Around the NBA (Part Four)

[minimus]

Every player also has a different value depending on the organization and roster around him. Ayo’s value to MIN is partly dictated by the fact that DDV is injured, LaMelo has a history of injuries, and neither TJ nor Bones is a reliable playoff-level ballhandler. Meanwhile, Ayo is definitely a playoff-level contributor who can handle the ball, defend and play alongside both Ant and LaMelo.

I don’t know whether Podz brings the same level of impact to GSW, or whether his value to that roster is comparable to Ayo’s value to MIN. But it’s basically the same question I ask when looking at Kuminga in Minnesota. A player’s value isn’t just about his individual talent or production. It’s also about how well his strengths address his team’s needs and how effectively the team can minimize his weaknesses.

Hopefully, we’ll have a much clearer answer after this season.

[younggunsmn]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

[BlacJacMac]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

He’s the guy I wanted the last 2 drafts. Love his game.

[TimberKat]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

He’s the guy I wanted the last 2 drafts. Love his game.

If everything breaks right for GSW, they could be a dark horse team with Yaxel, Santos a breakout year, a healthy Porzingis and Butler.

[Klomp]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

He’s the guy I wanted the last 2 drafts. Love his game.

If everything breaks right for GSW, they could be a dark horse team with Yaxel, Santos a breakout year, a healthy Porzingis and Butler.

Not possible.

[Neeva]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

He’s the guy I wanted the last 2 drafts. Love his game.

If everything breaks right for GSW, they could be a dark horse team with Yaxel, Santos a breakout year, a healthy Porzingis and Butler.

that’s a sad core though

[wolfcat]

He’s the guy I wanted the last 2 drafts. Love his game.

If everything breaks right for GSW, they could be a dark horse team with Yaxel, Santos a breakout year, a healthy Porzingis and Butler.

that’s a sad core though

You lost me at a healthy Porzingus.

[TimberKat]

If everything breaks right for GSW, they could be a dark horse team with Yaxel, Santos a breakout year, a healthy Porzingis and Butler.

that’s a sad core though

You lost me at a healthy Porzingus.

That is why everything has to 'break' right. Otherwise I was had said they have a decent chance.

[younggunsmn]

I read that OKC is considering giving Cason Wallace 25-30 million a year for 8 points and 2 assists per game.
He's a pretty good defender, but please please please go ahead and do that.
While we pay Lamelo about what you pay Wallace+Caruso to do the same thing.

[Klomp]

I read that OKC is considering giving Cason Wallace 25-30 million a year for 8 points and 2 assists per game.
He's a pretty good defender, but please please please go ahead and do that.
While we pay Lamelo about what you pay Wallace+Caruso to do the same thing.

I think they expect him to play a much bigger role this year.....but in general, I don't disagree with you.

[shrink]

I read that OKC is considering giving Cason Wallace 25-30 million a year for 8 points and 2 assists per game.
He's a pretty good defender, but please please please go ahead and do that.
While we pay Lamelo about what you pay Wallace+Caruso to do the same thing.

This demonstrates the last hurdle that a great GM must navigate, and we may see Sam Presti finally be bad at an aspect of the GM game. Presti has been excellent at collecting future assets, and he has done a good (not great) job in draft evaluation. He has hit on several players and it has been easy to run out a highly competitive team with star players on rookie scale.

The final hurdle is managing your payroll when those young stars finally start to get paid. Often, when a GM has spent several seasons living at the bottom, when they finally have success they want to reward the players that made them look good, and they give out big contracts without even negotiating. Now, Presti’s been so successful that his young players fully deserved their max deals - other teams would match that. But holding on to one supermax and two max deals leads to serious issues in roster-building, and after they also had to pay Hartenstein, it’s led to the losses of important rotation players like Lou Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe. If they pay Cason Wallace a big contract, they will really begin to hollow themselves out.

For example, this led to the downfall of the Nuggets, who gave max deals to Jokic, Jamal Murray, MPJ and then had to find a way to keep Aaron Gordon. Even paying Christian Braun has cost them all their depth, and being forced to trade Payton Watson will really hurt them. Tim Connelly appeared to learn this lesson, swallowing hard and trading away Towns’ supermax to be able to keep more rotation players. We will see how he manages the return of a max deal with LaMelo Ball, to try to maintain some depth on a team that has been successful for a while, and doesn’t have vastly underpriced stars on rookie scale any more.

[younggunsmn]

I read that OKC is considering giving Cason Wallace 25-30 million a year for 8 points and 2 assists per game.
He's a pretty good defender, but please please please go ahead and do that.
While we pay Lamelo about what you pay Wallace+Caruso to do the same thing.

