Transaction Discussion Part 4 (Trades, Free-Agency, News, Rumors & Ideas)

[MartinToVaught]

In fairness, they have cheap-ass Sarver and CP3 both running him out of town.

[og15]

In fairness, they have cheap-ass Sarver and CP3 both running him out of town.

Chris Paul has absolutely nothing to do with the DeAndre Ayton situation, you really don't understand this idea of at least attempting to be objective when you like or dislike a player. It's baffling and most of the time just embarassing the hot takes that come from this type of mindset. Just relax.

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Anyways, saw the Blake news, it probably will all come down to what kind of role he will get as the team obviously has many forwards. Part of his dissappointment with Nash and Brooklyn was due to his role last season. He started off struggling during the season, mainly with his shooting and finishing which got him out of the rotation, and the ending concern was his conditioning and that he was targeted on defense, and in the Boston series despite his energy and hustle his defense was poor.

I think if he keeps up his conditioning, the defense can be better, but I wouldn't want him on the team to be used as the 10th man, but I'm not sure if Lue would be able to get him into the top 7-8 of the rotation either.

[MartinToVaught]

In fairness, they have cheap-ass Sarver and CP3 both running him out of town.

Chris Paul has absolutely nothing to do with the DeAndre Ayton situation, you really don't understand this idea of at least attempting to be objective when you like or dislike a player. It's baffling and most of the time just embarassing the hot takes that come from this type of mindset. Just relax.

"With Phoenix, there's far less belief the Suns will ultimately match whatever offer Ayton can draw. The relationships between him and Phoenix's other primary actors—most notably head coach Monty Williams and point guard Chris Paul—seem untenable for an Ayton return."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10040325-latest-nba-free-agency-intel-buzz-on-dame-lillard-jalen-brunson-malik-monk-more

[og15]

In fairness, they have cheap-ass Sarver and CP3 both running him out of town.

Chris Paul has absolutely nothing to do with the DeAndre Ayton situation, you really don't understand this idea of at least attempting to be objective when you like or dislike a player. It's baffling and most of the time just embarassing the hot takes that come from this type of mindset. Just relax.

"With Phoenix, there's far less belief the Suns will ultimately match whatever offer Ayton can draw. The relationships between him and Phoenix's other primary actors—most notably head coach Monty Williams and point guard Chris Paul—seem untenable for an Ayton return."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10040325-latest-nba-free-agency-intel-buzz-on-dame-lillard-jalen-brunson-malik-monk-more

I stand corrected, so his owner, coach and PG, and seemingly to a lesser extent other star since it says primary actors altogether, then mainly those two. I thought you were on one of your everything is the fault of a player I don't like rants.

What exactly did Ayton do to have soured his relationship between him and the teams other primary actors? How do you get to a situation where a coach like Monty Williams is not pleased with you, you have an issue with your point guard, and there's no implication that Devin Booker is standing for him either. This is after his teammates were talking about getting him paid all season...

Or is it a case where the team doesn't want to give him the max and he's not happy that the other guys aren't standing up or him to get the max?

[MartinToVaught]

I'd imagine Ayton probably wasn't happy about not getting paid while the Suns were throwing money at Shamet of all players. When you're already unhappy, CP3's constant nagging and blaming must be absolutely insufferable to listen to, on top of being marginalized on the court when you're trying to prove you deserve big money.

[ejftw]

I would 100% take Blake back, because, let's be honest, similar to Isaiah, he's play 15-20 minutes during the regular season, then not at all in the post season.

[og15]

I'd imagine Ayton probably wasn't happy about not getting paid while the Suns were throwing money at Shamet of all players. When you're already unhappy, CP3's constant nagging and blaming must be absolutely insufferable to listen to, on top of being marginalized on the court when you're trying to prove you deserve big money.

Shamet

Statistically, 17/10 in 29.5 mpg while playing on the league's best team (record wise) is easily a 25% max contract worthy production. I guess his complaint could be not getting enough minutes, but times have changed, people (teams, GM's) look at per minute and per possession type stuff, so raw stats aren't the only thing. Also production on winning teams is looked at better than high volume stats for the sake of them.

He had his career 2nd highest FGA/min, career high FG%, career best DRB%, he averaged 21/13 per 36 and he had career lows in TOV% the last two seasons. In the playoffs he averaged 21/11 per 36 and shot 64%, I can't see where his argument for being marginalized on the court would come from unless he somehow wrongly thinks he should be used as a playmaker.

Most teams these days place more value on efficient winning production than for example if he scored more with more turnovers and lower FG%, played lesser defense and contributed less to winning.

Where Ayton will have it tough is the valuing of C's in the current NBA, his owner being cheap (they didn't pick up the option for, and traded Jalen Smith who was the 10th pick, just 21 and showing stretch big ability, simply baffling). Then also the free agency market. I like Ayton, but would I want a non Embiid or Jokic C on any of the max contracts, well.....

Maybe on the 25% max I can stomach, but depends on the rest of my team for sure as C's can be tough if you can't trust that you can keep them on the court for 35+ mpg in every series and be happy with the results, then any max is hard.

