Off season, free agency, coaching change.

[esqtvd]

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[KL2]

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[Roscoe Sheed]

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I wouldn't mind having him back on a vet minimum deal. They need a secondary ball handler and it is better than trading for a big contract like Holiday. Then, focus on getting a good back up center- Portis, Lopez, Boucher, etc.

[esqtvd]

sounds like a plan

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[KL2]

SG Caleb Grill will work out today.

I know they’ve drafted guys they never worked out or interviewed. Lots of names we’ll never hear about, etc… but this has to be the most depressing list available so far.

[MartinToVaught]

The obsession this front office has with 40-year-olds who used to be good a decade ago is getting deeply pathetic. And the most frustrating part is that when the oldest team in the league is inevitably injured and/or runs out of gas come playoff time again, instead of anyone noticing the obvious correlation between these two things, it'll still be the excuse for Frank and Lue to keep their jobs.

[Clemenza]

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I wouldn't mind having him back on a vet minimum deal. They need a secondary ball handler and it is better than trading for a big contract like Holiday. Then, focus on getting a good back up center- Portis, Lopez, Boucher, etc.

Harden dribbling out the shot clock and slowing down the offense is once thing, CP3 as the backup doing the exact same thing on the 2nd unit is punting the season away. Nobody will be able to get off a shot, the ball won't move around, no easy buckets, no switch up in play, no player development whatsoever, etc. Just two ball dominate guards pounding the air out of the ball for every possession for 48 minutes a game. Its all on brand for L. Frank and our M.O. anyways so I'm sure this has serious legs to it. But its another short cut, easy route, cheat code, name chase, retirement home move that we're famous for and can't stray away from even for one season. Oldest team in the league to possibly the oldest team in the world next season. That AARP jersey sponsorship can't come fast enough.

[Clemenza]

SG Caleb Grill will work out today.

I know they’ve drafted guys they never worked out or interviewed. Lots of names we’ll never hear about, etc… but this has to be the most depressing list available so far.

I don't even know what's the point in working out these non-draft board guys. I highly doubt they would make the SD Clippers squad and of course there's no way they would even sniff the Intuit Dome unless they bought a ticket and come as a regular fan in attendance.

[Roscoe Sheed]

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I wouldn't mind having him back on a vet minimum deal. They need a secondary ball handler and it is better than trading for a big contract like Holiday. Then, focus on getting a good back up center- Portis, Lopez, Boucher, etc.

Harden dribbling out the shot clock and slowing down the offense is once thing, CP3 as the backup doing the exact same thing on the 2nd unit is punting the season away. Nobody will be able to get off a shot, the ball won't move around, no easy buckets, no switch up in play, no player development whatsoever, etc. Just two ball dominate guards pounding the air out of the ball for every possession for 48 minutes a game. Its all on brand for L. Frank and our M.O. anyways so I'm sure this has serious legs to it. But its another short cut, easy route, cheat code, name chase, retirement home move that we're famous for and can't stray away from even for one season. Oldest team in the league to possibly the oldest team in the world next season. That AARP jersey sponsorship can't come fast enough.

CP3 doesn't really play like that any more from what I've seen. He also is less turnover prone than Harden.

Not saying it is the best idea to bring him back, but there are positives as there really aren't any competent play makers on the team except Harden.

Also, his salary would be low as opposed to paying $30 mill/yr for Holiday if they traded for him as rumored.

[Clemenza]

I wouldn't mind having him back on a vet minimum deal. They need a secondary ball handler and it is better than trading for a big contract like Holiday. Then, focus on getting a good back up center- Portis, Lopez, Boucher, etc.

