Scotto: RJ was in trade talks for BI

[Indeed]

Now I could've sworn there were tons of people telling me there's no way we trade "starJ" because he's canadian and part of the "long term plans".

And when I said he definitely isn't a long term piece....I got called stupid. Super weird.

RJ has certainly played better since joining, but he's never ever been the type of player you keep on your roster long term.

Just doing basic math and understanding the team won’t pay the luxury tax, it’s obvious that either Barrett or Quickley is the odd man out long term. That’s another problem with the Ingram trade and extension, it forces us to cut costs somewhere, but if you move RJ or Quickley, which one of the bench guys are ready to step up and replace even 80% of his production. God help us if we have to attach a pick to move RJ’s contract.

My money is on RJ, IQ has a fresh contract, and Shead would have to be the replacement which isn't something he's talented enough or ready for. The team could live replacing RJ with Ochai/JKW/Gradey, especially now that we have BI.

Whether or not someone believes RJ is the better or worse player than IQ, he is definitely the one that fits the least, and is probably easier to trade. All of this naturally is up in the air based off the 9th pick we're going to get

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

[Duffman100]

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read. I stand by my statement 100%, if a system were built around feeding Edey in the post and he were to get the NBA whistle over time he'd be a Shaq-type presence. Literally all the data backs it up and his early returns as a rookie back it up. Data that you have no idea how to interpret.

Instead he has been limited and told to adapt to the modern NBA instead of vice versa because the team that drafted him is afraid of shifting their offensive system to feed him in the post as they would rather follow the safer lower return route of keeping the keys to the offense with the gun-wielding wannabe thug.

Edey is one of the greatest post scorers in the history of the sport and your frequently worthless opinion won't change that.

By the stats Edey is not even a top 5 post scorer in the current league.

You don’t know what you’re talking about. This isn’t 2001. You can’t just post up a guy 10+ times a game.

1) there are now many other play types that return better ppp than an Edey post up

2) if you tried to feed Edey over and over teams would just double him and he’d be far less effective because he can’t pass (Edey has an ast% that ranks 493rd in the league). He can’t make teams pay for doubling him.

To be a real post up threat you have to be able to score efficiently AND make teams pay for doubling you. Edey can’t do the second part. This doesn’t even touch on the fact that he doesn’t draw fouls at a high rate on postups, which was a staple of Shaq’s game. Shaq was a more skilled post player who was a very good passer and could draw fouls at an incredible rate. Edey is Al Jefferson. A skilled post player who can’t pass well enough or draw fouls well enough to actually become a staple of any team’s offense.

If MEM tried to run an Edey centric post offense teams would just double him and it wouldn’t work.

Memphis doesnt use him in isolated post ups much at all. These stats mean nothing. His role currently is mostly traditional dunker spot big with occasional 3 pt shot.

We probably shouldn't derail this RJ thread much further on this subject (my bad, I started it).

But since I find the take so insane and ridiculous, I'd recommend RBC to take this to the GB where smarter minds than mind can evaluate. If the consensus is that Edey is Shaq in sheeps clothing, then by all means I'll eat crow.

[MEDIC]

I am super curious what they do with RJ. My gut tells me that they want to keep him, but it depends on trade opportunities really. If Demar can be traded, anyone can be traded.

Masai mentioned a couple of years ago that it is important to them to win with Canadian players. He also suggested that the organization would love to win a championship with a Canadian as one of its main players.

RJ is the best Canadian player the Raptors have had & definitely the most popular among local fans (and across the league).

I don't see Quickley jerseys at my local Sporkchek. It's all Barnes and RJ

I don't see them just dumping him for salary purposes. Wouldn't be a good look at all.

[Scase]

Just doing basic math and understanding the team won’t pay the luxury tax, it’s obvious that either Barrett or Quickley is the odd man out long term. That’s another problem with the Ingram trade and extension, it forces us to cut costs somewhere, but if you move RJ or Quickley, which one of the bench guys are ready to step up and replace even 80% of his production. God help us if we have to attach a pick to move RJ’s contract.

My money is on RJ, IQ has a fresh contract, and Shead would have to be the replacement which isn't something he's talented enough or ready for. The team could live replacing RJ with Ochai/JKW/Gradey, especially now that we have BI.

