Trade Talk (Part 16): Early Season Anxiety Edition

[younggunsmn]

Hey Wolves board. I'm a huge Ant fan so I'm very interested in seeing how the team plays out in the long term.

My question is given the current construction of the team, who do you all see as Ant's running mate in the event that Randle is traded for spare parts? Is there another guy with allstar level upside on the team? I see Naz and Rob as the best candidates to make that leap.

My fear from the outside looking in at a Randle trade for role players to balance the roster is that the team loses an all NBA caliber guy to pair with Ant without a clear way to replace him. Is Ant with Naz, Divencenzo, and Dillingham enough offensive firepower to compete with top Western contenders over the next 4 years?

We lost our only real shot at "that guy" when we traded KAT for spare parts.
When we traded for Rudy we diminished KAT's game to the point he couldn't be that guy anymore.

Julius Randle is an All-Star in the same way DeAngelo Russell was an all-star.

And the worst part about pairing Ant with Randle is that the worst parts of their games (the overdribbling, hero ball, and sloppy ballhandling/passing) duplicate each other.
So when they are both being bad it's Bad Squared for the team.

We keep getting games like the Atlanta game from them I might have to trademark that.

[cmoss84]

Alright. Hear me out W4L. You'll like this one.
GS finally comes to the end of the Draymond Green era. Chi wants to change their soft image/playing style and acquires Draymond/NAW/Payton to start the defensive movement. Lavine is traded next.

GS OUT: Draymond Green, Gary Payton II, Podz
GS IN: Randle, Dalen Terry, Torrey Craig, '25 SRP (Utah)

Chi OUT: Ball, Terry, Craig
Chi IN: Green, Payton II, NAW

MN OUT: Randle, NAW, '25 SRP (Utah)
MN IN: Ball, Podz, Trace Jackson-Davis, and Gui Santos (Yes, THAT Gui Santos!)

[winforlose]

Alright. Hear me out W4L. You'll like this one.
GS finally comes to the end of the Draymond Green era. Chi wants to change their soft image/playing style and acquires Draymond/NAW/Payton to start the defensive movement. Lavine is traded next.

GS OUT: Draymond Green, Gary Payton II, Podz
GS IN: Randle, Dalen Terry, Torrey Craig, '25 SRP (Utah)

Chi OUT: Ball, Terry, Craig
Chi IN: Green, Payton II, NAW

MN OUT: Randle, NAW, '25 SRP (Utah)
MN IN: Ball, Podz, Trace Jackson-Davis, and Gui Santos (Yes, THAT Gui Santos!)

Much better. Still dislike Ball. TJD is interesting if one dimensional. Santos has potential. Podz is the jewel here. I would make this trade. GSW wouldn’t, Chicago wouldn’t, but I would.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Randle and NAW, 2nd option all-star level scorer, and one of the better 3 n D guards in the league (poa defender and excellent spot up shot).


For the crippled corpse of a limited Lonzo, Podz who fell off after hot rookie start, and undersized rim runner backup center. 4th is who Gui Santos, G league guy?

[winforlose]

Randle and NAW, 2nd option all-star level scorer, and one of the better 3 n D guards in the league (poa defender and excellent spot up shot).


For the crippled corpse of a limited Lonzo, Podz who fell off after hot rookie start, and undersized rim runner backup center. 4th is who Gui Santos, G league guy?

Santos is showing flashes for GSW, is cheap, and low risk. Podz is still young and has flashed potential. TJD is one dimensional but he is essentially a worse defending V8. Lonzo is expiring and if he actually turns things around you have bird rights. If not save 20 million of Randle’s money, let TSJ fill in for NAW, Podz can play PG with Dilly and we are younger which isn’t bad when you lack picks and your players are your assets.

[fattymcgee]

No thanks. Definitely rather keep our guys.

[Domejandro]

I think if a team offers even a single second, Josh Minott will be out the door.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I have no interest at all in khris Middleton. While I'd personally like to figure out a way to get rid of Randle.. anyone think middleton is a fit for us?

[winforlose]

I think if a team offers even a single second, Josh Minott will be out the door.

I think he wants away from Finch. If he gets a real chance I think he turns into a player. Maybe a good teams 8th man.

[Klomp]

I think if a team offers even a single second, Josh Minott will be out the door.

I think he wants away from Finch. If he gets a real chance I think he turns into a player. Maybe a good teams 8th man.

I think that's still years away. He's a flashy player, but still is 90% potential and 10% production.

[winforlose]

I think if a team offers even a single second, Josh Minott will be out the door.

I think he wants away from Finch. If he gets a real chance I think he turns into a player. Maybe a good teams 8th man.

I think that's still years away. He's a flashy player, but still is 90% potential and 10% production.

