Early discussion on the 2023 offseason

[Riconet]

I wonder if anyone would take Simmons off the Nets' hands for #21 and #22? I would do that in a heartbeat.

I'm also coming around to the idea of signing FVV, especially if the Nets can free up the cap space by unloading Simmons. I like Dinwiddie, but they need an upgrade at PG.

I also like the idea of Mo Bamba -- that could be another use for #21 or #22. The Nets really need more size.

[Netaman]

I think we are going to make a smaller move. We likely move off Harris and or Mills. I see us giving up a pick or two and moving off of either DFS or Royce. I predict we keep Royce and trade DFS and Dinwiddie with a pick for an upgrade at one of our positions of need. The Dame talk is big. It might happen. But, I feel like we are going to save the big picks for a deal for a Luka level player in 2 seasons.

Yeah, I still think the most likely scenario is DFS and one of both of the picks to move up somewhere between 10-15, or those picks, DFS and maybe Cam T with salary filler for a starting level player at the 1 or 4.

Dame will likely windup staying in PDX or on Miami.

Beal will probably go to a more desperate, but further along playoff team for pennies on the dollar.

KAT is certainly a possibility, but as you alluded to, I think Marks is thinking bigger and if KAT still looks soft in a Nets uni, he does nothing to attract another better player to demand BK or sign outright in a couple years and if the new CBA is like the current one, Simmons would have to be outgoing because of no 2 traded for supermaxes.

Brown isn’t super likely imho. And another flight risk.

Trae Young is probably staying put, they aren’t likely to move him unless someone offered the farm right now.

Lavine is possible, but then you force Bridges back to the 3 and stunt his growth for another player who isn’t good enough to warrant that.

I don’t think they’re going to take a shot on Jordan Poole given his contract and GSW will want more than they should anyway.

Ja?! Only reason he would be available even for all the picks and anything not tied down besides Bridges, is if he’s got one foot into a lifetime ban grave and can’t be trusted, which is a distinct possibility, which means he’s radioactive.


There will be out of nowhere big names imho, this off-season is going to be straight up melee. So maybe something else will materialize.

Toronto’s asking price on OG will probably be too high and Siakim is an older flight risk.

FVV S&T very possible though. But in division with a heated rival and a GM who hates us, less likely unless we overpaid in assets.

An under the radar move could happen though, but I’m struggling to come up with it. Maybe Porzingis? But again, I think we steer clear of a lot of long term salary, especially for an injury prone center.

Gary Trent Jr S&T? But for who? And at the cost of losing Cam J?



This doesn’t seem like our summer for the big splash. I kind of hope it isn’t. I just want to see them move up into the early to mid teens and hopefully grab a true building block player, no matter the position they play and hopefully we at least make the play-in and don’t gift Houston a great pick.

I generally agree, and I think there's some moves they can make on the second/third tiers to balance the roster, continue getting younger, and compete better while punting the big decisions to next year.

my ideal "no big moves" offseason would be something like this:

trade DFS/Royce/Cam T for more draft capital, specifically with 1 of the firsts to move up and draft an impact scorer they like. use the 2nd pick on one of the uconn wings or one of the projectable wings like coulabily or miller (jackson probably most likely to be avail).

find another lead guard who can run an offense - cp3 honestly might even make some sense since we know he's very available and has a relationship with the twins. ideally he's cheap after getting waived but if you have to trade and match for him harris + patty mills that's fine too. would be hilarious to watch harris bricking 3's to tank another one of kd's final years.

I'd hope to get Bruce Brown back on the full MLE. Maybe bring back Yuta on the bi-annual or less.

last thing would be finding some kind of legitimate back up bigs behind Claxton. if they dont get Brown back maybe Wood, Lopez, or Grant Williams make sense with either MLE or with the kd trade exception? Grant Williams would be a great add i'd be willing to give up a future pick for (maybe cam thomas to a 3rd team for a pick, pick + TE to boston, williams to nets?).

they would still be lacking a primary scorer better than bridges, but with CP3 (and who knows, maybe a healthy Simmons) they should have an offense that functions better.

cp3
dinwiddie or simmons or bruce brown
bridges
cam j
claxton

off bench you have whoever doesn't start as the 2nd guard, grant williams, 2 rookies, yuta, sharpe.

gives bridges and simmons full years to see where the ceiling is and next year they have dinwiddie/cp3 coming off books with simmons as an expiring, plus pretty much all their picks to go big for a star.

