Brandon Knight = 8th pick?

[theBigLip]

Am I missing something here, or are the Kings that stupid? I guess Sanders would be involved too, but really?

Brian (CA)
You said the Kings had interest in Brandon Knight for the 8th pick, would that interest extend to Larry Sanders, considering he would be a perfect fit next to Big Cuz.
Chad Ford
Yes. They need a rim protector and Sanders is available. I think if they give up Knight and Sanders they'll want more than just the 8th pick. But the Kings have enough assets to throw another player the Bucks way. Would be a good deal for both teams -- especially if the Bucks could get Ben McLemore as well. They need young players they can build around. The Bucks will be active in trying to move up and get another pick and the Kings have been among the most active in trying to add a few vets to turn this team into a playoff contender next year. Sanders and Knight would probably do it.

[theBigLip]

Wouldn't Jennings+Smith>Sanders+Knight?

If we could get the 8th pick and McLemore, that would be awesome. We'd have to take back some salary too. McLemore apparently isn't as good as everyone thought, maybe not as good as KCP, but I'd certainly give him a shot.

[MotownMadness]

Kings should just take Smith for the 8th pick. Plus we would take on some of they're dead weight salary.

[theBigLip]

Kings should just take Smith for the 8th pick. Plus we would take on some of they're dead weight salary.

It seems like a good trade. SVG seems to be saying all the right things that the big 3 can be a solid rotation, but I wonder what he is really thinking. Sign/trade Monroe this summer? See what value he can get for Smith? Or really try to make all 3 work in Detroit?

That #8 pick could bring us some good stuff (as we all talked about BEFORE the draft lottery).

[MotownMadness]

Kings should just take Smith for the 8th pick. Plus we would take on some of they're dead weight salary.

It seems like a good trade. SVG seems to be saying all the right things that the big 3 can be a solid rotation, but I wonder what he is really thinking. Sign/trade Monroe this summer? See what value he can get for Smith? Or really try to make all 3 work in Detroit?

That #8 pick could bring us some good stuff (as we all talked about BEFORE the draft lottery).

I'm sure he's definitley going to consider a Monroe sign and trade if he can't get rid of Smith first. It's just not logical to pay two PFs 13+ mil and bring one off the bench. Then we also have to be smart with our money because Drummond has a max extension coming up.

The roster just has too many flaws too tie all your money up on the same position. I think Stan is trying to pump up Monroe's value too get back a good return In case we can't move dumb ass.

[Laimbeer]

I guess it's true what they say about the Kings.

[The Penguin]

I'd have to imagine they'd be dumping Thompson and/or Landry in any Bucks deal. If they weren't I'd do:

Smith/Jennings/Singler/#38 for #8/McLemore/Landry/Thompson/Terry/Outlaw/Reggie Evans without hesitation


The Kings would save ~$ 6 mil in the deal, likely enough to allow them to re-sign Isaiah Thomas and throw the MLE at Avery Bradley without worrying too much about the lux tax.


We would take back both of their bad contracts but add McLemore/#8 and enter summer of 2015 with:

Drummond
Monroe/Thompson/Landry
????
McLemore/KCP
???? (Smart @#8?)

And nearly $30 mil in cap room

[ComboGuardCity]

People say I'm being overly optimistic, but I think josh for #8/salary is a realistic possibility.


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[DetroitPistons]

If the Kings want a vet rim protector for the 8th pick I would offer up Smith in a heart beat. Smith is also locked up on a long term deal for them so they won't have to worry about losing him to free agency any time soon. Smith for the 8th would be a dream come true and would undue two of Dumars worst mistakes in a single trade.

[DetroitPistons]

People say I'm being overly optimistic, but I think josh for #8/salary is a realistic possibility.


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I agree. If they are willing to take a headcase like Sanders then Smith, who is far more talented and well-rounded, would also make sense for them. Maybe we could land do that deal, land Smart with the 8th pick, and spend the offseason/regular season shopping Jennings for whatever we can get.

[Neptune]

Sounds like a good move for the Kings to me. Unless Smart drops, everyone else at #8 will be considered a project. Knight and Sanders are proven NBA talent and the Bucks are trying to build around youngsters like Giannis( ), Henson( ), and now hopefully Mclemore. I think the Kings would come out as winners if this actually happens. A Sanders/Cousins front-court would be beautiful!