Maybe, but you don’t bridge that gap on the bench.

[winforlose]

Click the link below to see Ball’s stats tonight. Spoiler alert, not a great game.

https://www.nba.com/game/chi-vs-bos-0022400666/box-score

[Klomp]

Click the link below to see Ball’s stats tonight. Spoiler alert, not a great game.

https://www.nba.com/game/chi-vs-bos-0022400666/box-score

To be fair, it was Boston. Everyone was bad. His +/- was actually the second-best of the main rotation....a -8 in a 22-point loss isn't that bad.

[winforlose]

Click the link below to see Ball’s stats tonight. Spoiler alert, not a great game.

https://www.nba.com/game/chi-vs-bos-0022400666/box-score

To be fair, it was Boston. Everyone was bad. His +/- was actually the second-best of the main rotation....a -8 in a 22-point loss isn't that bad.

Check the minutes. His - was only better because he wasn’t healthy enough to play longer, or so bad they didn’t want him to.

[Klomp]

Click the link below to see Ball’s stats tonight. Spoiler alert, not a great game.

https://www.nba.com/game/chi-vs-bos-0022400666/box-score

To be fair, it was Boston. Everyone was bad. His +/- was actually the second-best of the main rotation....a -8 in a 22-point loss isn't that bad.

Check the minutes. His - was only better because he wasn’t healthy enough to play longer, or so bad they didn’t want him to.

I'm not sure what you are trying to gotcha me with....I know he's still on a minutes restriction. He's been that way since he came back. Tonight wasn't some extra protection to pad his +/- numbers. I'm not hypothetically trading for him because I plan to play him 40 mpg, let's just be real here.

[winforlose]

To be fair, it was Boston. Everyone was bad. His +/- was actually the second-best of the main rotation....a -8 in a 22-point loss isn't that bad.

Check the minutes. His - was only better because he wasn’t healthy enough to play longer, or so bad they didn’t want him to.

I'm not sure what you are trying to gotcha me with....I know he's still on a minutes restriction. He's been that way since he came back. Tonight wasn't some extra protection to pad his +/- numbers. I'm not hypothetically trading for him because I plan to play him 40 mpg, let's just be real here.

You just posted an update today talking about his last 2 games and showing his improved shooting. Then you come back at me with a better - than guys who played more minutes. Your point was flawed both earlier and now. No gotcha, just facts.

[Klomp]

Check the minutes. His - was only better because he wasn’t healthy enough to play longer, or so bad they didn’t want him to.

I'm not sure what you are trying to gotcha me with....I know he's still on a minutes restriction. He's been that way since he came back. Tonight wasn't some extra protection to pad his +/- numbers. I'm not hypothetically trading for him because I plan to play him 40 mpg, let's just be real here.

You just posted an update today talking about his last 2 games and showing his improved shooting. Then you come back at me with a better - than guys who played more minutes. Your point was flawed both earlier and now. No gotcha, just facts.

I only post his shooting numbers because some people think that's a deal-breaker. I'm not one of those people. I look at his overall impact, not just if he is a 40 percent 3-point shooter or not. Heck, I wouldn't care if he shoots like Kyle Anderson, I'd still love to have him on my team and to be able to put him in any lineup.

[winforlose]

I'm not sure what you are trying to gotcha me with....I know he's still on a minutes restriction. He's been that way since he came back. Tonight wasn't some extra protection to pad his +/- numbers. I'm not hypothetically trading for him because I plan to play him 40 mpg, let's just be real here.

You just posted an update today talking about his last 2 games and showing his improved shooting. Then you come back at me with a better - than guys who played more minutes. Your point was flawed both earlier and now. No gotcha, just facts.

I only post his shooting numbers because some people think that's a deal-breaker. I'm not one of those people. I look at his overall impact, not just if he is a 40 percent 3-point shooter or not. Heck, I wouldn't care if he shoots like Kyle Anderson, I'd still love to have him on my team and to be able to put him in any lineup.

Impact is more complicated than plus minus. He has to fit into our free flowing offense, and take pressure off of Ant. When you have guys who they dare to shoot, that increase pressure on Ant. Add to that minute limits do to possible injury concerns and you get into serious questions about the playoffs. You have seen how hard it is for Ant when Mike isn’t shooting well, why add another poor shooting PG to the rotation?

[wolves_89]

Interesting note about Randle and him not making the All-star game. It's not clear to me if that affects his number for salary matching in a trade or not. I also looked a bit into Julius's contract and he has another incentive considered unlikely to be met at $1.378M for 65 games played + playoffs (which he looks on track to get).

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[cmoss84]

Let's say nobody wants Beal. Nobody wants Butler. Phoenix decides to trade Kevin Durant. How much would you give up?

Randle, McDaniels, NAW, and Miller? With picks?