Fake Trade Thread #7

[Hornet Mania]

Our pick stash has improved over the last two years but I think we're still in accumulation mode on that front and probably won't send any out before the trade deadline. You can look at it as staying patient, or as a front office never willing to make a move so they can never take blame for failure.

Man, I have a hard time looking at all our moves over the last 2 years and saying the FO is scared to take bold steps.

This feels like a narrative distorting the reality. For example, lots of folks were saying all summer and into the season that we are tanking, and pointing to our C rotation as evidence of that. I actually think going into the season with our current center rotation is an example of our FO being willing to bet on themselves, not the opposite of them being scared to make a move.

I personally don't see them as scared to make a move, just not interested in placing a big bet at this time.

I think C rotation was just them being willing to accept whatever happened. I think the front office's viewpoint was if Melo/Miller stay healthy and the C rotation works out then great. But I think they're also very fine with getting another lotto pick if that's what the current talent level of the team needs. Otherwise they'd have been a bit more aggressive this offseason.

[JMAC3]

We have 8 Tradeable first round picks, 11 total. Either...
A.) We don't think cashing those picks in right now will make us good enough.
B.) We don't understand which player to trade them for
C.) We think we are good enough without using them.
D.) We just don't want to be good.

If the answer is C or D then they should be fired.

[amcoolio]

I think its pretty clearly D. The front office is hoping we land a franchise altering player in the draft like San Antonio did

[luciano-davidwesley]

Face it…we’re back to having few options, even if Jeffie wanted to make a deal.

Who is the most sought after Hornet for a trade by NBA teams right now? A month ago, who would have guessed that answer would be K-Nip?

We have the 5th most tradeable draft assets in the NBA. We are such a damaged franchise that we think we have no options.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44938717/nba-draft-asset-rankings-stacking-all-30-teams-pick-collections

That article is old. Utah would probably switch places with us now we got another protected first since then from the Mark Williams trade.

Brooklyn also is heavily weighted in that by the five firsts they had in the recent draft

[Diop]

Issac is made of glass and even when he plays isn't that impactful.

Seems like worst case scenario. If we are trading for an injury prone guy I would want him to really matter when he does actually play.

he played 71 games last year, that makes him iron man compared to our lot. not saying i want him though

[Diop]

Our pick stash has improved over the last two years but I think we're still in accumulation mode on that front and probably won't send any out before the trade deadline. You can look at it as staying patient, or as a front office never willing to make a move so they can never take blame for failure.

Man, I have a hard time looking at all our moves over the last 2 years and saying the FO is scared to take bold steps.

This feels like a narrative distorting the reality. For example, lots of folks were saying all summer and into the season that we are tanking, and pointing to our C rotation as evidence of that. I actually think going into the season with our current center rotation is an example of our FO being willing to bet on themselves, not the opposite of them being scared to make a move.

They bought the team in 2023 and are building their own team. The Salaun pick had everyone worried they didn't know what they were doing, but that was a crappy draft and they took a wild swing.

This years draft looks like they smashed it out of the park. Kon was not my first choice, but so far I am very happy to be proven so wrong.
So they have earned some faith from me.

I don't see them spending assets on role players or good aging veterans, unless something extraordinary is offered I think they will build with patience.

I'm ready to listen to the cynicism and hate, but I think they do have a plan they are building towards.

Ball is likely traded this year, hopefully a good pick next draft and lets see how we look.

[Diop]

We have 8 Tradeable first round picks, 11 total. Either...
A.) We don't think cashing those picks in right now will make us good enough.
B.) We don't understand which player to trade them for
C.) We think we are good enough without using them.
D.) We just don't want to be good.

If the answer is C or D then they should be fired.

pretty clearly A for me, and they're right.

imagine if they went all in for an ok centre to fill the whole for Ball and Miller to spend half the season on the sideline.

people would be screaming for their heads

[JMAC3]

We have 8 Tradeable first round picks, 11 total. Either...
A.) We don't think cashing those picks in right now will make us good enough.
B.) We don't understand which player to trade them for
C.) We think we are good enough without using them.
D.) We just don't want to be good.

If the answer is C or D then they should be fired.

pretty clearly A for me, and they're right.

imagine if they went all in for an ok centre to fill the whole for Ball and Miller to spend half the season on the sideline.

people would be screaming for their heads

Would we? I would at least feel like we were trying.

[Diop]

We have 8 Tradeable first round picks, 11 total. Either...
A.) We don't think cashing those picks in right now will make us good enough.
B.) We don't understand which player to trade them for
C.) We think we are good enough without using them.
D.) We just don't want to be good.

If the answer is C or D then they should be fired.

pretty clearly A for me, and they're right.

imagine if they went all in for an ok centre to fill the whole for Ball and Miller to spend half the season on the sideline.

people would be screaming for their heads

Would we? I would at least feel like we were trying.

