Miles High: The Miles Bridges Thread

[Snidely FC]

I just want to push back a little on those slapping the hindsight label on all who denigrate the Miles-SGA swap

Generally I don't like the hindsight stuff, but...I was totally psyched when they selected SGA at 11

Not because I had any idea he would turn into an MVP type player. I did not expect that. No one could have expected that. But he was the obvious answer to the biggest roster question at the time: What to do about Kemba?

A big combo guard who could play alongside Kemba and later maybe replace him? (A replacement was already beginning to look necessary, with the question of Kemba's contract looming). I thought SGA was perfect. It was one of the rare times I blurted out, "Yes!" when the Hornets pick was announced.

And then they traded the pick. And I was totally bummed, not because I thought Miles was bad, but because they traded away what I thought was the perfect Kemba insurance. They flipped a badly needed 6'5 point guard for a stretch 4.

It felt like they briefly nailed the Kemba Conundrum only to jettison it because they already had Kemba.

Instead, after adding Miles, they drafted PGs Devonte' Graham and Joe Chealey, and signed Shelvin Mack...and 36 year old Tony Parker. Oh yeah, there's a future backcourt to build on.

It was the same kind of crap they pulled for years, recycling over the hill or cut rate backup PGs, once again failing to give Kemba support. Forced to continue hero ball, six feet tall and his knees going, by the 2019-'20 season, Kemba was gone.

In short I thought it was a stupid trade that made no sense at the time. Yeah, it looks worse with hindsight, but to me it was disappointing the minute they did it.

[JMAC3]

I just want to push back a little on those slapping the hindsight label on all who denigrate the Miles-SGA swap

Generally I don't like the hindsight stuff, but...I was totally psyched when they selected SGA at 11

Not because I had any idea he would turn into an MVP type player. I did not expect that. No one could have expected that. But he was the obvious answer to the biggest roster question at the time: What to do about Kemba?

A big combo guard who could play alongside Kemba and later maybe replace him? (A replacement was already beginning to look necessary, with the question of Kemba's contract looming). I thought SGA was perfect. It was one of the rare times I blurted out, "Yes!" when the Hornets pick was announced.

And then they traded the pick. And I was totally bummed, not because I thought Miles was bad, but because they traded away what I thought was the perfect Kemba insurance. They flipped a badly needed 6'5 point guard for a stretch 4.

It felt like they briefly nailed the Kemba Conundrum only to jettison it because they already had Kemba.

Instead, after adding Miles, they drafted PGs Devonte' Graham and Joe Chealey, and signed Shelvin Mack...and 36 year old Tony Parker. Oh yeah, there's a future backcourt to build on.

It was the same kind of crap they pulled for years, recycling over the hill or cut rate backup PGs, once again failing to give Kemba support. Forced to continue hero ball, six feet tall and his knees going, by the 2019-'20 season, Kemba was gone.

In short I thought it was a stupid trade that made no sense at the time. Yeah, it looks worse with hindsight, but to me it was disappointing the minute they did it.

Kemba was 28, the starting PF Marvin Williams was 32 yrs old and we traded him at the deadline the next year. We clearly had a pretty big need in the frontcourt when they drafted Miles.

[luciano-davidwesley]

I just want to push back a little on those slapping the hindsight label on all who denigrate the Miles-SGA swap

Generally I don't like the hindsight stuff, but...I was totally psyched when they selected SGA at 11

Not because I had any idea he would turn into an MVP type player. I did not expect that. No one could have expected that. But he was the obvious answer to the biggest roster question at the time: What to do about Kemba?

A big combo guard who could play alongside Kemba and later maybe replace him? (A replacement was already beginning to look necessary, with the question of Kemba's contract looming). I thought SGA was perfect. It was one of the rare times I blurted out, "Yes!" when the Hornets pick was announced.

And then they traded the pick. And I was totally bummed, not because I thought Miles was bad, but because they traded away what I thought was the perfect Kemba insurance. They flipped a badly needed 6'5 point guard for a stretch 4.

It felt like they briefly nailed the Kemba Conundrum only to jettison it because they already had Kemba.

Instead, after adding Miles, they drafted PGs Devonte' Graham and Joe Chealey, and signed Shelvin Mack...and 36 year old Tony Parker. Oh yeah, there's a future backcourt to build on.

It was the same kind of crap they pulled for years, recycling over the hill or cut rate backup PGs, once again failing to give Kemba support. Forced to continue hero ball, six feet tall and his knees going, by the 2019-'20 season, Kemba was gone.

In short I thought it was a stupid trade that made no sense at the time. Yeah, it looks worse with hindsight, but to me it was disappointing the minute they did it.

Kemba was 28, the starting PF Marvin Williams was 32 yrs old and we traded him at the deadline the next year. We clearly had a pretty big need in the frontcourt when they drafted Miles.

Yeah but Miles was never going to be a real 4, and still is not.

[Rich4114]

I just want to push back a little on those slapping the hindsight label on all who denigrate the Miles-SGA swap

Generally I don't like the hindsight stuff, but...I was totally psyched when they selected SGA at 11

Not because I had any idea he would turn into an MVP type player. I did not expect that. No one could have expected that. But he was the obvious answer to the biggest roster question at the time: What to do about Kemba?

A big combo guard who could play alongside Kemba and later maybe replace him? (A replacement was already beginning to look necessary, with the question of Kemba's contract looming). I thought SGA was perfect. It was one of the rare times I blurted out, "Yes!" when the Hornets pick was announced.

And then they traded the pick. And I was totally bummed, not because I thought Miles was bad, but because they traded away what I thought was the perfect Kemba insurance. They flipped a badly needed 6'5 point guard for a stretch 4.

It felt like they briefly nailed the Kemba Conundrum only to jettison it because they already had Kemba.

Instead, after adding Miles, they drafted PGs Devonte' Graham and Joe Chealey, and signed Shelvin Mack...and 36 year old Tony Parker. Oh yeah, there's a future backcourt to build on.

It was the same kind of crap they pulled for years, recycling over the hill or cut rate backup PGs, once again failing to give Kemba support. Forced to continue hero ball, six feet tall and his knees going, by the 2019-'20 season, Kemba was gone.

In short I thought it was a stupid trade that made no sense at the time. Yeah, it looks worse with hindsight, but to me it was disappointing the minute they did it.

Kemba was 28, the starting PF Marvin Williams was 32 yrs old and we traded him at the deadline the next year. We clearly had a pretty big need in the frontcourt when they drafted Miles.

Yeah but Miles was never going to be a real 4, and still is not.

Miles being a 4 while being more sized for a 3 makes it tough. I recall seeing stats that suggested he has played better at the 4 than the 3. I also strongly believer Miller is a 3 and not a 2. But really, outside of PG and C position labels shouldn't matter so much unless you force them into traditional positional roles (which is what we did with Miller making him more of a perimeter player).

Miles should be the prime candidate to be included in trades where we are trying to add to the front-court. If we were able to swing a Siakam/Sabonis/Zion type of deal centered around Bridges + picks then I think those players slot into that spot way better.