GT: Nets @ Celtics - New Years Eve, 5:30pm EST

[DarkXaero]

Cause if we can turn him into a quality 1st rounder then it’s an even bigger win and we get to have that player on basically a minimum deal for 3 years after Dinwiddie gets his big contract. Plus we won’t have to pay Dinwiddie in 2019 so we can guarantee the ability to chase after max FAs in the 2020 offseason.

Ideally we move Dinwiddie for a 1st, Carroll for a 1st+contracts and then pull up to the draft with 3 picks. That’s a ton of value and there’s a lot you can do with that kind of draft capital.

And what's the guarantee that the 1st round pick will turn out to be a player as good as Dinwiddie? Dinwiddie is not done improving, he's still at an age where he's getting better. He's a year older than Levert.

And we aren't chasing max FAs in 2020 offseason, we'll be locking up D'Angelo Russell and RHJ to big contracts in a year or so, our cap space will be mostly locked up. We'll still have Mozgov on the books which will restrict us, along with Crabbe's contract. Chasing max FAs ain't happening.

This silly suggestion that Dinwiddie should be traded needs to stop. We've got a 24 year old unique PG who is still improving, on a minimum deal. It's exactly the type of finds you hope to get thru D-league.

There’s no guarantee but what’s the guarantee that he won’t be leaps and bounds ahead of Dinwiddie?

And you’re utterly wrong about that. 2020 is our only chance to sign a max free agent with this core as it’s the year that Mozgov and Crabbe (and Deron Williams ) expire, the year LeVert gets his deal and the year before Jarrett Allen gets his. In fact if we sign Russell to the Max and Rondae to about 15-20 mill we should have a little more than a max contract to offer if we consider additional low salary deals and LeVerts cap hold. If we pay Dinwiddie it will be difficult to sign a max FA without gutting the roster. Marks has referenced a time when he thinks it would make sense to go after a big time FA and you can bet that 2020 is the summer he has circled on his calendar.

So it comes down to:
Signing Dinwiddie on a big deal to be the 3rd guard on the team AND being more or less locked into the current core for the foreseeable future.

Or

A 1st round pick this year plus a path to max cap space in 2020

That’s a no brainer to me. Dinwiddie isn’t worth the opportunity cost.

No guarantee is exactly my point. Why take an unnecessary gamble with a 1st round pick when you already have a solid young, improving player on a great contract? People tend to overvalue 1st round picks so much sometimes, its ridiculous. Okafor was the 3rd pick in the draft just two years ago, and Sixers gave him up with a 2nd round pick this year. People get too sold on the idea of the allure of 1st round pick potential, when sometimes, the safer thing to do is to see what you have.

Why is Dinwiddie going to be the third guard on this team? He can be this team's sixth man going forward or starter alongside Russell. By 2020, we'll have to sign Russell, RHJ, and Levert to big deals. It wouldn't be surprising if those three deals take up at least $55-60 million of our cap space. And then you have decisions to make on other guys as well (like Crabbe). We're expected to have some cap space next offseason, I would expect Marks to use it. So there's also that hypothetical contract to account for. The rest of the roster also can't be a blank canvas. There will be salary commitments and capholds to account for. We don't know what Dinwiddie is expecting and what his market valuation is right now. It's silly to assume that Dinwiddie is the reason why our cap space would get locked up for the forseeable future. If we manage to sign him to a reasonable deal, it still remains a positive, tradeable contract. So I'm not sure why there is this assumption that once Dinwiddie is finally signed to a deal that he's valued at, he'll suddenly become a negative asset.

I'm sure Marks won't be making any stupid decisions. To me, it's pretty clear that he's willing to trade veteran players on the roster for young assets/picks. If Lin opts in, he might be the one getting traded next year. This season, it was Trevor Booker. Over the summer, it was Brook Lopez. Before that, Thad Young and Bogdanovic. If there's interest in Carroll, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets traded too. Although Carroll is regressing back to his Toronto version, and I'm pretty sure no one wants Toronto Demarre Carroll.