This demonstrates the last hurdle that a great GM must navigate, and we may see Sam Presti finally be bad at an aspect of the GM game. Presti has been excellent at collecting future assets, and he has done a good (not great) job in draft evaluation. He has hit on several players and it has been easy to run out a highly competitive team with star players on rookie scale.

The final hurdle is managing your payroll when those young stars finally start to get paid. Often, when a GM has spent several seasons living at the bottom, when they finally have success they want to reward the players that made them look good, and they give out big contracts without even negotiating. Now, Presti’s been so successful that his young players fully deserved their max deals - other teams would match that. But holding on to one supermax and two max deals leads to serious issues in roster-building, and after they also had to pay Hartenstein, it’s led to the losses of important rotation players like Lou Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe. If they pay Cason Wallace a big contract, they will really begin to hollow themselves out.

For example, this led to the downfall of the Nuggets, who gave max deals to Jokic, Jamal Murray, MPJ and then had to find a way to keep Aaron Gordon. Even paying Christian Braun has cost them all their depth, and being forced to trade Payton Watson will really hurt them. Tim Connelly appeared to learn this lesson, swallowing hard and trading away Towns’ supermax to be able to keep more rotation players. We will see how he manages the return of a max deal with LaMelo Ball, to try to maintain some depth on a team that has been successful for a while, and doesn’t have vastly underpriced stars on rookie scale any more.

Contract wise, TC has a pretty clear 3 year window where maintaining the status quo isn't going to be difficult.
Then Ant, Lamelo, Jaden, and Beringer will all be due new contracts in the same offseason.
Jaden in particular may get a large bump in cap%, and there is also the chance Lamelo meets supermax criteria.

Presti has started making his choices. It started with paying Caruso.
That ultimately cost them Dort, which is the first real core piece they have lost due to cap constraints.
He had a down year, but he was also their lone switchable big wing defender.
Wiggins and Joe will be a loss but they can be replaced with Ajay Mitchell and draft prospects.
His 2nd big choice was to keep Hartenstein. I don't see a way that doesn't cost them Wallace or Caruso next summer.
Next summer is also going to be a lot more difficult to have a restricted free agent and there will be more teams with cap space.

The good news for them is that Aday Mara and Bennet Stirtz have looked really good so far and that could really change the equation for them.
I was a bit surprised they didn't punt one or both of those picks down the road, but they smartly took some polished NBA ready talent.
If their draft picks don't work out, their salaries may cost enought that they have to punt on them before they would otherwise be willing to, as we smartly did with Dillingham at last year's trade deadline, which opened up wiggle room to sign Kuminga and trade for Ball.
Keep an eye on Topic and Sorber on the trade market before the October 31st deadline to exercise their options for next year.

[TimberKat]

Harden looks awful tonight. I am glad Wolves didn't traded for him (instead of LeMelo). I don't think he can handle both the NBA and the strip clubs any more. He needs to stick with the strip clubs

[LibertyPrime]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

Probably. Keep an eye on Aday Mara, though.

[TimberKat]

Yaxel Lendeborg is gonna win rookie of the year.
You heard it here first.

Probably. Keep an eye on Aday Mara, though.

Is he going to have a chance to play at OKC. However, if he is anywhere near ROY, OKC would be very scary.

[Neeva]

Wiseman doesn’t look all that bad granted against Poeltl.

[jpatrick]

I read that OKC is considering giving Cason Wallace 25-30 million a year for 8 points and 2 assists per game.
He's a pretty good defender, but please please please go ahead and do that.
While we pay Lamelo about what you pay Wallace+Caruso to do the same thing.

I get what you’re saying. But 25m, while a lot in the apron era, is a smaller percentage of the cap next year and in the future than it has been. Also, his numbers have been depressed by being on that team in that role. Plus, he may be one of the top five perimeter defenders in the NBA.

It’s like giving McDaniels his contract when we did. Many thought of it as a bad contract when given, but it’s now a steal. If you can get Wallace on an average of 25m/year, I think it’ll be seen as a steal down the road.

[TimberKat]

Kessler is more mobile than I thought, he got off the bench . Seriously, maybe he is not overpaid. Lendeborg does look good.

I tune in to watch Micah vs Simmons and Simmons already sitting out after one pre season game

[Klomp]

Kessler is more mobile than I thought, he got off the bench . Seriously, maybe he is not overpaid.

He better be worth what they paid him, because he's their only hope to stop teams from scoring 170

[BlacJacMac]

Kessler is more mobile than I thought, he got off the bench . Seriously, maybe he is not overpaid. Lendeborg does look good.

I tune in to watch Micah vs Simmons and Simmons already sitting out after one pre season game

Simmons has played 9 minutes so far this preseason. He deserves a game off or two.