fatlever wrote:Which rotation players are you referring to?
rozier = has been awful for heat
hayward = retired, and we got mann
pj = traded for grant, curry = wash if not for injury = bad luck, not reduction of talent
nick = essentially for moose/nurk - Yes I realize it was a separate trade
cody = hurt = plus we got okogie = equal talent, but again, bad luck
micic = has played 1 min for suns
cap space = green
cap space = jefferies
So if not for injuries that core of players we traded would be out of rotation for including the following players in the rotation:
mann, grant, okogie, curry, nurkic, moose, green, jefferies
It's the injuries that destroyed the depth on this roster, not the trading away of our old rotation players for draft picks and equally talented players. Green has been a massive disappointment, but other than that the rest is injuries.
There is a difference between adding talent/removing talent and winning and losing a trade.
1. Rozier Trade. Yes, we won the trade with the pick. However, we got Kyle Lowry, who we bought out. Even with how terrible Terry has been in Miami, he is still better than 3000 minutes we have given Baugh, Simpson, Wong, Micic, Wong, Curry, Moore etc this year. We are clearly a more talented team and better overall with Terry on the roster getting minutes over that group.
2. PJ for Grant has not been a wash.
Off EPM/Def EPM/Overall
PJ 2025 58/78/67
PJ 2024 46/69/53
Grant 2025 52/9/33
Grant 2024 45/23/34
PJ has clearly been the better overall player during the time since the trade and that is before you factor in the health aspect of it.
I would argue we probably lost the Hayward trade if we are being honest. We paid 17 million this year for Mann, Bertans (dead) and Micic contracts and we got 2 2nds (Simpson + 2025 2nd). You can easily make the argument that having the 17 million in cap space would have been more valuable then anything that has come from this deal.
Again, I am fine with both of these outcomes from a trade standpoint, probably make the case that Charlotte won the trade. However, there is no argument we downgraded our talent on the roster from both of these trades and will likely remain the case until we use/trade those picks we acquired. We have not done anything to improve the talent outside of these trades either in any signicant move. We also attempted to do something similar with the Mark Williams trade that fell through, going from Mark to Dalton would again been a talent reduction in the short term and would made the roster worse.
So yeah, it is cool to have the future picks and mock up trades and live in the what if this happens or that happens scenario but those future picks are not helping us win games right now.