[DarkXaero]

It'd be incredibly stupid to trade Dinwiddie. He was a D-league find on a super friendly contract, far exceeding his contract currently. He has improved a lot as a player over the past 18 months. He leads the league in assist to turnover ratio and when he's not playing hero ball, he generally makes excellent decisions. Why in the world would you want to trade a 6'6" PG who can shoot 3s, can be a good facilitator, and barely turns over the ball? Doing all of this while on a minimum contract for the next two years.

You have to trade something of value to get something of value. You can't expect to trade underachievers & get something that will make your team leaps and bounds better. We're 13-23. You'd think with all these "untouchable" players that we have, that we were 23-13. Dinwiddie is a solid role player on a great contract. If we can combine him with Crabbe or Carroll and get a really good player or asset in return, you do it. Given how cheap Dinwiddie's contract is, it would be very difficult to get a good return without combining him with more salary/

We're 13-23 because we're without two of our best players, and most importantly, we're still in development phase, roster wise. Most of the roster is developing players, including Dinwiddie.

18 months ago, Dinwiddie hadn't shown any ability as a 3pt shooter, or the same level of facilitating on the floor. RHJ came into the league as a defensive stopper, and he has probably been our most consistent offensive player this season. At this point, I wouldn't even rule out that he could add a 3pt shot to his game in the next two seasons. Levert started the season awful, but has been balling out for the past month or so. In the month of December, Levert averaged 14/5/3 off the bench on excellent efficiency (~50% FG, 44% 3pt, 80% FT). I projected him as a 17/5/5 type player in this league during his rookie year, and that's exactly where he's headed. In another season or two, we could be looking at a 18/6/5 two way player in Levert. And that's not even mentioning guys like Russell who we have franchise player hopes for, and Allen, who has a solid chance of becoming a defensive anchor type center in this league. Russell/Dinwiddie/Levert/RHJ/Allen could be our future starting 5 or at the very least, they all can be good contributors here long term.

And who knows what happens with Okafor or Nik Stauskas. Maybe they can be part of the long term future too. Crabbe is likely here for the remainder of his contract, but I don't see him being anything more than a solid role player on an expensive contract. Harris might not be re-signed but is another solid bench player who has improved a lot since coming to the Nets. Most of the league is undervaluing what we have here, but I think Marks has done a pretty remarkable job for the most part, considering our draft pick situation. The only misstep he made was the Crabbe deal imo. Right now, it's in our best interest to be patient and develop our players for the remainder of this season, and then we finally have freedom with our 1st round picks so at that point, we'll have full control over what we can do. If Marks wants to reset the rebuild window at that point by trading players like Dinwiddie, it would be understandable. But right now, the only players we should be looking to trade are our veteran players if possible.

[TheBrooklynKidd]

And what's the guarantee that the 1st round pick will turn out to be a player as good as Dinwiddie? Dinwiddie is not done improving, he's still at an age where he's getting better. He's a year older than Levert.

And we aren't chasing max FAs in 2020 offseason, we'll be locking up D'Angelo Russell and RHJ to big contracts in a year or so, our cap space will be mostly locked up. We'll still have Mozgov on the books which will restrict us, along with Crabbe's contract. Chasing max FAs ain't happening.

This silly suggestion that Dinwiddie should be traded needs to stop. We've got a 24 year old unique PG who is still improving, on a minimum deal. It's exactly the type of finds you hope to get thru D-league.

There’s no guarantee but what’s the guarantee that he won’t be leaps and bounds ahead of Dinwiddie?

And you’re utterly wrong about that. 2020 is our only chance to sign a max free agent with this core as it’s the year that Mozgov and Crabbe (and Deron Williams ) expire, the year LeVert gets his deal and the year before Jarrett Allen gets his. In fact if we sign Russell to the Max and Rondae to about 15-20 mill we should have a little more than a max contract to offer if we consider additional low salary deals and LeVerts cap hold. If we pay Dinwiddie it will be difficult to sign a max FA without gutting the roster. Marks has referenced a time when he thinks it would make sense to go after a big time FA and you can bet that 2020 is the summer he has circled on his calendar.

