Discussing Other Teams' Moves - Part 8

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Watch on YouTube

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Be nice if there were even one non-conventional, actually thoughtful sentence in the entire video.

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Just noticed that Utah inked Kris Dunn for the rest of the season -- glad to see him w/ an NBA contract again!

[closg00]

Oh what a difference a good GM can make, love this young Thunder team and they don't even have Chet yet.

Watch on YouTube

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Against the Lakers last night, the LA Clippers starters were:
Russell Westbrook -- drafted in 2008
Nic Batum -- drafted 2008
Eric Gordon -- drafted 2008
Kawhi Leonard -- drafted 2011
Ivica Zubac -- drafted 2016.
First guy off the bench: Mason Plumlee -- drafted 2013
Total age? 197 years old!

Two nights ago, Houston beat Denver. The Rockets starters were:
Jalen Green -- drafted 2021
Kevin Porter Jr. -- drafted 2019
Kenyon Martin Jr. -- drafted 2020
Jabari Smith Jr. -- drafted 2022
Alperun Sengun -- drafted 2021
First guy off the bench: Usman Garuba -- drafted 2021
total age? 125 years old.

That's an average age difference of 12 years per player!

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Oh what a difference a good GM can make, love this young Thunder team and they don't even have Chet yet.

Not to mention that they are doing what we've heard over & over is something no team would want to do -- develop multiple rookies. Certainly, no sane team would do it repeatedly year after year:

Rookies:
Chet holmgren – 2
Jalen Williams – 12
Ousmane Dieng – 11
Jaylin Williams – 34
(Imagine having to develop 4 rookies -- impossible!)

2021 rookies:
Josh Giddey - 6
Tre Mann - 18
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl - 32
Aaron Wiggins – 55
(Imagine having to develop 4 rookies -- impossible!)

From the 2020 draft:
Isaiah Joe -- 49 (picked by Sixers & released)
Aleksei Pokusevski -- 17
Lindy Waters -- undrafted
That'll never work.

Plus:
Luguentz Dort -- undrafted in 2019
Kenrich Williams -- undrafted in 2018
Ridiculous!

SGA -- #12 pick in 2018
Not even one elite draft pick! Not a single one of those "difference-makers" that occupy the top of the lottery.

I mean... they give half their minutes to guys picked in R2 or who went undrafted. There is no chance that can work!

In fact, the average pick position of players on the Thunder is #31 -- that should explain why they aren't nearly as good as the Wizards, & certainly have no future.

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https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/271070/Rafael-Stone-Rockets-Coming-To-End-Of-First-Stage-Of-Rebuild

Houston Rockets GM Rafael Stone: "Everything worth doing is at some level or another really hard.... the question becomes, 'What's your goal?' My goal, our goal, the Fertittas' goal, our organization's goal is to win championships. ...that's what we're trying to execute on."

Have you ever heard Tommy Sheppard or Ted Leonsis say anything even vaguely resembling the above? Here's what it would sound like:

Washington Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard: "Everything worth doing is at some level or another really hard.... the question becomes, 'What's your goal?' My goal, our goal, Ted Leonsis' goal, our organization's goal is to win championships. ...that's what we're trying to execute on."

When do you think we'll be reading words like that from Tommy or from Ted?
I've been a Bullets/Wizards fan for over 30 years. I've never heard anything like that yet.

Even more important: for better or worse, whether it works or not, that clearly is what Houston is actually trying to do.

When do you think we'll be able to say the same about the Washington Wizards? From here, the answer looks like "never."

[nate33]

How funny is it that Utah blew up their whole roster at the start of the season with the intention of tanking and rebuilding, yet, without even trying, they managed to finish with a better record than the Wizards.

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How funny is it that Utah blew up their whole roster at the start of the season with the intention of tanking and rebuilding, yet, without even trying, they managed to finish with a better record than the Wizards.

In fairness, they had two extraordinary pieces of unexpected good fortune:

1. Lauri Markkanen transformed from meh to stud -- out of the blue!
2. Walker Kessler had the best year by a rookie since... I don't know when! He's been pretty much incredible.

Plus, obviously, the Gobert trade was huge.

Worth mentioning that we had Kris Dunn on the Go Go. He played great -- but it was Utah not the Wiz that gave him another NBA chance. He was outstanding for the Jazz in 400+ minutes.

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https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/271070/Rafael-Stone-Rockets-Coming-To-End-Of-First-Stage-Of-Rebuild

Houston Rockets GM Rafael Stone: "Everything worth doing is at some level or another really hard.... the question becomes, 'What's your goal?' My goal, our goal, the Fertittas' goal, our organization's goal is to win championships. ...that's what we're trying to execute on."

Have you ever heard Tommy Sheppard or Ted Leonsis say anything even vaguely resembling the above? Here's what it would sound like:

Washington Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard: "Everything worth doing is at some level or another really hard.... the question becomes, 'What's your goal?' My goal, our goal, Ted Leonsis' goal, our organization's goal is to win championships. ...that's what we're trying to execute on."

When do you think we'll be reading words like that from Tommy or from Ted?
I've been a Bullets/Wizards fan for over 30 years. I've never heard anything like that yet.

Even more important: for better or worse, whether it works or not, that clearly is what Houston is actually trying to do.