Whether or not someone believes RJ is the better or worse player than IQ, he is definitely the one that fits the least, and is probably easier to trade. All of this naturally is up in the air based off the 9th pick we're going to get

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

[Indeed]

My money is on RJ, IQ has a fresh contract, and Shead would have to be the replacement which isn't something he's talented enough or ready for. The team could live replacing RJ with Ochai/JKW/Gradey, especially now that we have BI.

Whether or not someone believes RJ is the better or worse player than IQ, he is definitely the one that fits the least, and is probably easier to trade. All of this naturally is up in the air based off the 9th pick we're going to get

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I posted this a few times, maybe people can just listen to it, so you understand.
They discussed the stats and evidence.

Watch on YouTube

Meanwhile, I think Barnes maybe the easier to move as well, so why not move Barnes? I think it is silly to trade someone because they are easy to move instead of they are less effective.

[Tripod]

Just spitballin....RJ for WCJ.

Good
Raps get a backup C to play small ball...shot over 35% the previous 2 years from 3.
Only makes 12 million next year

Bad
Only shooting 21% from 3 this year
His contract jumps to 18 and 19 million after next year.

With Yak possibly being a UFA...we would have WCJ as a replacement if he chose to leave. Or if Yak/Raps agree on a fair deal, you can still move WCJ in a year...and then maybe Chomche is ready.

And it clears cap this year...bring Boucher back. All the sudden our "bigs" is much deeper.

IQ Ochai Barnes BI Yak
Shead JKW Dick Mogbo Battle Boucher WCJ '25 pick

That's 13 deep that can play minutes. And the 25 pick isn't pressured to be a starter and gets easier minutes vs other backups. And we are better equipped to deal with injuries.

[ForeverTFC]

I am super curious what they do with RJ. My gut tells me that they want to keep him, but it depends on trade opportunities really. If Demar can be traded, anyone can be traded.

Masai mentioned a couple of years ago that it is important to them to win with Canadian players. He also suggested that the organization would love to win a championship with a Canadian as one of its main players.

RJ is the best Canadian player the Raptors have had & definitely the most popular among local fans (and across the league).

I don't see Quickley jerseys at my local Sporkchek. It's all Barnes and RJ

I don't see them just dumping him for salary purposes. Wouldn't be a good look at all.

Masai hasn't given any indications that RJ is part of the longer term picture, at least as of now. And I commend him and the FO for that, because it would be very easy to sell RJ to the fans. The casuals on instagram and twitter love him, and your anecdote on jersey availability further supports his popularity with that portion of the fan base. And who cares what it looks like if we were to trade him? These same fans also got mad when we traded Demar for Kawhi, and things worked out just fine.

The team currently doesn't make sense and RJ sticks out like a sore thumb. There aren't enough shots to go around in the SL and one of the higher usage guys needs to be subtracted out. Those advocating for IQ being the one that goes don't see the bigger picture: whether it's IQ or not, we need a player of his archetype in the starting lineup around Ingram and Barnes. So trading him won't change the bigger picture if you just replace him with another high usage player. However, we do not need RJ's archetype and could give his spot to a more complementary player. That's why he's the only candidate to move out of the SL.

[WuTang_CMB]

They also never pushed RJ for any all-star marketing. That was a tell for me. Off-season it was always Scottie and IQ as the two building blocks and go from there. RJ wasn't in that conversation cuz they know the type of player and limitations + contract coming up.

Need to find a sucker GM who will take him, won't be easy

[Scase]

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I posted this a few times, maybe people can just listen to it, so you understand.
They discussed the stats and evidence.

Watch on YouTube

Meanwhile, I think Barnes maybe the easier to move as well, so why not move Barnes? I think it is silly to trade someone because they are easy to move instead of they are less effective.

Scottie is easier to move, because he's a better player with a higher ceiling, and more impactful to a team. Moving the easier player vs the less effective one isn't usually the smart plan I agree on that, but when the easier to move player becomes more redundant, and is now why you are a tax team, then the reasons why you move a player have to change.

No one would want to move a prime Lebron, but if he was making 99% of the cap in his contract, then yeah, you move him. You aren't building a championship calibre team where the other 11-14 guys are made up of 1% of the cap. It's why we didn't trade for KD when it came up before. Yeah KD would be the greatest player on the team by a country mile, but then you can no longer field a competitive team.