Harden dribbling out the shot clock and slowing down the offense is once thing, CP3 as the backup doing the exact same thing on the 2nd unit is punting the season away. Nobody will be able to get off a shot, the ball won't move around, no easy buckets, no switch up in play, no player development whatsoever, etc. Just two ball dominate guards pounding the air out of the ball for every possession for 48 minutes a game. Its all on brand for L. Frank and our M.O. anyways so I'm sure this has serious legs to it. But its another short cut, easy route, cheat code, name chase, retirement home move that we're famous for and can't stray away from even for one season. Oldest team in the league to possibly the oldest team in the world next season. That AARP jersey sponsorship can't come fast enough.

CP3 doesn't really play like that any more from what I've seen. He also is less turnover prone than Harden.

Not saying it is the best idea to bring him back, but there are positives as there really aren't any competent play makers on the team except Harden.

Also, his salary would be low as opposed to paying $30 mill/yr for Holiday if they traded for him as rumored.

Well San Antonio is developing Wemby and Castle so there was no way he could play his curate the offense game with them, but I see him going back to his old ways with us. He used to brush off Blake and DJ so many times when they saw fast break opportunities just so he could walk the ball up and dribble for 20 seconds before making a decision on whether to shoot or pass it off. And I haven't even discussed the age factor in all of this which should already be a no no. This probably won't happen knowing us, but say there's a young guard that we picked up or drafted, say Walter Clayton Jr. for example, and he looks the part and should be getting back up point guard minutes. It won't happen because we'll have yet another old vet in the way of progress and Ty Lue won't disrupt that and will shelve the youngster. I don't want Jrue Holiday either.

None of this is aimed at you Roscoe, this CP3 to the Clipps is all over my Twitter feed and its the "Clipper thing to do." I know the front office want's contracts to align with Kawhi and Harden's deal expiring and we get cap space and control of our picks again, but I honestly don't think they have a plan even when that happens and we'll still be in the business of aged former star vets, bad contracts, and not hitting on a pick to move forward into the next generation of the NBA. There's us in the hunt for KD rumors floating around too. And we all know those types of moves never work out for us, plus Big 3's and overnight fixes don't work anymore anyway. We got the aging core of high 30's Harden, Kawhi, Batum, Norm, Dunn, etc. now its time to hit on a pick or young guy with upside imo. Adding more old guys and "names" I guess is the Ballmer way. Evidently maybe he just wants heavy nostalgia and to sell tickets, future outlook be damned.

[MartinToVaught]

CP3 doesn't really play like that any more from what I've seen. He also is less turnover prone than Harden.

Lue is a doormat for any big-name player and anyone over 30. He won't just allow CP3 to go back to dribbling the air out of the ball, he'll encourage it.

[Ballings7]

Harden dribbling out the shot clock and slowing down the offense is once thing, CP3 as the backup doing the exact same thing on the 2nd unit is punting the season away. Nobody will be able to get off a shot, the ball won't move around, no easy buckets, no switch up in play, no player development whatsoever, etc. Just two ball dominate guards pounding the air out of the ball for every possession for 48 minutes a game. Its all on brand for L. Frank and our M.O. anyways so I'm sure this has serious legs to it. But its another short cut, easy route, cheat code, name chase, retirement home move that we're famous for and can't stray away from even for one season. Oldest team in the league to possibly the oldest team in the world next season. That AARP jersey sponsorship can't come fast enough.

CP3 doesn't really play like that any more from what I've seen. He also is less turnover prone than Harden.

Not saying it is the best idea to bring him back, but there are positives as there really aren't any competent play makers on the team except Harden.

Also, his salary would be low as opposed to paying $30 mill/yr for Holiday if they traded for him as rumored.

Well San Antonio is developing Wemby and Castle so there was no way he couldn't play his curate the offense game with them, but I see him going back to his old ways with us. He used to brush off Blake and DJ so many times when they saw fast break opportunities just so he could walk the ball up and dribble for 20 seconds before making a decision on whether to shoot or pass it off. And I haven't even discussed the age factor in all of this which should already be a no no. This probably won't happen knowing us, but say there's a young guard that we picked up or drafted, say Walter Clayton Jr. for example, and he looks the part and should be getting back up point guard minutes. It won't happen because we'll have yet another old vet in the way of progress and Ty Lue won't disrupt that and will shelve the youngster. I don't want Jrue Holiday either.

