Discussing Other Teams' Moves - Part 6

[CobraCommander]

Btw, the Sixers are going to thrash the Wizards in a few years. That team is going to have scary young talent. If they stay healthy, that team challenges Cleveland in 3 years.

Perhaps. That "scary young talent" still has to show they can actually play.

But with that being said, I get what you're saying.

Agreed... Philly looks to be pretty good, but there are a ton of question marks.
The most proven/talented/complete player (Embiid) has serious injury concerns.
Their 2nd potential star (Simmons) has yet to play one minute of professional basketball and also plays point forward. While it can be a huge mismatch, it can also be tough to build around.
Their 3rd potential star (Fultz) hasnt even been drafted yet. Like Simmons, he also has a huge question mark surrounding his leadership/competitiveness and range on his jump shot.

In summary, they are clearly superior in regards to having the measurables (Ht/Wt/Athleticism) as well as skills in passing and scoring.
But all 3 have question marks in regards to being "Killers" on the court and real leaders. It is also imperative to have guards/wings that can shoot the 3 and play D, and Simmons/Fultz have serious questions about both.

I see the sixers and boston standing in our way indefinitely unless we get some pieces to go with Wall and Beal....Otto could turn into a good player...but the sixers and boston are going to be deep and young/younger than us. Houston we have a problem!

[keynote]

The Cavs let Griffin walk.

Read on Twitter

[verbal8]

The Cavs let Griffin walk.

Read on Twitter

Maybe he can be EG's assistant. Sure getting LeBron back does make it a lot easier to look like a good GM, but getting Kevin Love without gutting the team was a very good move.

[dckingsfan]

Perhaps. That "scary young talent" still has to show they can actually play.

But with that being said, I get what you're saying.

Agreed... Philly looks to be pretty good, but there are a ton of question marks.
The most proven/talented/complete player (Embiid) has serious injury concerns.
Their 2nd potential star (Simmons) has yet to play one minute of professional basketball and also plays point forward. While it can be a huge mismatch, it can also be tough to build around.
Their 3rd potential star (Fultz) hasnt even been drafted yet. Like Simmons, he also has a huge question mark surrounding his leadership/competitiveness and range on his jump shot.

In summary, they are clearly superior in regards to having the measurables (Ht/Wt/Athleticism) as well as skills in passing and scoring.
But all 3 have question marks in regards to being "Killers" on the court and real leaders. It is also imperative to have guards/wings that can shoot the 3 and play D, and Simmons/Fultz have serious questions about both.

I see the sixers and boston standing in our way indefinitely unless we get some pieces to go with Wall and Beal....Otto could turn into a good player...but the sixers and boston are going to be deep and young/younger than us. Houston we have a problem!

I see Cleveland for one more year. Boston is positioned to stay for quite some time. I think that the young core of Philly won't do significant damage for the next two years - but year 3? I think Miami is in a pretty good position as well. And I think Milwaukee is going to grow into their team.

NY, Brooklyn, Orlando, Charlotte, Detroit, Indiana and Chicago - eh. (EG is set for life)

And I just can't figure out Toronto.

[keynote]

The Cavs let Griffin walk.

Read on Twitter

Maybe he can be EG's assistant. Sure getting LeBron back does make it a lot easier to look like a good GM, but getting Kevin Love without gutting the team was a very good move.

"Without gutting the team"? They gave up 2 #1 overall picks.

The Cavs' FO is frankly not any better than EG. The only difference is they fell butt-backwards into 3 #1 overall picks in 4 years, which was enough to make "returning home" a viable business option for LeBron.

[montestewart]

The Cavs let Griffin walk.

Read on Twitter

Maybe he can be EG's assistant. Sure getting LeBron back does make it a lot easier to look like a good GM, but getting Kevin Love without gutting the team was a very good move.

"Without gutting the team"? They gave up 2 #1 overall picks.

The Cavs' FO is frankly not any better than EG. The only difference is they fell butt-backwards into 3 #1 overall picks in 4 years, which was enough to make "returning home" a viable business option for LeBron.

I would say Anthony Bennett (chosen before Griffin was in charge) showed he should not have been a #1 pick after a season, so Griffin getting value for him was a good move, not unlike Grunfeld's trade of #1 Kwame for Caron.

[keynote]

Maybe he can be EG's assistant. Sure getting LeBron back does make it a lot easier to look like a good GM, but getting Kevin Love without gutting the team was a very good move.

"Without gutting the team"? They gave up 2 #1 overall picks.

The Cavs' FO is frankly not any better than EG. The only difference is they fell butt-backwards into 3 #1 overall picks in 4 years, which was enough to make "returning home" a viable business option for LeBron.

I would say Anthony Bennett (chosen before Griffin was in charge) showed he should not have been a #1 pick after a season, so Griffin getting value for him was a good move, not unlike Grunfeld's trade of #1 Kwame for Caron.