Sometimes you have to adjust how you approach things, contracts, impact, fit, and so on are variables that should influence the decision, not be a hard stuck set of rules you must follow.

Just spitballin....RJ for WCJ.

Good
Raps get a backup C to play small ball...shot over 35% the previous 2 years from 3.
Only makes 12 million next year

Bad
Only shooting 21% from 3 this year
His contract jumps to 18 and 19 million after next year.

With Yak possibly being a UFA...we would have WCJ as a replacement if he chose to leave. Or if Yak/Raps agree on a fair deal, you can still move WCJ in a year...and then maybe Chomche is ready.

And it clears cap this year...bring Boucher back. All the sudden our "bigs" is much deeper.

IQ Ochai Barnes BI Yak
Shead JKW Dick Mogbo Battle Boucher WCJ '25 pick

That's 13 deep that can play minutes. And the 25 pick isn't pressured to be a starter and gets easier minutes vs other backups. And we are better equipped to deal with injuries.

IMO, until we find out where we are drafting and ultimately who we pick with it, who gets traded for what is a bit of an exercise in futility. I still think RJ is the most likely candidate, but if we got harper for instance, he's no longer the obvious one to move. Still probably gets moved down the line though.

That said, for the thought exercise, I would still say no to it, WCJ is suuuuper injury prone. He averages about 50-55 games a season, so we'd still kinda be boned if Jak walked etc. And if anything he would exacerbate our inability to deal with injuries.

I will say though, NOP allegedly turning down RJ makes it seem like his value is even worse than I thought. I actually viewed him as a positive value contract, maybe I was being too positive about that

[ontnut]

They also never pushed RJ for any all-star marketing. That was a tell for me. Off-season it was always Scottie and IQ as the two building blocks and go from there. RJ wasn't in that conversation cuz they know the type of player and limitations + contract coming up.

Need to find a sucker GM who will take him, won't be easy

After an epic flameout in the play-in tourney, RING RING, hello Monte McNair?? Since you LOVE Derozan, send us back Malik Monk and a 1st rounder and we'll give you Derozan Jr.

[ForeverTFC]

My money is on RJ, IQ has a fresh contract, and Shead would have to be the replacement which isn't something he's talented enough or ready for. The team could live replacing RJ with Ochai/JKW/Gradey, especially now that we have BI.

Whether or not someone believes RJ is the better or worse player than IQ, he is definitely the one that fits the least, and is probably easier to trade. All of this naturally is up in the air based off the 9th pick we're going to get

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I honestly don't even think RJ would be easier to move. Yeah, he has the better contract right now. But 75% of the teams in the league can use IQ's skillset and plug him into their roster. I struggle to come up with 5 teams that would be able to plug RJ into their lineup and go. So even with the contract discrepancy, I think you would have more suitors for IQ.

[Pointgod]

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I posted this a few times, maybe people can just listen to it, so you understand.
They discussed the stats and evidence.

Watch on YouTube

Meanwhile, I think Barnes maybe the easier to move as well, so why not move Barnes? I think it is silly to trade someone because they are easy to move instead of they are less effective.

While I don’t think anyone should be off the table, you don’t move Barnes because teams often don’t move 23 year old allstars. You arguably could move Barnes for an upgrade but I don’t think anyone is realistically available and you’d probably also have to throw a pick(s) in. Otherwise you move Barnes and you get picks and rookie contract guys back, cool but why didn’t we just rebuild through the draft if that was the case?

[Tripod]

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I posted this a few times, maybe people can just listen to it, so you understand.
They discussed the stats and evidence.

Watch on YouTube

Meanwhile, I think Barnes maybe the easier to move as well, so why not move Barnes? I think it is silly to trade someone because they are easy to move instead of they are less effective.

Scottie is easier to move, because he's a better player with a higher ceiling, and more impactful to a team. Moving the easier player vs the less effective one isn't usually the smart plan I agree on that, but when the easier to move player becomes more redundant, and is now why you are a tax team, then the reasons why you move a player have to change.