None of this is aimed at you Roscoe, this CP3 to the Clipps is all over my Twitter feed and its the "Clipper thing to do." I know the front office want's contracts to align with Kawhi and Harden's deal expiring and we get cap space and control of our picks again, but I honestly don't think they have a plan even when that happens and we'll still be in the business of aged former star vets, bad contracts, and not hitting on a pick to move forward into the next generation of the NBA. There's us in the hunt for KD rumors floating around too. And we all know those types of moves never work out for us, plus Big 3's and overnight fixes don't work anymore anyway. We got the aging core of high 30's Harden, Kawhi, Batum, Norm, Dunn, etc. now its time to hit on a pick or young guy with upside imo. Adding more old guys and "names" I guess is the Ballmer way. Evidently maybe he just wants heavy nostalgia and to sell tickets, future outlook be damned.

"high 30s" is basically exaggerating on those guys..

Kawhi is 34 end of June (33 now). So wouldn't really reach the start of "high 30s" until two seasons from now at 35.. (which is when his deal is up, last season of it he's 35 '26-27', then is a UFA at 36). He's in the last part of his prime years as a high-level NBA player, safe to say.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/8066/kawhi-leonard

Norm is 32 (just turned end of May).

Dunn is 31 (turned in March).

Harden turns 36 end of August, will give you that, and Batum obviously has been around awhile, at 36; but Harden's game doesn't rely on much athleticism to play at a high level, as has been shown. His playoff issues are nothing new as we know, though -- had them when he was young, and in his prime.

Batum's role-player intangibles game will stick around at a decent level for awhile.. he's like Robert Horry in that sense in terms of still being able to make a good impact.

Team is definitely old, collectively, yes.

Need some more guys early, early 30s and below, and who have some experience.

[Ballings7]

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I wouldn't mind having him back on a vet minimum deal. They need a secondary ball handler and it is better than trading for a big contract like Holiday. Then, focus on getting a good back up center- Portis, Lopez, Boucher, etc.

Agree with this. I would not mind CP3 in a backup role, but he should not be starting, or finishing games on a routine basis.

Team needs more productive size in the front-court to balance the roster out. big forward and backup C.

[esqtvd]

CP3 doesn't really play like that any more from what I've seen. He also is less turnover prone than Harden.

Not saying it is the best idea to bring him back, but there are positives as there really aren't any competent play makers on the team except Harden.

Also, his salary would be low as opposed to paying $30 mill/yr for Holiday if they traded for him as rumored.

Well San Antonio is developing Wemby and Castle so there was no way he couldn't play his curate the offense game with them, but I see him going back to his old ways with us. He used to brush off Blake and DJ so many times when they saw fast break opportunities just so he could walk the ball up and dribble for 20 seconds before making a decision on whether to shoot or pass it off. And I haven't even discussed the age factor in all of this which should already be a no no. This probably won't happen knowing us, but say there's a young guard that we picked up or drafted, say Walter Clayton Jr. for example, and he looks the part and should be getting back up point guard minutes. It won't happen because we'll have yet another old vet in the way of progress and Ty Lue won't disrupt that and will shelve the youngster. I don't want Jrue Holiday either.

None of this is aimed at you Roscoe, this CP3 to the Clipps is all over my Twitter feed and its the "Clipper thing to do." I know the front office want's contracts to align with Kawhi and Harden's deal expiring and we get cap space and control of our picks again, but I honestly don't think they have a plan even when that happens and we'll still be in the business of aged former star vets, bad contracts, and not hitting on a pick to move forward into the next generation of the NBA. There's us in the hunt for KD rumors floating around too. And we all know those types of moves never work out for us, plus Big 3's and overnight fixes don't work anymore anyway. We got the aging core of high 30's Harden, Kawhi, Batum, Norm, Dunn, etc. now its time to hit on a pick or young guy with upside imo. Adding more old guys and "names" I guess is the Ballmer way. Evidently maybe he just wants heavy nostalgia and to sell tickets, future outlook be damned.

