Around the NBA (Part Two)

[minimus]

For what? If Kessler has a good year we cannot afford him. If he has a bad year we don’t want him.

To anchor our defense when Rudy retires

I meant what do we have to give at this point. What player would we trade? Also I stand by my statement that he is either too good or too bad for us to get based on this season.

That was a joke. TC drafted Gobert in DEN and traded to UTA. TC traded for Gobert in MIN. TC drafted Kessler and will trade for him in MIN.

[shrink]

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TC will trade for Kessler in one year

While finding matching salary would be tough, I think one of the most likely teams we could trade with is .. Utah! And this isn’t about relationships between GMs, it’s about the CBA.

I’ll start by taking a step back. In any trade, GMs need pieces to match value. Individual players have a more fixed trade value. While DLo may be worth a little more to some team, and a little less to others, his value is fixed - we couldn’t trade DLo for, say, Paul George. However, GMs can use picks as a flexible asset to match value. A 2027 unprotected MIN 1st isn’t the same value as a 2027 Top-20 protected MIN 1st, and the GM controls the protections. Picks serve as the grease that gets trades done.

Right now though, MIN has pending agreements to trade its picks. However, these agreements can be modified in future trades. For example, MIN owes its 2029 1st to UTA, Top 5 protected. Would removing the protections uncover enough value to trade for Kessler? Or what if we traded NAW for Kessler? I have NAW > Kessler, (others might disagree because of contracts), but perhaps UTA turns the Top 5 protections into Top 10?

I’m not proposing any Kessler deals here, but others mentioning Kessler seemed like a good way to point out that our pick debt to UTA might make Connelly more likely to trade with the Jazz, because dealing with UTA provides flexibility to match trade values.

[winforlose]

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TC will trade for Kessler in one year

While finding matching salary would be tough, I think one of the most likely teams we could trade with is .. Utah! And this isn’t about relationships between GMs, it’s about the CBA.

I’ll start by taking a step back. In any trade, GMs need pieces to match value. Individual players have a more fixed trade value. While DLo may be worth a little more to some team, and a little less to others, his value is fixed - we couldn’t trade DLo for, say, Paul George. However, GMs can use picks as a flexible asset to match value. A 2027 unprotected MIN 1st isn’t the same value as a 2027 Top-20 protected MIN 1st, and the GM controls the protections. Picks serve as the grease that gets trades done.

Right now though, MIN has pending agreements to trade its picks. However, these agreements can be modified in future trades. For example, MIN owes its 2029 1st to UTA, Top 5 protected. Would removing the protections uncover enough value to trade for Kessler? Or what if we traded NAW for Kessler? I have NAW > Kessler, (others might disagree because of contracts), but perhaps UTA turns the Top 5 protections into Top 10?

I’m not proposing any deals here, but mentioning Kessler seemed like a good way to point out that our pick debt to UTA might make Connelly more likely to trade with the Jazz, because dealing with UTA gives him some flexibility to match trade values.

If Kessler has a good year, then his trade value will go up. If he has a bad year his trade value will plummet. So my question is how do we compete for good Kessler? Or, why do we want two bad years in a row Kessler?

[minimus]

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Having both NAW and Dennis Smith Jr would be extremely fun.

P.S. Also If we move away from Gobert centred defense, I want MIN to get Isaac type of defender next to Towns.

[minimus]

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Conley is by far our best one dribble shooter. Without him one the floor Gobert screens are underutilised. One dribble shooting is one skill that Gobert presence kind of favours in development, see Royce O'Neal example.

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[minimus]

https://youtube.com/shorts/6pfeo32o-wI?si=i5FNhu7TFca5tdgo

NAW is another example of one dribble side step shooter

[Calinks]

Been watching some WNBA games since they came back from the Olympics. Man, the Chicago Sky give me Timberpups flashbacks, they have some of the lowest BBIQ I have seen in a while. They choke away every close game they get, just horrendous mistakes down the stretch. Today I saw watch them take the lead in the 4th and I placed a bet against them because I figured they blow it, sure enough they made some God awful plays in the 4th to give the lead up and lose. So bad in crunch time man.

The Lynx have been the opposite, they have been ballin on every chin they can find.

[Klomp]

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This is the first real, signed example of how it won’t be long until other supermax players will be making more than KAT.

With the cap going up, KAT will be making $57.1M in his supermax (33.5% of the cap) in 2026-27 — $5.5M less than Steph will be making on this new deal.

(I don’t bring this up to suggest that KAT is on some bargain deal, but more as a reminder — mostly to myself — that even bigger contracts are coming.)

[Klomp]

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[Colbinii]

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So it covers last year?

[Klomp]

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So it covers last year?

Correct.

[Klomp]

Games against Denver could have a little extra juice, with Russ on the Nuggets.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[Klomp]

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[BlacJacMac]

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So it covers last year?

Just like QUARTERBACK and RECEIVER. They can't craft narratives until the season is over and they know the end results for all the principal athletes.

[minimus]

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Should we get Nassir?

[Klomp]

Everyone nationally gushing about the Thunder offseason. It's coming out that "the plan" (via IH's skills coach) is to play Holmgren and Hartenstein together. While I understand it, I think that it takes away some of the advantage that the Thunder had last year with their small, switchable lineup. Same with Memphis adding Edey and possibly playing him and Jackson together.

Give me a Towns and Gobert frontcourt over both of those.

[shrink]

Everyone nationally gushing about the Thunder offseason. It's coming out that "the plan" (via IH's skills coach) is to play Holmgren and Hartenstein together. While I understand it, I think that it takes away some of the advantage that the Thunder had last year with their small, switchable lineup. Same with Memphis adding Edey and possibly playing him and Jackson together.

Give me a Towns and Gobert frontcourt over both of those.

I agree, but I think that the size of the Wolves and Nuggets are forcing OKC and MEM to make that decision.

[thinktank]

Everyone nationally gushing about the Thunder offseason. It's coming out that "the plan" (via IH's skills coach) is to play Holmgren and Hartenstein together. While I understand it, I think that it takes away some of the advantage that the Thunder had last year with their small, switchable lineup. Same with Memphis adding Edey and possibly playing him and Jackson together.

Give me a Towns and Gobert frontcourt over both of those.

I agree, but I think that the size of the Wolves and Nuggets are forcing OKC and MEM to make that decision.

I don't see why that's a "but".

[Note30]

Everyone nationally gushing about the Thunder offseason. It's coming out that "the plan" (via IH's skills coach) is to play Holmgren and Hartenstein together. While I understand it, I think that it takes away some of the advantage that the Thunder had last year with their small, switchable lineup. Same with Memphis adding Edey and possibly playing him and Jackson together.

Give me a Towns and Gobert frontcourt over both of those.

They don't have to run it the whole game, they could do what SAS in 12-14, and GSW in 15-17 did and just start their center for 20 minutes.

[minimus]

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