Season Speculation, Trade Ideas & Discussion Pt. 5

[LukasBMW]

Philly could make the best play.

Of all the teams, they are the only ones with the right combo of expiring contracts AND the ability to take on those contracts and use those players.

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybwj2l7b

They might have to throw in a pick, but it would be worth it Philly would be F-ing LOADED!

Walker/Flutz
Batum/TLC
Simmons/Covington
Saric/MKG
Embiid/Okafor...I mean...Noel...I mean...

[Wilber85]

Philly could make the best play.

Of all the teams, they are the only ones with the right combo of expiring contracts AND the ability to take on those contracts and use those players.

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybwj2l7b

They might have to throw in a pick, but it would be worth it Philly would be F-ing LOADED!

Walker/Flutz
Batum/TLC
Simmons/Covington
Saric/MKG
Embiid/Okafor...I mean...Noel...I mean...

First this trade would never happen. Also, whats this have to do with the suns.

[Kerrsed]

Philly could make the best play.

Of all the teams, they are the only ones with the right combo of expiring contracts AND the ability to take on those contracts and use those players.

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ybwj2l7b

They might have to throw in a pick, but it would be worth it Philly would be F-ing LOADED!

Walker/Flutz
Batum/TLC
Simmons/Covington
Saric/MKG
Embiid/Okafor...I mean...Noel...I mean...

Ok, i know they are looking for salary cap savings, but that is strictly all they get with this trade. That means the Hornets start back at square 1 with nothing. Thats not going to happen, they need some other kind of incentive. Hell, even the thread on the trade board has Philly giving up Fultz, which is a move i could totally see happening.

[Wilber85]

I am not trading Monroe for any of their long term contracts, even if it includes Kemba Walker. I think it would be foolish and shortsighted to take any long term salary coming back. I think McD knows this too.

The best kind of trade scenario would be for us to obtain Kemba Walker without giving up Monroe, even if it includes a young player. This is my ideal kind of trade, though some may not like it for us, and likely the Hornets wouldn't do it.

Suns get-
Kemba Walker
Dwight Howard

Hornets get-
TJ Warren
Tyson Chandler
Jared Dudley
Alex Len (Tyler Ulis works here also if Len refuses the trade)
Both Miami picks
Bucks pick
Suns 2018 2nd round pick

This gives us so much cap flexibility this summer to go after Boogie, Paul George, Aaron Gordon, etc. Dwight isn't as good as he used to be but he's still averaging 16 and 12. We make a play for a superstar this summer, and in the meantime, Josh Jackson starts for the rest of this season.

The Hornets likely won't get this many picks back in a trade from any other team, though they may get a better young player in return. I find it unlikely that the Sixers would really trade Fultz though, so other than them I'm not sure what teams would make a trade. May have to include our 2019 pick, though we could make it top 3 protected. Dudley and Chandler are familiar with the organization, not sure that helps anything though. The biggest problem I see is that the Hornets already have a lot of SF's with Batum, MKG, Williams. No one is going to touch Batum's contract, MKG may be traded though he'd have to go somewhere where they have four scorers around him.

Anyway, this is what we got going into the summer of 2018.

PG: Kemba Walker (12mil) / Brandon Knight (14.6mil) / Tyer Ulis (1.5mil)
SG: Devin Booker (2.3mil) / Troy Daniels (3.2mil)
SF: Josh Jackson (6mil) / Davon Reed (1.3mil)
PF: Chriss (3.2mil) / Bender (4.6mil)
C: Dwight (23.5mil)

We'd also have the option to keep Alan Williams for 5.5mil, but without him and not including our draft pick(s) we are sitting at $72.2mil in salary, we should have enough to offer a max contract to anybody worth it in free agency.

TRADE WARREN!?!?!??!!

Do you realize that players would rather play with Dwight and Kemba than Warren.

You have to realize NBA players are friends and have relationships. I would rather have Kemba Booker, Dwight recruiting players to come to Phoenix than Warren Booker. Thats just me though

[darealjuice]

Holy **** I forgot Batum has 100M/4 year left on his contract. Do not touch that.

[bwgood77]

I am sorry but if you don't think Kemba is better than Bledsoe, then you don't watch basketball regularly. At least look at the stats. Not even close!

