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We all know it's going to happen. The team is over the luxtax so it's time for Ernie Grunfeld to dump salary and try to disguise it as some sort of aggressive move for a "win now" vet. We will give up our first round pick of course. And the vet we get back will be on an expiring contract and he probably won't be all that good. Basically, it will be something like last year's Nicholson + 1st for Bojan deal.

So place your bets. What's it gonna be?

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My bet is a deal with Phoenix, who are under the cap and can absorb salary.

How about: Smith + Meeks + 1st round pick for Troy Daniels?

It saves us $5M and Grunfeld can sell it as an upgrade at backup SG.

It still leaves us about $200K over the luxtax so we might have to follow that up by seeing if we can give Tim Frazier or McCullough away to somebody in exchange for a Trade Exception.

Yep - kiss that first round pick goodbye.

The '16 off-season moves of Mahimni, Smith and Nicholson should leave no doubt where EG stands in terms of being an effective GM.

It's a shame that Ted will not hold Ernie accountable for 2016 which pushed the team into Lux Tax w/o improving the team, I don't know why he is so forgiving with Ernie. OTOH, I believe Ernie manipulates Ted into going-along with his moves. For example, he probably presented Mahinmi as Plan C if he struck-out on Durant and Horford and Ted said yes, I believe he always gets Ted to co-sign on his moves so they are joint decisions....its what accounts for his longevity.

I wonder what Ted really thinks about adding another draft pick vs paying LuxTax?

closg00 wrote:It's a shame that Ted will not hold Ernie accountable for 2016 which pushed the team into Lux Tax w/o improving the team, I don't know why he is so forgiving with Ernie. OTOH, I believe Ernie manipulates Ted into going-along with his moves. For example, he probably presented Mahinmi as Plan C if he struck-out on Durant and Horford and Ted said yes, I believe he always gets Ted to co-sign on his moves so they are joint decisions....its what accounts for his longevity.

I wonder what Ted really thinks about adding another draft pick vs paying LuxTax?

They really need to NOT pay the tax this and next year. Because we will DEFINITELY be paying it when Wall's extension kicks in.

I would LOVE a Smith, CMC, 2nd for TPE... but it wont happen. I would also love to find a PG needy team and ship them Frazier for a 2nd, then pick up an End-of-bench PG like Demetrius Jackson.

That Said... Lets say EG sends the Bulls Smith, Meeks, and CMC with our 1st for Portis and Grant.

Hmmm. I'm guessing something minor to clean up bench scoring.

Names i believe may be on Ernie's radar...

Arron Afflalo - washed up
Jarrett Jack - washed up
Zach Randolph - old as dirt
Jerryd Bayless - scrub
Kenneth Faried - outdated old school pf
Marco Belinelli - gunner & horrific defender
Jamal Crawford - washed up gunner
D.J. Augustin - subpar gunner
Alex Len - could be his idea of our C of the future
Joakim Noah - no seriously... i could see a swap for Mahimni if Noah can pass a physical.

If i had to pick a trade to suggest EG would make:

Mahinmi, Smith, 2018 1st, 2020 1st for Dudley & Len. Saves a boat load of money. It gets them below luxury tax this year. Ernie can argue Len is like a 1st rd pick.. for 2 months and this move allows them to be aggressive in the offseason. They also save $11 million next year & $16 million there after.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Dat2U wrote:If i had to pick a trade to suggest EG would make:

Mahinmi, Smith, 2018 1st, 2020 1st for Dudley & Len. Saves a boat load of money. It gets them below luxury tax this year. Ernie can argue Len is like a 1st rd pick.. for 2 months and this move allows them to be aggressive in the offseason. They also save $11 million next year & $16 million there after.

Giving up 2 first round picks! God, I hope not.

nate33 wrote:

Dat2U wrote:If i had to pick a trade to suggest EG would make:

Mahinmi, Smith, 2018 1st, 2020 1st for Dudley & Len. Saves a boat load of money. It gets them below luxury tax this year. Ernie can argue Len is like a 1st rd pick.. for 2 months and this move allows them to be aggressive in the offseason. They also save $11 million next year & $16 million there after.

Giving up 2 first round picks! God, I hope not.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Well if you swap out Len for Tyson Chandler the salary savings except for Mahinmi's last year goes away. We'd have to throw in filler like McCullough just to keep it salary neutral. That would likely cost us just one pick.

But the 2018 pick is already gone. It hasn't been officially traded yet but it will inevitably belong to another team. I've already grieved sometime in December and moved on.

I'm guessing the same team - different players - as Dat. EG trades Mahinmi and a 1st for Greg Monroe. He gets an expiring contract and avoids the last 2 years of Ian - saves 32 million dollars plus lux tax effect. EG spin - need scorer off the bench.

Prediction for EG quote: "We were lucky he was available. Blablabla veteran presence blablabla. We're still a young team."

We're always in need of aging euros to help us get past the 1st round. Bye Bye draft pick, hello random eastern euro guy.

Jarett Allen

EG allowed the Wizards first in the 2017 draft to go to the Nets. You can already tell Jarrett Allen is going to be a very good one.

Instead of playing what is the trade going to be I'm going to play who is the 2018 first round pick going to become for another team.

I'll say Mykel Bridges.

He'll probably turn into a quality NBA starter.

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Domantas Sabonis for what will seem like a motherload of picks + Sato.
Then add veteran depth with a has-been center.

-or-

The trade deadline will come and go just like any other day, and nothing happens.

Otto Porter for Paul George.

Don't care if we only get half a season. It would put us in contention for the east.

Fook Ernie Grunfeld.

I'm hoping for no trade.

I have a feeling that he wants to make a big move so I'm saying Otto, Mahinmi, Meeks and 1st for Jordan and bench 2 guard or Gortat, Sato, Meeks, CMC and 1st for Augustin and Vucevic and 2nd

Does trading Smith alone get us under the tax? Or does someone else have to be cut or traded?

gravytrain24 wrote:I have a feeling that he wants to make a big move so I'm saying Otto, Mahinmi, Meeks and 1st for Jordan and bench 2 guard or Gortat, Sato, Meeks, CMC and 1st for Augustin and Vucevic and 2nd

This trade would have me crying sad tears of laughter, which makes it a pretty solid contender for an EG move.

EG generally doesn't tend to move his core parts until their careers are basically over. I don't think any of Wall, Porter or Beal will be moved. Those 3 are going to stick and there won't be any supporting cast. That's pretty much EG's MO. I'm bracing myself for the idea of Oubre + first to offload Mahinmi for Cole Aldrich and either Jamal Crawford or Nemanja Bjelica, or something like that, though. Probably not that particular iteration as Thibodeau having control means the Wolves probably aren't likely to be trading for picks and prospects as aggressively as other teams, but something like that seems close to inevitable at this point.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Jarett Allen

EG allowed the Wizards first in the 2017 draft to go to the Nets. You can already tell Jarrett Allen is going to be a very good one.

Instead of playing what is the trade going to be I'm going to play who is the 2018 first round pick going to become for another team.

I'll say Mykel Bridges.

He'll probably turn into a quality NBA starter.

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Allen is going to develop into a straight-up beast, it really pains me to see him in a Nets uni.

Frazier and McCullough+2018 1st for Will Barton because he’s from DC.