Clemenza wrote:tacosman wrote:Lol portland was never going to trade #3. Well maybe for one of 4-5 dream type players(and you know the names) who > 99% chance were not available anyways.
But no they(or nobody) was trading #3 for players like Paul george, Pascal Siakam, etc.......thats not the way nba trades involving picks that high attached to specific highly valued players work.
They didn't make the trade because adding PG or Siakam to Dame doesn't make Portland title contenders. I don't even think adding one of the "dream players" would make them title contenders. The Suns just added Beal and still nobody is enamored with them
While I'd say those trades could propel them into contention in the sense that while they are not a favorite, they would be a team capable of coming out of the West, that is a tough sell for a team/GM when trading the #3 in what is considered a strong draft, but the problem for them would be matching salaries wouldn't really work without trading Simons. If they send out Simons, then it defeats the whole purpose. If there was a trade for get one of those guys and keep Simons, then at least it makes more sense for them.
For example, this is a strong roster:
Damian Lillard
Anfernee Simons
Paul George
Jerami Grant (re-signed)
FA Big Man
You take out Simons and put Nurkic back in there, and it's not really so strong anymore IMO. You don't get the "dream" players for draft picks. Usually if you're trading a pick for a star, it's a tier 2 star or lower, it's not the top tier stars that get traded for a top 5 pick around the draft unless it's a player who was asking out or something.
With Phoenix for example, Beal is not a dream player, not even close also not particularly the "best" fit when taking into account playstyle and both sides of the court (they have enough mid-range assassins and need more 3PT shooting, playmaking and defense). Beal is a tier 3 star, well below the likes of a Paul George who is a tier 2 star himself based on consistency issues. Suns are definitely considered a top contender though, but not favorites with the age of KD and some of his recent playoff signs of age. Then one has to look and wonder what they will do about their defense before thinking anything special of them.
If we look back on high draft pick trades, we had Ray Allen for the 5th pick (Jeff Green), Kevin Love for the 1st pick (Andrew Wiggins), both those teams already had a player considered top 5-ish in the NBA (KG, Lebron), plus another All-Star.