"high 30s" is basically exaggerating on those guys..

Kawhi is 34 end of June (33 now). So wouldn't really reach the start of "high 30s" until two seasons from now at 35.. (which is when his deal is up, last season of it he's 35 '26-27', then is a UFA at 36). He's in the last part of his prime years as a high-level NBA player, safe to say.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/8066/kawhi-leonard

Norm is 32 (just turned end of May).

Dunn is 31 (turned in March).

Harden turns 36 end of August, will give you that, and Batum obviously has been around awhile, at 36; but Harden's game doesn't rely on much athleticism to play at a high level, as has been shown. His playoff issues are nothing new as we know, though -- had them when he was young, and in his prime.

Batum's role-player intangibles game will stick around at a decent level for awhile.. he's like Robert Horry in that sense in terms of still being able to make a good impact.

Team is definitely old, collectively, yes.

Need some more guys early, early 30s and below, and who have some experience.

I think you're all three right, but Ballmer's strategy HAS TO BE to win as many RS games as possible while we play out the Kawhi-Beard contracts, then see what's on the FA market to start over in 2 years. A little noise in the playoffs would be nice but we took the Nugs to 7 games and didn't embarrass the org. The important thing is to NOT become a 30-win toxic waste dump.

And yes, it would be nice to hit ONE young talent off our usual crap draft position, which we NEVER have--the closest was trading up for Shai at #11 SEVEN years ago. Otherwise, ZILCH. Forget this "development" jazz--OUR draftees aren't even in the NBA 2-3 years later. Whoever's in charge [and I'm afraid Jerry West had a big hand in it] needs to be demoted or fired.


So, actually, since EVERYBODY wants the same thing--young, 6'7" or bigger who can D and shoot the 3, an Over The Hill Gang [OTHG] is probably the best way to zig while the rest of the NBA is zagging. Add CP3 or especially KD to last year's squad and I'm pretty confident we get past Denver and even give the OKC kids a reasonable fight.

The trick to a Ballmer Boyz OTHG is to be deep enough where nobody's playing over 30 minutes or so. It was criminal the minutes Beard had to play last year just to keep us competitive. It means older players giving the Clips a steep discount, but in this "new" NBA, if I'm Chris Paul or Kevin Durant, it's much easier on my ego playing diminished minutes behind a fellow HOFer than being a caddy to some 23-yr-old phenom.

[Ballings7]

Well San Antonio is developing Wemby and Castle so there was no way he couldn't play his curate the offense game with them, but I see him going back to his old ways with us. He used to brush off Blake and DJ so many times when they saw fast break opportunities just so he could walk the ball up and dribble for 20 seconds before making a decision on whether to shoot or pass it off. And I haven't even discussed the age factor in all of this which should already be a no no. This probably won't happen knowing us, but say there's a young guard that we picked up or drafted, say Walter Clayton Jr. for example, and he looks the part and should be getting back up point guard minutes. It won't happen because we'll have yet another old vet in the way of progress and Ty Lue won't disrupt that and will shelve the youngster. I don't want Jrue Holiday either.

None of this is aimed at you Roscoe, this CP3 to the Clipps is all over my Twitter feed and its the "Clipper thing to do." I know the front office want's contracts to align with Kawhi and Harden's deal expiring and we get cap space and control of our picks again, but I honestly don't think they have a plan even when that happens and we'll still be in the business of aged former star vets, bad contracts, and not hitting on a pick to move forward into the next generation of the NBA. There's us in the hunt for KD rumors floating around too. And we all know those types of moves never work out for us, plus Big 3's and overnight fixes don't work anymore anyway. We got the aging core of high 30's Harden, Kawhi, Batum, Norm, Dunn, etc. now its time to hit on a pick or young guy with upside imo. Adding more old guys and "names" I guess is the Ballmer way. Evidently maybe he just wants heavy nostalgia and to sell tickets, future outlook be damned.

