BullyKing wrote:Lets say that there are AT MOST, ten teams that (1) have cap space and (2) will use it for taking on contracts for picks rather than adding talent. So you've worked a potential deal out with one. How long do you think it takes to call or email the other 9 to see if they will beat the offer? 10 minutes? 30 minutes? You keep calling to make sure you are getting the best deal possible. It's not like when you are trading a player and a player is unique. Cap space is cap space. If someone is willing to give you say $5 million in cap space for a 1st round pick, then yes, you call someone else to see if they would take on $8 million in salary for the same pick.
It absolutely does not take 10 or 30 minutes. These are deals worth millions of dollars, and always involve players and picks. Every potential trade is analyzed by both sides to look at how it affects their cap space, how it affects the team, how it affects their future positioning, how it affects the other team, etc. Every player is analyzed. When someone makes a trade offer it is NOT fantasy basketball. Someone doesn't just go into the ESPN Trade Checker, look at their stats and contract length and say, "Yup! I'll do that!" or "I'll beat that offer!". I guarantee you that proposing trades and analyzing trade offers takes a lot of time and effort from both sides, involving lawyers, salary cap people, statistics analysis, doctors, team owners, money people, etc. You seem to think that GMs are just glorified fantasy basketball team owners. And I can also guarantee you that after all of the work is done to analyze and approve a trade offer (from both sides) GMs aren't just going to be like - you know what I'm going to do? Do this 9 more times, just to make sure I got the absolute best deal I possibly can. Because Top 10 protection on the pick is better than Top 11 protection. Or because $3.5M salary saved is better than $3.4M. I'm by no means saying that teams don't do their due diligence and explore other options, but there is no way every trade executed is evaluated against every trade partner, and IF IT IS, it sure as hell isn't done in 10-30 minutes. As if every GM is hanging around waiting 24/7 for a phone call and then making multi-million decisions while making their coffee.
It's also commonly accepted/understood that GMs have better relationships with other front offices. Which is why people keep jumping at the chance at Daryl Morey will work out a deal with Sam Hinkie. When they made that Royce White/Furkan Aldemir deal - do you honestly believe that Morey was out there calling every other GM in the league just to make sure he got the best deal? This works for and against you. Some GMs have a bad reputation, and people don't want to deal with them. Either way, business relationships absolutely factor in when you're talking about trades. You absolutely cannot assume that every deal is going past Hinkie's desk. Maybe BK and Danny Ainge are best friends. Maybe they golf on the weekends. Maybe Billy King hates Hinkie. Who knows? But these are all things that can and do happen, and why your assumption that somehow every deal that happens that we aren't involved in is somehow Hinkie dropping the ball doesn't make sense.