No one would want to move a prime Lebron, but if he was making 99% of the cap in his contract, then yeah, you move him. You aren't building a championship calibre team where the other 11-14 guys are made up of 1% of the cap. It's why we didn't trade for KD when it came up before. Yeah KD would be the greatest player on the team by a country mile, but then you can no longer field a competitive team.

Sometimes you have to adjust how you approach things, contracts, impact, fit, and so on are variables that should influence the decision, not be a hard stuck set of rules you must follow.

Just spitballin....RJ for WCJ.

Good
Raps get a backup C to play small ball...shot over 35% the previous 2 years from 3.
Only makes 12 million next year

Bad
Only shooting 21% from 3 this year
His contract jumps to 18 and 19 million after next year.

With Yak possibly being a UFA...we would have WCJ as a replacement if he chose to leave. Or if Yak/Raps agree on a fair deal, you can still move WCJ in a year...and then maybe Chomche is ready.

And it clears cap this year...bring Boucher back. All the sudden our "bigs" is much deeper.

IQ Ochai Barnes BI Yak
Shead JKW Dick Mogbo Battle Boucher WCJ '25 pick

That's 13 deep that can play minutes. And the 25 pick isn't pressured to be a starter and gets easier minutes vs other backups. And we are better equipped to deal with injuries.

IMO, until we find out where we are drafting and ultimately who we pick with it, who gets traded for what is a bit of an exercise in futility. I still think RJ is the most likely candidate, but if we got harper for instance, he's no longer the obvious one to move. Still probably gets moved down the line though.

That said, for the thought exercise, I would still say no to it, WCJ is suuuuper injury prone. He averages about 50-55 games a season, so we'd still kinda be boned if Jak walked etc. And if anything he would exacerbate our inability to deal with injuries.

I will say though, NOP allegedly turning down RJ makes it seem like his value is even worse than I thought. I actually viewed him as a positive value contract, maybe I was being too positive about that

Good point on WJC about injuries.

Agreed on who we draft dictates our next moves. But I was bored, home sick...lol.

I think I read NOP couldn't take RJ anyways due to their cap issues next year...they needed an expiring...hence Brown, instead.

I just don't think we know the full details.

[TRik]

If anything it’s always been shocking to me how some fans believed he was a key core guy for our future. All the BBQ stuff and all that.

NY clearly were trying to jump ship for an reason and I always viewed us getting IQ being as much about us taking on RJ as anything else. RJ still has tunnel vision too much and still is challenged on D, an area he needs to excel at with his offensive skillset.

Anyways, I appreciate RJ for being a culture guy, so I don’t want to crap on him too much, but this news is just something not surprising at all.

Bring him off the bench with Gradey if we can’t get a good trade. Start BI and Walker in their places next season….and then hello play in.

[Scase]

I posted this a few times, maybe people can just listen to it, so you understand.
They discussed the stats and evidence.

Watch on YouTube

Meanwhile, I think Barnes maybe the easier to move as well, so why not move Barnes? I think it is silly to trade someone because they are easy to move instead of they are less effective.

Scottie is easier to move, because he's a better player with a higher ceiling, and more impactful to a team. Moving the easier player vs the less effective one isn't usually the smart plan I agree on that, but when the easier to move player becomes more redundant, and is now why you are a tax team, then the reasons why you move a player have to change.

No one would want to move a prime Lebron, but if he was making 99% of the cap in his contract, then yeah, you move him. You aren't building a championship calibre team where the other 11-14 guys are made up of 1% of the cap. It's why we didn't trade for KD when it came up before. Yeah KD would be the greatest player on the team by a country mile, but then you can no longer field a competitive team.

Sometimes you have to adjust how you approach things, contracts, impact, fit, and so on are variables that should influence the decision, not be a hard stuck set of rules you must follow.

Just spitballin....RJ for WCJ.

Good
Raps get a backup C to play small ball...shot over 35% the previous 2 years from 3.
Only makes 12 million next year

Bad
Only shooting 21% from 3 this year
His contract jumps to 18 and 19 million after next year.

With Yak possibly being a UFA...we would have WCJ as a replacement if he chose to leave. Or if Yak/Raps agree on a fair deal, you can still move WCJ in a year...and then maybe Chomche is ready.

And it clears cap this year...bring Boucher back. All the sudden our "bigs" is much deeper.

