Lakers interested in Brown

[Tripod]

Reports came out saying that reported offer was not true.

[docholliday99]

I doubt it. Look at the players of his ilk around the league who are on their 3rd contract or beyond. Hield just got $9m. Beasley got $6m. Once your potential tag has worn off you aren’t getting paid as a 3+noD shooting guard. If Trent turned down >MLE he might not ever make that up, considering he’d have to make up the $10m he lost this year by not taking the MLE. Trent’s days of getting MLE+ money might be long gone.

You're right of course, I can't see him making more that Monk or Allen so 15m to me seemed like a great offer if accurate. It's a different would for wings in the new CBA. I'm not sure he'll make the NTMLE next offseason, unless he suddenly jumps on the Bucks and plays out of his mind.

Reports came out saying that reported offer was not true.

I dunno, from Grange and Lewenberg, I haven't read or found anything that contradicted the offer. Are you suggesting less or nothing at all?

[Merit]

What does that have to do with BB ?

It has to do with the second apron. As if you needed my clarification for that one. Plus, there’s a whole offseason yet to happen, never mind a season and a trade deadline.

I mean is trading for bruce browns 23 million going to help with salary relief? Maybe but then we end up with a long term black hole contract. Perhaps that is the kind of deal we're looking to initiate here though, I don't really know much about the GMing part of basketball (or the other parts).

Depends what you consider long term and black hole. Not sure if you should offer your opinion if you don’t know much about the gm-ing part of basketball, or the other parts, lol. Then again you are a realgm so - that has to count for something, right?

[Merit]

What does that have to do with BB ?

It has to do with the second apron. As if you needed my clarification for that one. Plus, there’s a whole offseason yet to happen, never mind a season and a trade deadline.

I mean is trading for bruce browns 23 million going to help with salary relief? Maybe but then we end up with a long term black hole contract. Perhaps that is the kind of deal we're looking to initiate here though, I don't really know much about the GMing part of basketball (or the other parts).

Might be good to consider others who have chimed in after me as well. If the contract sucks but the talent is vastly superior, I’d consider it. The cap will go up and the contract’s percentage of the cap will decrease. Worst case scenario a near term 2 year “black hole” gets us to reset next offseason by doing the same thing again.

I can’t read the mind of the front office. I’m suggesting what I would do and why.

I’d keep the assets we have and leverage them for better ones.

[Merit]

The thing you're missing is that no other team operates this way, there are no other teams picking up option years of mediocre players on overpay contracts just to use them as a possible trade chips. It's incredible that Masai is allowed to operate this way, I'm amazed the bean counters at MLSE haven't had him assassinated yet for lighting tens of millions of dollars on fire for no reason (Lowry/Dragic trade which could have been done at the deadline to get off Dragic's money right away, picking up Thad Young's option year just to keep him for a trade, now paying Bruce Brown tens of millions he isn't worth). A few simple moves could have saved MLSE a big pile of money, I do wonder if this kind of behaviour will catch up to Masai once his contract is up for renewal in a couple of years.

... yes there is? How do you think FVV got paid? How did Bruce Brown get that deal in first place? JJ Redick in Philly a few years back (not to be traded, but an inflated deal for cap shenanigans).

Next time actually read my post. Bruce Brown is not worth $23M on the open market, the Raptors did not need to pay him that much because it was a team option. The examples you gave are nothing like this situation.

Next time read what he says.

The raptors did not pay Bruce brown and it’s irrelevant what he’d get on the open market for reasons that have repeatedly been explained to you by Daniel Hackett.

The raptors did need to pay him that much, because that’s how much was on his team option. If they wanted to guarantee he would be on the team, the team option was the way.

The examples he gave are exactly like this situation. Other teams overpaid to get their guy. The reason Indiana didn’t have to trade a whole bunch of their youth is because they had a larger contract like Bruce Brown’s to match Pascal’s salary. The reason Fred (and Bruce) got overpaid is because there were no better players available and overpaying them on shorter term meant that their own teams wouldn’t match.

