Trade & Free Agency Ideas & Discussion 2

[MathiasPW]

I think the Clippers are low-balling Blake and he is making it known he is seeing star-hungry teams who are willing to pay him so the Clippers increase their offer.

Most likely we are just being used as a blackmailing partner.

He did mention on a recent podcast that Phoenix is on his Mt. Rushmore of NBA cities (http://www.barstoolsports.com/chicago/pardon-my-take-6-19-with-blake-griffin-and-michael-rapaport/).

Why meet with the second worst team in the Association as a bluff? Seems like a pretty bad bluff. My guess is he's really interested.

Exactly.. why meet with the 2nd worst team when you have several top notch candidates with cap space to sign you looking for a meeting. Because of our willingness to pay being higher the theirs...it sets the market.

And come on...the Mt Rushmore quote, although I'd like to believe it, seems forced as hell.

[LukasBMW]

Adding Blake to pair with Bledsoe and Booker gives us 3 guys who have a real shot at being all-stars this year. You could even throw TJ into that mix.

Adding Blake means that Len is gone. We might also lose Sauce which would hurt. We would also probably have to trade an asset along with the contract of Knight or Dudley to clear room.

With the modern NBA, I like a runNgun style with Blake/Chriss/Bender spending time at the 4/5 positions while Chandler plays limited minutes (20-28) to hold down the middle against teams with real centers.

I'm a bit apprehensive about building a team around injury prone Bledsoe and injury prone Blake, but let's see how things shake out.

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Barbosa
TJ/Jackson
Blake/Bender
Chriss/Tyson

Sauce and Dudley hold down the bench.

[AtheJ415]

I am not okay signing Milsap unless it is such a bargain deal that he becomes a massive trade chip to a contender later on. With Griffin, there is more logic there due to age and upside, but even so I don't see him being a key member of this team by the time the rest are ready to win. Thus, he would ultimately be a trade chip for me also, but to get him you probably have to throw a no trade clause at him. Maybe we could sign Blake and then include him in a Porzingis deal if he ends up fed up with NYK?

This team, due to draft balance and hitting on picks, is very close to completing a correct rebuild. I would hate to lose out on Doncic, Ayton, Porter, or Bamba just because we couldn't pass on Paul freaking Milsap.

[LukasBMW]

The other option is Blake engineering a trade for his buddy DeAndre to join him:

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine/?tradeId=y7nrhz3w

We send a Miami pick to the Clippers and our 2018 1st (top 3 protected) to Chicago.

Bledsoe/Ulis
Booker/Barbosa
TJ/Jackson
Blake/Bender
De-Andre/Chriss

+ Dudley/Sauce

-Starting lineup has 2 former allstars + 3 possible all stars
-6 guys on rookie contracts
-4 guys with playoff experience

[BobbieL]

I don't think anyone would really want Chandler with the cap surprising everyone and not going up as much as they expected. I think we will likely deal a first rounder to dump Knight if anyone would even take that.

I agree - I think its going to take Knight, the Miami pick in 2018 and possibly Warren for something - that's a lot to move a bad contract

but like you said - GSW did it for Iguodala and it worked

I think it would be dumb to move Warren. It would leave us with exactly one nba caliber SF who is a rookie. He only makes a few million. He has progressed nicely and developed for us and was probably our most valuable player this year other than Bledsoe.

I agree - I want to keep Warren

just was point out his 3m cap hit would suffice if Pelton is right a dn Knight, Dudley or Chandler cannot be moved

[jcsunsfan]

What happens if Len / Williams get offers tomorrow and Griffin doesn't have an answer soon.

This is simple. On Saturday, we tell him that we need a commitment now, or we will withdraw the offer and sign our own free agents.

BTW. I am not participating in this survey. I believe it is a false dichotomy. I indicates a playoff run now precludes a championship run later, and that is simply not true.

[Biff]

IDK if chriss can play the 5. Looks a little thin imo. But like i said i havent watched in years.

He is thin and a poor rebounder. Quite a bit worse than Amare. Blake is a decent rebounder but not quite the rebounder he was early in his career. Maybe Jordan is a big reason for that but his TRB% is ±5% lower than his rookie year. Nobody else on this board seems overly concerned with our ability to rebound the ball but I think it's a huge issue. It's a bit difficult to win games when you're giving numerous possessions per game to the other team.