Kemba is better but it's not that much....better ast/to ratio...but they have nearly the same TS%...Kemba better at shooting the 3, but still not that good (under 35%).

Bledsoe much better at getting to and finishing at the rim, but Kemba is the better free throw shooter.

http://bkref.com/tiny/nJ23r

[bwgood77]

Do you realize that players would rather play with Dwight and Kemba than Warren.

You have to realize NBA players are friends and have relationships. I would rather have Kemba Booker, Dwight recruiting players to come to Phoenix than Warren Booker. Thats just me though

Players want to play with Dwight? First time I've heard that.

[ATTL]

I am sorry but if you don't think Kemba is better than Bledsoe, then you don't watch basketball regularly. At least look at the stats. Not even close!

Bledsoe last year
21.1 ppg 6.3 APG 43.4% fg
Kemba this year
21.7 ppg, 5.8 apg 42.4% fg

The stays say pretty close

[Wilber85]

Do you realize that players would rather play with Dwight and Kemba than Warren.

You have to realize NBA players are friends and have relationships. I would rather have Kemba Booker, Dwight recruiting players to come to Phoenix than Warren Booker. Thats just me though

Players want to play with Dwight? First time I've heard that.

Dwight is having a good year. Also, dwight as a person has a lot of friends in the NBA. A lot of all star fans.

If you think Warren has more recruiting pull than Dwight, I don't even know what to say.

[Wilber85]

I am sorry but if you don't think Kemba is better than Bledsoe, then you don't watch basketball regularly. At least look at the stats. Not even close!

Bledsoe last year
21.1 ppg 6.3 APG 43.4% fg
Kemba this year
21.7 ppg, 5.8 apg 42.4% fg

The stays say pretty close

Box Score Guy!!!!!!!! love it.

I would take Kemba over Bledsoe every day of the week.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I'm kind of torn on Walker. I really like him and have been saying for a while I would be cool with them acquiring him. But man it's hard for me to sign off on them making a big move like this that would cost both assets and cap flexibility when there's a very real chance they could end up with a PG like Young in the draft.

If they trade for Walker they pretty much have to extend him this summer and with that new contract and Bookers extension they are pretty much out of FA for the foreseeable future.

[TeamTragic]

I am not trading Monroe for any of their long term contracts, even if it includes Kemba Walker. I think it would be foolish and shortsighted to take any long term salary coming back. I think McD knows this too.

The best kind of trade scenario would be for us to obtain Kemba Walker without giving up Monroe, even if it includes a young player. This is my ideal kind of trade, though some may not like it for us, and likely the Hornets wouldn't do it.

Suns get-
Kemba Walker
Dwight Howard

Hornets get-
TJ Warren
Tyson Chandler
Jared Dudley
Alex Len (Tyler Ulis works here also if Len refuses the trade)
Both Miami picks
Bucks pick
Suns 2018 2nd round pick

This gives us so much cap flexibility this summer to go after Boogie, Paul George, Aaron Gordon, etc. Dwight isn't as good as he used to be but he's still averaging 16 and 12. We make a play for a superstar this summer, and in the meantime, Josh Jackson starts for the rest of this season.

The Hornets likely won't get this many picks back in a trade from any other team, though they may get a better young player in return. I find it unlikely that the Sixers would really trade Fultz though, so other than them I'm not sure what teams would make a trade. May have to include our 2019 pick, though we could make it top 3 protected. Dudley and Chandler are familiar with the organization, not sure that helps anything though. The biggest problem I see is that the Hornets already have a lot of SF's with Batum, MKG, Williams. No one is going to touch Batum's contract, MKG may be traded though he'd have to go somewhere where they have four scorers around him.

Anyway, this is what we got going into the summer of 2018.

PG: Kemba Walker (12mil) / Brandon Knight (14.6mil) / Tyer Ulis (1.5mil)
SG: Devin Booker (2.3mil) / Troy Daniels (3.2mil)
SF: Josh Jackson (6mil) / Davon Reed (1.3mil)
PF: Chriss (3.2mil) / Bender (4.6mil)
C: Dwight (23.5mil)

We'd also have the option to keep Alan Williams for 5.5mil, but without him and not including our draft pick(s) we are sitting at $72.2mil in salary, we should have enough to offer a max contract to anybody worth it in free agency.

