RealGM

Assumptions
Hou does not have a strong playoff showing (either out in 1st round or an easy 2nd round exit)
Char wins Lotto-wants to build team around new culture and Flagg

1-Ball to Hou for Green/Sheppard/#11 pick (from Suns)
Hou feels that their culture can make Ball into a winning player, and they keep FVV for his last year, as a vet leader/mentor
Ball/FVV
Amen/FVV
Brooks/Whitmore
Smith/Eason
Sengun/Landale

They'd still have future picks to play with

2-Vuc for Nurkic/#37 pick
Bulls save a little $, get a 2nd and clear minutes/shots for the younger guys

3-Bridges to Miami for Rozier
Miami adds talent, goes for it next year with Bam, Bridges, Wiggins, Herro, JJJ, Ware, Jovic, Anderson-that team could make the 2nd round

Char ends up with
Sheppard/Smith
Green/Green
Miller/Williams
Flagg/Salaun
Williams/Vuc
They have some future picks too, and no knuckleheads to build around, plus the #11 pick/Diabate/#33/Jefferies and maybe Mann as depth

Lamelo doesn't fit in at all with the style/culture that Houston is building. As for the value, he feels light for what I think the Hornets would demand...however, I like your idea of turning Nurkic+ into Vucevic...what do you think about Nurkic+Okogie for Ayton... The Blazquez get a veteran/mentor who, according to his statements, loves and misses Portland and above all, they cut a few million..
The Hornets get a huge upgrade in the center rotation that, along with their high pick (in this scenario Flagg), makes for a big step forward.

I don’t think Lamelo gets you Green, Reed, and #11. That’s 3 serious assets for a guy that Udoka is likely to choke in the first game.

LaMelo doesn’t have near that kind of value. In a trade for Green and Shepard, Char has to send 2 firsts with LaMelo. There could be light protection .

Don't see it-Ball is a very talented player. He just needs discipline and a better environment. No way his value is that low.

Green is slightly positive, maybe neutral
Reed is positive, but lower than a typical #3 pick
#11 is obviously positive

I like the idea of Green/Miller/Flagg core.

Feels like a fair deal considering Melo is injury prone. I think I would make this deal.

I'm a ball hater but I'd roll the dice on him for that

I don't see the Bulls financial department being so overjoyed with that $2M savings,

Vucevic has been out 3 games and as shocking as this will sound, they haven't lost anything by having Zach Collins play heavy minutes as Jalen Smith comes back from a concussion. So with both of them back next year the Bulls can look for a MUCH cheaper 3rd center and get a much better return from Vuc. The #37 pick is nice but now that the Bulls have their FRP back, Buzellis already starting, former SRP Phillips contributing and a full roster they aren't going to have floor time for a SRP.

I personally do not think that Ball is the type of player that the Rockets will be looking for and giving up assets for.
He does not really elevate the team. At all.

His contract after this season:
$37.9
$40.7
$43.5
$46.3

I think they would rather spend that cap space on Amen, Tari, Bari, etc...

I don't think Ball is right for our team.

Udoka would have to be on board, of course, If he thought he could make Ball into a winning player, then Hou gets an All Star cheaply here.
again, this is if Char wins the lotto. Maybe they do it too if they get the #2 or 3 pick and add Harper

this isn't a remotely appealing package even if we were open to trading LaMelo

HornetJail wrote:this isn't a remotely appealing package even if we were open to trading LaMelo

At the beginning of the season I said our available players were Micic, Martin, and Richards.

That's who we sent out at this deadline.

Feels like it's time for me to submit a new list of the next wave of most likely Hornets trade candidates heading into next season.



Nurkic
Josh Green
Grant Williams
Josh Okogie

These are not sexy names, unfortunately for all these non-Hornets fans plucking away here. These are mere matching contracts.

Hornets will be attaching surplus draft capital for upgrades.

Probably not even Miles or Mark would be made available without a clear overpay.

Mark is 22 points 14 rebounds per 36.

Miles is cheap for a 3rd option. His numbers comp with Lauri's at a small fraction of money owed plus Bridges is 1 year younger.

Skybox wrote:I don’t think Lamelo gets you Green, Reed, and #11. That’s 3 serious assets for a guy that Udoka is likely to choke in the first game.

Are Green and Reed even assets? That's $44M in committed salary for a player who best projects as a sixth man and a prospect who hasn't demonstrated he's a rotation player yet. That's arguably negative filler.

jbk1234 wrote:

Skybox wrote:I don’t think Lamelo gets you Green, Reed, and #11. That’s 3 serious assets for a guy that Udoka is likely to choke in the first game.

Are Green and Reed even assets? That's $44M in committed salary for a player who best projects as a sixth man and a prospect who hasn't demonstrated he's a rotation player yet. That's arguably negative filler.

I have no idea what to make of Reed Sheppard yet, but I don't know that I'd even eat Jalen Green's 3/105M for the 11th pick, it's a pretty severely negative value contract. I'm not dying to trade for another Rozier on a contract that's like 50% more expensive than the one we got off of, and Green is in no way as good as Rozier was at the time of our trade last year. He kills whatever value that package might otherwise have.

