Return to Sender: The Mark Williams Thread

[JustBuzzin]

We **** it up. Basically. Jeff Peterson has ruined this team.

Losing Mark Williams for nothing will be the nail in the coffin of a failed team.

Im curious to know where exactly you feel like Jeff Peterson failed here

Trusting the Lakers. Burning the bridge with Mark without confirming that he’d pass the physical. Squandering his young center’s trade value and reputation around the league. Ruining the relationship between Mark and his team.

Overall this failed trade has completely capsized our future. We get all of the downside without any of the assets to make up for it.

If you think this is unfair, remember that he drafted Tidjane Salaun. Any benefit of the doubt flew out of the window after he did that. I have zero trust and confidence in this new regime, if they decide to use lottery picks on utter crap like Salaun, how can you trust their judgment on anything?

I detect no lies.

[LurkCobain]

We **** it up. Basically. Jeff Peterson has ruined this team.

Losing Mark Williams for nothing will be the nail in the coffin of a failed team.

Well, your name checks out. Sheesh.

[Chapelchilla]

The Real gm hornets DD squad is out in full force-

Watch on YouTube

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[MasterIchiro]

We **** it up. Basically. Jeff Peterson has ruined this team.

Losing Mark Williams for nothing will be the nail in the coffin of a failed team.

Im curious to know where exactly you feel like Jeff Peterson failed here

Trusting the Lakers. Burning the bridge with Mark without confirming that he’d pass the physical. Squandering his young center’s trade value and reputation around the league. Ruining the relationship between Mark and his team.

Overall this failed trade has completely capsized our future. We get all of the downside without any of the assets to make up for it.

If you think this is unfair, remember that he drafted Tidjane Salaun. Any benefit of the doubt flew out of the window after he did that. I have zero trust and confidence in this new regime, if they decide to use lottery picks on utter crap like Salaun, how can you trust their judgment on anything?

Well you got me good on Salaün. He was a reach. If you're going to swing hard, pay to move up or think to trade out.

However, I like the dexterity Peterson demonstrated at the deadline, unloading clutter. I was feeling burnt out watching this wave of bench players play basketball, just as badly as I did when Rozier and Hayward approached the end of the line. I had seen enough.

Peterson relieved my most nagging pressure points like Micić, Martin, and Nick Richards and secured useful rotation players for them in Okogie and Nurkic. The owners thankfully agreed to take on money next year in place of the space that is opening.

Hornets will be operating over the cap and can add an MLE player via free agency or trade.

I did want to see Peterson add to the core but the Mark trade kind of subtracted a young starting center. It was an overpay. The Lakers sobered up but Peterson struck at the right time and caught LA cornered.

The Lakers failed to get better and wasted another year of LeBron so they can double down on KD when all 3 including Luka will be in a walk year. Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket, that is old and out of shape.

Who could think they would erase their future and re-enter the summer aftermarket for some big game hunting? How could Peterson have seen that coming?

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

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I guess it's a start

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[JMAC3]

Feels like this whole story has been blown up way too big, the Lakers declined the trade. You move on and Mark is still the same level of player he has always been, if anything his cost comes down on his next contract as this might have scared off other teams from throwing a RFA offer at him.

What is best for him is accepting it, moving on and working hard to stay on the court and prove his value to Charlotte and rest of the league. Charlotte has no benefit to waiving him or trading him for peanuts, and honestly neither of those are doing him any favors in terms of his perceived value. If he really wants to leave Charlotte, asking for a buyout and going to play for the minimum somewhere else is the best way to turn himself into the next Javale McGee, low cost, short term contracts as a hired big man for playoff runs. Nobody is seeing him do that and then deciding to invest a fortune into him.

I don't really understand how this supposedly ruins the relationship, when guys like CJ McCollum, Myles Turner, Markkanen are publicly shopped year after year and continue to play for their teams. How is Mark failing a physical all of a sudden the Hornets fault? If anything he only has himself to blame.

Suit up, play well and the cards will fall where they should.

[KembaWalker]

Feels like this whole story has been blown up way too big, the Lakers declined the trade. You move on and Mark is still the same level of player he has always been, if anything his cost comes down on his next contract as this might have scared off other teams from throwing a RFA offer at him.

What is best for him is accepting it, moving on and working hard to stay on the court and prove his value to Charlotte and rest of the league. Charlotte has no benefit to waiving him or trading him for peanuts, and honestly neither of those are doing him any favors in terms of his perceived value. If he really wants to leave Charlotte, asking for a buyout and going to play for the minimum somewhere else is the best way to turn himself into the next Javale McGee, low cost, short term contracts as a hired big man for playoff runs. Nobody is seeing him do that and then deciding to invest a fortune into him.

I don't really understand how this supposedly ruins the relationship, when guys like CJ McCollum, Myles Turner, Markkanen are publicly shopped year after year and continue to play for their teams. How is Mark failing a physical all of a sudden the Hornets fault? If anything he only has himself to blame.

Suit up, play well and the cards will fall where they should.