[og15]

I would 100% take Blake back, because, let's be honest, similar to Isaiah, he's play 15-20 minutes during the regular season, then not at all in the post season.

If everyone is healthy, that is more like 10-15 minutes. I don't know what kind of role he's looking for, but I would feel bad to see Blake playing 10-15 mins with DNP's sprinkled in there and just sitting on the bench during the playoffs.

[madmaxmedia]

I'd imagine Ayton probably wasn't happy about not getting paid while the Suns were throwing money at Shamet of all players. When you're already unhappy, CP3's constant nagging and blaming must be absolutely insufferable to listen to, on top of being marginalized on the court when you're trying to prove you deserve big money.

We're all human, and I think this is a pretty good guess at what's going on there. Could he be a better pro and shut out all the noise? Sure, but I doubt he's some horrible malcontent either.

Everyone who picks up Shamet thinks he's going to become a 1/1.5 type with great shooting, until he proves them wrong. Unfortunately he just doesn't seem to have the court vision/awareness to play point, and not quite the body for a 2. The high point of his career so far was the post ASB he spent with us.

[madmaxmedia]

Just like with Amir, I hope that if Hart lands somewhere else, at least he's going to make significantly more money than what we'd be able to offer him. He even said that if the two figures are close, he's willing to turn down the larger offer to stick with us.

And I'm still holding on to a shred of hope that Wall takes the minimum.

I love watching Hart play. He plays like the coach's son he is--always in the right place on D, good passer, can hit the three. He's just turned 24 and I'd love to see him finally cash in.

That said, he just doesn't give us much that Zubac doesn't, which is why Hart played only 14 minutes combined in the two disappointing [DISASTROUS!] play-in losses. If it's a bad matchup for Zu, it probably is for Hart too. They are not complementary players.

I love the big lug but Hart is only worth the minimum to the Clippers. I hope he gets big money and big minutes somewhere else. If not, it appears he's always welcome here.

This is a great point, what we really could use in a 2nd center is someone who has an alternate skill set (mainly being able to switch onto smaller/quicker players.) I think Zu actually does better than you'd imagine looking at his body, but that's not a high bar.

Diabate actually seems to have that potential, maybe in a year or so.

[og15]

I'd imagine Ayton probably wasn't happy about not getting paid while the Suns were throwing money at Shamet of all players. When you're already unhappy, CP3's constant nagging and blaming must be absolutely insufferable to listen to, on top of being marginalized on the court when you're trying to prove you deserve big money.

We're all human, and I think this is a pretty good guess at what's going on there. Could he be a better pro and shut out all the noise? Sure, but I doubt he's some horrible malcontent either.

Everyone who picks up Shamet thinks he's going to become a 1/1.5 type with great shooting, until he proves them wrong. Unfortunately he just doesn't seem to have the court vision/awareness to play point, and not quite the body for a 2. The high point of his career so far was the post ASB he spent with us.

So true about Shamet, it's like he can handle, he can shoot, good length, can drive, competes on defense, but then he gets on the court and the end result is just, well...not what people expect.

[TrueLAfan]

With Sham, the ultimate deal is he's a player who does things well ... just not frequently. He's a terrific shooter that doesn't shoot much, a decent defender when he wants to be--which doesn't seem to be often, and a capable passer at times--just not often or all the time. I think a big part of the problem is his demeanor--he just doesn't seem to be that committed or working that hard. As a result, you want him to add that extra 15% that would make him a good player. But he doesn't move up a gear. Maybe he can't; maybe he's playing at 100% and just doesn't look like it. But the bottom line is he does things at a good level, but not often enough to be a good player.

Ayton's problem is that he's really not the right C for Phoenix. Myles Turner? Perfect. There are areas that Ayton exceeds Turner--but Phoenix doesn't require more low post scoring, or more scoring in general. But the better floor spacing and perimeter switching that Turner would provide would be very valuable. Ayton will do a better on another team. The unfortunate thing now is that both he and Phoenix are handling this poorly--both could have come out looking good, and neither of them are now.

[clipsfever]

BOMB

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just a trade Kyrie power play?

[MartinToVaught]

No, just Durant being an anti-competitive weasel like always.

[madmaxmedia]

The Lakers did win a chip, but man the super teams are not doing so hot right now...
(except for us of course)

[esqtvd]

what, did Sterling buy the Nets? world-class fustercluck

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ADD: this would suck

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[KL2]

He should have teamed up with Leonard when he had the chance.

[og15]

The Nets are just a sad situation overall, wow

[og15]

what, did Sterling buy the Nets? world-class fustercluck

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ADD: this would suck

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The Heat is the other option, so I'll root for the Heat to get him, though I'm not sure what they have to offer outside of Herro since they can't trade Bam to BKN

[clipsfever]

Durant deserves Sarverland... and if I'm Marks, flipping him for Bridges and Ayton and all the Suns' picks is decent return from a crisi-tunity situation.