Official Trade Thread -- Part XXXIV

[CobraCommander]

Have courtside tickets to OKC rockets preseason, OKC just keeps adding star power to make it more exciting lol

Whoa thats an interesting ticket...is the game in OKC or Houston? Btw...aint that always the way...you get better seats to see teams you are not invested in. I have had second row seats at GS, coupe rows up in NYC, great seats for Bulls, OKC, Portland and Miami (maybe missed some) but NEVER great seats for the WIz or when the Wiz in those cities!

You should wear your John Wall jersey....wait you only have a Tomáš Satoranský jersey...wear that

[Ruzious]

So George and Westbrook recruited Melo... that just might come back to haunt them. Either way, it'll be fun to watch.

[CobraCommander]

So George and Westbrook recruited Melo... that just might come back to haunt them. Either way, it'll be fun to watch.

Westbrook rolling into GoldenState

[NatP4]

Have courtside tickets to OKC rockets preseason, OKC just keeps adding star power to make it more exciting lol

Whoa thats an interesting ticket...is the game in OKC or Houston? Btw...aint that always the way...you get better seats to see teams you are not invested in. I have had second row seats at GS, coupe rows up in NYC, great seats for Bulls, OKC, Portland and Miami (maybe missed some) but NEVER great seats for the WIz or when the Wiz in those cities!

You should wear your John Wall jersey....wait you only have a Tomáš Satoranský jersey...wear that

yeah thats exactly right, For whatever reason the game is in Tulsa at the BOK center, I'm just excited to see all of PG,Melo, Russ, Harden, CP3

will be wearing my Kelly Oubre jersey

[NatP4]

So George and Westbrook recruited Melo... that just might come back to haunt them. Either way, it'll be fun to watch.

Westbrook rolling into GoldenState

best scene of the prequels

[CobraCommander]

Have courtside tickets to OKC rockets preseason, OKC just keeps adding star power to make it more exciting lol

Whoa thats an interesting ticket...is the game in OKC or Houston? Btw...aint that always the way...you get better seats to see teams you are not invested in. I have had second row seats at GS, coupe rows up in NYC, great seats for Bulls, OKC, Portland and Miami (maybe missed some) but NEVER great seats for the WIz or when the Wiz in those cities!

You should wear your John Wall jersey....wait you only have a Tomáš Satoranský jersey...wear that

yeah thats exactly right, For whatever reason the game is in Tulsa at the BOK center, I'm just excited to see all of PG,Melo, Russ, Harden, CP3

will be wearing my Kelly Oubre jersey

Yeah that KO jersey gonna be hot. Make sure you wear a nationals hat too...make sure they know the streets watching!

[CobraCommander]

So George and Westbrook recruited Melo... that just might come back to haunt them. Either way, it'll be fun to watch.

Westbrook rolling into GoldenState

best scene of the prequels

1.Darth Maul...vs Obi and Q-Jin
2.Samuel L Jackson against the emperor...I was waiting for him to say MFer...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nothing to add.

[payitforward]

Read on Twitter

Good move for NY. Useless & negative for OKC. If it's a R1 pick, then the move is worse yet for them.

Carmelo is not even close to a good player any more, while Kanter has improved the last couple of years & is in his peak years. Is he worth what he's paid? Nah. But his salary is a better deal than Carmelo's.

[gambitx777]

I wonder if they plan to flip kanter? and I wonder if we could maybe snip oquin ?they have a log jam now

[Ruzious]

I wonder if they plan to flip kanter? and I wonder if we could maybe snip oquin ?they have a log jam now

If they think Kanter's a PF, maybe that makes Porzingis available - he's already disrespected the Knicks and had a disappointing season? Would you do Otto for Porz (and we take Noah's contract - maybe give them Jason Smith)? I would.

[penbeast0]

I wonder if they plan to flip kanter? and I wonder if we could maybe snip oquin ?they have a log jam now

If they think Kanter's a PF, maybe that makes Porzingis available - he's already disrespected the Knicks and had a disappointing season? Would you do Otto for Porz (and we take Noah's contract - maybe give them Jason Smith)? I would.

Like a shot but they fired Phil Jackson for just suggesting he might trade the Unicorn. Knicks aren't moving him.

[Dat2U]

Read on Twitter

Good move for NY. Useless & negative for OKC. If it's a R1 pick, then the move is worse yet for them.

Carmelo is not even close to a good player any more, while Kanter has improved the last couple of years & is in his peak years. Is he worth what he's paid? Nah. But his salary is a better deal than Carmelo's.

Strongly disagree. Both are overpaid. Both have player options for 2018-19. Both don't defend. It's a bigger issue with Kanter b/c he's a C that can't defend. Doug McDermott is also one of the worst players in the league.

