Post#199 » by Winejk » Fri Jun 3, 2016 1:13 am
I'm not in love with this trade rumor, but I'm not against it either providing Atlanta throws in something else as a sweetner.
On the plus side:
* At some point we need some veterans to play with the youth. You can't have a whole team of 19- 23 year olds and expect much progress. Even if you had a bunch of 19-23 years olds that are good players, there is no way you can keep all of them once their rookie contract expires. You can't pay all of them at the same time. It's OKC with Westbrook, Durant, Harden and Ibaka again.
• Teague is a better version than Ish. We need Okafor, Saric, Embiid and Simmons/Ingram to get some real PG play. That will help them grow as players. We can't have a season like the one that just finished.We can't draft Simmons/Ingram and have a 15 win season. People will revolt at that point. After three years, regardless of the circumstances, we don't want Okafor frustrated with playing with a bunch of Jakar Sampsons and Tony Wrotens.
• If the pick is Simmons, Teague is a good match. Teague can at least shoot from the 3 point line and he can run the team. That's the perfect blend you need from a PG to match with Simmons.
• Teague's contract has one season left. As of now Philly will be somewhere close to $50 million or so under the salary cap floor this season. Teague's one year deal of $8 million helps a little in that regard. There is a lot of optionality in it. If Teague sucks, then it doesn't hamper Philly's cap situation the following season. If Teague is decent, he might be a tradeable asset at the mid season trade deadline. He's at least a place holder better than Ish. If Teague works out fantastically, Philly might find a good piece for the future and in the future he's not likely to command a max contract. He might turn out to be a good veteran presence at a decent price.
On the negative:
• You lose the potential of Noel and an asset that could possible be converted to something better in future. Trade flexibility is lessened.
• Teague could walk at the end of the season and you lose Noel in the trade. You would have traded Noel for one year of Teague. Not a great return (which is why I need Atlanta to throw in a sweetner).
* Noel could blow up and become the second coming of Ben Wallace.
• Philly loses insurance if Embiid is unhealthy or a bust, and/or Okafor never develops.
If Atlanta added an unprotected pick swap in 2018-2020 in addition to Teague, I would do it. By 2018-2020 Atlanta's run will have ended and the pick swap might be extremely high. It mitigates against Teague walking after one season and Noel becoming a defensive force. Whether Atlanta is desperate enough to do that, I don't know. I consider the negatives of the deal less likely than the potential positives of the deal.
At some point we have to assemble a competitive roster. I suppose Philly could sign someone like Jeremy Lin to play PG and not lose Noel in the process, but some veterans are going to have to be mixed in. If you can find a better option than Teague for less of a price than Noel, then I'm all for it, but I can't come up with many of those scenarios right now.
