nate33 wrote:Silvie Lysandra wrote:I'd definitely think about adding value to bring in AD especially if we land #1. How much? Good question.
Bilal + Bub + top 12 protected 2028 + Middleton + Kispert Not a huge amount of value, but enough to make a reset more palatable.
For us, it ends the tank with a bang, especially if Davis can play more than 55~ reg season games. Incredible running mate and mentor to Sarr, still switchable playing 5 as well. Davis + Y3 Sarr + Y3 George + Y2 Tre + Peterson feels like a play-in team. Esp with continued improvement from Vuk, Champagnie still being solid, more growth from Riley, etc. By the time Davis well and truly falls off, the rest of the players will be ready and have playof experience (and I wouldn't be surprised if he remains very effective playing 20-25 mpg on a per minute basis)
I doubt Dallas does it because of their pick situation, especially if Flagg becomes a star sooner than later.
It's an interesting idea going after Davis in the offseason AFTER we have tanked our way into a high pick. We would have a boatload of cap room and could just take his salary off of Dallas' hands if Dallas wanted to rebuild around younger guys. But I still think you are giving up too much here. I'd trade Kispert, sure. And a heavily protected future FRP is okay. But I still think Bilal is way too talented to be giving away like that.
My main concern is Davis' attitude. He seems like a pretty ornery guy who only wants to play on a contender and only wants to play PF when everyone knows his best position is center. I don't think he would react well to playing here. He has already gained some weight and lost some conditioning after joining Dallas. It might get worse in DC.
I'd rather pursue other options for a second center to accompany Sarr. We could throw Duren a max offer. Detroit will likely match but I'd at least try. We could also pursue Kessler with a front-loaded deal and hope Utah would rather tank than match. And if both of the RFA gambits fail, I still really like Mitchell Robinson who is an unrestricted free agent. That guy is a monster when healthy, and he has really embraced his role as a low-minute high-energy guy in NY. NY is in cap hell and likely won't be able to keep him. He'd be perfect to play the 16 minutes a game at center when Sarr sits, and then be paired with Sarr for another 5-10 minutes a game for a jumbo lineup.
So the thing is, because of their pick situation, they have a lot of incentive to try and see if they can win games, thus, not trading Davis. Trading a mid round pick and Bilal for Davis smooths that situation out. More to the point - barring a big developmental leap, I could easily see him being the odd man out behind Johnson, Champagnie, George, and to a lesser extent Riley, not to mention whoever we bring in in the lottery (and if it's #2, we're suddenly in a rough spot where Dybantsa is clearly the pick, but there just aren't enough wing minutes.)
Now I do worry about Davis's conditioning and attitude, but I'm also okay with him playing 26-28 mpg and 55-60 games a year. And he's still very very good at PF, and in many ways, Sarr and Davis would be somewhat interchangable. And there are definitely examples of older bigs who aged gracefully on young teams growing into contention.
Fundamentally, I think it's important that after this season, we move into the "contention" stage, and Davis fixes a ton of problems that allow us to do just that.