So it comes down to:
Signing Dinwiddie on a big deal to be the 3rd guard on the team AND being more or less locked into the current core for the foreseeable future.

Or

A 1st round pick this year plus a path to max cap space in 2020

That’s a no brainer to me. Dinwiddie isn’t worth the opportunity cost.

No guarantee is exactly my point. Why take an unnecessary gamble with a 1st round pick when you already have a solid young, improving player on a great contract? People tend to overvalue 1st round picks so much sometimes, its ridiculous. Okafor was the 3rd pick in the draft just two years ago, and Sixers gave him up with a 2nd round pick this year. People get too sold on the idea of the allure of 1st round pick potential, when sometimes, the safer thing to do is to see what you have.

Why is Dinwiddie going to be the third guard on this team? He can be this team's sixth man going forward or starter alongside Russell. By 2020, we'll have to sign Russell, RHJ, and Levert to big deals. It wouldn't be surprising if those three deals take up at least $55-60 million of our cap space. And then you have decisions to make on other guys as well (like Crabbe). We're expected to have some cap space next offseason, I would expect Marks to use it. So there's also that hypothetical contract to account for. We don't know what Dinwiddie is expecting and what his market valuation is right now. It's silly to assume that Dinwiddie is the reason why our cap space would get locked up for the forseeable future. If we manage to sign him to a reasonable deal, it still remains a positive, tradeable contract. So I'm not sure why there is this assumption that once Dinwiddie is finally signed to a deal that he's valued at, he'll suddenly become a negative asset.

I'm sure Marks won't be making any stupid decisions. To me, it's pretty clear that he's willing to trade veteran players on the roster for young assets/picks. If Lin opts in, he might be the one getting traded next year. This season, it was Trevor Booker. Over the summer, it was Brook Lopez. Before that, Thad Young and Bogdanovic. If there's interest in Carroll, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets traded too. Although Carroll is regressing back to his Toronto version, and I'm pretty sure no one wants Toronto Demarre Carroll.

Higher reward that’s why + more control over a longer period of time and a player on a cheaper deal. We could also get a better fit as opposed to paying a guy big bucks to back up LeVert and Russell. You talk about gambles like Dinwiddie isn’t also a gamble, he could leave for nothing in FA or regress. at least with the pick we get to keep a 19 year old kid on a tiny deal for 4 years as opposed to Dinwiddie on a minimum deal for 1 year.

Dinwiddie is on a great deal for one more year but will most likely command 12-15ish mill and that would be enough to eliminate our max cap space. It’s not that he’ll become a negative asset, it’s that we have to be very frugal with our space going forward or we’ll be capped out with the current core and I doubt they’re good enough to contend on their own. If we can sign Dinwiddie to a 5 mill deal then that would be great but we all know that isn’t happening, he fired his agent for a reason.

Sure Marks might sign some guys this offseason but if you haven’t noticed, we have less than 15 mill in space this summer and there’s a good chance that most of our cap space goes toward retaining Harris/Stauskas/Okafor. If Marks is smart (which he is) he will recognize that 2020 is the only chance to add a star to this core without giving up assets in a trade or getting lucky in the draft, and he will plan as such by making sure every contract except our core 4 and rookies expires in 2020. You know like most teams do when they target a specific offseason to create max room, it’s very common. Some would say it’s a crucial step in the makings of a contender.

Also we won’t be signing LeVert before the 2020 offseason. What we would do is have him remain an RFA so he’s only on the cap for what his hold is. We first sign the max free agent and then sign LeVert to what will most likely be another max deal shortly after.

We can either be capped out with Dinwiddie or capped out with a max FA and another 1st rounder under our belt. Again I think it’s a no brainer.