[CalamityX12]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

[TheNetsFan]

Read on Twitter

Sign me up for this guy in an extend and trade scenario.

[vincecarter4pres]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

Yes. I love Bridges, but if you can get him and Simons and a future pick(s) with little to no protections, you have to do it.

They put Sharpe in there, I’d bitchslap Marks if it got leaked he passed up on it, on my way out the door to be a Nuggets fan.

Even an expanded deal makes a lot of sense:

Bridges
Claxton
Dinwiddie
DFS or O’Neale
21st pick
22nd pick
Philly pick

For

3rd overall(only if Scoot is there)
Sharpe
Simons
Nurkic
Future 1st

[Marvin Martian]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

[Tha King]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

Is Henderson being as good or better than Bridges really all that unlikely? This time last year Bridges was just a 3&D role player not viewed as being good enough to be a headliner in a KD trade. I don't think a handful of games takes him from that to being too valuable to trade for a player that could go first in other drafts.

Sure Henderson can bust but he'd also be the best chance at a franchise level player the team would probably have over the next several years.

[CalamityX12]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

Idk if easy pass is that solid to say.

There can be tremendously more upside to a possible franchise corner. This Henderson guy is being compared to a Ja Morant(on court), Rose or even Westbrook. In today's NBA to have a guard at that possible level turns games around. Obviously not the end all be all move to be a contender but a foundational piece we can surely build on.

Again its nothing against Bridges at all.... it's just a being honest with ourselves moment. We're not built to be good right now LOL... certain clowns still holding us back, maybe the Kevin Ollie addition makes things happen in the coaching side but other than that, we're not really on that Miami, Cleveland, Denver, SAC, MEM type level of team compete, offensive/defensive efficiency. Superstars not included.

What if we were offered the deal, we passed up on it and Henderson is out there being the next top level talent in the league to envy about? Marks would look foolish either way. It just depends on the result of Henderson himself.

[CalamityX12]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

Yes. I love Bridges, but if you can get him and Simons and a future pick(s) with little to no protections, you have to do it.

They put Sharpe in there, I’d bitchslap Marks if it got leaked he passed up on it, on my way out the door to be a Nuggets fan.

Even an expanded deal makes a lot of sense:

Bridges
Claxton
Dinwiddie
DFS or O’Neale
21st pick
22nd pick
Philly pick

For

3rd overall(only if Scoot is there)
Sharpe
Simons
Nurkic
Future 1st

Why go to that length to expand the deal?

Keep it at #3 plus Sharpe or Simons for Bridges. Bridges alone is worth a lot more to the Blazers(apparent Lilliard boy) than to us in terms of assets.

I'm not moving my other firsts no way... Nurkic is a bad contract no?

[vincecarter4pres]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

Yes. I love Bridges, but if you can get him and Simons and a future pick(s) with little to no protections, you have to do it.

They put Sharpe in there, I’d bitchslap Marks if it got leaked he passed up on it, on my way out the door to be a Nuggets fan.

Even an expanded deal makes a lot of sense:

Bridges
Claxton
Dinwiddie
DFS or O’Neale
21st pick
22nd pick
Philly pick

For

3rd overall(only if Scoot is there)
Sharpe
Simons
Nurkic
Future 1st

Why go to that length to expand the deal?

Keep it at #3 plus Sharpe or Simons for Bridges. Bridges alone is worth a lot more to the Blazers(apparent Lilliard boy) than to us in terms of assets.

I'm not moving my other firsts no way... Nurkic is a bad contract no?

Because on message boards you're getting the 3, Sharpe, Simons and a future pick(s) for Bridges. But likely in real life, Portland is going to want a Clax for Nurkic swap, but you're not getting Sharpe without giving at least that regardless. And probably no future picks either. Maybe I'm totally wrong though, Bridges is at the dead beginning of his prime and on a great contract.

My point is, I think it would have to be expanded to get it done. We're probably not going to be able to re-sign Claxton anyway.

The NBA is becoming more like the MLB when it comes to player movement. The days seem to be long gone for most teams keeping all their role players, no matter how good. You hope to keep a core of 2 stars, 1 really good starter and 1 high level role player, the rest are interchangeable pieces that can be assets to fill other holes.