IQ Ochai Barnes BI Yak
Shead JKW Dick Mogbo Battle Boucher WCJ '25 pick

That's 13 deep that can play minutes. And the 25 pick isn't pressured to be a starter and gets easier minutes vs other backups. And we are better equipped to deal with injuries.

IMO, until we find out where we are drafting and ultimately who we pick with it, who gets traded for what is a bit of an exercise in futility. I still think RJ is the most likely candidate, but if we got harper for instance, he's no longer the obvious one to move. Still probably gets moved down the line though.

That said, for the thought exercise, I would still say no to it, WCJ is suuuuper injury prone. He averages about 50-55 games a season, so we'd still kinda be boned if Jak walked etc. And if anything he would exacerbate our inability to deal with injuries.

I will say though, NOP allegedly turning down RJ makes it seem like his value is even worse than I thought. I actually viewed him as a positive value contract, maybe I was being too positive about that

Good point on WJC about injuries.

Agreed on who we draft dictates our next moves. But I was bored, home sick...lol.

I think I read NOP couldn't take RJ anyways due to their cap issues next year...they needed an expiring...hence Brown, instead.

I just don't think we know the full details.

Yeah there was probably a fair amount of consideration taken for their cap situation, but IIRC there were also talks of a 3rd team being involved (or was that the rumoured ATL trade?) so I'm sure it could've been made to work. But I kinda see it as the flipside of the justification of us grabbing someone like BI. He causes cap issues, but you can still make it work, the question always is, "Is that player worth making those moves for?".

For BI it seems the FO thinks yes, for RJ it seems as though NOP thinks no, which I think, does directly speak to his perceived value around the league.

As for the WCJ trade, I totally get it, we're at that weird dreaded dead time of the season post deadline where it's just a slog until the season is over and we see where we're at in the draft, so the thought experiments are totally understandable lol.

I think for RJ, you have to look at a team like SAC (not literally them), a team that just needs some scoring, but has no plans on really building into a contender. One of those teams that is just fine making the playoffs for revenue, but never being a real threat. I wonder if we could ever convince CHA to take him, their ownership is probably ready to get out of the dregs of the league and start making some playoff revenue. That said I have no idea what they'd actually want to trade for him, since we are looking at a C, maybe we aim for Williams + their 2026 pick or the 2027 DAL pick they have (only top 2 protected) and filler. He's probably an injury concern, but who knows if it's just something early in his career, or hell, the hornets sitting him to tank.

Worth a shot?

[ATLTimekeeper]

How is Quickley being a better fit?
On paper, yes the shooting, but in game, he is not. The Quickley-Barnes lineup isn't good at all.

And this is based off what, the overwhelming amount of games they have played together lol?

I'm not saying IQ is some perfect fit by any stretch, but yes, shooting at a top of the league level is a pretty good skill to have, that we desperately need. But overall, RJ is just more redundant, has a cheaper contract, and is overall an easier contract to move. RJ is performing better than IQ, but not enough to move IQ which at this point might cost us assets.

Everything RJ does, aside from attacking the rim, can be reproduced at a higher level with BI. We don't have that level of redundancy with IQ. If we traded for say, Dejounte Murray, we should make IQ the priority to move, but we didn't. But like I said, who we draft will probably have a pretty big impact on who gets moved, if we somehow end up picking like 2nd and grab someone like Harper, yeah, IQ is instantly more expendable. But currently, it's RJ by a country mile.

As evidenced by him being offered up in the rumoured trade, and not IQ.

I honestly don't even think RJ would be easier to move. Yeah, he has the better contract right now. But 75% of the teams in the league can use IQ's skillset and plug him into their roster. I struggle to come up with 5 teams that would be able to plug RJ into their lineup and go. So even with the contract discrepancy, I think you would have more suitors for IQ.

IQ's contract is likely negative until he can pare some years off. That doesn't mean he's bad, but if you can't prove you are worth more than your deal and you have term you will be hard to move for value.

[REJECTEDBYCLARK]

Says the guy comparing Edey to Shaq

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read. I stand by my statement 100%, if a system were built around feeding Edey in the post and he were to get the NBA whistle over time he'd be a Shaq-type presence. Literally all the data backs it up and his early returns as a rookie back it up. Data that you have no idea how to interpret.

