The Official 2025 Offseason Thread Part 2

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Slim Charless]

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I really hope 1 of those names is Chris Quinn.

[thamadkant]

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As per my post.

I don't care how many times I say it, but it's frigging obvious.

Giannis wants New York hence the Nets and Raptors leaks because Giannis camp is literally saying they want Giannis home city to be New York city.

Secondly, Giannis understands that Knicks have Towns and sweetener to get Bucks to bite... Towns and Anunoby is a good return for Giannis if he wants out.

Now if Knicks get eliminated in ECF or Finals, Giannis will make his intention known during off season.

If Knicks win the whole thing, Giannis will wait until Knicks are done celebrating and when Knicks start losing games in November, December and January, as in not dominating the league, Giannis will push for Knicks before deadline. Or he may even push earlier depending on if Knicks don't care about the backlash with fans.

But a team of Brunson, Hart, Mikal, Giannis and Robinson or which ever filler player Bucks sends, looks mighty good.

Bucks still compete with Towns and Anunoby and Lillard.

[thamadkant]

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So Brooklyn? I can't imagine the Knicks would trade those guys after this run they are having

Yes! Most likely! They could unload Cam Johnson/ Claxton/ filler a ton of picks while also having enough cap space to completely structure their roster to whatever Giannis prefers! And Giannis would be close to his businesses in New York too!

I might wonder though if Milwaukee would expand it to being a 3 team trade with New Orleans involved too in order to get their picks back from the Pels! Their 26' and 27' 1st swaps. I could see Milwaukee sending Giannis to Brooklyn, Johnson and Claxton to New Orleans, and then Zion/ Murray/ their 1sts back to Milwaukee.

Bucks laugh at that offer from Nets.

And Nets with Giannis and role players mean a disgruntled Giannis and poorer asset wise.

[Rebound Mound]

Eight names for a vacancy and everything open to a series of personal interviews with the GM, PBO, Thomas and Ishbia.
It sounds like a little bit weird to me.
I like Borrego, may be just because of his Spanish surname (it means little sheep or new born sheep) or lamb or new born lamb. Also it applies to a person who is really obdurate or stubborn. Like that typical coach who wants to carry out his ideas no matter what...

Well, I hope some of them have the guts to talk about his ideas and say that they would trade Booker. But I guess you do not get into that particular details when you are going to be a coach and your responsibility is not the creation of the roster...

[Saberestar]

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I really hope 1 of those names is Chris Quinn.

Gambo:

Yes Chris Quinn has advanced to second phase of interviews. Lot of good options for Phoenix - probably a week away from getting to 3 finalists.

[lilfishi22]

Ish has been in the big seat long enough for them to have full control and take full responsibility for these mishaps. It's one thing to have one disgruntled ex-employee, it's another to have multiple over a relatively short period of time.

Seeing this from outside the US, I have this idea that it is like very common to sue someone overthere, particularly when talking about organizations which should show an image of complete control and everything organized.
Could it be the overreaction of lawyers pushing their clients to sue because of this?
I mean, here in Europa, people do not sue nobody for medical reasons, or over car accidents, injuries, etc., unless the actions are completely clear...

I certainly thought about that too. It's also uncommon in Australia for former employees to take legal action against employers, not that it doesn't happen but it's rare and for it to be public is rarer still. Perhaps your point has legs but it just doesn't paint an image of a robust operation with strong governance.

[bwgood77]

Would either team consider Beal for Wiggins+Rozier? I mean, thats pretty equal garbage going both ways right? And If we did something like that, would you consider keeping KD with a starting lineup around Rozier, Booker, Wigging, Kd, ??? Richards for now?

Obviously we love to do that trade, but I doubt the Heat wants to do it because of Beal's NTC.

Rozier wouldn't start for us because he was literally one of the worst players in the league. He has regressed badly...but at least he is on an expiring deal.

I would keep KD in this scenario, no doubt about it.