[vincecarter4pres]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

Is Henderson being as good or better than Bridges really all that unlikely? This time last year Bridges was just a 3&D role player not viewed as being good enough to be a headliner in a KD trade. I don't think a handful of games takes him from that to being too valuable to trade for a player that could go first in other drafts.

Sure Henderson can bust but he'd also be the best chance at a franchise level player the team would probably have over the next several years.

This.

Again, I love Bridges, but what is he really going to become? And will we be good enough that soon to reap the benefits of his growth and not waste his prime?

To me, even if he improves a solid amount the next couple seasons, he's ideally your 3rd best player, or at best, 2nd best player, but 3rd scorer and playmaker.

I think when he's having his best impact, he's the type who should put up an efficient 19-22 a game, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, plays a lot more off ball, or quick action passes and plays his normally accustomed great defense.

That's a hella valuable player and hard to find, but we're so far away from a superstar who isn't a senior citizen and another player whose equally as good as Bridges but a better lead scorer, and at such a crossroads as a franchise, that if a shot is there at a superstar level prospect and further legitimate assets/young players, we pretty much have to take it.

[vincecarter4pres]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

Idk if easy pass is that solid to say.

There can be tremendously more upside to a possible franchise corner. This Henderson guy is being compared to a Ja Morant(on court), Rose or even Westbrook. In today's NBA to have a guard at that possible level turns games around. Obviously not the end all be all move to be a contender but a foundational piece we can surely build on.

Again its nothing against Bridges at all.... it's just a being honest with ourselves moment. We're not built to be good right now LOL... certain clowns still holding us back, maybe the Kevin Ollie addition makes things happen in the coaching side but other than that, we're not really on that Miami, Cleveland, Denver, SAC, MEM type level of team compete, offensive/defensive efficiency. Superstars not included.

What if we were offered the deal, we passed up on it and Henderson is out there being the next top level talent in the league to envy about? Marks would look foolish either way. It just depends on the result of Henderson himself.

Well said.

[Cstarski]

This might be some incoherent rambling but my take ok everything….

I see a lot of nets fans talking about “being good in the east” or a top 4 east team… my question is do y’all want to win a chip in the 2020’s or just be a Philly? Pull up the actual championship winning rosters over the last how many years and I think the only team that can somewhat be labeled as “we traded for / signed all these guys” would be the lakers? And Dame isn’t an arguable GOAT.

I may be wrong but all teams will have either 1) Lebron 2) drafted their best player 3)drafted their supporting core. And, this is a random side peice, I honestly think the outlier of lebron made it seem like you can take this mentally of “throw 2-3 great players together, fill out the roster and then we’re there!” With no consideration to team chemistry that is built up over TIME.

Could scoot be a bust? Absolutely, but I would place the probability that Scoot could be a key cornerstone player higher than I have is winning a Chip with Dame, by a lot too.

Am I so **** tired that we are about to, again, tie our wagon to an aging star? You sign Kyrie and KD 100/100 times, but this is a billy king move all over again.

Mikal? I’m glad he is 100% the opposite of what we just faced, but I’m big on selling high and I’ll be the guy to say if he turns or has turned into Jimmy Butler who cares? Jimmy isn’t a #1 on a championship team (which goes back to me saying actually look at champ rosters…). That said I’ll have no problem just re-tooling around him and being the 6-4 seed for the next so odd years.



Everyone always screams out “**** tanking” but it’s funny considering we have had like maybe ~5 ish lottery pics the last two decades? And the only time we actually made the finals is when on our lottery picks was on the team lmao.

My preferences for next year.

1) if scoot is at 3… drive Mikal to POR on a bike. Fire sale the team and go all in on an youth movement
2) Re-took around Mikal
10000) Trade for Dame

[vincecarter4pres]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

This is a dramatic post lol.

Being honest here, we're probably a lottery team with Bridges. I mean with Bridges, there's probably only 5 teams you can say are definitively worse then us. Then you'll have a couple teams crushed by injury that surprisingly suck. Probably another 2 who are going to trade their best players this summer and tank, who were currently projected to be even or better then us.

Likely best case is Bridges and Clax take another leap, Simmons is healthy and looks great, all the role guys and Dinwiddie play at their best and we add someone through trade, free agency or draft and we are a 40-44 win team and sneak into the 6 again. That is like the straight up best case.

More likely is we play a bit over our heads and we wind up the lowest seeded play-in team.

