Which team would you pick?

RIPskaterdude · Post #1 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Thu Jul 2, 2015 3:52 pm

After this trade, I was thinking. What if the Cousins trade to the Lakers happened instead? Yes, we all hate the Lakers. But let's put that aside for a second and compare the teams, if the rumored trade happened on one team and the rumored free agent signings happen on our current team.

Team A: (current team)

Cousins/?
WCS/Acy?
Gay/Casspi
Matthews(or Ellis)/B-Mac
Rondo(or Beverly)/Collison

I'm assuming we are able to still add another player or two to the bench and don't spend our entire cap on two players (remember, Casspi wants back and now we need front court help, which means more than just Acy).

Team B: (if Cousins was traded to LA)

WCS/JT
Randle/Landry
Gay/?
B-Mac/Nik
Russell/Clarkson

And with Cousins gone, that means we have some extra decent cap space (only hits are Randle, Russell and Clarkson on rookie deals and locked up for a few years, too). What if we could have got Matthews still with that roster? I assume we would have had enough to offer $15M a year.

What do you think?

blind prophet · Post #2 » by **blind prophet** » Thu Jul 2, 2015 4:58 pm

May be too early for the poll.

Big gamble man, not likely gonna get anyone to take a side just yet.

RIPskaterdude · Post #3 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 5:47 am

I agree, but team B is looking real good right now. Oh well.

blind prophet · Post #4 » by **blind prophet** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 7:28 am

RIPskaterdude wrote:I agree, but team B is looking real good right now. Oh well.

Looks like we rolled a 4, not looking good.

RIPskaterdude · Post #5 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 7:33 am

I know why people are picking Team A, I would too, but let's honestly just think about it for a second. We start over with a very complete and strong roster and we would have had plenty of cap space to go with it. Prior to the trade we had around $10M. Throw in Russell/Randle/Clarkson vs Cousins. Maybe we get them to take Landry? Who knows. So let's pretend that allows to have $15-$18M in cap space and the starting lineup of:

WCS
Randle
Gay
B-Mac
Collison

With Russell off the bench until he's ready to produce. If we pick up some depth guys on the bench...I don't know. But we are STACKED with cap space AND future assets going forward. We could still trade and make a big splash. Right now, Cousins is only our asset going forward. B-Mac too, I suppose.

Post #6 » by **KF10** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 7:41 am

RIPskaterdude wrote:I know why people are picking Team A, I would too, but let's honestly just think about it for a second. We start over with a very complete and strong roster and we would have had plenty of cap space to go with it. Prior to the trade we had around $10M. Throw in Russell/Randle/Clarkson vs Cousins. Maybe we get them to take Landry? Who knows. So let's pretend that allows to have $15-$18M in cap space and the starting lineup of:

WCS
Randle
Gay
B-Mac
Collison

With Russell off the bench until he's ready to produce. If we pick up some depth guys on the bench...I don't know. But we are STACKED with cap space AND future assets going forward. We could still trade and make a big splash. Right now, Cousins is only our asset going forward. B-Mac too, I suppose.

So, do you prefer selling Cousins to the highest bidder at this point in time?

The problem is that both Vlade & Vivek are adamant about keeping Cousins + Karl doesn't want to coach a rebuilding team too.

blind prophet · Post #7 » by **blind prophet** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 7:52 am

Personally I would of went with team C

Which would have been our team before free agency started, and just tried to add Miller, Casspi, and potentially a scorer off the bench.

I just wasn't ready to move Cousins until we gave it a full go with Karl, WCS, and a healthy roster for awhile.

But tearing it all down and total destruction for assets may have been the best call.

Move Rudy and Collison even.

RIPskaterdude · Post #8 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 7:58 am

KF10 wrote:
RIPskaterdude wrote:I know why people are picking Team A, I would too, but let's honestly just think about it for a second. We start over with a very complete and strong roster and we would have had plenty of cap space to go with it. Prior to the trade we had around $10M. Throw in Russell/Randle/Clarkson vs Cousins. Maybe we get them to take Landry? Who knows. So let's pretend that allows to have $15-$18M in cap space and the starting lineup of:

WCS
Randle
Gay
B-Mac
Collison

With Russell off the bench until he's ready to produce. If we pick up some depth guys on the bench...I don't know. But we are STACKED with cap space AND future assets going forward. We could still trade and make a big splash. Right now, Cousins is only our asset going forward. B-Mac too, I suppose.