I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Blake signing with us. I guess if we want to be a low playoff seed for the next 5 years (and that's hinging on 2 injury prone guys being healthy), fine, but I'd rather we suck a little longer and try to build an actual deep playoff contender. To me, it's not anymore exciting to be a treadmill 1st round exit team over being a lottery team. We've never been a team that players are dying to come to and I think there's a better chance of drafting an impact player than us signing one. I think we should trade Bledsoe and stay in the lottery zone for another year and hope we pick up another impact guy in the draft next year. Hopefully a big man that can rebound.

[Waylay13]

I don't think anyone would really want Chandler with the cap surprising everyone and not going up as much as they expected. I think we will likely deal a first rounder to dump Knight if anyone would even take that.

I agree - I think its going to take Knight, the Miami pick in 2018 and possibly Warren for something - that's a lot to move a bad contract

but like you said - GSW did it for Iguodala and it worked

I think it would be dumb to move Warren. It would leave us with exactly one nba caliber SF who is a rookie. He only makes a few million. He has progressed nicely and developed for us and was probably our most valuable player this year other than Bledsoe.

I think that Warren is a very nice player but I would place Booker, Bledsoe and maybe even Chandler (due to his vet leadership) above him as far as being the most valuable on this team. Heck I dont know that there is much of a difference as far as value to the team goes between Chriss and Warren. We also have DJJ and can put Bender at small forward.

[WeekapaugGroove]

What happens if Len / Williams get offers tomorrow and Griffin doesn't have an answer soon.

This is simple. On Saturday, we tell him that we need a commitment now, or we will withdraw the offer and sign our own free agents.

BTW. I am not participating in this survey. I believe it is a false dichotomy. I indicates a playoff run now precludes a championship run later, and that is simply not true.

You don't need to do that since no contracts can actually be singed until the 6th. Williams and Len can agree to deals Saturday but the suns would basically have until the 9th to decide what they are doing with them and I'm sure Blake will have picked his team by then.

[Djedefre]

Signing Blake would be stupid and shortsighted move. I can perfectly understand McD (contract year, 50th anniversary) but there is no way i can approve it.

[8on]

Exactly.. why meet with the 2nd worst team when you have several top notch candidates with cap space to sign you looking for a meeting. Because of our willingness to pay being higher the theirs...it sets the market.

Several top notch candidates. Like whom? I'm drawing a blank.

[Zelaznyrules]

What happens if Len / Williams get offers tomorrow and Griffin doesn't have an answer soon.

This is simple. On Saturday, we tell him that we need a commitment now, or we will withdraw the offer and sign our own free agents.

BTW. I am not participating in this survey. I believe it is a false dichotomy. I indicates a playoff run now precludes a championship run later, and that is simply not true.

True, it's definitely trying to lead the voters in a certain direction. It's interesting that the majority chose the other way though even with the help. Also, as prejudiced as it is in one direction, OTOH, it also ignored the possibility that building through youth could also lead to a playoff chase this season. But personally, I agree with the OP poll. A star chase today will decrease our championship likelihood down the road.

[NTB]

I still don't see Blake hinders Chriss & Bender's development. Our core will still develop and while they are developing we are also gonna win more games and experience playoff action.

[bwgood77]

IDK if chriss can play the 5. Looks a little thin imo. But like i said i havent watched in years.

He is thin and a poor rebounder. Quite a bit worse than Amare. Blake is a decent rebounder but not quite the rebounder he was early in his career. Maybe Jordan is a big reason for that but his TRB% is ±5% lower than his rookie year. Nobody else on this board seems overly concerned with our ability to rebound the ball but I think it's a huge issue. It's a bit difficult to win games when you're giving numerous possessions per game to the other team.

I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Blake signing with us. I guess if we want to be a low playoff seed for the next 5 years (and that's hinging on 2 injury prone guys being healthy), fine, but I'd rather we suck a little longer and try to build an actual deep playoff contender. To me, it's not anymore exciting to be a treadmill 1st round exit team over being a lottery team. We've never been a team that players are dying to come to and I think there's a better chance of drafting an impact player than us signing one. I think we should trade Bledsoe and stay in the lottery zone for another year and hope we pick up another impact guy in the draft next year. Hopefully a big man that can rebound.

I've mentioned big concerns about rebounding, though I imagine Chandler will play alongside Griffin if we keep him.