I also believe Melo will be better off the ball as a small ball 4. More efficient. Tougher matchup for 4s than 3s at this stage of his career.

The most valuable asset the Knicks got was the 2nd round pick.

[payitforward]

Read on Twitter

Good move for NY. Useless & negative for OKC. If it's a R1 pick, then the move is worse yet for them.

Carmelo is not even close to a good player any more, while Kanter has improved the last couple of years & is in his peak years. Is he worth what he's paid? Nah. But his salary is a better deal than Carmelo's.

Strongly disagree. Both are overpaid. Both have player options for 2018-19. Both don't defend. It's a bigger issue with Kanter b/c he's a C that can't defend. Doug McDermott is also one of the worst players in the league.

I also believe Melo will be better off the ball as a small ball 4. More efficient. Tougher matchup for 4s than 3s at this stage of his career.

The most valuable asset the Knicks got was the 2nd round pick.

Agreed! & actually, we don't really disagree on the trade as a whole -- I am just looking at this from a different angle.

Melo was useless to NY. & he had a no-trade clause. They flipped him for 2 guys who aren't useful to them either. But... I think it'll be easier to trade one or both of them than it has been to trade Melo. & they got a R2 pick. If they can't trade either or both of them, then they really haven't lost anything by having them instead of Melo. Combined, they're a little cheaper than he was, & they're expiring next year.

IOW, for NY the worst outcome of the trade would be to save $5m & get a free R2 pick.

You speculate that Melo will be "better" for OKC. Fair enough -- if so, then that delta of improvement is what they got in the trade. Yet, even if so, how long will they have that? Melo is going into his 15th season. He's played 35,000 NBA minutes. He wasn't even a little bit good last year -- 53.5% TS% & 7 boards per 40 minutes. Even if he improves, it'd take a big jump to bring him back to anyone worth having even short term. Given where OKC is in the West, adding Carmelo won't make them contenders.

Plus, Melo likes to take 22 shots per 40 minutes. Paul George is used to taking 20 shots per 40 minutes. Russell Westbrook is used to taking 27-28 shots per 40 minutes. That's 70 shots. The 3 of them combine to go to the line 23-24 times per 40 minutes. All that produces 88 points, for a TS% of .55 -- & that's off of their main guns, the guys they'll depend on to score.

Last year, the Wizards as a team -- including our awful bench -- posted a .56 TS%.

Who had the highest TS% on the Thunder last year? Well, lets leave out Collison & Huestis who combined for 160 minutes. Their best TS% (59.9%) came from, you guessed it, Enes Kanter.

Last year, OKC had the 3d worst TS% in the league. You see a reason for it to improve this year?

[Dat2U]

Good move for NY. Useless & negative for OKC. If it's a R1 pick, then the move is worse yet for them.

Carmelo is not even close to a good player any more, while Kanter has improved the last couple of years & is in his peak years. Is he worth what he's paid? Nah. But his salary is a better deal than Carmelo's.

Strongly disagree. Both are overpaid. Both have player options for 2018-19. Both don't defend. It's a bigger issue with Kanter b/c he's a C that can't defend. Doug McDermott is also one of the worst players in the league.

I also believe Melo will be better off the ball as a small ball 4. More efficient. Tougher matchup for 4s than 3s at this stage of his career.

The most valuable asset the Knicks got was the 2nd round pick.

Agreed! & actually, we don't really disagree on the trade as a whole -- I am just looking at this from a different angle.

Melo was useless to NY. & he had a no-trade clause. They flipped him for 2 guys who aren't useful to them either. But... I think it'll be easier to trade one or both of them than it has been to trade Melo. & they got a R2 pick. If they can't trade either or both of them, then they really haven't lost anything by having them instead of Melo. Combined, they're a little cheaper than he was, & they're expiring next year.

IOW, for NY the worst outcome of the trade would be to save $5m & get a free R2 pick.

You speculate that Melo will be "better" for OKC. Fair enough -- if so, then that delta of improvement is what they got in the trade. Yet, even if so, how long will they have that? Melo is going into his 15th season. He's played 35,000 NBA minutes. He wasn't even a little bit good last year -- 53.5% TS% & 7 boards per 40 minutes. Even if he improves, it'd take a big jump to bring him back to anyone worth having even short term. Given where OKC is in the West, adding Carmelo won't make them contenders.

Plus, Melo likes to take 22 shots per 40 minutes. Paul George is used to taking 20 shots per 40 minutes. Russell Westbrook is used to taking 27-28 shots per 40 minutes. That's 70 shots. The 3 of them combine to go to the line 23-24 times per 40 minutes. All that produces 88 points, for a TS% of .55 -- & that's off of their main guns, the guys they'll depend on to score.

Last year, the Wizards as a team -- including our awful bench -- posted a .56 TS%.