So, do you prefer selling Cousins to the highest bidder at this point in time?

The problem is that both Vlade & Vivek are adamant about keeping Cousins + Karl doesn't want to coach a rebuilding team too.

Nah, it's too late now. No reason to sell him off to the highest bidder now. We have no future assets and it would make little sense to do so without them. That group would need a year together and then when we move into the arena, they hit .500. Then playoffs. So two years away. Group A has already been picked, just don't know which players are going to fill in those open areas.

RIPskaterdude · Post #9 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 8:00 am

blind prophet wrote:Personally I would of went with team C

Which would have been our team before free agency started, and just tried to add Miller, Casspi, and potentially a scorer off the bench.

I just wasn't ready to move Cousins until we gave it a full go with Karl, WCS, and a healthy roster for awhile.

But tearing it all down and total destruction for assets may have been the best call.

Move Rudy and Collison even.

Yeah, I refuse to believe that we couldn't have just moved Nik and Thompson for pure cap space. Stick with Landry and let it be dead cash on the bench. The Suns just traded a decent player + warm bodies and got a 2nd round pick (in 2020) out of it. Could have stretched Landry and got a few extra million back. There were options there. We took the desperation "WE NEED TO WIN NOW FOR THE NEW ARENA" route.

bleeds_purple · Post #10 » by **bleeds_purple** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 8:02 am

blind prophet wrote:Personally I would of went with team C

Which would have been our team before free agency started, and just tried to add Miller, Casspi, and potentially a scorer off the bench.

I just wasn't ready to move Cousins until we gave it a full go with Karl, WCS, and a healthy roster for awhile.

But tearing it all down and total destruction for assets may have been the best call.

Move Rudy and Collison even.

Yea if we moved Cousins we'd have to deal Rudy and maybe Collison too. But now with those pick swaps in place that's a definite no-go.

Our two options are: try to use the 26M on a collection of complementary pieces or try to use it all on Rondo and Harris. Options are dwindling.

blind prophet · Post #11 » by **blind prophet** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 8:04 am

RIPskaterdude wrote:
blind prophet wrote:Personally I would of went with team C

Which would have been our team before free agency started, and just tried to add Miller, Casspi, and potentially a scorer off the bench.

I just wasn't ready to move Cousins until we gave it a full go with Karl, WCS, and a healthy roster for awhile.

But tearing it all down and total destruction for assets may have been the best call.

Move Rudy and Collison even.

Yeah, I refuse to believe that we couldn't have just moved Nik and Thompson for pure cap space. Stick with Landry and let it be dead cash on the bench. The Suns just traded a decent player + warm bodies and got a 2nd round pick (in 2020) out of it. Could have stretched Landry and got a few extra million back. There were options there. We took the desperation "WE NEED TO WIN NOW FOR THE NEW ARENA" route.

We were solid to the 11th roster spot, add in Moreland as our development/injury guy.

Every single piece was logical.

I thought we could even use JT/Landry to be one of the better 4-5 rotations in the league assuming WCS ends up starting after 20-30 games.

Saw no reason to move Nik either. But the SG would have been my investment target, just a veteran who could score off the bench, and preferred Miller to move the ball around for the bench players too, backed by Ray in case he gets tired legs and needed some time off.

A good enough roster to wait for the cap to skyrocket and see what happens then.

blind prophet · Post #12 » by **blind prophet** » Fri Jul 3, 2015 8:14 am

bleeds_purple wrote:
blind prophet wrote:Personally I would of went with team C

Which would have been our team before free agency started, and just tried to add Miller, Casspi, and potentially a scorer off the bench.

I just wasn't ready to move Cousins until we gave it a full go with Karl, WCS, and a healthy roster for awhile.

But tearing it all down and total destruction for assets may have been the best call.

Move Rudy and Collison even.

Yea if we moved Cousins we'd have to deal Rudy and maybe Collison too. But now with those pick swaps in place that's a definite no-go.

Our two options are: try to use the 26M on a collection of complementary pieces or try to use it all on Rondo and Harris. Options are dwindling.

Doesn't sound too appetizing, but it is what it is.