When do you think we'll be able to say the same about the Washington Wizards? From here, the answer looks like "never."

Is this the same incredibly smart Houston braintrust whose top first round picks in 2021-2022 were:
Jalen Green (#2 overall)
Jabari Smith (#3 overall)

??

Yeah, Sengun and Eason have done better so far than Kispert and Davis, but those top picks sure don't look like the best available at all. And IMO the jury is still out on Davis v Eason, and maybe even Sengun v Kispert. And Houston also picked Garuba and not awesome Josh Christopher.

And is this the same Houston team that has the second worst record in the NBA, in their THIRD year of a rebuild?

[9 and 20]

I'm preparing myself for Wembanyama to end up with Doncic on the Mavs.

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With Steven Adams likely to miss the playoffs, the Memphis Grizzlies are making a series of moves to fortify their roster. The Grizzlies, as do all NBA teams, face a Sunday deadline for any roster shuffling to be completed.

Memphis is signing forward Kenneth Lofton Jr. to a multi-year standard contract. Lofton has appeared in 23 NBA games this season while on a two-way contract with the Grizzlies and Memphis Hustle of the G League. In 30 G League games, Lofton averaged 22.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.2 steals.

Adding the 6-foot-8 forward will give the Grizzlies some additional frontcourt depth for the playoffs. This also keeps Lofton in Memphis into next season, as opposed to him being a restricted free agent this summer.

From undrafted, to the G-League, to a multi-year contract (dunno if it's all guaranteed). I didn't think KLJR could do it with his body-type and perhaps he has a short window with it, but this is another Memphis drafting success story.

[gambitx777]

There is no way the NBA would rig the loto just to keep luka in Dallas...... David Stern is dead lol.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

[nate33]

I'm preparing myself for Wembanyama to end up with Doncic on the Mavs.

I doubt it.

Even if you believe in NBA Draft conspiracy theories, I don't see the NBA pulling strings to send Wemby to Dallas. Dallas is actually a pretty terribly run franchise, except for two flukes in the last 25 years: Dirk and Luka.

If anything, the NBA might prefer Luka to grow more frustrated so that he makes a push for a trade to New York or LA.

[Rafael122]

Makes you think, we're envious, and rightly so for teams building legitimate championship contenders but in reality that window only lasts about 2-3 years.

Bucks are about to go into this process where the Giannis free agency begins now, aging roster and at a crossroads where you don't know if you run it back or retool. Phoenix is too with both Paul and Ayton potentially being traded. Look at the Clippers.

[FAH1223]

Read on Twitter

[badinage]

The Suns are a shambles.

The Grizz are in free-fall — Morant spotted a second time brandishing a gun (and not in a lockerroom a la our beloved Gil, but in public … and twice); the disastrous handling of the Dillon Brooks situation; the way the team collapsed this year after being poised to make the leap to elite …

The Warriors are crumbling … an expensive, underperforming roster that is also aging, a GM who wants out, a coach who may follow

It’s interesting. It’s fun. Keeps the league in flux. Much better than having teams dominant, or squatting at the top for 6, 7 years.

Also a reminder that GM-ing is hard. It’s more than just drafting. It’s constructing a roster of pieces that fit — on the court, but also off. It’s creating an environment that is supportive, and where people can flourish — but also where they can speak freely, and criticize one another.

It’s a lot of things.

And we would do well to remember these things as the GM search is underway.

And also as we evaluate the league and declare what teams are the ones to be admired and envied — the Grizz looked great two years ago. Now, not so much. This is on the GM. Suns have missed their window, it looks like. They tried; they failed. And then they blew their wad to get KD. That’s gonna look like an awful call in two years. It already looks bad.

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...The Grizz are in free-fall — Morant spotted a second time brandishing a gun (and not in a lockerroom a la our beloved Gil, but in public … and twice); the disastrous handling of the Dillon Brooks situation; the way the team collapsed this year after being poised to make the leap to elite …

... the Grizz looked great two years ago. Now, not so much. This is on the GM....

This is kind of an extreme take, don't you think?

The Grizzlies looked great two months ago -- months not years. They went 51-31.

I suppose that if the Grizzlies had been beaten by a Lakers team that went on to be dispatched by the Warriors, there'd be a reason to call Memphis' playoff series a "collapse." But, that isn't what happened.

As to Dillon Brooks, he seems to have caused his own problems. Given that, I'm not sure what the team was supposed to do. In fact, telling him he wouldn't be re-signed gave him & his agent a head start on trying to find a deal with a different team. I hope he does, but it seems unlikely -- he was never a good player, & whatever qualities he had he seems to have lost.

I wish I had some real sense of what's going on with Ja Morant. My impulse is to feel sorry for him. How much of a misguided kid must he be? But I'm not going to call him unsalvageable, & in any case I don't see how his behavior reflects on on the Grizzlies GM.

[Dat2U]

Ja is an idiot. He probably gets suspended a good chunk of next season. Memphis will probably be okay without him but he's seriously hurting his long term income potential as he's destroyed his brand.

[Jay81]

Ja is an idiot. He probably gets suspended a good chunk of next season. Memphis will probably be okay without him but he's seriously hurting his long term income potential as he's destroyed his brand.

Any chance Ted would trade for him lol?