To be clear I am all in favor of using the #3 pick to go after someone like Cousins, Whiteside etc.CrowderKeg wrote:If Nets new coach Atkinson is to be believed, Lopez is going to be a building block of the team.
But the best deal this team could (could have?) made, might have been going after Lopez with the 2018 Brooklyn pick, Amir and Jerebko. With new management in place for the Nets, the ship may have sailed on this idea as they now want to build around Lopez. But at the trade deadline, if you read the NY writers, there was some talk that they might trade Lopez and Young anyway and start from scratch.
It is inconceivable that the Nets finish 2018 the same if they keep Lopez and possibly add someone like Lin. No one is talking about the Nets making the playoffs. What we're talking about is a Nets team that could resemble this year's Philly team if they trade Lopez and Young as opposed to a team that might be say the 6th pick. As we well know this year, the difference of even one or two picks is monumental. I'd rather have one #2 overall and Lopez than two #6's.
On the other side you instantly upgrade your team, you now can afford to take a flyer on Bender, Hield or Murray, you have get a player to show free agents we're serious, you don't have to give up anybody else and you still have room for a free agent.
There is no doubt in my mind this deal COULD have been made at the deadline.