Who had the highest TS% on the Thunder last year? Well, lets leave out Collison & Huestis who combined for 160 minutes. Their best TS% (59.9%) came from, you guessed it, Enes Kanter.

Last year, OKC had the 3d worst TS% in the league. You see a reason for it to improve this year?

You can't really expect this to stay the same do you? All three guys were tasked with taking a high volume of shots b/c their respective rosters called for it. Melo especially is going to have to adjust to playing off the ball. George is likely going to be a secondary guy to Westbrook. It's almost a given that they'll sacrifice volume for efficiency b/c they'll be easier shots to come by with defenses having to pay attention to all of them instead of just one.

[Ruzious]

Strongly disagree. Both are overpaid. Both have player options for 2018-19. Both don't defend. It's a bigger issue with Kanter b/c he's a C that can't defend. Doug McDermott is also one of the worst players in the league.

I also believe Melo will be better off the ball as a small ball 4. More efficient. Tougher matchup for 4s than 3s at this stage of his career.

The most valuable asset the Knicks got was the 2nd round pick.

Agreed! & actually, we don't really disagree on the trade as a whole -- I am just looking at this from a different angle.

Melo was useless to NY. & he had a no-trade clause. They flipped him for 2 guys who aren't useful to them either. But... I think it'll be easier to trade one or both of them than it has been to trade Melo. & they got a R2 pick. If they can't trade either or both of them, then they really haven't lost anything by having them instead of Melo. Combined, they're a little cheaper than he was, & they're expiring next year.

IOW, for NY the worst outcome of the trade would be to save $5m & get a free R2 pick.

You speculate that Melo will be "better" for OKC. Fair enough -- if so, then that delta of improvement is what they got in the trade. Yet, even if so, how long will they have that? Melo is going into his 15th season. He's played 35,000 NBA minutes. He wasn't even a little bit good last year -- 53.5% TS% & 7 boards per 40 minutes. Even if he improves, it'd take a big jump to bring him back to anyone worth having even short term. Given where OKC is in the West, adding Carmelo won't make them contenders.

Plus, Melo likes to take 22 shots per 40 minutes. Paul George is used to taking 20 shots per 40 minutes. Russell Westbrook is used to taking 27-28 shots per 40 minutes. That's 70 shots. The 3 of them combine to go to the line 23-24 times per 40 minutes. All that produces 88 points, for a TS% of .55 -- & that's off of their main guns, the guys they'll depend on to score.

Last year, the Wizards as a team -- including our awful bench -- posted a .56 TS%.

Who had the highest TS% on the Thunder last year? Well, lets leave out Collison & Huestis who combined for 160 minutes. Their best TS% (59.9%) came from, you guessed it, Enes Kanter.

Last year, OKC had the 3d worst TS% in the league. You see a reason for it to improve this year?

You can't really expect this to stay the same do you? All three guys were tasked with taking a high volume of shots b/c their respective rosters called for it. Melo especially is going to have to adjust to playing off the ball. George is likely going to be a secondary guy to Westbrook. It's almost a given that they'll sacrifice volume for efficiency b/c they'll be easier shots to come by with defenses having to pay attention to all of them instead of just one.

Particularly for Westbrook - who took approximately 50 zillion shots per game. The proof will be in the pudding - particularly in the playoffs - when it matters most, and I'd be very surprised if his TS% doesn't improve significantly.

[dckingsfan]

Agreed! & actually, we don't really disagree on the trade as a whole -- I am just looking at this from a different angle.

Melo was useless to NY. & he had a no-trade clause. They flipped him for 2 guys who aren't useful to them either. But... I think it'll be easier to trade one or both of them than it has been to trade Melo. & they got a R2 pick. If they can't trade either or both of them, then they really haven't lost anything by having them instead of Melo. Combined, they're a little cheaper than he was, & they're expiring next year.

IOW, for NY the worst outcome of the trade would be to save $5m & get a free R2 pick.

You speculate that Melo will be "better" for OKC. Fair enough -- if so, then that delta of improvement is what they got in the trade. Yet, even if so, how long will they have that? Melo is going into his 15th season. He's played 35,000 NBA minutes. He wasn't even a little bit good last year -- 53.5% TS% & 7 boards per 40 minutes. Even if he improves, it'd take a big jump to bring him back to anyone worth having even short term. Given where OKC is in the West, adding Carmelo won't make them contenders.

Plus, Melo likes to take 22 shots per 40 minutes. Paul George is used to taking 20 shots per 40 minutes. Russell Westbrook is used to taking 27-28 shots per 40 minutes. That's 70 shots. The 3 of them combine to go to the line 23-24 times per 40 minutes. All that produces 88 points, for a TS% of .55 -- & that's off of their main guns, the guys they'll depend on to score.

Last year, the Wizards as a team -- including our awful bench -- posted a .56 TS%.