[quote="HornetJail"][quote="jbk1234"][quote="Skybox"]I don’t think Lamelo gets you Green, Reed, and #11. That’s 3 serious assets for a guy that Udoka is likely to choke in the first game.[/quote]

Are Green and Reed even assets? That's $44M in committed salary for a player who best projects as a sixth man and a prospect who hasn't demonstrated he's a rotation player yet. That's arguably negative filler.[/quote]
I have no idea what to make of Reed Sheppard yet, but I don't know that I'd even eat Jalen Green's 3/105M for the 11th pick, it's a pretty severely negative value contract. I'm not dying to trade for another Rozier on a contract that's like 50% more expensive than the one we got off of, and Green is in no way as good as Rozier was at the time of our trade last year. He kills whatever value that package might otherwise have.[/quote]

I think Jalen’s value will be determined in the playoffs. If he can hone his focus then he can be a force. If he fades, then it is a bad contract. Gotta say, he talent when focused is scary.

Sounds like CHA fans should just keep Ball…I don’t think other orgs necessarily see him as the winner they see

Skybox wrote:Sounds like CHA fans should just keep Ball…I don’t think other orgs necessarily see him as the winner they see

We have sold off vets and tightened spending so we could bottom out this year (and retain our 1st owed the Spurs, now Kings).

So while it appears we are sellers, I believe we are done selling.

We sit on a surplus of draft capital and matching contracts.

The logical next step is buying. We will be attaching draft capital for upgrades, to the following contracts:

Nurkic
Josh Green
Grant Williams
Josh Okogie

Trade proposals that ignore this blueprint for roster management are out of touch with the direction of the team in terms of buying/selling.

I know it's absurd to conceive of the 2nd worst team in the NBA transitioning to buying, but that's what we will see.

We will fire a first year head coach before we start gutting the roster like this.

I hope to see proposals for Charlotte where we attach draft capital to matching salaries for upgrades, instead of losing key players and arguing about their value. It's pointless to argue LaMelo's value when you have 7 surplus 1st round picks to build a team.

MasterIchiro wrote:

Skybox wrote:Sounds like CHA fans should just keep Ball…I don’t think other orgs necessarily see him as the winner they see

We have sold off vets and tightened spending so we could bottom out this year (and retain our 1st owed the Spurs, now Kings).

So while it appears we are sellers, I believe we are done selling.

We sit on a surplus of draft capital and matching contracts.

The logical next step is buying. We will be attaching draft capital for upgrades, to the following contracts:

Nurkic
Josh Green
Grant Williams
Josh Okogie

Trade proposals that ignore this blueprint for roster management are out of touch with the direction of the team in terms of buying/selling.

I know it's absurd to conceive of the 2nd worst team in the NBA transitioning to buying, but that's what we will see.

We will fire a first year head coach before we start gutting the roster like this.

I hope to see proposals for Charlotte where we attach draft capital to matching salaries for upgrades, instead of losing key players and arguing about their value. It's pointless to argue LaMelo's value when you have 7 surplus 1st round picks to build a team.

You left Mark Williams off your list…was that on purpose? I didn’t get the LAL trade other than his health is worth the risk for LAL, who could win today if he kept it together for 3 months (but tough guy to count on for a rebuild). CHAs angry, but LAL clearly wanted it to work.

Skybox wrote:

MasterIchiro wrote:

Skybox wrote:Sounds like CHA fans should just keep Ball…I don’t think other orgs necessarily see him as the winner they see

We have sold off vets and tightened spending so we could bottom out this year (and retain our 1st owed the Spurs, now Kings).

So while it appears we are sellers, I believe we are done selling.

We sit on a surplus of draft capital and matching contracts.

The logical next step is buying. We will be attaching draft capital for upgrades, to the following contracts:

Nurkic
Josh Green
Grant Williams
Josh Okogie

Trade proposals that ignore this blueprint for roster management are out of touch with the direction of the team in terms of buying/selling.

I know it's absurd to conceive of the 2nd worst team in the NBA transitioning to buying, but that's what we will see.

We will fire a first year head coach before we start gutting the roster like this.

I hope to see proposals for Charlotte where we attach draft capital to matching salaries for upgrades, instead of losing key players and arguing about their value. It's pointless to argue LaMelo's value when you have 7 surplus 1st round picks to build a team.

You left Mark Williams off your list…was that on purpose? I didn’t get the LAL trade other than his health is worth the risk for LAL, who could win today if he kept it together for 3 months (but tough guy to count on for a rebuild). CHAs angry, but LAL clearly wanted it to work.

I wouldn't let that deal muddy the picture of this transition to buying.

The Hornets secured an overpay for Mark Williams.

What does an overpay for LaMelo look like?

Not this.

Let's try to match proposals with reports from Hornets fans about the direction of the team. We should have a better sense of our buying position than non-Hornets fans who couldn't even name the 7 surplus picks we have to build a team around our key players led by LaMelo.