It seems you have a good grasp of the salary cap. What you don’t seem to have a good grasp on are relationships and risk/reward ratio.

[ciueli]

... yes there is? How do you think FVV got paid? How did Bruce Brown get that deal in first place? JJ Redick in Philly a few years back (not to be traded, but an inflated deal for cap shenanigans).

Next time actually read my post. Bruce Brown is not worth $23M on the open market, the Raptors did not need to pay him that much because it was a team option. The examples you gave are nothing like this situation.

Next time read what he says.
The raptors did need to pay him that much, because that’s how much was on his team option. If they wanted to guarantee he would be on the team, the team option was the way.
The examples he gave are exactly like this situation. Other teams overpaid to get their guy.

Ok, apparently I really do need to explain why the JJ Redick situation is completely different from us keeping Bruce Brown because you just don't understand it. JJ Redick was a valuable player for the Philadelphia 76ers and his 3 point shooting was important to a team that was trying to win a title with Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons as starters, Butler a poor 3 point shooter at the time and Simmons a non-3 point shooter. They needed more shooting and as a tax team they had no easy way to add talent to their team, so they opted to overpay him to keep him on a one year deal. Completely sensible signing.

We are not a contending team, even if we were, Bruce Brown is not a player that solves any particular problem that we have. We need 3 point shooting, Brown doesn't do that well. We need defence at the SF position, Brown isn't great at that either and is probably undersized at the 3. We are trying to develop multiple young SGs and he will only block them from getting minutes for us while we are rebuilding.

These situations are completely different, even YogurtProducer didn't bother replying to me because he knows I'm right, I'm not sure why you decided to white knight for him.

It seems you have a good grasp of the salary cap. What you don’t seem to have a good grasp on are relationships and risk/reward ratio.

I'd say you don't have a good grasp of the fact that other well run teams don't pick up option years for players making 8x what they're worth in free agency, instead they're finding serviceable players for the minimum. Why do we never get players like that? Why is every contract we sign at least a little bit of an overpay, or in many cases a huge overpay? Why do we tack on additional years to contracts for marginal players like Khem Birch and Chris Boucher? Why do we end up with players like Jalen McDaniels at more than the minimum on a 2 year guaranteed deal when other teams get better players for only 1 year at the minimum? Why do we trade for useless veterans like Thad Young and then actually pick up his $8M option year? Why do we overpay Kelly Olynyk on a contract extension in-season when we could just wait for free agency and see what other offers he has?

Yeah, maybe sometimes you have to do something undesirable to keep a player and their agent happy, but not when it's a fringe NBA level talent that is easily replaceable. Brown is nothing special, a player who doesn't even really help us and multiple players who are better signed for the minimum this offseason, that's a huge fail by our front office if they're trying to win games, and if they aren't that's even more reason to let Brown walk and give his roster spot and minutes to a younger prospect.

[Merit]

Next time actually read my post. Bruce Brown is not worth $23M on the open market, the Raptors did not need to pay him that much because it was a team option. The examples you gave are nothing like this situation.

Next time read what he says.
The raptors did need to pay him that much, because that’s how much was on his team option. If they wanted to guarantee he would be on the team, the team option was the way.
The examples he gave are exactly like this situation. Other teams overpaid to get their guy.

Ok, apparently I really do need to explain why the JJ Redick situation is completely different from us keeping Bruce Brown because you just don't understand it. JJ Redick was a valuable player for the Philadelphia 76ers and his 3 point shooting was important to a team that was trying to win a title with Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons as starters, Butler a poor 3 point shooter at the time and Simmons a non-3 point shooter. They needed more shooting and as a tax team they had no easy way to add talent to their team, so they opted to overpay him to keep him on a one year deal. Completely sensible signing.

