Danny Ainge just took the whole NBA execs to school

[Mavrelous]

More like Danny Ainge hella settled on this trade. Remember he was asking for 4-5 picks from the Knicks plus another 3-4 young assets for Mitchell. Now he’s getting picks that are more likely to be low first round picks at least for the next 5 years and who honestly believes that the Jazz are going to be leagues better than the Cavs in the next 7 years? The Jazz are a team that struggles to sign free agents and they’re going to be a tanking team for the next half decade at least. Good luck selling free agents on that future.

3 picks are heavily protected, the young players aren't good, this is much better than the Kicks package, Sexton and LAuri >> any Knicks young player.

[hauntedcomputer]

Even if all the picks are "good," you still have to pick the right players, develop them, and keep them after they get good, and then teach them how to win after deliberately letting them suck for half a decade. And hope you don't get that one good player who holds you hostage on the rookie extension or demands a trade in five years just when you thought you were trying to win.
I'd rather be Minnesota or Cleveland.

[jfs1000d]

He did all right. But they are farther away from a title than before the trades and no guarantee that any of those pics will be better than. Mitchell or Gobert.


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[Celts17Pride]

What else is new? Ainge has been doing this for years

[Pointgod]

More like Danny Ainge hella settled on this trade. Remember he was asking for 4-5 picks from the Knicks plus another 3-4 young assets for Mitchell. Now he’s getting picks that are more likely to be low first round picks at least for the next 5 years and who honestly believes that the Jazz are going to be leagues better than the Cavs in the next 7 years? The Jazz are a team that struggles to sign free agents and they’re going to be a tanking team for the next half decade at least. Good luck selling free agents on that future.

3 picks are heavily protected, the young players aren't good, this is much better than the Kicks package, Sexton and LAuri >> any Knicks young player.

Heavy amounts of compium here. The Knicks would have sent out 2 unprotected Knicks picks of their own plus 2-3 other picks from other teams that you are guaranteed to get. You do know the pick swap is useless right if the Cavs have a better record right? So Ainge took 3 guaranteed picks over 4-5 guaranteed picks plus additional young players. Lauri and Sexton were trade filler and while I like them as players don’t delude yourself into believing that this was a trade for talent.

[bstein14]

how can you be sure the players you will select with those picks (arguably all late 1st round) will even sniff to be as good as Mitchell and Gobert?

The biggest benefit is perhaps being one of the worst 3 teams in the league this year to help ensure they get a top 4 pick. If they get lucky and land #1 its likely worth more than Mitchell alone and they were going to be drafting in the mid-teens with Mitchell.

[_qubik]

Cleveland won, Jazz won, Knicks as always, lost

[danvato]

Show me one team that has won a championship by hoarding picks and turning the franchise into a disgrace for years on end.

It’s the most lauded team-building strategy that has never produced even a finalist.

exactly this.

the concept of treadmill team is a disgrace to fandom. keep stakin them picks i guess, i'll enjoy watching my team in the play-offs even if they don't have a chance to win it all. basketball is not about rangz.

[Pointgod]

Cleveland won, Jazz won, Knicks as always, lost

Ainge was asking for way more from the Knicks dude what are you talking about. Knicks dodged a huge bullet considering they don’t have a Mobley, Garland, Jarrett Allen to cover up Mitchell’s flaws. In two years Mitchell could be the 2A/B option on his team and still be really good. No such situation on the Knicks.

[dc]

Show me one team that has won a championship by hoarding picks and turning the franchise into a disgrace for years on end.

It’s the most lauded team-building strategy that has never produced even a finalist.

exactly this.

the concept of treadmill team is a disgrace to fandom. keep stakin them picks i guess, i'll enjoy watching my team in the play-offs even if they don't have a chance to win it all. basketball is not about rangz.

After the Warriors won 73 games and lost in the Finals, Michael Jordan told Joe Lacob to his face at an owner's meeting that his "73 wins don't mean ****".

So then Lacob went and signed KD, LOL.

But I'm pretty sure that, largely because MJ said it, everyone considered that statement to be righteous and exactly the type of mentality a champion should have.

[Dick Tate]

I was amused by all the Knicks fans who were convinced Ainge would be crawling back to them to eventually take a lesser offer.