Even just as likely as that, we have some minor injuries here and there, Bridges plays better than the Phoenix version of himself, but regresses from the small sample size last year, Simmons is meh, we traded some of the sort of important role guys for a jump in the lottery, Clax plateaus, and S&T'd Cam J for a future pick and a generated TPE, we lose Watanabe to a higher bidder and we win 34 games and wind up with the 7th worst record. Hopefully not making a top 3 jump, to wrap with a bow to the Rockets.

I'd rather we had the 5th worst record and Scoot looks like the second coming of the best year's of Baron Davis.

[Cstarski]

EDIT: accidentally quoted my post

[Tha King]

This might be some incoherent rambling but my take ok everything….

I see a lot of nets fans talking about “being good in the east” or a top 4 east team… my question is do y’all want to win a chip in the 2020’s or just be a Philly? Pull up the actual championship winning rosters over the last how many years and I think the only team that can somewhat be labeled as “we traded for / signed all these guys” would be the lakers? And Dame isn’t an arguable GOAT.

I may be wrong but all teams will have either 1) Lebron 2) drafted their best player 3)drafted their supporting core. And, this is a random side peice, I honestly think the outlier of lebron made it seem like you can take this mentally of “throw 2-3 great players together, fill out the roster and then we’re there!” With no consideration to team chemistry that is built up over TIME.

Could scoot be a bust? Absolutely, but I would place the probability that Scoot could be a key cornerstone player higher than I have is winning a Chip with Dame, by a lot too.

Am I so **** tired that we are about to, again, tie our wagon to an aging star? You sign Kyrie and KD 100/100 times, but this is a billy king move all over again.

Mikal? I’m glad he is 100% the opposite of what we just faced, but I’m big on selling high and I’ll be the guy to say if he turns or has turned into Jimmy Butler who cares? Jimmy isn’t a #1 on a championship team (which goes back to me saying actually look at champ rosters…). That said I’ll have no problem just re-tooling around him and being the 6-4 seed for the next so odd years.



Everyone always screams out “**** tanking” but it’s funny considering we have had like maybe ~5 ish lottery pics the last two decades? And the only time we actually made the finals is when on our lottery picks was on the team lmao.

My preferences for next year.

1) if scoot is at 3… drive Mikal to POR on a bike. Fire sale the team and go all in on an youth movement
2) Re-took around Mikal
10000) Trade for Dame

What you said isn't incoherent, it's on point. And welcome.

[Tha King]

If Portland offers the #3 overall for Bridges and Henderson is there.... idk how we pass that up.... it will jumpstart our rebuild with a possible franchise player(under a rookie deal)... plus i'm sure we get a little extra from Portland to make the move as well.

I aint even hating on Bridges at all... but definitely open to it.

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

This is a dramatic post lol.

Being honest here, we're probably a lottery team with Bridges. I mean with Bridges, there's probably only 5 teams you can say are definitively worse then us. Then you'll have a couple teams crushed by injury that surprisingly suck. Probably another 2 who are going to trade their best players this summer and tank, who were currently projected to be even or better then us.

Likely best case is Bridges and Clax take another leap, Simmons is healthy and looks great, all the role guys and Dinwiddie play at their best and we add someone through trade, free agency or draft and we are a 40-44 win team and sneak into the 6 again. That is like the straight up best case.

More likely is we play a bit over our heads and we wind up the lowest seeded play-in team.

Even just as likely as that, we have some minor injuries here and there, Bridges plays better than the Phoenix version of himself, but regresses from the small sample size last year, Simmons is meh, we traded some of the sort of important role guys for a jump in the lottery, Clax plateaus, and S&T'd Cam J for a future pick and a generated TPE, we lose Watanabe to a higher bidder and we win 34 games and wind up with the 7th worst record. Hopefully not making a top 3 jump, to wrap with a bow to the Rockets.

I'd rather we had the 5th worst record and Scoot looks like the second coming of the best year's of Baron Davis.

1000000%

This roster as is may not even make the playoffs. You can't tell me it's for sure more talented than Raptors, Hawks, and Bulls. Magic are getting better and could easily level up. Then you have the obviously better teams - Heat, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks, Knicks, and Cavs. That's 10 teams. Maybe you can make an argument for a couple here and there but we're far away from the elite group.

Not having control of the picks makes things difficult but you still have to think long term. I also don't think Bridges is some game changing player where losing him completely tanks you. There are only a handful of players like that in this league. The Jazz traded Mitchell and Gobert and still somehow found a way to be a competitive team that could have made the play-in in the West while stockpiling picks for years.

