ogmagicfan wrote:Idiosyncratic wrote:ogmagicfan wrote:No way?! Teams dont have to build the whole team through the draft? /s
Dort is closer to a draft pick to me as a 2-way after the draft. Homegrown for sure. Shai and Haliburton were proven player for prospect trades, basically homegrown IMO, Nesmith as well to a lesser extent. Looks a little different when you view it with nuance, but I guess I am nitpicking.
We have 3/5 drafted and don't see that changing any time soon. Nuggets make finals possibly with 4/5 drafted if they had any bit of a bench.
I mean the goal is to get good players however you can obviously. I don't see a Brunson signing with us in FA or us being able to acquire an expiring Siakam or Anunoby for cheap because our cap space will mostly be eaten by our big 3 so some of these aren't even applicable for us. I also think the new CBA will make homegrown players even more important, which brings me to my next point...
All 4 teams remaining drafted two players this year, so we must do the same if we want to make it
I was giving the "build teams only through the draft & internal development" guys a hard time
I have no problem with players drafted by us, and if we had the opportunity to build a complete team through it I'm all for it, but that just doesnt happen ever, you gotta have a GM willing to make a trade where it makes sense. I agree with your points about how some of those players are practically homegrown, atleast in the fans hearts, opposed to a KD signing on the Warriors
Which raises my other point, in that 11/20 were acquired through trades! And only 3/20 from FA!
Great example of the death of FA and how trades have been the premier way to add talent in the league for a while now
Could you go into greater detail why you believe homegrown players will be more important in the new CBA? I'm assuming you expect the next one to not be as strict with the cap space situation, allowing teams who draft well to retain their players for longer?
Oh I agree with you. I think when it boils down to it more than anything you have to get really lucky to find a superstar to have a chance to win a title. Maybe luck isn't the right word, but you have to find a star however you can. Then it is just filling in around them however makes sense. We got lucky winning the lottery for Paolo and lucky the Bulls overpaid and got us Franz. Now we need one to become a superstar, without that aspect it is really hard to win a ring. To me neither is on that level yet, but would not surprise me if one gets there as early as next year. I think Franz was close this year, but not being able to shoot is going to make him very easy to gameplan against in the playoffs.
I will say the landscape could be changing now, we are kind of in a new age of NBA where a different team is winning a title every year. Kind of uncharted territory at this point. Maybe you can win with just 2 all-stars and really good depth now? Is that because of the new CBA or because guys who were so good they hogged a lot of the rings in Lebron and Curry are aging? Not sure, but maybe the calculus is a little different now, or maybe the Thunder are about to reel off 3 in a row with their combination of depth and having a superstar.
And no, I am referring to the current CBA. I think given terrible free agent classes and how large max contracts are teams are going to value picks to develop cheap role players more than ever. I think we are already seeing that trend given how stingy teams are about trading 1sts for non stars at this point. But maybe overvaluing 1sts swings the pendulum to the point where trades can get you really good value back? There are a lot of factors at play.
But I do agree we need some trades to bring talent in here and it will cost draft equity, I am fine with that, I don't think there really is any other way. They have to get Paolo and Franz some help. But at the same time I don't totally disagree with the approach they have taken to this point. I just want to see what they do this offseason. I also just disagree with people who say "no more picks where will they play" All of these teams remaining are better than us and just made multiple picks. It's not just about now, it's about Goga or Caldwell-Pope expiring in a couple of years and having a replacement ready on hand since free agency can't really be relied on and we won't have a ton of cap wiggle room. Also you could get lucky and draft another really good player at any slot, that could even push you over the top. We will have to trade some picks, but there is still going to be a use for the ones we don't trade.