TRADE WARREN!?!?!??!!

Do you realize that players would rather play with Dwight and Kemba than Warren.

You have to realize NBA players are friends and have relationships. I would rather have Kemba Booker, Dwight recruiting players to come to Phoenix than Warren Booker. Thats just me though

Let me get this straight. We should trade Warren who has been a consistent player on a great contract because we need to build relationships with other players? We just traded Bledsoe and now we should destroy our cap space with Walker?

Then you are talking about Howard as if he is relevant. This is just madness.

[bwgood77]

I wouldn't trade for him. I like Kemba ok but I'd rather see what we get in this draft. If it makes sense to pursue him when he becomes a FA fine.

But like I mentioned earlier, I don't think we have players that would interest the Hornets. MAYBE Warren. But they have had a non shooting SF forever (one who can only hit 2s) in MKG and currently JJ is a poor man's MKG so I don't think they'd want him....even if we took MKG (which makes no sense) I doubt they'd be eager to take on a similar player.

They have Kaminsky so unless they have given up on him I don't know that they'd want Bender or Chriss. I don't think either has much value around the league and I like both and want to keep both. Their strengths are different.

Bender is the better team defender and 3 pt shooter while Chriss is more active, despite being lost..but at least he's not afraid to take it inside, finish, go after steals, is good at blocking shots (though Bender has been improving here too).

Then, going after Kemba likely makes our draft pick worse, and that pick is our best chance of finding a real star that we control for 8 or 9 years, instead of maxing out an older PG.

I would have rather traded that old Lakers pick for a guy like Kemba back in the day, and given McD's history with that, I wouldn't be surprised if he dangled that Miami unprotected pick.

I hope we don't trade our own pick unless it's top 7 or 8 protected, which they wouldn't probably want.

If we take back a bad contract, maybe the Miami (and maybe Milwaukee picks) do it, but I want no part of Batum, MKG or Howard. Every team Howard has gone to the last 4 teams has gotten worse....he busted out of LA, HOU, ATL and CHA.

I can see Sarver getting excited and thinking about Dwight like he did with Shaq and saying to trade picks and Monroe and maybe Warren or something for Kemba and Dwight.

I am curious if we made such a trade if we'd improve much for this year. Charlotte hasn't been all that good this year with those guys and Booker's usage and # of shots would likely drop quite a bit while someone far less efficient took shots. Plus the schedule.

But it would probably be enough to certainly drop us out of any chance at a top 7 pick.

Then of course Kemba could leave.

I imagine Kemba would probably stay for the max, but we'd max our team out with Booker and Kemba and just have to hope our young guys are good enough with them to go anywhere....sounds like maybe a fringe lottery team unless 1 or 2 of our forwards become near all star caliber players.

[darealjuice]

I am sorry but if you don't think Kemba is better than Bledsoe, then you don't watch basketball regularly. At least look at the stats. Not even close!

Bledsoe last year
21.1 ppg 6.3 APG 43.4% fg
Kemba this year
21.7 ppg, 5.8 apg 42.4% fg

The stays say pretty close

Box Score Guy!!!!!!!! love it.

I would take Kemba over Bledsoe every day of the week.

I mean when someone says "Look at the stats, not even close!" it's a pretty proper response lol.

[Walt_Uoob]

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y9fpwu3l

Walker and Batum to NYK
Noah, Lance Thomas, Ntilikina, (and a 2019 NYK first?) to PHX
BK and Monroe to CHA

We get Ntilikina (and a first?) basically for taking on salary plus whatever value BK has as a reclamation project.

Knicks get the best player in the deal by far in Walker, and turn Noah and Thomas into Batum, who's badly overpaid but is a good versatile player when healthy. They give up Ntilikina (and a first?) for the privilege, and make a push for the playoffs this year, which should improve relations with Porzingis and the fanbase. Walker-Lee-Batum-Porzingis-Kanter should be a playoff team in the East for sure.

Hornets get a big-time roster reset, major cap relief, and the chance to rehab BK in exchange for Walker. They also tank hard the rest of this season with an injured BK coming back for Walker.

I'm not sure how even this is. Some tweaking might be necessary, but in general I like it for each team. If the Knicks see value in Batum they should love it and be willing to give up that pick, which should be a non-lottery pick anyway. But I'm not sure I'd do it for the Suns without the pick coming back to PHX and I'm not sure I'd do it for the Hornets without the pick coming back to them, so there might be some imbalance here.

