badinage wrote:I like this KAT trade for Minnesota. I think it makes them a more versatile, tougher team. Randle and DiVincenzo — that’s hard-nosedness, shooting, scrap.
Just makes me wish all the more we had shelled out for homeboy x 2 (Baltimore native and Wizards FO alum) Tim Connelly when the opportunity was there.
I don't strictly like it for either team personally.
I'm 50/50 for Minny. Can see it working and can see them bogging down. Okay you get a toughness upgrade shipping out a guy who wilted under pressure in the playoffs. Still in the West I think you need the option to play giant against the Joker/Chet/Wemby/LA front court. The Randle/Gobert combo seems like it further clogs the middle, since Randle's game has improved over the past year when he concentrated on taking more interior shots and fewer wild ranged jumpers. Antman needs room to operate. Dunno.
For New York. I thought we've seen this before. Did KAT and Thibbs work in Minny? I know he took far fewer outside shots under the Penguin, and his rebounding totals were higher, but he also got shredded by Jimmy Butler for being soft as one-ply tissue. The difference is Minnesota is nice. New York is the antimatter equivalent of nice. You ship out beloved grit and guts players like Randle and Donte and bring in a guy who disintegrates under scrutiny. If he comes up weak in the scrum New York is going to boo so loud it shows up on the Richter scale. How does this fix the toughness deficit you lost with Hartenstein's departure to OKC? Okay you have a ton of 3pt shooters, but you are relying on basically only Josh Hart to rebound all those misses.
New York replaced DiVincenzo with Shamet. Randle + Hartenstein with Puddy TAT. I don't think it's going to go so well.
Completely agree. I think they'll be fine in the regular season, but teams like Boston and Philly who would meet them in the playoffs are breathing easier after this IMO. Indy too IMO.