"high 30s" is basically exaggerating on those guys..

Kawhi is 34 end of June (33 now). So wouldn't really reach the start of "high 30s" until two seasons from now at 35.. (which is when his deal is up, last season of it he's 35 '26-27', then is a UFA at 36). He's in the last part of his prime years as a high-level NBA player, safe to say.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/8066/kawhi-leonard

Norm is 32 (just turned end of May).

Dunn is 31 (turned in March).

Harden turns 36 end of August, will give you that, and Batum obviously has been around awhile, at 36; but Harden's game doesn't rely on much athleticism to play at a high level, as has been shown. His playoff issues are nothing new as we know, though -- had them when he was young, and in his prime.

Batum's role-player intangibles game will stick around at a decent level for awhile.. he's like Robert Horry in that sense in terms of still being able to make a good impact.

Team is definitely old, collectively, yes.

Need some more guys early, early 30s and below, and who have some experience.

I think you're all three right, but Ballmer's strategy HAS TO BE to win as many RS games as possible while we play out the Kawhi-Beard contracts, then see what's on the FA market to start over in 2 years. A little noise in the playoffs would be nice but we took the Nugs to 7 games and didn't embarrass the org. The important thing is to NOT become a 30-win toxic waste dump.

And yes, it would be nice to hit ONE young talent off our usual crap draft position, which we NEVER have--the closest was trading up for Shai at #11 SEVEN years ago. Otherwise, ZILCH. Forget this "development" jazz--OUR draftees aren't even in the NBA 2-3 years later. Whoever's in charge [and I'm afraid Jerry West had a big hand in it] needs to be demoted or fired.


So, actually, since EVERYBODY wants the same thing--young, 6'7" or bigger who can D and shoot the 3, an Over The Hill Gang [OTHG] is probably the best way to zig while the rest of the NBA is zagging. Add CP3 or especially KD to last year's squad and I'm pretty confident we get past Denver and even give the OKC kids a reasonable fight.

The trick to a Ballmer Boyz OTHG is to be deep enough where nobody's playing over 30 minutes or so. It was criminal the minutes Beard had to play last year just to keep us competitive. It means older players giving the Clips a steep discount, but in this "new" NBA, if I'm Chris Paul or Kevin Durant, it's much easier on my ego playing diminished minutes behind a fellow HOFer than being a caddy to some 23-yr-old phenom.

Yeah, definitely agree.

[TrueLAfan]

The thing is, hitting a draft pick this year might mean more. A lot more. This is one of the reasons I’m kinda geeked about this draft. It’s a great draft, but not because it’s super top heavy. There’s a whole group of players in the second tier … from about 4 or 5 to 10—who could go in any order. And the lowest of that group is kind of interchangeable with the next group, and that is deep. We’re talking about maybe running through the mid 30s. For example, Kon Kneuppel or Drake Powell? Kneuppel is one of those guys that seems like he’s hovering around 8-10. Powell is all over the place—as high as mid-teens, sometimes in the late 30s. Knueppel is simply a natural scorer and shooter … and Powell shot 66% from the line this year. OTOH, their two and three point shooting is very close (.479/.406 vs. .483/.379). They’re barely a month apart in age. And, while Powell doesn’t have the volume scoring of Knueppel last year, Powell was kinda left out offensively. It’s one of the reasons he’s declaring. Well, that and his wingspan, quickness, and jumping are outstanding. And he was a great defender, unlike Kneuppel. That third tier of players usually runs to about 20. (Clear top picks, Top 10 picks, Top 20 picks). This year, that third tier is close to the second tier--and it's super, super deep.