[Yit]

Tracking Players performance against Celtics 31 Dec 2017

RHJ - 40 (++)
CLV - 33 (++)
Acy - 28 (+)
Dinwiddie - 21 (=)
Crabbe - 19 (-)
DMC - 16 (-)
Allen - 8 (-)
Stauskas -8 (-)
Zeller - 1 (--)

Tough loss - but we don't have enough players contributing in the (+) zones....

[MrDollarBills]

I also have to dispel the notion that Dinwiddie has somehow peaked at age 24. This guy is still a work in progress. Last night or in fact his last few games aren't an indictment on him, he's been solid overall this season. He will bounce back from this.

I see zero reason to trade him unless someone offers something that we would be insane to turn down.

[TheBrooklynKidd]

I also have to dispel the notion that Dinwiddie has somehow peaked at age 24. This guy is still a work in progress. Last night or in fact his last few games aren't an indictment on him, he's been solid overall this season. He will bounce back from this.

I see zero reason to trade him unless someone offers something that we would be insane to turn down.

I think if we can get a 1st in the 12-18 range we have to pull the trigger. Luckily there’s a lot of teams currently in or flirting with that range that could use a little PG help: Suns, Clippers, Knicks, Denver and Indiana.

The team that intrigues me most is the Suns. They have Miami’s pick (17) and their own pick (10). On top of this they have Miami’s unprotected pick in 2021 and unprotected picks are always interesting.

I’d trade him for any of those and I’d even add value for the latter two.

[LKIRNets]

I was going to come in here and rip on DinWiddie's inability to realize what is needed and what is wanted by him. What we needed was a quick score what he wanted was a 3. And maybe it keeps his confidence up so I did some digging.

The NBA 3 point line is 23 feet. I had to dig on %. Particularly his 4th quarter numbers since that's when his struggle is usually present.

Lets go between 23 and 35 feet. That's a good range estimation for him right? What I found was 13 for 47 at a 28% rate and a efg of .406 %. So he does occasionally get to the line.

But I kept digging. How are these numbers in that range on the road in the 4th? I found out 3 for 11 at a 27% rate, just about the same. So there's nothing startling there. But where are the majority of his makes coming from?

So I narrowed it between 28 to 30 feet out. And he's 4 for 5 at a 80% clip and a 1.200 efg%. That's his comfort zone. Now let's check the road numbers wit that range. And he's 1 for 1. 1.500 efg%, his one miss from that range in the 4th was vs the Kings on that step back against Gary Temple wit 11:45 left in the game at home.

Now if he takes these shots any quarter before that he becomes a 36% shooter.

So this is a kid that doesn't feel comfortable shooting around that 3 ball line 23 to 27 feet in the crunch, the kid shoots 21% in the 4th from that range. He shoots 35% the whole game from that range for a game, Quarter 1 to 3 he shoots 40% from 23 to 27 feet wit a .605 efg%. The 4th he drops down to Marcus Smart.

So for some reason Spencer is confident shooting away from the line in the 4th. That's the perplexing part of Spencer DinWiddie, that and his refusal to drive to the hole.

So this is about keeping him in a comfort zone. My advice to DinWiddie is drive to the basket in the 4th and wait for D'Angelo Russell to return until then. B/c then he would get his 28+ feet 3's which he's clearly more comfortable taking. Heck I'd even run the SnR away wit Okafor since that's where Din's comfortable in the 4th quarter.

[LKIRNets]

Other than that. I thought we played great against The Celtics. We fought, we protected the ball. That's a great team. We had less turnovers than them. We finished wit 9 turnovers. They had 17. 8 of our 9 turnovers were in the 2nd half. 5 was in the 3rd. You couldn't play a more clean game. We went into that 4th quarter wit 6 total turnovers. There are a lot of teams that can't do that vs Boston. The game was won by Boston not even on the floor at the line. That 4th quarter they finished wit 20 free throws and made 13 of them.

We again, don't get respect from the NBA referees and sometimes we shyed away from going to the rim b/c of that.