We are not a contending team, even if we were, Bruce Brown is not a player that solves any particular problem that we have. We need 3 point shooting, Brown doesn't do that well. We need defence at the SF position, Brown isn't great at that either and is probably undersized at the 3. We are trying to develop multiple young SGs and he will only block them from getting minutes for us while we are rebuilding.

These situations are completely different, even YogurtProducer didn't bother replying to me because he knows I'm right, I'm not sure why you decided to white knight for him.

It seems you have a good grasp of the salary cap. What you don’t seem to have a good grasp on are relationships and risk/reward ratio.

I'd say you don't have a good grasp of the fact that other well run teams don't pick up option years for players making 8x what they're worth in free agency, instead they're finding serviceable players for the minimum. Why do we never get players like that? Why is every contract we sign at least a little bit of an overpay, or in many cases a huge overpay? Why do we tack on additional years to contracts for marginal players like Khem Birch and Chris Boucher? Why do we end up with players like Jalen McDaniels at more than the minimum on a 2 year guaranteed deal when other teams get better players for only 1 year at the minimum? Why do we trade for useless veterans like Thad Young and then actually pick up his $8M option year? Why do we overpay Kelly Olynyk on a contract extension in-season when we could just wait for free agency and see what other offers he has?

Yeah, maybe sometimes you have to do something undesirable to keep a player and their agent happy, but not when it's a fringe NBA level talent that is easily replaceable. Brown is nothing special, a player who doesn't even really help us and multiple players who are better signed for the minimum this offseason, that's a huge fail by our front office if they're trying to win games, and if they aren't that's even more reason to let Brown walk and give his roster spot and minutes to a younger prospect.

I said what I said. Others said what they said. Peace be to you. I don't know YogurtProducer from Adam. I do know he tends to ignore when there's nothing more to be said. Maybe I should learn that from him.

[Tripod]

This just in...players will ALWAYS choose living in the US vs Canada if the money is the same.

Hell, we even saw it in FVV's behind the scenes documentary where he told his agent if Toronto only matches the other offer, go with the other one. And this is someone who won a Championship with the Raps and who you would think there would be some loyalty. You think most dudes would choose living in another country if all is equal? We know better.

It takes a player WANTING to come to TOR to sign that deal. And when history shows we NEVER sign anyone good....it's not from the Raps not trying. It's the players saying no thanks.

So you are left with overpaying to get a FA....or trading for guys with term or team options. This seems really easy to understand. It's nothing new.

[deeps6x]

I must have missed that FVV behind the scenes documentary. Or was it a tweet?

As far as BB goes, until he proves me wrong, I'm going to keep believing Masai played himself by deciding to opt into BB's team option.

BB better be one hell of a tank commander for us next season, considering the $23M he is getting paid (to help us tank).

[CazOnReal]

This just in...players will ALWAYS choose living in the US vs Canada if the money is the same.

Hell, we even saw it in FVV's behind the scenes documentary where he told his agent if Toronto only matches the other offer, go with the other one. And this is someone who won a Championship with the Raps and who you would think there would be some loyalty. You think most dudes would choose living in another country if all is equal? We know better.

It takes a player WANTING to come to TOR to sign that deal. And when history shows we NEVER sign anyone good....it's not from the Raps not trying. It's the players saying no thanks.

So you are left with overpaying to get a FA....or trading for guys with term or team options. This seems really easy to understand. It's nothing new.

This is DeMar D'Erasure and you know it.

Not every player has the same mindset as Mr. "Bet on Yourself" Fred, hell even Siakam expected to be a Toronto Lifer. The Raptors have had bad history in free agency, sure, but a lot of their strikes lack context for both the players in question (Wanting to sign with Nash but Steve wanting to get a ring while he was still an All-Star-caliber player influencing him choosing the Lakers over the Raptors) and the team. Notably, the Raptors haven't really had the cap space to go after a big name free agent since they failed to sign Steve Nash and thus most of their biggest signings of late are player they either traded for or drafted.

