jbk1234 wrote:jayjaysee wrote:I think if Mitchell makes a list of LA, Brooklyn, Miami (seems realistic?) the OP (with LAL’s 2024 first) is a competitive offer for the expiring star. I think Brooklyn would beat it, and Miami might.. But I think it’s a respectable enough offer to not be insulting..
The problem is IMO if you’re trading Mitchell, you’re back to building around Garland/Mobley. So you’re not doing the Minnesota part. I do think Mobley has more value than KAT. But could understand the other argument. Just one is a year and a half younger than Garland and one is 4 years older. And one is on a 35% four year max and the other will likely be limited to a 4-5 year 25% max after finishing his rookie contract in 12 months.
For a team trading a top 15 player in Mitchell, you’re probably really leaning towards the younger/cheaper/controlled player.
A maybe terrible idea would be if Mitchell goes out, maybe it’s Allen/Mitchell for KAT/??? need a different set of teams to make that work. But KAT/Mobley feel like a more natural fit than Allen/KAT. And you don’t lose your cornerstones of Mobley/Garland..
People are overrating the real life value of the Lakers picks being offered, generally, and to the Cavs, specifically. If the Cavs are forced into resetting around Garland and Mobley, then picks that don't even convey until they're coming off their second contracts aren't going to hold much appeal. That's before you get into the fact that they're the Lakers and no one knows what their roster will look like five years from now.
Also, while Reaves is a good role player, he did get moved to bench for defensive reasons this season. The last thing you want is to do is assemble a late lottery team around Garland and Mobley and create a situation where they ask out in a year or two.
At some point you need to accept a trade though. The easiest..and boy is it easy..thing to do is to poke holes in proposed trades based on a hypothetical (Mitchell declining to extend) and not proposing realistic alternatives.
I would never trade Mitchell for a package like this assuming he wanted to stay. What will happen, if he were to decline the extension, is that we will have to make a trade. IMO, Reaves/Rui/2027/2029/2031 1st round picks is a decent return. I will say that I am high on Rui and Reaves. Reaves is what he is and that is a very nice player on a reasonable contract. I really like Rui and I think he has upside. Rui is only 26 and Reaves is still 25. I think those 2 could grow with Mobley/Garland/Allen to give the Cavs a really competitive team over the next 3 years while we pay off some of that Utah debt. Then, once 3 years are up, we have can see what kind of team we have and we would have all those Laker picks plus our own to put in a trade package to upgrade.
I think the key point to remember is that a trade of some kind would need to happen under this hypothetical, and any reasonable proposal can have holes poked through it.