NuggetsWY wrote:skywalker33 wrote:The Rebel wrote:I think with Dozier and a good backup SG we could be fine with trading Morris. I think we can get a decent youngish bench player and pick for him and would rather go that way as opposed to trading for Jrue.
I agree. As much as Jrue
could be the difference, we still need to look to the future. Jrue is paid a ton of money, how many 8-digit players can we have ?? And no telling what Jrue would want on his next contract, if it's anywhere close to what he's getting now we'll never be able to look at free agency.
I seriously doubt Jrue expects the same salary next contract - although there is no doubt he'd love it.
You know that teams and players have those secret agreements all of the time.
Let's hope they can figure it out.
Whether he expects it or not, I am not sure he is the difference maker for this team that everybody else is. We need defense and shooting at the 2, Jrue is not a better defender than Harris and his shooting is very erratic with him shooting 32.5% in 2018-2019 on 3s. Also I would love to see MPJ get the touches Jrue will take from Murray and Jokic. While he may make rookie mistakes early in the season, I think it will help us when we get to the playoffs.
We didn't lose against the Lakers because of Murray, Jokic, MPJ, or Harris. We lost because despite his great defense, Millsap was just clearly outplayed. Plumlee was clearly overmatched, it wasn't even close when Jokic was out of the game. The Lakers would just collapse the paint and dare our bench to try to shoot it, and we couldn't.
We need a bench scorer in the worst way especially one that can shoot, we need a bruiser in the paint that won't put up with guys harassing Jokic and Murray if he can hit a mid range shot at least and play defense we are a true contender. We need a bench guard defender, someone who can slow down guys like Clarkson, and we need him to at least be able to hit a mid range shot.
Jokic, Murray, and MPJ are our stars, they even fit together with MPJ being the cocky ass, Murray being the emotional leader, and Jokic's competitiveness. We have a guy that should have been on an all defense team in Harris. Those guys aren't the problem. The fit around them is the problem.
I like Morris, and I think he is a damn good player, but the question is can we keep him and take the next step? He is the game general type of PG, he plays best with better players. He knows offensively how to do what the team needs, but he is not a good enough scorer to take over games. He also is just not able to defend anything but PG.
I also think that Dozier is just fine as a long term answer at backup PG. A hustle guy that can come in and give you 15 minutes of pure energy and effort. He is good enough at creating shots and shooting to be effective and he looked like a solid defender at PG. That is all we really need.
People forget that while Morris was an older rookie, he is still just coming off his 3rd year and is only 25 years old. He is elite already as a spot up shooter and the midrange shot, he plays well on and off the ball, and he doesn't turn the ball over at all. If Murray or Morris could play defense against guys like Mitchell than I would have no problem giving him slightly more than the full MLE, but they can't so we have to trade him.
Let's look at suitors. He would work best playing PG with a ball dominate star like Simmons, Lebron, Kawhi, Giannis, Doncic, or even a pseudo star like Lavine, INgram, or Sabonis. That is 8 teams that he would be a great fit for what they need and being the near perfect starter for about half of them.
Would the 76ers give Thybulle and their 22nd pick if they don't use them to salary dump?
Would the Bucks give up DiVincenzo and the 24th? Would you take that?
Would the Mavs do Willie Cauley Stein and the 18th for him?
Could you get Gafford, Hutchinson, and the 44th for him?
I look at it that we can trade Morris for a couple of young guys who look like they will be good role players long term. Guys who you already know what we can get. We can add him to Harris or Barton and get a really good player, but I am not sure that is the answer as our bench will still be terrible with limited money to fix it. I prefer the former with a pick that we can develop into another guy down the road.