And frankly, with the Raptors luck in free agency,,,I really don't know why some of y'all want us to go that route when there's been maybe one notable free agency signing that didn't blow up in our face i.e. Bismack Biyombo. Dennis' signing was alright but it ultimately led to nothing via trade and his presence only really served to harm a Toronto team that should have embraced a rebuild instead of delaying it. OPJ would have been a lot better if he wasn't so injury-prone. We all know Baynes was bad, ditto DeMarre Carroll and Hedo via a sign and trade.

Speaking of, if we expand on this then i'd also point out that the Raptors sign and trades have been mostly bad.

[Merit]

This just in...players will ALWAYS choose living in the US vs Canada if the money is the same.

Hell, we even saw it in FVV's behind the scenes documentary where he told his agent if Toronto only matches the other offer, go with the other one. And this is someone who won a Championship with the Raps and who you would think there would be some loyalty. You think most dudes would choose living in another country if all is equal? We know better.

It takes a player WANTING to come to TOR to sign that deal. And when history shows we NEVER sign anyone good....it's not from the Raps not trying. It's the players saying no thanks.

So you are left with overpaying to get a FA....or trading for guys with term or team options. This seems really easy to understand. It's nothing new.

This is DeMar D'Erasure and you know it.

Not every player has the same mindset as Mr. "Bet on Yourself" Fred, hell even Siakam expected to be a Toronto Lifer. The Raptors have had bad history in free agency, sure, but a lot of their strikes lack context for both the players in question (Wanting to sign with Nash but Steve wanting to get a ring while he was still an All-Star-caliber player influencing him choosing the Lakers over the Raptors) and the team. Notably, the Raptors haven't really had the cap space to go after a big name free agent since they failed to sign Steve Nash and thus most of their biggest signings of late are player they either traded for or drafted.

And frankly, with the Raptors luck in free agency,,,I really don't know why some of y'all want us to go that route when there's been maybe one notable free agency signing that didn't blow up in our face i.e. Bismack Biyombo. Dennis' signing was alright but it ultimately led to nothing via trade and his presence only really served to harm a Toronto team that should have embraced a rebuild instead of delaying it. OPJ would have been a lot better if he wasn't so injury-prone. We all know Baynes was bad, ditto DeMarre Carroll and Hedo via a sign and trade.

Speaking of, if we expand on this then i'd also point out that the Raptors sign and trades have been mostly bad.

The thing is the past isn’t the future. So much has changed. Scottie for example, doesn’t have a player option in his deal. IQ is stoked to be here. Kelly Olynyk re-signed. Those are our 3 most recent free agents.

You’re right that the free agent signings we made have been average at best. Hopefully we make better moves going forward. I know Masai and Bobby have the awareness to make the change.

[mihaic]

I must have missed that FVV behind the scenes documentary. Or was it a tweet?

As far as BB goes, until he proves me wrong, I'm going to keep believing Masai played himself by deciding to opt into BB's team option.

BB better be one hell of a tank commander for us next season, considering the $23M he is getting paid (to help us tank).

I think Masai and Bobby had to pick their poison, three options were available, in order:
- 1. sign GTJ, trade him at the deadline
- 2. extend Bruce, trade him whenever
- 3. decline both, and use 20M in cap space (RENOUNCE the MLE), on a tight deadline: between the FA start, and signing Quick (after IQ signing our cap would have been gone). Risky, who could they get?

For option 1:We have seen how much GTJ got, I guess they read the situation right

Now honestly I don't even understand the implications of the Vezenkov trade to the third optio, perhaps it nixed it, or perhaps they didn't have an attainable FA target for their 20M in cap.

They went with option 2, Bruce. If it's true he was injured, perhaps they may have chosen well, we might find a BB taker in that case at the deadline (assuming BB sucked because he was injured, played on one leg in his words).

