process.
I think most of us know we have a better chance of winning a championship 5 years from now by building around CF and DL using assets we could yield from moving some of our old and nearly washed up assets than we do relying on AD to play 50 games next season and Kyrie coming back to full strength in a timely manner.
We can be optimistic, but why waste the first few years of Cooper's career and then start over from scratch when he is 22 or 23 when we have some tradeable assets that can get that process started now.
It's obvious Nico will half ass this thing and squander the few assets we could possibly have to get some players in here now to develop with Flagg, Lively and Christie. I think 99.9% of us dont trust Nico to refrain from giving up some of our young players and the few picks we have over the 5 years to chase a championship with Kyrie and AD.
Counterpoints:
- We have a winning culture in place and actually try to win right away with Coop - how can this be a bad thing for his development? He is getting mentored by all time greats and competes at the top.
- Our picks after 26 are not in our control - Uncertainty in our team setup would not benefit us after the next draft.
- To completely align the age of your core comes with drawbacks: You have to pay them top dollar at the same time and it becomes likely you cannot keep the core. I actually think aligning your franchise player with expensive veterans while he is young and with younger talent when he is older is a valid approach.
- Locking up AD and Kyrie might increase their value esp. during the deadline. Hard disagree we have to sell now-now. Just look at Minny and tell me they wouldn't throw all remaining assets at Ky - esp. if he returns before the deadline.
I share a general distrust of Nico. But we have to have the assumption he is going to do the best job in either direction. There is clearly the worst direction of trading Coop for a win now piece.
On paper I'm with you but there are a lot of issues that drive my skepticism.
AD is completely unreliable and not worth near the amount we are paying him. We have a guy who might gives us 50 games if we are lucky and he is taking up a tremendous percentage of our cap.
Then there is Kyrie who Nico will need to make the right decision on. Nico gave Kyrie all of the leverage when he traded Luka and had absolutely no plan to make up the offense that he lost. Now Kyrie is broken down and a complete unknown in terms of health, and at 33 is clearly nearing the final few years of his career. And it's not like Kyrie has been an iron man at any point of his career.
Klay...there isnt much to say because is all but washed up.
My main point is that Nico's strategy of trying to win with washed up former superstars is clearly not a good one. He has been completely reckless in trying to build this thing to suit his vision and I'm not sure how anyone could trust that he wont go all out and leverage all of our future assets to satisfy that one burning desire he seems to have. Hell, I'm so cynical that I'm not sure he'll draft Flagg.
I think people forget we got blown out in the play-in by a team that got blown out by OKC. I dont think Kyrie would have made up the difference even if he was 100%.
On paper, yes, we are crazy good but the reality is another thing. I would have no problem if Kyrie walks because he has the potential to have one of the worst contracts in the NBA.