It gets us a young PG prospect who should pair well with Booker and put us in good position to take a big in this coming draft, but also is not such a sure thing that he'd preclude us from drafting Doncic/Young if given the chance.

[RaisingArizona]

This reminds me of the Harden talk a few years back. Many here said don't touch him, he doesn't play defense. Draft and stay the course... At some point, we need to pair Booker with a star. Stars are slim pickings. Have to pounce when the opportunity presents itself. I'd be 100% shocked if McD isn't in on this.

[n4th4n4]

I am not trading Monroe for any of their long term contracts, even if it includes Kemba Walker. I think it would be foolish and shortsighted to take any long term salary coming back. I think McD knows this too.

The best kind of trade scenario would be for us to obtain Kemba Walker without giving up Monroe, even if it includes a young player. This is my ideal kind of trade, though some may not like it for us, and likely the Hornets wouldn't do it.

Suns get-
Kemba Walker
Dwight Howard

Hornets get-
TJ Warren
Tyson Chandler
Jared Dudley
Alex Len (Tyler Ulis works here also if Len refuses the trade)
Both Miami picks
Bucks pick
Suns 2018 2nd round pick

This gives us so much cap flexibility this summer to go after Boogie, Paul George, Aaron Gordon, etc. Dwight isn't as good as he used to be but he's still averaging 16 and 12. We make a play for a superstar this summer, and in the meantime, Josh Jackson starts for the rest of this season.

The Hornets likely won't get this many picks back in a trade from any other team, though they may get a better young player in return. I find it unlikely that the Sixers would really trade Fultz though, so other than them I'm not sure what teams would make a trade. May have to include our 2019 pick, though we could make it top 3 protected. Dudley and Chandler are familiar with the organization, not sure that helps anything though. The biggest problem I see is that the Hornets already have a lot of SF's with Batum, MKG, Williams. No one is going to touch Batum's contract, MKG may be traded though he'd have to go somewhere where they have four scorers around him.

Anyway, this is what we got going into the summer of 2018.

PG: Kemba Walker (12mil) / Brandon Knight (14.6mil) / Tyer Ulis (1.5mil)
SG: Devin Booker (2.3mil) / Troy Daniels (3.2mil)
SF: Josh Jackson (6mil) / Davon Reed (1.3mil)
PF: Chriss (3.2mil) / Bender (4.6mil)
C: Dwight (23.5mil)

We'd also have the option to keep Alan Williams for 5.5mil, but without him and not including our draft pick(s) we are sitting at $72.2mil in salary, we should have enough to offer a max contract to anybody worth it in free agency.

TRADE WARREN!?!?!??!!

Do you realize that players would rather play with Dwight and Kemba than Warren.

You have to realize NBA players are friends and have relationships. I would rather have Kemba Booker, Dwight recruiting players to come to Phoenix than Warren Booker. Thats just me though

Except with them on the roster, you can't afford to pay anyone else to play in Phoenix. So your point is moot.

[bwoolf2]

I am sorry but if you don't think Kemba is better than Bledsoe, then you don't watch basketball regularly. At least look at the stats. Not even close!

Bledsoe last year
21.1 ppg 6.3 APG 43.4% fg
Kemba this year
21.7 ppg, 5.8 apg 42.4% fg

The stays say pretty close

Box Score Guy!!!!!!!! love it.

I would take Kemba over Bledsoe every day of the week.

So what are else are you basing it on if not the box score, all the playoff wins and division and conference championships Kemba has? lol...

[RaisingArizona]

We will make the playoffs if we get Kemba. I will sig bet that. I don't think many who stopped watching here get that Ulis is the worst point guard in the league. Going from that to a 22ppg 6 ast player is a serious, serious upgrade.

[Kerrsed]

This reminds me of the Harden talk a few years back. Many here said don't touch him, he doesn't play defense. Draft and stay the course... At some point, we need to pair Booker with a star. Stars are slim pickings. Have to pounce when the opportunity presents itself. I'd be 100% shocked if McD isn't in on this.

Major difference with Harden being...what, 22 at the time, and Kemba being 5 years older.

But i do agree with the rest of your post.