In hindsight I can see their rationale, they might have picked the right way forward.

[bballsparkin]

I mean is trading for bruce browns 23 million going to help with salary relief? Maybe but then we end up with a long term black hole contract. Perhaps that is the kind of deal we're looking to initiate here though, I don't really know much about the GMing part of basketball (or the other parts).

Depends what you consider long term and black hole. Not sure if you should offer your opinion if you don’t know much about the gm-ing part of basketball, or the other parts, lol. Then again you are a realgm so - that has to count for something, right?

You threw him a lob GWS and Merit hit it straight to left field.

[raps95]

This just in...players will ALWAYS choose living in the US vs Canada if the money is the same.

Hell, we even saw it in FVV's behind the scenes documentary where he told his agent if Toronto only matches the other offer, go with the other one. And this is someone who won a Championship with the Raps and who you would think there would be some loyalty. You think most dudes would choose living in another country if all is equal? We know better.

It takes a player WANTING to come to TOR to sign that deal. And when history shows we NEVER sign anyone good....it's not from the Raps not trying. It's the players saying no thanks.

…

Can anybody provide a link or more detail about this Fred comment? I somehow missed it along with any discussion of it when it happened.

[edit] Never mind, I found it. I misunderstood, I thought this was in reference to his Houston contract negotiations. It’s actually back around the time of his 4 year 80 mill negotiation with us.

[KrazyP]

I doubt it. Look at the players of his ilk around the league who are on their 3rd contract or beyond. Hield just got $9m. Beasley got $6m. Once your potential tag has worn off you aren’t getting paid as a 3+noD shooting guard. If Trent turned down >MLE he might not ever make that up, considering he’d have to make up the $10m he lost this year by not taking the MLE. Trent’s days of getting MLE+ money might be long gone.

You're right of course, I can't see him making more that Monk or Allen so 15m to me seemed like a great offer if accurate. It's a different would for wings in the new CBA. I'm not sure he'll make the NTMLE next offseason, unless he suddenly jumps on the Bucks and plays out of his mind.

Reports came out saying that reported offer was not true.

I dunno, from Grange and Lewenberg, I haven't read or found anything that contradicted the offer. Are you suggesting less or nothing at all?

Quickley was going to be re-signed making the Raps an above the cap team heading into the season. In that context as an above the cap team, its beneficial to have cap fodder around to help facilitate mid-season trades (IF they present themselves). This was the same reason the Pacers signed Bruce Brown in the first place leading to them having the fodder necessary to make a move for Siakam.

With Trent, my guess is that the Raps debated between giving him a 1yr $15mill deal vs picking up Brown $23mill option. Trent declined likely wanting more term so the Raps went with keeping Brown instead.

Between Brown and Boucher, the Raps potentially could absorb up to $40mill in a trade (125% of their salaries). This is probably not the year for the Raps to make a big splash like that however so I think its likely they just role forward the contract(s) to a team looking to shed 2025/26 salary and try to get some draft capital in the process. The hope would be a 1st but they may have to settle for multiple 2nds.

[Tripod]

This just in...players will ALWAYS choose living in the US vs Canada if the money is the same.

Hell, we even saw it in FVV's behind the scenes documentary where he told his agent if Toronto only matches the other offer, go with the other one. And this is someone who won a Championship with the Raps and who you would think there would be some loyalty. You think most dudes would choose living in another country if all is equal? We know better.

It takes a player WANTING to come to TOR to sign that deal. And when history shows we NEVER sign anyone good....it's not from the Raps not trying. It's the players saying no thanks.

…

Can anybody provide a link or more detail about this Fred comment? I somehow missed it along with any discussion of it when it happened.

[edit] Never mind, I found it. I misunderstood, I thought this was in reference to his Houston contract negotiations. It’s actually back around the time of his 4 year 80 mill negotiation with us.

Yes...my bad for not saying that. It was when he was a FA and re-signed with the Raps.

