Ghost of Kleine wrote:But that's your personal opinion though man and not at all the consensus opinion on him! I mean if your perspective of his inherent value was at all accurate beyond your individual opinion, Then why are you seeing a multitude of teams stating interest and looking for avenues to trade for him in spite of your stated concerns? Despite his stated concerns which are really what makes him realistically attainable, He's a generational talent that under normal circumstances we'd have no shot at! If there's even the slightest possibility we could get him/keep him healthy, then it's worth the pursuit! I find it funny and also maybe somewhat hypocritical too that you guys are so aggressively looking to offload Ayton, who many here deem as terrible or borderline worthless! And can't wait to jump at the opportunity to trade him for almost anything. Yet when a very rare potential opportunity to maybe get a legit generational talent arises, you find it unpalatable even though we're clearly limited on talent/impact players beyond Booker and Durant, and in the next two years, it very well might only be Booker alone given our very limited situation! And unmet expectations in one situation may be completely different in another environment! By the way, that durability risk that you speak of as a prominent factor is somewhat minimized by his partial contractual guarantees.
I'm sorry man! But we're honestly not in the same situation at all, because despite being a tax team, We don't have any significant young talents coming up on sizable extensions! We also don't have our center that's about to hit free agency expecting a pay increase, We don't have a lottery pick salary to still add to the equation, And when Durant reaches free agency at around age 38, He's highly unlikely to command anything close to what Ingram will when he hits unrestricted free agency. Lastly, Our lead guard is a non-guaranteed next season, while McCollum just signed a two-year 64 million deal. So unless we somehow add another max guard replacement option this offseason and spend to the 2nd apron, our next two years will look significantly more reasonable than theirs (aside from depth concerns. So the situation is not really all that similar at all! Lastly, consider that Zion only makes about 3 million more than Paul and only one million more than Ayton. So in trading Ayton for him, we really don't increase our cap much if at all. And knowing Book can run the point and we don't necessarily even need a high-end expensive guard option, So Zion's 33 million could be very reasonably absorbed in the grand scheme of things on top of his partial guarantees reducing the implied risk too. And most importantly, when Durant fades out in two years, Booker won't have to be alone as our only star talent!
Those were your reasons which you wrote on why not to trade for him, and I simply agreed with.
Zion for all his hype and potential has seriously legitimate injury/weight/durability issues. And is eating up max salary there while frequently not even being available to play for them. Now in addition to that, You *(and others) might try to consider the Pels cap situation as well, and how with the new CBA and 2nd apron penalties, There's pretty much no way for them to be able to afford to keep their core together within the next two years.
Also the stipulations in Zion's contract is not directly related to his durability. It's to do with his weight. He could keep it below the threshold they've set for him but the damage to his knees over the years are already there and staying below that arbitrary "not fat" number doesn't necessarily mean he'll have significantly improved durability or longevity.
And you're right, we don't have any big extensions coming up, aside from the fact that KD and DB alone will account for $84m this upcoming season, which then jumps to $101m and $108m over the coming season after that because DB's extension kicks in. Adding Zion would push those figures up to $117.5m this season, which isn't crazy since DA is on around the same salary. But where things start to deviate is when Zion's salary very quickly rises from $33m to $36m then to $39m and then to well over $40m a season. I'm not saying I want to keep paying DA his lower salary either but to me, Zion's contract and his durability issues is a massive concern, which again, is exacerbated by having KD who also has his own durability issues. I'm saying if I'm trading DA, I'd prefer to get back lower-level role player talent but who can play and is available rather than throwing all our eggs in one high-end talent with legitimate durability issue basket. Not to mention Zion is a flawed player himself in that he's an overwhelmingly one-sided player right now given he cares little for the defensive end.
I looked at the Pels cap sheet and future salaries/likely extensions and they have a lot of flexibility. CJ's deal is a declining structure with his last year being $30m which is very moveable. Ingram is likely going to get another max deal so around $50m+ starting and given he's low maintenance and is relatively easy fit for most teams, he's also moveable. Then after that, you have a bunch of guys who are on reasonable deals that they can move on from like JV, LNJr and Daniels. Trey Murphy is likely to get a big extension, but it won't be in the $30m's unless he figures out shot creation. Alvardo won't get a big extension either (maybe MLE at most).
But to me, I don't care as much about our situation in 2 years, I'm far more focused on how we're spending our money this season and the next season. We've got KD who will be 35, DB squarely in his prime and it makes little sense to commit that much salary to one unreliable player. If we're committing that much money to a 3rd player, I'd rather go after Kyrie or something. And I've had plenty of negative things to say about Kyrie, about his off-court issues, all the weird/odd reasons he's missed games yet he's STILL played more games than Zion.
good call. He was just an afterthought anyway.
GOK needs to take a day off