[The Penguin]

Supposedly the Bucks are pretty high on Exum.

If they flipped Sanders/Knight for #8/McLemore then they could go:

Exum
McLemore
Giannis
Henson
Randle/Vonleh/Gordon

That's quite the collection of young talent and they'd like get a very high pick next year as well.

[Joe Berry]

One more reason to be disgusted by the job Dumars has done the last couple of years, if Knight really gets moved for the 8th pick and change.

[HotelVitale]

If the Kings want a vet rim protector for the 8th pick I would offer up Smith in a heart beat. Smith is also locked up on a long term deal for them so they won't have to worry about losing him to free agency any time soon. Smith for the 8th would be a dream come true and would undue two of Dumars worst mistakes in a single trade.

Smith isn't a rim protector, he's an athletic weakside shot blocker. Sanders was the best rim protector in the league year before last (as Zach Lowe told anyone who would listen), so he'd be much closer to fitting a need. They would be taking a big gamble that last season was an injury-fueled fluke, but they'd be taking as big a gamble on Smith turning in another of the worst volume shooting seasons in NBA history.

Also, year before last Sanders blocked three times as many shots per minute and rebounded almost twice as much as Smith did this year. He's also 25 years old and cheaper than Smith by a few mill per year, so i could see why they'd gamble on Sanders and not Smith. Not saying I wouldn't love for this deal to go done, just think an okay version of Sanders is closer to what they'd want than an okay version of Smith.

[HotelVitale]

Supposedly the Bucks are pretty high on Exum.
If they flipped Sanders/Knight for #8/McLemore then they could go:
Exum
McLemore
Giannis
Henson
Randle/Vonleh/Gordon
That's quite the collection of young talent and they'd like get a very high pick next year as well.

That'd be cool if I were a Bucks fan, but they would be the worst team in the league for at least a season. Not sure if the Bucks FO could roll with that. Out of that group, no one has shown they can consistently be even a below average starter in the league (even if Henson and Giannis showed signs for 3-4 weeks at a time last year). And none of them are surefire prospects either so it'd be a big gamble on a bunch of good not great prospects somehow developing into a coherent team within a few years.

[DocRI]

Just an observation — if this draft class is supposedly so good, why are so many teams in the lottery rumored to be shopping their pick? There's been talk of Cleveland, Boston (even excluding any massive Kevin Love deals), the Lakers and Sacramento all possibly dealing their picks for veterans. Is this just as simple as a slew of mismanaged, short-sighted teams who are pressing to contend ASAP? All of these picks are mid-lotto picks outside of Cleveland's (who are just a train wreck of a organization), so could part of this be a widespread case of the post-lotto blues, like these teams all feel, "Well, we missed out on Wiggins / Embiid / Parker, so we might as well trade our pick?"

Regardless, if we could trade Smith for #8 and bad contracts (JT and Landry), we should do it in a heartbeat. An added bonus to that deal — JT and Landry are bad contracts, but they're not the worst players could actually make a halfway decent bench behind Drummond and Monroe (albeit an overpaid one). If Sacramento wants to go even bigger and take Jennings too, I'd be more than happy to accommodate them (especially if it somehow netted us McLemore).

[theBigLip]

Just an observation — if this draft class is supposedly so good, why are so many teams in the lottery rumored to be shopping their pick? There's been talk of Cleveland, Boston (even excluding any massive Kevin Love deals), the Lakers and Sacramento all possibly dealing their picks for veterans. Is this just as simple as a slew of mismanaged, short-sighted teams who are pressing to contend ASAP? All of these picks are mid-lotto picks outside of Cleveland's (who are just a train wreck of a organization), so could part of this be a widespread case of the post-lotto blues, like these teams all feel, "Well, we missed out on Wiggins / Embiid / Parker, so we might as well trade our pick?"

Regardless, if we could trade Smith for #8 and bad contracts (JT and Landry), we should do it in a heartbeat. An added bonus to that deal — JT and Landry are bad contracts, but they're not the worst players could actually make a halfway decent bench behind Drummond and Monroe (albeit an overpaid one). If Sacramento wants to go even bigger and take Jennings too, I'd be more than happy to accommodate them (especially if it somehow netted us McLemore).

Good question, although there are reasonable answers for all four teams you listed.