Spending future assets to still miss the playoffs but just guarantee a crapper draft pick??

Sounds genius

[JMAC3]

pretty clearly A for me, and they're right.

imagine if they went all in for an ok centre to fill the whole for Ball and Miller to spend half the season on the sideline.

people would be screaming for their heads

Would we? I would at least feel like we were trying.

Spending future assets to still miss the playoffs but just guarantee a crapper draft pick??

Sounds genius

I mean sure if you judge it from the standpoint they knew that was the end result of missing guys and being bad sure.
I am saying I don't think fans would be mad if in the off season we traded for Bam and Sabonis and the season was playing out this way.

Again, it would signal we were at least trying to win. Right now, hard to say what we are trying to do. Other than we are playing rookies a lot losing games.

[SWedd523]

pretty clearly A for me, and they're right.

imagine if they went all in for an ok centre to fill the whole for Ball and Miller to spend half the season on the sideline.

people would be screaming for their heads

Would we? I would at least feel like we were trying.

Spending future assets to still miss the playoffs but just guarantee a crapper draft pick??

Sounds genius

What do you recommend? Keep sitting on our asses hoping and praying they'll magically become healthy (and still not be good enough to be a serious playoff team)?

[yosemiteben]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

[JMAC3]

Would we? I would at least feel like we were trying.

Spending future assets to still miss the playoffs but just guarantee a crapper draft pick??

Sounds genius

What do you recommend? Keep sitting on our asses hoping and praying they'll magically become healthy (and still not be good enough to be a serious playoff team)?

Say Hornets traded 4 firsts for Lauri in the off-season. My guess is most fans would be fine.
If Lauri sucked, got hurt etc... we would be bad either way.
My guess in the rest of the NBA wouldn't really give us too much **** about it, we could at least say we tried.
They are going make fun of us for being bad either way.

At some point Charlotte has to take a chance as organization. We have never traded multiple firsts for a player ever since I have joined realgm. That is at least 15 years of playing it safe, always scared to fail. All while doing nothing and continuing to fail.

https://youtu.be/RF_6fek9qSc?si=nhdgs8tlV3HA2_nH&t=69

Even if we set 4 firsts on fire for nothing we would still have 7 firsts over the next 7 years which is probably above average in the NBA right now. It's not like we are one trade away from being the Suns or Clippers where we aren't good and also have no draft picks to use.

[JMAC3]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

I fear this draft is getting pretty overrated. I don't think Kalkbrenner or Sion or Liam are changing the direction of the franchise. They are good value picks for sure, but they will both likely finish the year outside the top 10 on the NBA rookie ladder as the younger more talented players get more comfortable and gain experience.

In order to be relevant, we are going to have to do a lot more than add rotation-quality players.

[SWedd523]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

Until you have a draft where you get Tiddy or Kai and Bouk

[yosemiteben]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

I fear this draft is getting pretty overrated. I don't think Kalkbrenner or Sion or Liam are changing the direction of the franchise. They are good value picks for sure, but they will both likely finish the year outside the top 10 on the NBA rookie ladder as the younger more talented players get more comfortable and gain experience.

In order to be relevant, we are going to have to do a lot more than add rotation-quality players.

If you can consistently find rotation worth players in the draft, that is a big deal. No one is saying that all our rookies are the best rookies in the draft, but it is hugely valuable to be able to find contributors deep in the draft and I think a FO that can do that should disproportionately prioritize draft picks.

[yosemiteben]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

Until you have a draft where you get Tiddy or Kai and Bouk

I don't think our FO would pull the Mitch 2021 draft move (or the 2022 one). I'm not really the right audience for the point about Salaun because I'm not out on him yet and I don't fault them for drafting him. But yes, inevitably our FO will have misses in the draft because no FO bats 1.000 on draft picks.

[JMAC3]

Have to say that the general idea of building through the draft is a lot more interesting after our last draft.

I fear this draft is getting pretty overrated. I don't think Kalkbrenner or Sion or Liam are changing the direction of the franchise. They are good value picks for sure, but they will both likely finish the year outside the top 10 on the NBA rookie ladder as the younger more talented players get more comfortable and gain experience.

In order to be relevant, we are going to have to do a lot more than add rotation-quality players.

If you can consistently find rotation worth players in the draft, that is a big deal. No one is saying that all our rookies are the best rookies in the draft, but it is hugely valuable to be able to find contributors deep in the draft and I think a FO that can do that should disproportionately prioritize draft picks.

Yeah, so far we have drafted Salaun, Kon, Liam, KJ, Sion and Kalk.
I would say we will feel good if 3 guys work (50%) out long-term, I wouldn't say that the FO has shown to be a masterclass at drafting quite yet.