So I liked what I saw in this game. I actually liked what I saw in this game than the biggest wins of the season vs Cleveland and Washington and OKC.

I just think DinWiddie needs to watch Dwayne Wade tapes instead of Kobe in the offseason. B/c he's leaving a lot of points in the 4th turning down those drives.

[MrDollarBills]

I was going to come in here and rip on DinWiddie's inability to realize what is needed and what is wanted by him. What we needed was a quick score what he wanted was a 3. And maybe it keeps his confidence up so I did some digging.

The NBA 3 point line is 23 feet. I had to dig on %. Particularly his 4th quarter numbers since that's when his struggle is usually present.

Lets go between 23 and 35 feet. That's a good range estimation for him right? What I found was 13 for 47 at a 28% rate and a efg of .406 %. So he does occasionally get to the line.

But I kept digging. How are these numbers in that range on the road in the 4th? I found out 3 for 11 at a 27% rate, just about the same. So there's nothing startling there. But where are the majority of his makes coming from?

So I narrowed it between 28 to 30 feet out. And he's 4 for 5 at a 80% clip and a 1.200 efg%. That's his comfort zone. Now let's check the road numbers wit that range. And he's 1 for 1. 1.500 efg%, his one miss from that range in the 4th was vs the Kings on that step back against Gary Temple wit 11:45 left in the game at home.

Now if he takes these shots any quarter before that he becomes a 36% shooter.

So this is a kid that doesn't feel comfortable shooting around that 3 ball line 23 to 27 feet in the crunch, the kid shoots 21% in the 4th from that range. He shoots 35% the whole game from that range for a game, Quarter 1 to 3 he shoots 40% from 23 to 27 feet wit a .605 efg%. The 4th he drops down to Marcus Smart.

So for some reason Spencer is confident shooting away from the line in the 4th. That's the perplexing part of Spencer DinWiddie, that and his refusal to drive to the hole.

So this is about keeping him in a comfort zone. My advice to DinWiddie is drive to the basket in the 4th and wait for D'Angelo Russell to return until then. B/c then he would get his 28+ feet 3's which he's clearly more comfortable taking. Heck I'd even run the SnR away wit Okafor since that's where Din's comfortable in the 4th quarter.

He should be challenged to get to the basket. He has the skills to do it. It doesn't matter if DLoading is on the floor or not, he needs to do better. I don't mind him shooting threes in the slightest, but he does the team no favors when he settles on that kind of shot during a critical moment.

You called it a few nights back. Spencer is settling. Hopefully last night's epic fail will be a wake up call. The team cannot win when he settles.

[MrDollarBills]

I also have to dispel the notion that Dinwiddie has somehow peaked at age 24. This guy is still a work in progress. Last night or in fact his last few games aren't an indictment on him, he's been solid overall this season. He will bounce back from this.

I see zero reason to trade him unless someone offers something that we would be insane to turn down.

I think if we can get a 1st in the 12-18 range we have to pull the trigger. Luckily there’s a lot of teams currently in or flirting with that range that could use a little PG help: Suns, Clippers, Knicks, Denver and Indiana.

The team that intrigues me most is the Suns. They have Miami’s pick (17) and their own pick (10). On top of this they have Miami’s unprotected pick in 2021 and unprotected picks are always interesting.

I’d trade him for any of those and I’d even add value for the latter two.

Indiana doesn't need PG help they have Collison....

I dunno. If it was a lottery pick it would start the conversation definitely but I really don't see the point of trading him. We actually need the PG depth that he provides...unless you're banking on Lin being 100% and able to contribute next year? I'm not that optimistic.

[MrDollarBills]

Other than that. I thought we played great against The Celtics. We fought, we protected the ball. That's a great team. We had less turnovers than them. We finished wit 9 turnovers. They had 17. 8 of our 9 turnovers were in the 2nd half. 5 was in the 3rd. You couldn't play a more clean game. We went into that 4th quarter wit 6 total turnovers. There are a lot of teams that can't do that vs Boston. The game was won by Boston not even on the floor at the line. That 4th quarter they finished wit 20 free throws and made 13 of them.