Do I think Kneuppel and Powell are a whole lot different in value? I do not. And I personally think Powell is going to go in the late teens and the team that gets him will be very, very happy. But maybe not. He might be there for us at 30. The point is there are a lot of players that could have some impact in this draft. It *may* be worth it for us to use a couple of those Atlanta second rounders to try and move up a little. Or really good players might fall—I have no idea where Powell or Nolan Traore or Will Riley or Hugo Gonzalez or Rasheer Fleming will go. A couple of those guys could, conceivably, get picked in the top 12. And, just as conceivably, a couple could be available for us at 30. And I think pretty much all of those guys will be NBA rotation players. Some may be starters, and good ones. You rarely have players like that down into the mid and low 30s … but that’s how it is this year.

BTW, CP3 would be a great pickup for 2 years/$7 million. (Put a $1 million buyout on that second year). That’s minimum salary, and would only count $2 million against the cap. Paul is still pesky, can still shoot some, passes well without making mistakes, and—surprisingly—is available pretty often. He’s played between 1500 and 2300 minutes every season since turning 35. Getting 1500-1600 minutes out of Chris Paul, even a somewhat diminished Chris Paul, is so worth a minimum deal.

[Clemenza]

Well San Antonio is developing Wemby and Castle so there was no way he couldn't play his curate the offense game with them, but I see him going back to his old ways with us. He used to brush off Blake and DJ so many times when they saw fast break opportunities just so he could walk the ball up and dribble for 20 seconds before making a decision on whether to shoot or pass it off. And I haven't even discussed the age factor in all of this which should already be a no no. This probably won't happen knowing us, but say there's a young guard that we picked up or drafted, say Walter Clayton Jr. for example, and he looks the part and should be getting back up point guard minutes. It won't happen because we'll have yet another old vet in the way of progress and Ty Lue won't disrupt that and will shelve the youngster. I don't want Jrue Holiday either.

None of this is aimed at you Roscoe, this CP3 to the Clipps is all over my Twitter feed and its the "Clipper thing to do." I know the front office want's contracts to align with Kawhi and Harden's deal expiring and we get cap space and control of our picks again, but I honestly don't think they have a plan even when that happens and we'll still be in the business of aged former star vets, bad contracts, and not hitting on a pick to move forward into the next generation of the NBA. There's us in the hunt for KD rumors floating around too. And we all know those types of moves never work out for us, plus Big 3's and overnight fixes don't work anymore anyway. We got the aging core of high 30's Harden, Kawhi, Batum, Norm, Dunn, etc. now its time to hit on a pick or young guy with upside imo. Adding more old guys and "names" I guess is the Ballmer way. Evidently maybe he just wants heavy nostalgia and to sell tickets, future outlook be damned.

"high 30s" is basically exaggerating on those guys..

Kawhi is 34 end of June (33 now). So wouldn't really reach the start of "high 30s" until two seasons from now at 35.. (which is when his deal is up, last season of it he's 35 '26-27', then is a UFA at 36). He's in the last part of his prime years as a high-level NBA player, safe to say.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/8066/kawhi-leonard

Norm is 32 (just turned end of May).

Dunn is 31 (turned in March).

Harden turns 36 end of August, will give you that, and Batum obviously has been around awhile, at 36; but Harden's game doesn't rely on much athleticism to play at a high level, as has been shown. His playoff issues are nothing new as we know, though -- had them when he was young, and in his prime.

Batum's role-player intangibles game will stick around at a decent level for awhile.. he's like Robert Horry in that sense in terms of still being able to make a good impact.

Team is definitely old, collectively, yes.

Need some more guys early, early 30s and below, and who have some experience.

I think you're all three right, but Ballmer's strategy HAS TO BE to win as many RS games as possible while we play out the Kawhi-Beard contracts, then see what's on the FA market to start over in 2 years. A little noise in the playoffs would be nice but we took the Nugs to 7 games and didn't embarrass the org. The important thing is to NOT become a 30-win toxic waste dump.

