sidsid wrote:OAKLEY_2 wrote:sidsid wrote:
The answer to this is "I don't care about role players at the beginning stage of a rebuild". We can find a Terence Ross, FVV, Norm, Amir, JV, OG, Ibaka, etc. down the road and anywhere in the draft and out of it.
I do care about losing a shot at our best chance to get a high level, ceiling raising star. And that's what the Norm/Lowry decisions are likely to cost us. Trent isn't worth that tradeoff. I'd rather have the future pick that isn't likely to be as good as him AND the lottery pick that has the potential to be much, much, much more impactful than he ever will.
And this isn't a full tank, it's the stealth tank moves for this season that 90% of this board has finally accepted were the obvious course after we slid down the standings. Masai just blew the opportunity.
This really isn't a rebuild it is a retool on the fly. Masai and Bobby want players for next year and the years after not five years plus from now like Sam Hinke. All these freshmen? Super high risk.Ideally we land Cade, Suggs, Mobley and Green but... we are in Poetl territory. So what they do with KL's 30 mil plus and Baynes 7 is the biggest concern and biggest opportunity going forward.
Even in a retool, you're still looking for the highest level assets because you have a "core" that can provide a floor. And specifically in our situation, getting lucky with the lottery balls could net us a player that is more impactful both immediately and in the future than Trent is now. That was the immediate calculus that should have made the trade course clear.
Even looking at it from other aspects like the cap. The #1 pick would likely cost us significantly less than what we're paying Trent this offseason. We'd have his RFA rights in 4 years which we won't for Trent, etc.
It's a different story if we were getting Giannis this offseason, but we're not.
The way Trent is playing now, I would not be surprised if a desperate team offered him over 20 million a year. The argument made was that Trent would be cheaper than Powell. No longer the case. I was looking at the cap aspects also. So, the argument from my perspective was to trade Powell for draft picks and some expiring contracts that you could waive. My hope was that this team would have dumped Powell and Lowry in January for nothing but picks and expiring contracts. Then "load managed" Siakam, FVV, and OG for the rest of the year, to guarantee a bottom 3 finish. This was a lost year playing in Tampa, especially the way the team started out, so I would have thrown in the towel in January. I was hoping to be where Detroit and Minnesota is record wise right now.
When you are drafting in the top 3, you are getting Cade or Suggs at 7-8 million a year depending on their draft slot, for the next 3 years, and 10 M in the 4th year. You have their bird rights also. This team also had 25-30 million in cap space, with no Powell and Lowry. I would rather have Cade/Suggs for 7-8 million, with their high ceiling star potential, and 25-30 million in cap space than Gary Trent Jr, who will now eat up a large chunk of the cap. People ignore the cap aspects. I was of the mindset to get the highest level assets, and the only way to do so was to finish in the bottom 3. The worst thing that could happen for this franchise, is to somehow sneak into the playoffs, and have Gary Trent Jr. command a hefty contract in the off-season, where the Raptors might have to potentially pay him more than we should have.
I would think they trade with Philly and be just slightly below them with BK being on top if they can re-sign Blake and Aldridge.