We again, don't get respect from the NBA referees and sometimes we shyed away from going to the rim b/c of that.

So I liked what I saw in this game. I actually liked what I saw in this game than the biggest wins of the season vs Cleveland and Washington and OKC.

I just think DinWiddie needs to watch Dwayne Wade tapes instead of Kobe in the offseason. B/c he's leaving a lot of points in the 4th turning down those drives.

He left a lot on the board last night. I will also say that Hollis-Jefferson was robbed out of at least 6 FTAs last night. He was getting hammered on contact fouls at the rim and no calls, on paper it looks like he wasn't efficient but some of those missed FGAs were clearly fouls. It's getting irritating tbh.

[TheBrooklynKidd]

I also have to dispel the notion that Dinwiddie has somehow peaked at age 24. This guy is still a work in progress. Last night or in fact his last few games aren't an indictment on him, he's been solid overall this season. He will bounce back from this.

I see zero reason to trade him unless someone offers something that we would be insane to turn down.

I think if we can get a 1st in the 12-18 range we have to pull the trigger. Luckily there’s a lot of teams currently in or flirting with that range that could use a little PG help: Suns, Clippers, Knicks, Denver and Indiana.

The team that intrigues me most is the Suns. They have Miami’s pick (17) and their own pick (10). On top of this they have Miami’s unprotected pick in 2021 and unprotected picks are always interesting.

I’d trade him for any of those and I’d even add value for the latter two.

Indiana doesn't need PG help they have Collison....

I dunno. If it was a lottery pick it would start the conversation definitely but I really don't see the point of trading him. We actually need the PG depth that he provides...unless you're banking on Lin being 100% and able to contribute next year? I'm not that optimistic.

True but they may not see Collison as the guy for them going forward.

I think a lottery pick is too much. Us Nets fans got a little carried away with his value during his hot streak IMO. I’d be happy with a pick in the middle of the draft, but anything after 20 would need something else added IMO.

Every year teams shuffle backup PGs around, even contenders. If Lin can’t come back we still have Whitehead as the backup point. If we think neither of those guys can handle it then we can sign someone in the offseason. Even if none of those things happen we would still be able to stagger LeVert and Russell as I imagine one will be on the floor at all times when he comes back. We have a lot of options outside of Dinwiddie.

He can be replaced.

[MrDollarBills]

I think if we can get a 1st in the 12-18 range we have to pull the trigger. Luckily there’s a lot of teams currently in or flirting with that range that could use a little PG help: Suns, Clippers, Knicks, Denver and Indiana.

The team that intrigues me most is the Suns. They have Miami’s pick (17) and their own pick (10). On top of this they have Miami’s unprotected pick in 2021 and unprotected picks are always interesting.

I’d trade him for any of those and I’d even add value for the latter two.

Indiana doesn't need PG help they have Collison....

I dunno. If it was a lottery pick it would start the conversation definitely but I really don't see the point of trading him. We actually need the PG depth that he provides...unless you're banking on Lin being 100% and able to contribute next year? I'm not that optimistic.

True but they may not see Collison as the guy for them going forward.

I think a lottery pick is too much. Us Nets fans got a little carried away with his value during his hot streak IMO. I’d be happy with a pick in the middle of the draft, but anything after 20 would need something else added IMO.

Every year teams shuffle backup PGs around, even contenders. If Lin can’t come back we still have Whitehead as the backup point. If we think neither of those guys can handle it then we can sign someone in the offseason. Even if none of those things happen we would still be able to stagger LeVert and Russell as I imagine one will be on the floor at all times when he comes back. We have a lot of options outside of Dinwiddie.

He can be replaced.

I don't think that his last few games are some kind of projection for how his career will play out to just write him off. He's had more good games this season than not. Again, I bring up that he's 24 and has room for more growth. Not sure why we'd jettison him especially since he makes peanuts NBA wise.