I was surprised that he HAD to have the Raps offer more, or he was gone. That matching any opposing teams offer wasn't good enough.

That irked me

[dhackett1565]

I doubt it. Look at the players of his ilk around the league who are on their 3rd contract or beyond. Hield just got $9m. Beasley got $6m. Once your potential tag has worn off you aren’t getting paid as a 3+noD shooting guard. If Trent turned down >MLE he might not ever make that up, considering he’d have to make up the $10m he lost this year by not taking the MLE. Trent’s days of getting MLE+ money might be long gone.

You're right of course, I can't see him making more that Monk or Allen so 15m to me seemed like a great offer if accurate. It's a different would for wings in the new CBA. I'm not sure he'll make the NTMLE next offseason, unless he suddenly jumps on the Bucks and plays out of his mind.

Reports came out saying that reported offer was not true.

I dunno, from Grange and Lewenberg, I haven't read or found anything that contradicted the offer. Are you suggesting less or nothing at all?

Quickley was going to be re-signed making the Raps an above the cap team heading into the season. In that context as an above the cap team, its beneficial to have cap fodder around to help facilitate mid-season trades (IF they present themselves). This was the same reason the Pacers signed Bruce Brown in the first place leading to them having the fodder necessary to make a move for Siakam.

With Trent, my guess is that the Raps debated between giving him a 1yr $15mill deal vs picking up Brown $23mill option. Trent declined likely wanting more term so the Raps went with keeping Brown instead.

Between Brown and Boucher, the Raps potentially could absorb up to $40mill in a trade (125% of their salaries). This is probably not the year for the Raps to make a big splash like that however so I think its likely they just role forward the contract(s) to a team looking to shed 2025/26 salary and try to get some draft capital in the process. The hope would be a 1st but they may have to settle for multiple 2nds.

The other benefit of Bruce over Gary as a trade chip is by picking up Bruce's option, they can trade him a) as soon as they picked that up and b) without consideration for whether he wants to be traded.

If they re-signed Gary to a one year deal, he'd not only be unable to be traded until December, he'd also have a no trade clause unless they could negotiate him waiving that ahead of time - which I imagine wouldn't go over well.

[ConSarnit]

You're right of course, I can't see him making more that Monk or Allen so 15m to me seemed like a great offer if accurate. It's a different would for wings in the new CBA. I'm not sure he'll make the NTMLE next offseason, unless he suddenly jumps on the Bucks and plays out of his mind.



I dunno, from Grange and Lewenberg, I haven't read or found anything that contradicted the offer. Are you suggesting less or nothing at all?

Quickley was going to be re-signed making the Raps an above the cap team heading into the season. In that context as an above the cap team, its beneficial to have cap fodder around to help facilitate mid-season trades (IF they present themselves). This was the same reason the Pacers signed Bruce Brown in the first place leading to them having the fodder necessary to make a move for Siakam.

With Trent, my guess is that the Raps debated between giving him a 1yr $15mill deal vs picking up Brown $23mill option. Trent declined likely wanting more term so the Raps went with keeping Brown instead.

Between Brown and Boucher, the Raps potentially could absorb up to $40mill in a trade (125% of their salaries). This is probably not the year for the Raps to make a big splash like that however so I think its likely they just role forward the contract(s) to a team looking to shed 2025/26 salary and try to get some draft capital in the process. The hope would be a 1st but they may have to settle for multiple 2nds.

The other benefit of Bruce over Gary as a trade chip is by picking up Bruce's option, they can trade him a) as soon as they picked that up and b) without consideration for whether he wants to be traded.

If they re-signed Gary to a one year deal, he'd not only be unable to be traded until December, he'd also have a no trade clause unless they could negotiate him waiving that ahead of time - which I imagine wouldn't go over well.