Looking at Beal's Basketball Reference stats, I reiterate that IF we trade Kd, we should turn Beal loose at Pg for us this year instead of buying him out... (IF WE CANT TRADE HIM). His stats show no drop off as far as efficiency, just the amount of usage. His minutes per game are down a little and the ball is in his hands to score less. But his shot percentages, rebounds, turnover rate, have not gone out of whack. Being a more focal point without KD and he would still score 20+ a game and be a better defender than Book. We can ride that out rather than buy him out. Beal is out of sorts in his role, so a role change may help still. If you trade KD, start Beal at pg next to Booker (Booker starting at sf made me feel like kicking my tv off the stand), and put guys on the floor that fit. Post/pick guy, lob threat, defenders and let he and Book cook for a year. Beal, Book, Dunn + up-tempo could be fun.

I think it's smartest to keep Beal especially if you have to give up assets to get rid of him. Now if it's a buyout/stretch, I don't really like that either, because I don't want us talking about a near $20 million cap it in 4-5 years. Seems ridiculous to prolong that and not just to open up massive cap space in the summer of 27, and potentially trade him as an expiring the year prior (though that would probably require taking on bad longer contracts).

Of course I expect Ish to try to do anything but what I think is best as we desperately try to hang on to the yesteryears.

[bwgood77]

I dont really see the Sixers biting but if they did, being able to potentially grab your next franchise player (not a big draft guy so unsure how realistic that is) at #3 might be worth it.

Or using it in a trade down scenario attached to Beal while picking up other assets/ picks?

Maybe to Brooklyn for their #8 pick if they take Beal (and he wants to go there)?

I'd still rather get actual assets though. Utah might give us good stuff to get a shot at Ace Bailey or VJ.

I don't know if it's quite worth quite $110 million to move up 5 spots in this draft.

[TeamTragic]

Why would the Knicks sacrifice their core for Giannis?

It didn't work for the Suns and everyone here bitches about it on a daily basis.

[Ghost of Kleine]

So Brooklyn? I can't imagine the Knicks would trade those guys after this run they are having

Yes! Most likely! They could unload Cam Johnson/ Claxton/ filler a ton of picks while also having enough cap space to completely structure their roster to whatever Giannis prefers! And Giannis would be close to his businesses in New York too!

I might wonder though if Milwaukee would expand it to being a 3 team trade with New Orleans involved too in order to get their picks back from the Pels! Their 26' and 27' 1st swaps. I could see Milwaukee sending Giannis to Brooklyn, Johnson and Claxton to New Orleans, and then Zion/ Murray/ their 1sts back to Milwaukee.

Bucks laugh at that offer from Nets.

And Nets with Giannis and role players mean a disgruntled Giannis and poorer asset wise.

I'm not so sure they'd laugh at getting Zion and their picks back! Not sure if you've read about it yet, but the Bucks getting their picks back is pretty important to them! Also, Zion is unguaranteed for his next 3 years remaining on his contract if he can't play a specific amount of games. And when he does play, he's still elite! So foing the math here:

Milwaukee could end up with (from my above trade proposition)

Murray/ Lillard/ Kuzma/ Zion/ Portis.

PLUS their picks back too for 26 and 27, plus the additional picks from the Brooklyn trade too. And they could still trade any of Connaughton/ Portis/ Kuzma in a trade for a center. Or trade them for cap space and picks and then resign Brook Lopez or another FA center. And add depth pieces too! You really don't think they could compete with that starting lineup??

[Sunsdeuce]

David Fitzdale is not a good coach. I feel Ishbia never watched NBA basketball till he bought the Suns.

Also note, not sure if there is any college coaches on that list but if he’s considering a college coach, he’s unserious. There is a reason college coaches always fail at the NBA level.

If he’s picking from assistant coaches than I require at minimum 3 years as an assistant coach experience.

I miss the days when we use to grow our own coaches internally under Jerry.

[lilfishi22]

If it's true that Bud asked Beal to be like Jrue then that's just silly.


Bud should have asked Beal to be the Derrick White of the Suns. A spot shooter while on with KD and Booker.
Similarly Bud should have asked Booker to give KD the first option role until he gets tired.

But I think Booker and KD didn't care and just wanted to shoot hoops rather than be syrategic

I think there's two things here.

1. Asking Beal to be someone he might consider to be more of a role player which he may have taken as an insult. I don't agree with it because Jrue is a fantastic 3rd piece on two title teams. But that's just how he may have taken it. My point being, it might not have really mattered who he asked him to be (unless it was Beal be Beal or something).