[WillyJakkz]

Cleveland won, Jazz won, Knicks as always, lost

Ainge was asking for way more from the Knicks dude what are you talking about. Knicks dodged a huge bullet considering they don’t have a Mobley, Garland, Jarrett Allen to cover up Mitchell’s flaws. In two years Mitchell could be the 2A/B option on his team and still be really good. No such situation on the Knicks.

Knicks fans are always triggered when they "win" by not losing a trade because they didn't make the trade due to the entitled sentiment of them feeling they shouldn't have to trade 3-5 picks for anyone because the player should just be happy to play for NY.

Always followed by lashing out at the player (Donovan doesn't play defense we don't need him) but they needed to re-up RJ Barrett as if that was the urgent thing to do.

You make the trade then figure it out afterwards not let a guy like Mitchell go to CLE and push you further away from PO contention to where you'll always have a good ol' mid to late lotto pick.

[Stone]

Would anyone be surprised if Sexton turned out to be the better player?

[PierceFan4ever]

As always, Danny Ainge playing chess realgm playing checkers

[dc]

Would anyone be surprised if Sexton turned out to be the better player?

Than Mitchell?

Very surprised. Sexton I think could be Reggie Jackson on the Clips, when he optimizes his career after he finds a role on a better team as opposed to the Reggie Jackson on the Pistons where the guy thought he was an all-star.

[realball]

Meh, is it that great? Minnesota and Cleveland are going to good for a while. I don't see the big deal about a bunch of picks in late 20s spread over the next few years. He got great value for Gobert and good value for Mitchell, but I wouldn't call nuking your team some genius move, pretty standard GM fare. He'll probably draft some great players with those picks, that's where the genius part comes in.

[R-DAWG]

Two small market teams (Cleveland and Minnesota) with strong foundations in place (Mobley/Garland and Towns/Edwards) pushed their chips in the middle of the table to maximize the window to go on a run while they have said stars under control.

[ConstableChaos]

I reckon these picks are over rated - Can't see many of those unprotected picks ending up in the lottery unless something dreadful happens injury wise.

Haha - probably shouldve checked the post 2 before mine before posting!

[R-DAWG]

I agree this was a good trade for Cleveland but i would be careful about saying "they won't amount to much". Those picks don't start conveying until 25 and the NBA has repeatedly shown things can change extremely quickly

Exactly. Is DM even signed past '25? Whose to say a small backcourt is even going to work in Cleveland? 3 years is an eternity in the NBA.

Agreed. The league shifts all the time. Injuries happen and you never know when a guy will fall off out of the blue. I mean, nobody would've predicted Dwight's prime would basically end at age 26.

What if a team in today's game had a 24 year old Dwight and then decided to pull a mortgage the future trade, figuring that they'd be set forever with Dwight anyways, only to see him fall off not too long after. A number of things could happen.

Counter point - if I had 24 year old Dwight I would mortgage the future to get Donnovan Mitchell because how many opportunities do you have to get talent like that?

The Cleveland trade is a win for Cleveland if Evan Mobley turns into a top-10 prospect.

[TheLand13]

how can you be sure the players you will select with those picks (arguably all late 1st round) will even sniff to be as good as Mitchell and Gobert?

You can't, but you also don't get any where without taking a chance. Utah wasn't winning a championship with the roster as it was and there was little else to really pop that was in Mitchell's timeline. It was either mediocrity and lose Mitchell and Gobert, else get value now and get pieces that may work better.

Frankly, I'm glad they went with the latter.

they had a perennial 50+ win team, a lucky crack here and there and you could have gotten to the finals. now all the hope resides in picking someone as good as the best defender in the league and a dynamic shot creator who is arguably a top 20 player in the league. meh

and I didnt mention the total wasteland the team will be in next 4 years at least.

maybe by 2026 they will have a team as good as the mitchell and gobert jazz

By 2026? You just laid it out yourself in your own post why they probably will already be better than them this year. They were on pace to be a 50+ win team until injuries occurred. And now they just filled arguably the biggest hole they had offensively. This is going to make them a lot better as a team. I have no idea how you can think that they wont at the very least be a significantly better version of those very Jazz teams. No, they don't have a Gobert caliber defender on their team, but they don't need one. Mobley and Allen together are much deadlier defensive force than Gobert on his own, and much more talented offensively too.