Cleveland - if they are nervous about Embiid's health (and someone else isn't), you can trade down just a little and get the player you would have picked anyway. But I think Cleveland still likes this draft and it isn't like they want to trade it away for a vet (Kevin Love may be the exception, although he would bolt from there as soon as he could so it would be a bad idead).

Boston - Danny Ainge has been described as an opportunist. He constantly puts up smoke screens and no one quite knows what he is going to do. Boston's pick isn't going to make them a great team overnight, so if he can pick up some talent and move down, why not? As always, it comes down to how good of a package they can get.

Lakers and Sacramento, are similar. They are in "win now" mode, even though it is very debatable that this is the right thing to do. If they can trade their picks for starters, or starters and a later pick, they will certainly do that. Especially Sacramento - if you have Gay and Cousins already getting seriously paid, you should fill out your roster and make the playoffs, even if they are in the West. So trading #8 makes sense. Trading #8 for Knight and Sanders? Debatable.

[The Penguin]

Is this just as simple as a slew of mismanaged, short-sighted teams who are pressing to contend ASAP? All of these picks are mid-lotto picks outside of Cleveland's (who are just a train wreck of a organization), so could part of this be a widespread case of the post-lotto blues, like these teams all feel, "Well, we missed out on Wiggins / Embiid / Parker, so we might as well trade our pick?"

Cleveland & Sacto are chock full of high picks and they still can't win. The pressure is heating up on the front office and they know some intelligent vets will likely help them more to make the playoffs than adding yet another lottery pick. MJ has put a bit of pressure on the Hornets to make sure they continue to be a playoff team.

Boston & the Lakers are like Joe D. "We don't rebuild". They both have "stars" (in varying degrees of health & age) and know that making a big splash for proven vets/"stars" can put them right back in the hunt quickly. Both of their last titles teams were basically built overnight through the Gasol and KG/Ray Allen trades.


I do believe to a degree some of these teams likely would have traded their picks this year if it wasn't such a "loaded" draft class. Now that they know they've safely missed out there's no harm in trading it. It also looks like some of the draft hype is wearing off now that these guys are actually under the microscope and the shine is coming off a bit.

[HotelVitale]

Just an observation — if this draft class is supposedly so good, why are so many teams in the lottery rumored to be shopping their pick? There's been talk of Cleveland, Boston (even excluding any massive Kevin Love deals), the Lakers and Sacramento all possibly dealing their picks for veterans. Is this just as simple as a slew of mismanaged, short-sighted teams who are pressing to contend ASAP? All of these picks are mid-lotto picks outside of Cleveland's (who are just a train wreck of a organization), so could part of this be a widespread case of the post-lotto blues, like these teams all feel, "Well, we missed out on Wiggins / Embiid / Parker, so we might as well trade our pick?"

The draft class has been downgraded progressively since the peak of hype 8 months ago, but it's still pretty good. Problem is that teams approached it like it was the apocalypse and I think some teams a) are not thrilled with prospects in the 5-10 range and b) feel like the picks are worth more than they are. The guys in the 5-10 range are solid prospects but some are projects (Gordon, Vonleh, Nurkic), some have question marks about translating to the NBA (Randle, McDermott, Saric, Smart), and others have relatively low ceilings (Stauskas, Harris, Ennis). Still pretty good crop compared to most years but none of them are guaranteed big time players.

Also, it's not necessarily dumb or short-sighted to snag a vet for a lotto pick. Mid-lotto picks are always gambles, and sometimes it's wise to take the shorter odds and the surer return. Obviously getting a starter who's 20 years old and make $3m is better than having one who's 28 and makes $9m, but you know the vet can fulfill a solid role while mid-lotto picks have probably about a 40% chance of becoming pretty good starters. It's stupid to trade a #7 pick for a mediocre player but it's smart management to see what you could get for it.

[The Penguin]

In regards to Cleveland, I think Kyrie is a huge driver. It would look really bad if he turned down the max from them to play on the qualifying offer for one year to walk. If they traded for Love they'd be doing it thinking "there's rumors Kyrie & Love are going to team up, lets cut them off and get it done here". If Kyrie walks asap and the #1 pick busts then it might be time to start talking about "The Seattle Cavaliers". Add in the desperate hope to show Lebron they are competent and lure him back home and you've got an absolute powder keg.