And yes, it would be nice to hit ONE young talent off our usual crap draft position, which we NEVER have--the closest was trading up for Shai at #11 SEVEN years ago. Otherwise, ZILCH. Forget this "development" jazz--OUR draftees aren't even in the NBA 2-3 years later. Whoever's in charge [and I'm afraid Jerry West had a big hand in it] needs to be demoted or fired.


So, actually, since EVERYBODY wants the same thing--young, 6'7" or bigger who can D and shoot the 3, an Over The Hill Gang [OTHG] is probably the best way to zig while the rest of the NBA is zagging. Add CP3 or especially KD to last year's squad and I'm pretty confident we get past Denver and even give the OKC kids a reasonable fight.

The trick to a Ballmer Boyz OTHG is to be deep enough where nobody's playing over 30 minutes or so. It was criminal the minutes Beard had to play last year just to keep us competitive. It means older players giving the Clips a steep discount, but in this "new" NBA, if I'm Chris Paul or Kevin Durant, it's much easier on my ego playing diminished minutes behind a fellow HOFer than being a caddy to some 23-yr-old phenom.

Agreed with most but the bolded is the tricky part. I'm sure most of you guys are starting to see that the league might become a "star-less" in a few years. Not saying they're won't be stars, but guys that can prop up and carry the league, sell tickets, and grab eyeballs will definitely be done when Bron, Curry, KD, and the likes are gone. Zion, Ja, Ant Edwards, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Tatum, etc. either doesn't want the label, has too many off court issues, or doesn't captivate the fan's imaginations. Some suffer from all three. Doesn't look like WembyMania is going to take hold as a 7'4" guy that hangs out at the three point line all game long. The floor will be Cooper Flagg's if he looks the slightest bit of being legit. We'll see.

I'm just not sold on this grand open cap space moment L. Frank is trying to sell us. It still reeks of taking the easy way out and always dependent on a prayer or a savior which I feel the league is at a shortage of now and much more into the future. Especially with this new CBA and its aprons. I would love to hear L. Frank say something to the effect of, "We expect Zu to have an even bigger year next season and he'll be featured more in the offense going forward. We got our eyes on a couple of players in the upcoming draft that we like and that can help the team. We're going to get Harden and Zu some help at their respected positions to keep their minutes down and be fresher for the postseason, etc."

-Just a few tangible realistic things that we know can happen and understand instead of all the head in the clouds. That type of talk isn't happening from him of course, but that would send a message to the fanbase that they're actually rolling up their sleeves and down to put in work to fill in the margins and holes in real time team building. They're still on the same mantra and philosophy they had six years ago where they didn't realize what they had in the the 2019 team that took the Warriors to six games in the playoffs. They were too busy stalking Kawhi in Toronto. The grass is always greener on the other side for these guys.

Yes, 50 wins this past season, but that was mostly all on the backs of Harden turning back the clock and Zu & Norm taking the next step... And Kawhi coming back as well. Still had a way too many unplayable players in the post season which is what L. Frank and Lue have to hit on. Cut back on the name chasing and letting youth walk/trading them only to hop into the buyout market every season praying on a miracle that never comes into fruition. I believe we only have one more year for Harden and Kawhi to play at a high level. Then if they don't get that mystery man star free agent and it they don't hit on a pick or two, this ship could go down fast.