Instead he has been limited and told to adapt to the modern NBA instead of vice versa because the team that drafted him is afraid of shifting their offensive system to feed him in the post as they would rather follow the safer lower return route of keeping the keys to the offense with the gun-wielding wannabe thug.

Edey is one of the greatest post scorers in the history of the sport and your frequently worthless opinion won't change that.

By the stats Edey is not even a top 5 post scorer in the current league.

You don’t know what you’re talking about. This isn’t 2001. You can’t just post up a guy 10+ times a game.

1) there are now many other play types that return better ppp than an Edey post up

2) if you tried to feed Edey over and over teams would just double him and he’d be far less effective because he can’t pass (Edey has an ast% that ranks 493rd in the league). He can’t make teams pay for doubling him.

To be a real post up threat you have to be able to score efficiently AND make teams pay for doubling you. Edey can’t do the second part. This doesn’t even touch on the fact that he doesn’t draw fouls at a high rate on postups, which was a staple of Shaq’s game. Shaq was a more skilled post player who was a very good passer and could draw fouls at an incredible rate. Edey is Al Jefferson. A skilled post player who can’t pass well enough or draw fouls well enough to actually become a staple of any team’s offense.

If MEM tried to run an Edey centric post offense teams would just double him and it wouldn’t work.

Edey was triple teamed various times in college and made teams pay you clearly spent very little time watching Purdue. Comparing Edey to Jefferson is an absolute farce, Jefferson had a career 8.9 ORB% and Edey blows his dick off when it comes to converting 2's and I won't even entertain anything more than that.

[WuTang_CMB]

They also never pushed RJ for any all-star marketing. That was a tell for me. Off-season it was always Scottie and IQ as the two building blocks and go from there. RJ wasn't in that conversation cuz they know the type of player and limitations + contract coming up.

Need to find a sucker GM who will take him, won't be easy

After an epic flameout in the play-in tourney, RING RING, hello Monte McNair?? Since you LOVE Derozan, send us back Malik Monk and a 1st rounder and we'll give you Derozan Jr.

and a free slice from badiali

[Duffman100]

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read. I stand by my statement 100%, if a system were built around feeding Edey in the post and he were to get the NBA whistle over time he'd be a Shaq-type presence. Literally all the data backs it up and his early returns as a rookie back it up. Data that you have no idea how to interpret.

Instead he has been limited and told to adapt to the modern NBA instead of vice versa because the team that drafted him is afraid of shifting their offensive system to feed him in the post as they would rather follow the safer lower return route of keeping the keys to the offense with the gun-wielding wannabe thug.

Edey is one of the greatest post scorers in the history of the sport and your frequently worthless opinion won't change that.

By the stats Edey is not even a top 5 post scorer in the current league.

You don’t know what you’re talking about. This isn’t 2001. You can’t just post up a guy 10+ times a game.

1) there are now many other play types that return better ppp than an Edey post up

2) if you tried to feed Edey over and over teams would just double him and he’d be far less effective because he can’t pass (Edey has an ast% that ranks 493rd in the league). He can’t make teams pay for doubling him.

To be a real post up threat you have to be able to score efficiently AND make teams pay for doubling you. Edey can’t do the second part. This doesn’t even touch on the fact that he doesn’t draw fouls at a high rate on postups, which was a staple of Shaq’s game. Shaq was a more skilled post player who was a very good passer and could draw fouls at an incredible rate. Edey is Al Jefferson. A skilled post player who can’t pass well enough or draw fouls well enough to actually become a staple of any team’s offense.

If MEM tried to run an Edey centric post offense teams would just double him and it wouldn’t work.

Edey was triple teamed various times in college and made teams pay you clearly spent very little time watching Purdue. Comparing Edey to Jefferson is an absolute farce, Jefferson had a career 8.9 ORB% and Edey blows his dick off when it comes to converting 2's and I won't even entertain anything more than that.

Even if that's the case, there is a chasm of difference between Al Jefferson and Shaq that Edey would slot into.

[Tripod]

Yeah Williams works...similar concerns of course.

Personally I would be fine with RJ coming back, but we would need to move a SG for a C. Gradey for a similar upside C fits better. Then you bring RJ off the bench for better roster balance.

Or frig it, go get KD.