165bows wrote:Fierce1 wrote:ddb wrote:Spurs don’t need Harper. Facts. It’s posturing. If they can add Jaylen Brown to Wemby, Fox, Castle and Sochan they will do it.
The big question is would Brad do it. It’s a risk. A step back to take steps forward in a couple years. And if Boston did the type of move they would also trade White, Jrue and KP meaning it’s a whole new roster. And they’d be in play for another top pick next summer. Sounds nuts, right? But it’s really not. In this scenario Tatum takes his time coming back and returns for 26-27 at 28 years old turning 29 in March of that season.
If executed well the team could be loaded for another window.
Yeah, I think you're right, it's posturing.
They already have Fox and Castle.
If Fox gets an extension then that will make it even harder for Harper to get minutes.
And even if the Spurs pick Harper, at some point they will have to let one go, among the 3 PGs they have.
Right the whole thing depends on Harper being this elite PG prospect. If he was there is zero issue, just pick him, put Castle to the bench and trade Castle when the time comes. They wouldn't even need to think about trading that pick.
There are just way too many people assuming Harper is that guy when it isn't super clear imo, the guy he really reminds me of is D'Angelo Russell.
So the question was what if he is the next Cade Cunningham? Ok great so he would completely suck for three years and then still be a solidly negative efficiency scorer when Tatum is in his 30s? Brad might trade Jaylen but he's looking for an absolute mother load - you know he had discussions with Orlando about White that would have brought more back than what Bane got. He's not taking Barnes, Vassell and Nesmith 2.0 for Jaylen Brown he might as well go back to his plans of being a pharmacist for goodness sake.
Cade didn't suck for 3 years. He was good and he would have been better but he was on a dumpster fire of a team, had some of the worst teammates and worst coaching in NBA history, with some of the worst spacing the league has seen in recent years.
Harper is a Cade/Paolo level prospect imo. And Paolo won rookie of the year, was best player on a playoff team in years 2 and 3. Harper is a better prospect than Scottie Barnes, who also won ROY. Harper is extremely polished and skilled for a freshman. He should be very good, right from the get go. In terms of having a game that's NBA-ready, that is skilled and polished - Harper is about as good as any prospect we have seen in recent memory. And his dad had a long NBA career, winning 5 NBA titles - so he's got the bloodline and has been around the NBA game for his whole life. Should be a seamless transition for Harper to the NBA.
If we traded for Harper, he could develop, make some rookie mistakes and learn from them while Tatum is on the shelf recovering from injury. Then once Tatum back to 100%, the training wheels would be off Harper.
I doubt it happens though. Reports just yesterday said Spurs are open to moving pick 14 but have given no indication they would move pick 2. And reports are saying that while Brad is listening to JB offers, JB is likely to stay in Boston, Brad would have to really get blown away by an offer to move JB..so it likely doesn't happen.
More realistically, we're moving guys like KP, Hauser, Jrue to save $ and reload for another title window once Tatum is back healthy in 26-27 season.