A Utah Jazz offseason (w/MIA, NOP)

[ReggiesKnicks]

Im confused as to why this trade would prevent that evaluation from happening. I think CJ moves to the bench or perhaps Missi, but not Trey. Also given Cj's age, he becomes the 4th banana. Id actually be interested to see who guards who if they trot out Zion, Herb, Trey, Lauri and Missi. Puts alot of pressure on an opposing team. Herb would likely guard the opposing lead ball handler and Trey would have to guard the number 1 wing option.

Nobody is saying Trey Murphy III goes to the bench. Maybe I am misunderstanding your comment, but why did you mention Trey wouldn't move to the bench?

That roster has very little ball-handling and playmaking. They will struggle against on-ball pressure and they have, as a I mentioned, potentially weak 1st option (Zion), 2nd option (Lauri) and 3rd option (Trey, depending on his development).

And who are they defending? Lauri and Zion are weak defenders, Trey is mediocre and Missi is an unknown with some highlight real plays.

What I am proposing is continue to be patient and if Trey Murphy III is simply a 4th option, trade him. Re-build around #7, some juicy picks in the coming years and whatever you receive in exchange for Trey Murphy III.

Your argument is that we should evaluate Trey and see what we have in him before making any moves. My argument is that the construction of the team post trade would allow for that evaluation regardless.

I am saying don't make a trade for a valuable asset (#7 pick) with so much up in the air around New Orleans and their lack of talent on the roster.

You are saying make a move with #7.

I think it is dumb for a team as bad as New Orleans to make a move with a valuable draft pick, but they did trade for DeJounte Murray.

[lordjeff05]

Nobody is saying Trey Murphy III goes to the bench. Maybe I am misunderstanding your comment, but why did you mention Trey wouldn't move to the bench?

That roster has very little ball-handling and playmaking. They will struggle against on-ball pressure and they have, as a I mentioned, potentially weak 1st option (Zion), 2nd option (Lauri) and 3rd option (Trey, depending on his development).

And who are they defending? Lauri and Zion are weak defenders, Trey is mediocre and Missi is an unknown with some highlight real plays.

What I am proposing is continue to be patient and if Trey Murphy III is simply a 4th option, trade him. Re-build around #7, some juicy picks in the coming years and whatever you receive in exchange for Trey Murphy III.

Your argument is that we should evaluate Trey and see what we have in him before making any moves. My argument is that the construction of the team post trade would allow for that evaluation regardless.

I am saying don't make a trade for a valuable asset (#7 pick) with so much up in the air around New Orleans and their lack of talent on the roster.

You are saying make a move with #7.

I think it is dumb for a team as bad as New Orleans to make a move with a valuable draft pick, but they did trade for DeJounte Murray.

Its a waste of time to go in to this because its mostly bait, but I guess I got time to waste. The issue last year wasn't talent but helacious injury luck. Forget about Zion, the Pels had season ending injuries for relatively healthy players like Jones and Dejounte. The Pelicans had 3 of their projected starters go down with season ending injuries, as well as having two additional players hit with major missed time. There isnt a team around that could survive that. And this is coming after a 49 win season. The Pels were not a champion contender but they were not a bad team.

The projected starting 5 never played a single minute together. The Murray trade was a flop because he blew out his Achilles. In super limited minutes he was playing well with Zion. All of that is out of the window though because you don't know what type of player he will be when he gets back. But this was freak injury, not a trade for an injury prone player. If Murray hadn't been injured, I would have made that trade again even after seeing Dyson's improvement last year because he's still a negative shooter, which played out as expected in the play-in game.

As for this trade, its a risk, like all trades but the chances of the player drafted being as good or better than Lauri are small, and his timeline fits with the rest of the players on the team. You've got the starters locked in for 4 years, all of your picks and additional draft assets from the Bucks. That's enough flexibility so that the team can blow it up and start fresh if the trade is a bust. Its rare that you have two shooters like Trey and Lauri on the same team and the ability of Zion to generate rim attempts that both leverage the spacing and create the spacing is intriguing. That's before considering CJ's ability to leverage that as well. For me, the opportunity outweighs the risk.