sco wrote:patryk7754 wrote:If White finishes the season strong, I think we should 100% take advantage of his play and package him for a true all-star level player. Now that we know giddey will be the PG of the future, I think there are two main targets we should pursue. Zion and Sabonis. Zion has been discussed to exhaustion. My main point about him is that he's an elite talent with lower than usual trade value because of his availability issues (which I personally think will mostly magically go away when he finally leaves N.O). As for Sabonis, I think his offensive versatility would excel in Donovan's system. I think he might be getable because, if I recall correctly, he had some disgruntled comments after Fox got traded. Something to the extent of his career being wasted. I think one of the better things about trading for either of these guys is that their contracts are compared to other stars, meaning we could still sign a high level player. Best case scenario would be off-loading Patrick Williams in the deal as well. A likely trade would look something like this:
White, Williams, Ayo, and picks (likely the POR pick, future first and maybe this year's first depending on where it is) to Pels or Kings
Vuc to a third team (most likely a contender) and the third team sends minimal assets to Pels or Kings
Bulls receive either Zion or Sabonis
I think anyone is tradable other than Matas and Giddey, so if someone like Lonzo, Huerter or Smith is also included, that would not be surprising.
If we manage to complete a trade for one of those guys, I'd like to sign Naz Reid (I'd like to sign Reid in almost any situation). He can play at a high level next to either of those guys. And if we can afford it, I would like to sign Walker-Alexander to be our SG. Resign Tre Jones and Collins.
Giddey/Lonzo/Jones
NAW/Huerter/Lonzo
Matas/Huerter/Philips
Zion/Smith/Matas
Reid/Collins
or
Giddey/Lonzo/Jones
NAW/Huerter/Lonzo
Matas/Huerter/Philips
Reid/Smith/Matas
Sabonis/Collins
I gave my thoughts on Zion (willing to do if we don't need to include our core 3 guys). I'd consider Reid too, but I think Minny won't do us any favors with a S&T if they want to keep him (which I think they do, but you never know, maybe they think offers will come in above where they'd match). On Sabonis, his flaws (no rim protection and bad defender, and not really a 3pt shooter - despite his 42% 3pt% he only shoots 2 a game) remind me too much of Vuc to think that his experiment would work. When you have a passer like Giddey, you really want a C who he can find for dunks, and with a defender like Coby, you really want a rim protector.
I'm assuming you consider Coby a core guy? I don't really, myself. I think he's too inconsistent and if he has great value, our best bet is to take advantage of it. I only see Matas and Giddey as core guys.
As far as acquiring Reid, I think we'd be able to sign him out right if we are able to unload enough cap via trades (which I think is very possible.) and if not, I don't see why minny wouldn't do a sign and trade with us. Maybe they don't have any interest in any of the players we'd send but I think that would be the only obstacle in a sign and trade. I agree with the defensive concerns that would come with sabonis but if we pair him with Reid, that would solve most of the concerns .
I think there are a lot of "ifs" in these scenarios, but I think they are mostly doable.