Sure he can be replaced. But provide a real reason as to why we should trade him? Especially since you're saying he's not going to yield a solid asset in return? It sounds like you just want to trade him for the sake of trading him since in your eyes he's peaked at age 24 (which i disagree with 100%).

I like Whitehead, but he's not insurance enough for me to dump Dinwiddie for minimal return and gamble on Lin actually making it through an entire season.

Russell should not be playing PG. He is a SG, and his game is more suitable for off the ball and go to situations. Getting rid of a solid PG and then having to have him play PG again is just going to make things harder when they can be much more simpler and effective especially now that LeVert can play the position.

[LKIRNets]

Major player news update in the HSS thread.

[TheBrooklynKidd]

Indiana doesn't need PG help they have Collison....

I dunno. If it was a lottery pick it would start the conversation definitely but I really don't see the point of trading him. We actually need the PG depth that he provides...unless you're banking on Lin being 100% and able to contribute next year? I'm not that optimistic.

True but they may not see Collison as the guy for them going forward.

I think a lottery pick is too much. Us Nets fans got a little carried away with his value during his hot streak IMO. I’d be happy with a pick in the middle of the draft, but anything after 20 would need something else added IMO.

Every year teams shuffle backup PGs around, even contenders. If Lin can’t come back we still have Whitehead as the backup point. If we think neither of those guys can handle it then we can sign someone in the offseason. Even if none of those things happen we would still be able to stagger LeVert and Russell as I imagine one will be on the floor at all times when he comes back. We have a lot of options outside of Dinwiddie.

He can be replaced.

I don't think that his last few games are some kind of projection for how his career will play out to just write him off. He's had more good games this season than not. Again, I bring up that he's 24 and has room for more growth. Not sure why we'd jettison him especially since he makes peanuts NBA wise.

Sure he can be replaced. But provide a real reason as to why we should trade him? Especially since you're saying he's not going to yield a solid asset in return? It sounds like you just want to trade him for the sake of trading him since in your eyes he's peaked at age 24 (which i disagree with 100%).

I like Whitehead, but he's not insurance enough for me to dump Dinwiddie for minimal return and gamble on Lin actually making it through an entire season.

Russell should not be playing PG. He is a SG, and his game is more suitable for off the ball and go to situations. Getting rid of a solid PG and then having to have him play PG again is just going to make things harder when they can be much more simpler and effective especially now that LeVert can play the position.

It’s not because I don’t think he’s gonna get better, in fact im predicting that he does get better and eventually plays himself out of our price range. The reason I say his value won’t be higher is because right now he has a year and a half left on his deal. Next year he just becomes another guy that’s gonna have to be paid a lot in the summer and loses a lot of his appeal as an asset to other teams.

Like I said before, we need to save cap space for 2020, it’s our only chance to add a max FA to this core since the year after that our core 4 will all be on 20ish mill a year deals, most likely even more. We just can’t afford to pay Dinwiddie and maintain that space. So we should trade him right now with as much time left on his contract as possible as he’ll lose a significant part of that value once he becomes an expiring.

I’ll repeat again, long term we have 2 options with Dinwiddie:
Pay him 15ish mill a year and only be able to add marginal FAs

Or

A chance at a max FA AND a 1st round pick on a tiny deal for 3 years longer than Dinwiddie

The other scenarios are:
Dinwiddie declines and we miss out on a chance to capitalize on a player we developed from nothing.

Dinwiddie leaves for nothing in 2019 and we miss out on a chance to capitalize on a player we developed from nothing.

Dinwiddie outplays LeVert and Russell and somehow justifies not having max cap space (least likely scenario).

Are we really gonna throw away a chance at a max FA in 2020 for our back up PG? I think that’s an easy decision to make.

[twosevenstreet]

Lather, rinse, repeat..

Close game? Dinwiddie goes into hero ball. Over and over... at this point it should be on Kenny.

And another one