One possible Brown advantage is that he’s the highest salaried “useful” expiring in the league (only Simmons makes more as an expiring). If a team is looking to dump longer term money and actually wants a playoff rotation level player back then Brown might be the best option. I don’t know if that’s worth much but it could help make deals more appealing for playoff teams wanting to get off money who still want roster depth to compete this year.

[Spida888]

I must have missed that FVV behind the scenes documentary. Or was it a tweet?

As far as BB goes, until he proves me wrong, I'm going to keep believing Masai played himself by deciding to opt into BB's team option.

BB better be one hell of a tank commander for us next season, considering the $23M he is getting paid (to help us tank).

I think Masai and Bobby had to pick their poison, three options were available, in order:
- 1. sign GTJ, trade him at the deadline
- 2. extend Bruce, trade him whenever
- 3. decline both, and use 20M in cap space (RENOUNCE the MLE), on a tight deadline: between the FA start, and signing Quick (after IQ signing our cap would have been gone). Risky, who could they get?

For option 1:We have seen how much GTJ got, I guess they read the situation right

Now honestly I don't even understand the implications of the Vezenkov trade to the third optio, perhaps it nixed it, or perhaps they didn't have an attainable FA target for their 20M in cap.

They went with option 2, Bruce. If it's true he was injured, perhaps they may have chosen well, we might find a BB taker in that case at the deadline (assuming BB sucked because he was injured, played on one leg in his words).

In hindsight I can see their rationale, they might have picked the right way forward.

For #3, I'm guessing the FO did their homework and checked with other teams on possible trades if they had 20M in cap space to absorb some contracts for prospects/picks. Maybe the outlook wasn't as good as expected, so they decided to pick up Brown's option instead to mitigate the risk and have trade ballast down the road.

Ultimately, the mistake may not have been picking up Brown's option this year, but not trading him last year if the rumours were true that we could have fetched a 2024 late first. Not sure what we'll get this year, likely just SRP(s) but if they are high 2025 SRPs then it may turn out to be better than a 2024 late first.

[PushDaRock]

I must have missed that FVV behind the scenes documentary. Or was it a tweet?

As far as BB goes, until he proves me wrong, I'm going to keep believing Masai played himself by deciding to opt into BB's team option.

BB better be one hell of a tank commander for us next season, considering the $23M he is getting paid (to help us tank).

I think Masai and Bobby had to pick their poison, three options were available, in order:
- 1. sign GTJ, trade him at the deadline
- 2. extend Bruce, trade him whenever
- 3. decline both, and use 20M in cap space (RENOUNCE the MLE), on a tight deadline: between the FA start, and signing Quick (after IQ signing our cap would have been gone). Risky, who could they get?

For option 1:We have seen how much GTJ got, I guess they read the situation right

Now honestly I don't even understand the implications of the Vezenkov trade to the third optio, perhaps it nixed it, or perhaps they didn't have an attainable FA target for their 20M in cap.

They went with option 2, Bruce. If it's true he was injured, perhaps they may have chosen well, we might find a BB taker in that case at the deadline (assuming BB sucked because he was injured, played on one leg in his words).

In hindsight I can see their rationale, they might have picked the right way forward.

For #3, I'm guessing the FO did their homework and checked with other teams on possible trades if they had 20M in cap space to absorb some contracts for prospects/picks. Maybe the outlook wasn't as good as expected, so they decided to pick up Brown's option instead to mitigate the risk and have trade ballast down the road.

Ultimately, the mistake may not have been picking up Brown's option this year, but not trading him last year if the rumours were true that we could have fetched a 2024 late first. Not sure what we'll get this year, likely just SRP(s) but if they are high 2025 SRPs then it may turn out to be better than a 2024 late first.

I'm not really buying that a 1st rounder was on the table. The Knicks got both Burks and Bogdanovic without giving up their first. You could make the argument that both players are better than Brown and at worst it's debatable. The Pistons obviously didn't value Grimes very highly either given what they dumped him for.