[bwgood77]

I still don't see Blake hinders Chriss & Bender's development. Our core will still develop and while they are developing we are also gonna win more games and experience playoff action.

Well they certainly wouldn't get as much on court playing time, if you think that contributes to development.

Read on Twitter

[Zelaznyrules]

I still don't see Blake hinders Chriss & Bender's development. Our core will still develop and while they are developing we are also gonna win more games and experience playoff action.

Well, besides minutes there's also a problem with letting them play through their mistakes. I don't know how important that is, I certainly came down on the other side of this argument until the last couple of years. Now, though, having listened to all the former players and coaches on ESPN and the NBA Channel, I've accepted the oft-voiced contention that players need considerable playing time to truly advance their NBA game. If you're trying to win, you can't leave a Bender out there for 20 minutes a game. But if you want him to become the player he can be, as quickly as it can happen, he needs to be in the game for long stretches regularly. If you have just one player that needs to learn his game, maybe you can make it work but we have Booker, Warren, Bender, Chriss, Ulis, Jackson and perhaps Williams and/or Len that are all very much in the development stage. That's not winning time IMO, that's teaching time.

[BobbieL]

I still don't see Blake hinders Chriss & Bender's development. Our core will still develop and while they are developing we are also gonna win more games and experience playoff action.

Well they certainly wouldn't get as much on court playing time, if you think that contributes to development.

Read on Twitter

but here is where Bender and Chriss control if they want to play and get the pay day down the road
its by earning a job

Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn and the rest is history

If Bender/Chriss continue to improve, the minutes will be there for all and the team will benefit

[Biff]

IDK if chriss can play the 5. Looks a little thin imo. But like i said i havent watched in years.

He is thin and a poor rebounder. Quite a bit worse than Amare. Blake is a decent rebounder but not quite the rebounder he was early in his career. Maybe Jordan is a big reason for that but his TRB% is ±5% lower than his rookie year. Nobody else on this board seems overly concerned with our ability to rebound the ball but I think it's a huge issue. It's a bit difficult to win games when you're giving numerous possessions per game to the other team.

I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Blake signing with us. I guess if we want to be a low playoff seed for the next 5 years (and that's hinging on 2 injury prone guys being healthy), fine, but I'd rather we suck a little longer and try to build an actual deep playoff contender. To me, it's not anymore exciting to be a treadmill 1st round exit team over being a lottery team. We've never been a team that players are dying to come to and I think there's a better chance of drafting an impact player than us signing one. I think we should trade Bledsoe and stay in the lottery zone for another year and hope we pick up another impact guy in the draft next year. Hopefully a big man that can rebound.

I've mentioned big concerns about rebounding, though I imagine Chandler will play alongside Griffin if we keep him.

Yeah but Tyson will be 35 this coming year.

[King4Day]

Regarding what nickname he'd get, I'd go with "Toes McGee"

Or Frosty the Toe man[/url]

[Zelaznyrules]

I still don't see Blake hinders Chriss & Bender's development. Our core will still develop and while they are developing we are also gonna win more games and experience playoff action.

Well they certainly wouldn't get as much on court playing time, if you think that contributes to development.

Read on Twitter

but here is where Bender and Chriss control if they want to play and get the pay day down the road
its by earning a job

Russell Wilson beat out Matt Flynn and the rest is history

If Bender/Chriss continue to improve, the minutes will be there for all and the team will benefit

Yes and Billy flipped his burgers better than little Timmy but guess what, it's not the same thing. And it isn't just Bender and Chriss, we have a team full of players that are far from reaching their playing peak. If you play young players they make mistakes. If you're pulling out all stops to win games, you can't afford those mistakes.

To see the risks with this "bring in a star" approach, all you have to do is look at Len, look at the arguments that so many made in favor of the acquisition of Chandler and look where we are now. We all know that a lot of big men develop late. We all knew that Len came to the game late and had a long ways to go. We accepted the idea that Chandler would be a good mentor for Len and that he could learn what he needed in fits and spurts rather than by playing a major role. Our recent history suggests we were wrong.

And now, we have to decide whether to invest big dollars in Alex or let him walk. If we hadn't chased Chandler, we'd have a much better idea what to do right now but his presence delayed Len's growth, ate up the first contract cushion the CBA gave us, and left us in this position. I so hope we don't do this again and find ourselves having to consider letting Bender and maybe even Chriss walk, just as we're considering doing now with Len and Warren.