[Netaman]

This might be some incoherent rambling but my take ok everything….

I see a lot of nets fans talking about “being good in the east” or a top 4 east team… my question is do y’all want to win a chip in the 2020’s or just be a Philly? Pull up the actual championship winning rosters over the last how many years and I think the only team that can somewhat be labeled as “we traded for / signed all these guys” would be the lakers? And Dame isn’t an arguable GOAT.

I may be wrong but all teams will have either 1) Lebron 2) drafted their best player 3)drafted their supporting core. And, this is a random side peice, I honestly think the outlier of lebron made it seem like you can take this mentally of “throw 2-3 great players together, fill out the roster and then we’re there!” With no consideration to team chemistry that is built up over TIME.

Could scoot be a bust? Absolutely, but I would place the probability that Scoot could be a key cornerstone player higher than I have is winning a Chip with Dame, by a lot too.

Am I so **** tired that we are about to, again, tie our wagon to an aging star? You sign Kyrie and KD 100/100 times, but this is a billy king move all over again.

Mikal? I’m glad he is 100% the opposite of what we just faced, but I’m big on selling high and I’ll be the guy to say if he turns or has turned into Jimmy Butler who cares? Jimmy isn’t a #1 on a championship team (which goes back to me saying actually look at champ rosters…). That said I’ll have no problem just re-tooling around him and being the 6-4 seed for the next so odd years.



Everyone always screams out “**** tanking” but it’s funny considering we have had like maybe ~5 ish lottery pics the last two decades? And the only time we actually made the finals is when on our lottery picks was on the team lmao.

My preferences for next year.

1) if scoot is at 3… drive Mikal to POR on a bike. Fire sale the team and go all in on an youth movement
2) Re-took around Mikal
10000) Trade for Dame

you're post isn't wrong but i think we need to re-calibrate a little bit if we are saying "do we really want to end up like philly?"

embiid just won an mvp (wrongly over nokic, but he still won it) and both he/harden are max players with mvp votes more years than not, so yes i'd be fine being philly from a talent perspective with 1 MVP finalist plus another max or two around him with a bunch of all star appearances. i'd just hope if we get players like that they arent so un-clutch when it matters most.

it is not impossible that embiid could have had the kind of postseason run jokic had with harden/maxey/harris being enough around him to do what denver did. that was well within the realm of possibility. it's arguable that philly is just as talented of a roster. it's arguable that if they didn't stupidly let butler walk they'd be where miami was instead and maybe have a chance of actually winning.

the best way for the nets get an embiid level talent is a totally different question with validity. it quite obviously has to be the main thing on any team's radar since the nba is still a star league. the #3 pick this year could be that best path. or they could be a little less certain on scoot, and could think bridges probability/value of being a strong #2 is too valuable to give up. or maybe instead of big game hunting their preference is to try to create a miami culture of constantly being in the playoffs and getting occasional runs at titles because there are always good players who are attracted to their culture from shaq, to lebron, to jimmy, to now dame.

there is no sure thing path to contending in the nba and i think for me the miami way is most appealing.

[Tha King]

This might be some incoherent rambling but my take ok everything….

I see a lot of nets fans talking about “being good in the east” or a top 4 east team… my question is do y’all want to win a chip in the 2020’s or just be a Philly? Pull up the actual championship winning rosters over the last how many years and I think the only team that can somewhat be labeled as “we traded for / signed all these guys” would be the lakers? And Dame isn’t an arguable GOAT.

I may be wrong but all teams will have either 1) Lebron 2) drafted their best player 3)drafted their supporting core. And, this is a random side peice, I honestly think the outlier of lebron made it seem like you can take this mentally of “throw 2-3 great players together, fill out the roster and then we’re there!” With no consideration to team chemistry that is built up over TIME.

Could scoot be a bust? Absolutely, but I would place the probability that Scoot could be a key cornerstone player higher than I have is winning a Chip with Dame, by a lot too.

Am I so **** tired that we are about to, again, tie our wagon to an aging star? You sign Kyrie and KD 100/100 times, but this is a billy king move all over again.

Mikal? I’m glad he is 100% the opposite of what we just faced, but I’m big on selling high and I’ll be the guy to say if he turns or has turned into Jimmy Butler who cares? Jimmy isn’t a #1 on a championship team (which goes back to me saying actually look at champ rosters…). That said I’ll have no problem just re-tooling around him and being the 6-4 seed for the next so odd years.