Considering that Wiggins was also part of the deal, I'd say the trade was far more balanced than Kwame for Caron.

Either way, my point is that CLE's FO shouldn't get "credit" for having the incredible good fortune to win back-to-back #1 picks, such that they could flip that bounty into getting Kevin Love. If Cleveland were offering the rights to Bennett, Thad Young, and, say, the #9 pick (Stauskas/Vonleh/Payton territory) (with the same future 1st rounder flowing to PHI), MIN wouldn't have parted with Love.

Frankly, that 2014 lottery ball bounce was key. Without it, the Cavs would've had two #1s, a #4, a #9 pick on their team -- but with their drafting mistakes (and no access to Love), the resulting roster probably wouldn't have been good enough to get LeBron to come back. Conversely, if the Wizards had drafted competent players in 2011 instead of completely whiffing on Vesely and Singleton, perhaps we'd have had enough talent on the roster to get a dinner date with KD last summer.

[Kanyewest]

"Without gutting the team"? They gave up 2 #1 overall picks.

The Cavs' FO is frankly not any better than EG. The only difference is they fell butt-backwards into 3 #1 overall picks in 4 years, which was enough to make "returning home" a viable business option for LeBron.

I would say Anthony Bennett (chosen before Griffin was in charge) showed he should not have been a #1 pick after a season, so Griffin getting value for him was a good move, not unlike Grunfeld's trade of #1 Kwame for Caron.

Considering that Wiggins was also part of the deal, I'd say the trade was far more balanced than Kwame for Caron.

Either way, my point is that CLE's FO shouldn't get "credit" for having the incredible good fortune to win back-to-back #1 picks, such that they could flip that bounty into getting Kevin Love. If Cleveland were offering the rights to Bennett, Thad Young, and, say, the #9 pick (Stauskas/Vonleh/Payton territory) (with the same future 1st rounder flowing to PHI), MIN wouldn't have parted with Love.

Frankly, that 2014 lottery ball bounce was key. Without it, the Cavs would've had two #1s, a #4, a #9 pick on their team -- but with their drafting mistakes (and no access to Love), the resulting roster probably wouldn't have been good enough to get LeBron to come back. Conversely, if the Wizards had drafted competent players in 2011 instead of completely whiffing on Vesely and Singleton, perhaps we'd have had enough talent on the roster to get a dinner date with KD last summer.

I suppose the Cavs did fleece the Knicks. And the Mozgov trade was OK. But yeah, Cavs seem more fortunate to win a title because of winning the lottery a few times, Cleveland getting LeBron to come back, and Golden State getting injured and not taking care of business.



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[keynote]

Whoa.

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*Great* trade for the Nets. I don't love it for LAL, but I assume they don't feel that Ball and Russell can play together.

[closg00]

Lakers making their moves in-advance of getting George, they still need several more "gets"

[keynote]

Yeah, I updated my take on the GB and in our trade thread, but not here. I didn't realize that Lopez was an expiring. If they clear a bit more salary, they'll have space for George *and* another max FA.

[closg00]

Damn right D Wade was going to take that $24M option , as an FA he'd be lucky to get half of that now.

[mhd]

If Miles Plumlee can be traded with that garbage contract twice in the last 4 months, than Mahinmi can be traded. At least Mahinmi is playable unlike Plumlee & Mozgov.

[Meliorus]

That's a damn good trade for the Hornets. They somehow moved up too. Belinelli is one of the worst players in the league.

[ClutchDJ]

That's a damn good trade for the Hornets. They somehow moved up too. Belinelli is one of the worst players in the league.

I hope you mean by them moving up in the draft & not with the acquisition of the guy that has been on 4 different teams in the past 5 years.

[ozthegap]

If Miles Plumlee can be traded with that garbage contract twice in the last 4 months, than Mahinmi can be traded. At least Mahinmi is playable unlike Plumlee & Mozgov.

Yeah he's playable for like 10 games a year.

[Rafael122]

Exhibit A as to why holding onto assets doesn't make sense. Look at Boston

2018 Lakers pick - they get it if its from 2-5...I think Magic has put that team in a position to win at least 30 games. If they get George, I wouldn't be shocked if they were in the running for the 8th seed.

Sure, Boston gets the Kings 2019 pick but the Kings could walk out with Fox and Zach Collins, they have a ton of money to play with in free agency and another year of drafting and free agency.

I also wouldn't be shocked if Brooklyn decides to offer 1 year contracts to some players like Rudy Gay so at the very least they're not the worse team in the NBA.

Point is the cache of picks looks a lot less appealing.

[closg00]

So Moery gets a 4-year extension, the last two Ernie extensions were done quietly with zero press coverage, I suspect Ted will do it the same way again.

[FAH1223]

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[Rafael122]

The way Celtics fans cape for their young players and picks...sheesh