[Clemenza]

The thing is, hitting a draft pick this year might mean more. A lot more. This is one of the reasons I’m kinda geeked about this draft. It’s a great draft, but not because it’s super top heavy. There’s a whole group of players in the second tier … from about 4 or 5 to 10—who could go in any order. And the lowest of that group is kind of interchangeable with the next group, and that is deep. We’re talking about maybe running through the mid 30s. For example, Kon Kneuppel or Drake Powell? Kneuppel is one of those guys that seems like he’s hovering around 8-10. Powell is all over the place—as high as mid-teens, sometimes in the late 30s. Knueppel is simply a natural scorer and shooter … and Powell shot 66% from the line this year. OTOH, their two and three point shooting is very close (.479/.406 vs. .483/.379). They’re barely a month apart in age. And, while Powell doesn’t have the volume scoring of Knueppel last year, Powell was kinda left out offensively. It’s one of the reasons he’s declaring. Well, that and his wingspan, quickness, and jumping are outstanding. And he was a great defender, unlike Kneuppel. That third tier of players usually runs to about 20. (Clear top picks, Top 10 picks, Top 20 picks). This year, that third tier is close to the second tier--and it's super, super deep.

Do I think Kneuppel and Powell are a whole lot different in value? I do not. And I personally think Powell is going to go in the late teens and the team that gets him will be very, very happy. But maybe not. He might be there for us at 30. The point is there are a lot of players that could have some impact in this draft. It *may* be worth it for us to use a couple of those Atlanta second rounders to try and move up a little. Or really good players might fall—I have no idea where Powell or Nolan Traore or Will Riley or Hugo Gonzalez or Rasheer Fleming will go. A couple of those guys could, conceivably, get picked in the top 12. And, just as conceivably, a couple could be available for us at 30. And I think pretty much all of those guys will be NBA rotation players. Some may be starters, and good ones. You rarely have players like that down into the mid and low 30s … but that’s how it is this year.

BTW, CP3 would be a great pickup for 2 years/$7 million. (Put a $1 million buyout on that second year). That’s minimum salary, and would only count $2 million against the cap. Paul is still pesky, can still shoot some, passes well without making mistakes, and—surprisingly—is available pretty often. He’s played between 1500 and 2300 minutes every season since turning 35. Getting 1500-1600 minutes out of Chris Paul, even a somewhat diminished Chris Paul, is so worth a minimum deal.

This is defintely a good draft. Even if we stay at #30 we should still come out with a good young player. Also, Brooklyn has 4 first round picks and 1 second round pick. They can't add five newly drafted players to their roster for next season. We should try to swing a trade where we get their lowest first rounder which is at #27 or their second round pick which is #36. We could come out with three studs in this draft which would be great. You would just need one or two of these guys to pan out and we still have Cam Christie, Flowers, and Pat Baldwin in the wings as well.

[esqtvd]

BTW, CP3 would be a great pickup for 2 years/$7 million. (Put a $1 million buyout on that second year). That’s minimum salary, and would only count $2 million against the cap. Paul is still pesky, can still shoot some, passes well without making mistakes, and—surprisingly—is available pretty often. He’s played between 1500 and 2300 minutes every season since turning 35. Getting 1500-1600 minutes out of Chris Paul, even a somewhat diminished Chris Paul, is so worth a minimum deal.

FTR, I predicted TEN YEARS ago that CP3 was worth re-signing, that Steve Nash played well through age 35 and Chris had the same kind of game that would age well. [By contrast, Blake was a WRECK by age 32.] CP3 has played 58 games ever since, even at age 39.

[MartinToVaught]

I'm just not sold on this grand open cap space moment L. Frank is trying to sell us. It still reeks of taking the easy way out and always dependent on a prayer or a savior which I feel the league is at a shortage of now and much more into the future.

Even if there were "saviors" out there, that caliber of player always signs with their current team for the most money possible and demands a trade when they want out. Free agency now is for high-end role players and lower. It's a plan that's doomed to fail because, as usual, this franchise is living 10+ years in the past.

Of course, striking out wouldn't be the end of the world if we had an actual front office. We could use all that cap space to take on bad contracts with draft picks attached to replenish our assets and start the rebuild. But with Frank in charge, what will actually happen is a repeat of 2010 where we were stuck throwing money at Ryan Gomes, Randy Foye and Brian Cook after pinning everything on an outside chance at LeBron.