Everyone always screams out “**** tanking” but it’s funny considering we have had like maybe ~5 ish lottery pics the last two decades? And the only time we actually made the finals is when on our lottery picks was on the team lmao.

My preferences for next year.

1) if scoot is at 3… drive Mikal to POR on a bike. Fire sale the team and go all in on an youth movement
2) Re-took around Mikal
10000) Trade for Dame

you're post isn't wrong but i think we need to re-calibrate a little bit if we are saying "do we really want to end up like philly?"

embiid just won an mvp (wrongly over nokic, but he still won it) and both he/harden are max players with mvp votes more years than not, so yes i'd be fine being philly from a talent perspective with 1 MVP finalist plus another max or two around him with a bunch of all star appearances. i'd just hope if we get players like that they arent so un-clutch when it matters most.

it is not impossible that embiid could have had the kind of postseason run jokic had with harden/maxey/harris being enough around him to do what denver did. that was well within the realm of possibility. it's arguable that philly is just as talented of a roster. it's arguable that if they didn't stupidly let butler walk they'd be where miami was instead and maybe have a chance of actually winning.

the best way for the nets get an embiid level talent is a totally different question with validity. it quite obviously has to be the main thing on any team's radar since the nba is still a star league. the #3 pick this year could be that best path. or they could be a little less certain on scoot, and could think bridges probability/value of being a strong #2 is too valuable to give up. or maybe instead of big game hunting their preference is to try to create a miami culture of constantly being in the playoffs and getting occasional runs at titles because there are always good players who are attracted to their culture from shaq, to lebron, to jimmy, to now dame.

there is no sure thing path to contending in the nba and i think for me the miami way is most appealing.

the thing about the miami way is that it involves having one of the greatest coaches in league history. They are an anomaly imo and very a difficult formula to replicate (which has also not won a title - the current core).

[vincecarter4pres]

That is an easy pass considering that we clearly get worse and we don't control our draft picks. So if Henderson is not as good as Bridges (likely because he is future all-star), it would such a catastrophic deal, that Marks will be fired and never be a GM again

This would be worse than the Billy King deal. At least he was trying to win.

This is a dramatic post lol.

Being honest here, we're probably a lottery team with Bridges. I mean with Bridges, there's probably only 5 teams you can say are definitively worse then us. Then you'll have a couple teams crushed by injury that surprisingly suck. Probably another 2 who are going to trade their best players this summer and tank, who were currently projected to be even or better then us.

Likely best case is Bridges and Clax take another leap, Simmons is healthy and looks great, all the role guys and Dinwiddie play at their best and we add someone through trade, free agency or draft and we are a 40-44 win team and sneak into the 6 again. That is like the straight up best case.

More likely is we play a bit over our heads and we wind up the lowest seeded play-in team.

Even just as likely as that, we have some minor injuries here and there, Bridges plays better than the Phoenix version of himself, but regresses from the small sample size last year, Simmons is meh, we traded some of the sort of important role guys for a jump in the lottery, Clax plateaus, and S&T'd Cam J for a future pick and a generated TPE, we lose Watanabe to a higher bidder and we win 34 games and wind up with the 7th worst record. Hopefully not making a top 3 jump, to wrap with a bow to the Rockets.

I'd rather we had the 5th worst record and Scoot looks like the second coming of the best year's of Baron Davis.

1000000%

This roster as is may not even make the playoffs. You can't tell me it's for sure more talented than Raptors, Hawks, and Bulls. Magic are getting better and could easily level up. Then you have the obviously better teams - Heat, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks, Knicks, and Cavs. That's 10 teams. Maybe you can make an argument for a couple here and there but we're far away from the elite group.

Not having control of the picks makes things difficult but you still have to think long term. I also don't think Bridges is some game changing player where losing him completely tanks you. There are only a handful of players like that in this league. The Jazz traded Mitchell and Gobert and still somehow found a way to be a competitive team that could have made the play-in in the West while stockpiling picks for years.

And to add to this, cause we're on the same wavelength, this stuff isn't to detract from Bridges. Love, love, love Bridges. But there is only so much one player can do to pile up wins on a roster that is pretty much all 5th best starter role players besides him. And as you said, he isn't a superstar no matter what way you slice it, so he's not a big time floor raiser on his own, even though he is a big time needle mover in the right lineup.