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

[JustBuzzin]

I have yet to here anyone explain how the trade made any sense from our side.

You don't trade that kind of young talent especially at the center position. Something was wrong with Mark for us to move off him for a 23yr old rookie and a 1st.


Cmon guys everyone wants to ignore the obvious why did we try to trade a healthy young center?

[yosemiteben]

Feels like this whole story has been blown up way too big, the Lakers declined the trade. You move on and Mark is still the same level of player he has always been, if anything his cost comes down on his next contract as this might have scared off other teams from throwing a RFA offer at him.

What is best for him is accepting it, moving on and working hard to stay on the court and prove his value to Charlotte and rest of the league. Charlotte has no benefit to waiving him or trading him for peanuts, and honestly neither of those are doing him any favors in terms of his perceived value. If he really wants to leave Charlotte, asking for a buyout and going to play for the minimum somewhere else is the best way to turn himself into the next Javale McGee, low cost, short term contracts as a hired big man for playoff runs. Nobody is seeing him do that and then deciding to invest a fortune into him.

I don't really understand how this supposedly ruins the relationship, when guys like CJ McCollum, Myles Turner, Markkanen are publicly shopped year after year and continue to play for their teams. How is Mark failing a physical all of a sudden the Hornets fault? If anything he only has himself to blame.

Suit up, play well and the cards will fall where they should.

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

It doesn't seem like an issue that can't be resolved by an honest discussion and reflection on the situation. The relationship isn't permanently broken just because he was almost traded. Myles Turner has been almost traded like 8 seasons in a row, yet somehow he keeps playing and contributing without any drama.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Feels like this whole story has been blown up way too big, the Lakers declined the trade. You move on and Mark is still the same level of player he has always been, if anything his cost comes down on his next contract as this might have scared off other teams from throwing a RFA offer at him.

What is best for him is accepting it, moving on and working hard to stay on the court and prove his value to Charlotte and rest of the league. Charlotte has no benefit to waiving him or trading him for peanuts, and honestly neither of those are doing him any favors in terms of his perceived value. If he really wants to leave Charlotte, asking for a buyout and going to play for the minimum somewhere else is the best way to turn himself into the next Javale McGee, low cost, short term contracts as a hired big man for playoff runs. Nobody is seeing him do that and then deciding to invest a fortune into him.

I don't really understand how this supposedly ruins the relationship, when guys like CJ McCollum, Myles Turner, Markkanen are publicly shopped year after year and continue to play for their teams. How is Mark failing a physical all of a sudden the Hornets fault? If anything he only has himself to blame.

Suit up, play well and the cards will fall where they should.

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

Yeah he'll get over it. He's locked to us for the next year and a half plus restricted free agency.

Give it a few months and no one will even be talking about it.

Whether Mark likes it or not we control his destiny for the foreseeable future, not him.

[yosemiteben]

I have yet to here anyone explain how the trade made any sense from our side.

You don't trade that kind of young talent especially at the center position. Something was wrong with Mark for us to move off him for a 23yr old rookie and a 1st.

Cmon guys everyone wants to ignore the obvious why did we try to trade a healthy young center?

They liked Knecth and thought the value for Mark was high enough to justify the risk that he stays healthy and performs at a high level. I get not agreeing, but it does not seem like rocket science to figure out why they might have thought it was a good idea.

[MasterIchiro]

We traded a perfectly healthy young, starting center because we negotiated/secured a settlement bid at Luka value minus Anthony Davis who is old and expensive.

But the single unprotected 1st, the single swap plus one young prospect rounded out both packages.

Lakers underpaid for Luka, but overpaid for Mark, clearly.

[JMAC3]

I have yet to here anyone explain how the trade made any sense from our side.

You don't trade that kind of young talent especially at the center position. Something was wrong with Mark for us to move off him for a 23yr old rookie and a 1st.


Cmon guys everyone wants to ignore the obvious why did we try to trade a healthy young center?

I mean trading him for a lottery pick, unprotected future first and a swap isn't like we were selling low.

I would be more worried if the trade was Knecht for Williams straight up and he failed the physical. That would be selling low and my alarm bells would be ringing louder.

[KembaWalker]

Feels like this whole story has been blown up way too big, the Lakers declined the trade. You move on and Mark is still the same level of player he has always been, if anything his cost comes down on his next contract as this might have scared off other teams from throwing a RFA offer at him.

What is best for him is accepting it, moving on and working hard to stay on the court and prove his value to Charlotte and rest of the league. Charlotte has no benefit to waiving him or trading him for peanuts, and honestly neither of those are doing him any favors in terms of his perceived value. If he really wants to leave Charlotte, asking for a buyout and going to play for the minimum somewhere else is the best way to turn himself into the next Javale McGee, low cost, short term contracts as a hired big man for playoff runs. Nobody is seeing him do that and then deciding to invest a fortune into him.