2. There's been some reports that the approach Bud took wasn't conducive to Beal accepting the suggested role. Nobody knows exactly how he approach Beal but that's just what has been mentioned.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Or using it in a trade down scenario attached to Beal while picking up other assets/ picks?

Maybe to Brooklyn for their #8 pick if they take Beal (and he wants to go there)?

I'd still rather get actual assets though. Utah might give us good stuff to get a shot at Ace Bailey or VJ.

I don't know if it's quite worth quite $110 million to move up 5 spots in this draft.

That's what I thought at first too, but looking at the Nets payroll, they currently have $ 124 million in cap space below the tax WITH Cam Johnson and Nik Richards. And they'll definitely need to add some big salaries just to reach the salary floor, but it'd also help them to have a player like Beal who could be a vet 1st option to their younger players too and despite Beal's contract, he's still very productive when he plays and very efficient also!

Now they probably wouldn't want to give up the 8th pick in a trade for the 3rd overall because of their intention to trade for Giannis and having BOTH a top 3 pick and a top 8 pick in addition to their cache of picks and Johnson and Claxton could be a very enticing package for Milwaukee honestly.

But in also taking back Beal or even George in a trade, that also means that Giannis wouldn't have to be the singular big star trying to carry the team with only depth pieces around him! Giannis/ Beal and depth pieces would be much better than just Giannis and free agent depth acquisitions as a springboard for the roster.

Now again, I don't think they'd do the 8th pick while taking back Beal, but I'd target their 19th, 26th, 27th picks AND a 26' or 28' BRK 1st with partial protections ( top 5or 6 maybe) and call it good! Then we'd have more swings on polarizing young talent to surround Booker until he asks out and then can target more premium players and picks back too! For my part, I'd use those picks on:

19- Yaxel Lendeborg. Adebayo.
26- Maxime Raynaud. Gasol.
27- Labaron Philon. K Dunn.
29- Adou Thiero. OG Anunoby.
52- Kobe Brea or (John Tonje) Klay Thompson/ Devin Booker.

UDFA- ( 3 allowed)
1- Vlad Goldin. Ivaca Zubac.
2- Obinna anuchili Killen. Toumani Camara.
3- RJ Felton. Marcus Smart.

** I might look to trade Allen/ CLE 29'1st to Charlotte for Mark Williams and the 33rd pick. So I could take Kalkbrenner. Our roster would be loaded with young, physical, cost controlled athletic talent to build out our core with!

[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Ghost of Kleine]

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[Slim Charless]

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I really hope 1 of those names is Chris Quinn.

Gambo:

Yes Chris Quinn has advanced to second phase of interviews. Lot of good options for Phoenix - probably a week away from getting to 3 finalists.

He's the best option by far IMO. Learning from Spo is the best possible situation and he's been with the staff for a long time. I think he might've even been there for that last LeBron year.

If we end dealing KD to Miami for Ware and stuff then there's no one else that makes more sense.

[Slim Charless]

So Brooklyn? I can't imagine the Knicks would trade those guys after this run they are having

Yes! Most likely! They could unload Cam Johnson/ Claxton/ filler a ton of picks while also having enough cap space to completely structure their roster to whatever Giannis prefers! And Giannis would be close to his businesses in New York too!

I might wonder though if Milwaukee would expand it to being a 3 team trade with New Orleans involved too in order to get their picks back from the Pels! Their 26' and 27' 1st swaps. I could see Milwaukee sending Giannis to Brooklyn, Johnson and Claxton to New Orleans, and then Zion/ Murray/ their 1sts back to Milwaukee.

Bucks laugh at that offer from Nets.

And Nets with Giannis and role players mean a disgruntled Giannis and poorer asset wise.

Brooklyn doesn't have the stuff needed. They really could've used a top 2 pick. With Flagg or Harper, I think there's would've been a great possibility.

They should try and buy low on Zion. See if he can change his fat ways with a new city......we also should try and buy low on Zion.

[lilfishi22]

There really was never a point in firing Frank Vogel.

It says more about the Suns than anything. Like with this season, Bud was a complete failure but he's never failed to this extent before in his career and it just feels like an issue bigger than him. Likewise with Vogel, I think both have to take some responsibility for disappointing seasons but at the end of the day the buck stops with the Ishbia.