Who had the highest TS% on the Thunder last year? Well, lets leave out Collison & Huestis who combined for 160 minutes. Their best TS% (59.9%) came from, you guessed it, Enes Kanter.

Last year, OKC had the 3d worst TS% in the league. You see a reason for it to improve this year?

You can't really expect this to stay the same do you? All three guys were tasked with taking a high volume of shots b/c their respective rosters called for it. Melo especially is going to have to adjust to playing off the ball. George is likely going to be a secondary guy to Westbrook. It's almost a given that they'll sacrifice volume for efficiency b/c they'll be easier shots to come by with defenses having to pay attention to all of them instead of just one.

Particularly for Westbrook - who took approximately 50 zillion shots per game. The proof will be in the pudding - particularly in the playoffs - when it matters most, and I'd be very surprised if his TS% doesn't improve significantly.

Weren't the Thunder really bad from behind the 3 point line last year? Won't that change some and increase their TS%. I would think that both Melo and George will get more open looks from the 3pt line?

Either way - good for the NBA - it will be interesting to watch.

[Mojo Amok]

Unless the chemistry is terrible, there should be a decisive uptick in efficiency from the OKC amigos in the same manner that there was when the 2008 Boston squad was assembled. With Westbrook, George and Melo having a combined usage rate of 99.7%, they're definitely going to trigger a 'something's gotta give' moment no matter what.

Melo took 9 pull-ups a game last year with an EFG of 44.2% which dragged his efficiency down something bad (he had an EFG% of 57.5% in catch and shoot situations, but didn't shoot that many of them). George's situation is somewhat similar, though less extreme in terms of volume as he already put up a fair number of catch and shoots (though he is really good with those - nearly 60% EFG).

Overall it looks more like 2008 Boston from a skill-fit standpoint than the convergence of the Heatles where there was less obvious synergy between Wade n' Bron. Only if there's a mental inability to make it work would I expect stagnant offensive efficiency with it most likely being Westbrook's fault if that happens. Still, that's an outlier scenario with a top 3-5 offense being far more likely. Melo in particular is poised to become vastly more efficient as a face-up 4.

[Ruzious]

You can't really expect this to stay the same do you? All three guys were tasked with taking a high volume of shots b/c their respective rosters called for it. Melo especially is going to have to adjust to playing off the ball. George is likely going to be a secondary guy to Westbrook. It's almost a given that they'll sacrifice volume for efficiency b/c they'll be easier shots to come by with defenses having to pay attention to all of them instead of just one.

Particularly for Westbrook - who took approximately 50 zillion shots per game. The proof will be in the pudding - particularly in the playoffs - when it matters most, and I'd be very surprised if his TS% doesn't improve significantly.

Weren't the Thunder really bad from behind the 3 point line last year? Won't that change some and increase their TS%. I would think that both Melo and George will get more open looks from the 3pt line?

Either way - good for the NBA - it will be interesting to watch.

Yes, and Kanter was an inside scorer - which clogged things a little for Westbrook's drives. They could still use a veteran 2 guard who can nail 3's. They'll probably start Roberson there, and he's great defensively but awful offensively.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Unless the chemistry is terrible, there should be a decisive uptick in efficiency from the OKC amigos in the same manner that there was when the 2008 Boston squad was assembled. With Westbrook, George and Melo having a combined usage rate of 99.7%, they're definitely going to trigger a 'something's gotta give' moment no matter what.

Melo took 9 pull-ups a game last year with an EFG of 44.2% which dragged his efficiency down something bad (he had an EFG% of 57.5% in catch and shoot situations, but didn't shoot that many of them). George's situation is somewhat similar, though less extreme in terms of volume as he already put up a fair number of catch and shoots (though he is really good with those - nearly 60% EFG).

Overall it looks more like 2008 Boston from a skill-fit standpoint than the convergence of the Heatles where there was less obvious synergy between Wade n' Bron. Only if there's a mental inability to make it work would I expect stagnant offensive efficiency with it most likely being Westbrook's fault if that happens. Still, that's an outlier scenario with a top 3-5 offense being far more likely. Melo in particular is poised to become vastly more efficient as a face-up 4.

The more I think about it the more I think OKC will be a legit challenger to Golden State.

Billy Donovan coached two NCAA championship teams. He's had time to adjust to the NBA now.

Carmelo is an NCAA champion and an Olympic champion. Not long ago he was the top NBS 4th quarter scorer. This is the most talent he's ever played with, including his Denver teams. I think Anthony is going to be a winner with OKC.

Paul George will take a lot of pressure off of Westbrook and Anthony because he's a good defensive player and he's great in transition.

In the playoffs they will be able to execute in the half-court.

Westbrook has a lot of energy and that's going to serve OKC well.

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