I don't really understand how this supposedly ruins the relationship, when guys like CJ McCollum, Myles Turner, Markkanen are publicly shopped year after year and continue to play for their teams. How is Mark failing a physical all of a sudden the Hornets fault? If anything he only has himself to blame.

Suit up, play well and the cards will fall where they should.

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

Yeah he'll get over it. He's locked to us for the next year and a half plus restricted free agency.

Give it a few months and no one will even be talking about it.

Whether Mark likes it or not we control his destiny for the foreseeable future, not him.

Theres a gulf of difference between "well he has to play for us because he has no choice so get ****" versus "I don't understand why he'd be unhappy with the team"

[yosemiteben]

For all of the random conspiracy theory stuff that's come out about this trade, I'm surprised that no one (or at least no one I've seen) has mentioned the fact that Mark was held out on 1/29 and 1/31 as part of "injury management," which was a string when he missed 3 out of 4 games. That was less than a week before he was actually traded to the Lakers, and was right as the Luka trade was getting finalized. Mark has not been held out of 2 games in a row since he returned back in December.

Seems notable to me.

[luciano-davidwesley]

I have yet to here anyone explain how the trade made any sense from our side.

You don't trade that kind of young talent especially at the center position. Something was wrong with Mark for us to move off him for a 23yr old rookie and a 1st.


Cmon guys everyone wants to ignore the obvious why did we try to trade a healthy young center?

I mean trading him for a lottery pick, unprotected future first and a swap isn't like we were selling low.

I would be more worried if the trade was Knecht for Williams straight up and he failed the physical. That would be selling low and my alarm bells would be ringing louder.

Clearly the Hornets saw it as a high value package. I personally disagree due to the Luka factor weakening the outlook of the pick and swap value and me being low personally on Knecht.

But I get the rationale that Peterson thought it was a valuable package.

[JMAC3]

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

Yeah he'll get over it. He's locked to us for the next year and a half plus restricted free agency.

Give it a few months and no one will even be talking about it.

Whether Mark likes it or not we control his destiny for the foreseeable future, not him.

Theres a gulf of difference between "well he has to play for us because he has no choice so get ****" versus "I don't understand why he'd be unhappy with the team"

That is how it was, has always been, for all rookies on a RFA contract. It is not like he is being oppressed compared to other players. The market determines his value and until he hits the open market he is under contract on his rookie deal.

At best, the argument against us, is that by trading Mark his injury red flags were made public and someone won't overpay him if his injuries should prevent that. That shouldn't be on us, that is on the player to be healthy and prove they are healthy by playing games. Not sitting out for reasons that aren't basketball related.

The clear answer is to play for the team that is paying his contract and prove what he is worth on his next contract by playing consistently and playing well.

[luciano-davidwesley]

You don't see how the relationship could be tarnished while admitting "his cost" might come down to our benefit? lol

Yeah he'll get over it. He's locked to us for the next year and a half plus restricted free agency.

Give it a few months and no one will even be talking about it.

Whether Mark likes it or not we control his destiny for the foreseeable future, not him.

Theres a gulf of difference between "well he has to play for us because he has no choice so get ****" versus "I don't understand why he'd be unhappy with the team"

Either way the outcome is he'll be playing for us or dealt on our terms so I don't see the relevance of your point.

[JMAC3]

For all of the random conspiracy theory stuff that's come out about this trade, I'm surprised that no one (or at least no one I've seen) has mentioned the fact that Mark was held out on 1/29 and 1/31 as part of "injury management," which was a string when he missed 3 out of 4 games. That was less than a week before he was actually traded to the Lakers, and was right as the Luka trade was getting finalized. Mark has not been held out of 2 games in a row since he returned back in December.

Seems notable to me.

He missed 3 games in a 5 game span. 2/3 games he missed were on the ends of back to backs. I wouldn't put too much thought into that personally, as we had rested him on back to backs all year.

[JustBuzzin]

I have yet to here anyone explain how the trade made any sense from our side.

You don't trade that kind of young talent especially at the center position. Something was wrong with Mark for us to move off him for a 23yr old rookie and a 1st.

Cmon guys everyone wants to ignore the obvious why did we try to trade a healthy young center?

They liked Knecth and thought the value for Mark was high enough to justify the risk that he stays healthy and performs at a high level. I get not agreeing, but it does not seem like rocket science to figure out why they might have thought it was a good idea.

Coming from a guy who was high on drafting Knecht no this didn't make sense. Mark is viewed as a better player with a much higher ceiling. Not to mention Knecht is the same age as Mark!

Also we have Miller/Mann who play the same positions. There was no need to make Knecht the centerpiece of a Mark Williams trade.

Something is wrong with Mark's long-term health this trade made no basketball sense. If you ask me they didn't want to pay Mark long-term because they feared his long-term health. You can't make sense of this trade if we just looking at it from an basketball standpoint. We had a clear core 3 with Melo/Miller/Mark. They broke it up for a 23yr old rookie who is only known for scoring and a 1st round pick that probably want have any value with Luka now on the Lakers.

Sorry it just doesn't make sense.