Bensational wrote:I see a lot of people more or less wanting to return the same team, maybe sans Ross. We don't want to let Vuc go, WeHam have stated that Bamba, Isaac and Fultz are 'the core', so that doesn't leave us with many options for improving the team. We would have Gordon, Fournier, a #16 pick and a small amount of cap space to then address the team's need for more playmaking.
If you trade any of them, you're most likely looking at returning a backcourt player. There just aren't many SFs who offer better playmaking than what Gordon does, that aren't beyond our price range. So if we trade him for a backcourt option (Beal/JRue/McCollum), then Evan has to play SF - and he won't cut it in Clifford's defense where crashing the boards is mandatory.
So it makes the most sense to move Fournier, ideally for multiple players who can be split between the bench and the starting lineup, and preferably for a younger prospect who's stuck on a bench behind depth on a win-now team.
Otherwise, we're back to counting on Fultz, Gordon or Isaac to make a pretty unlikely jump into the role of primary calibre playmaker.
Gordon is actually the biggest trade chip this team has (IMO outside of the core players). He's young enough and versatile enough and is on such a favorable contract that teams are willing to go after him. On this team He doesn't provide the proper spacing/shooting to help the young core really expand their games.
Since management is looking at Gordon as a role player by not putting him in the core. They're more than likely next season going to put the ball into Issac/Fultz hands so they can grow offensively (Bamba will most likely see more playing time/touches in his 3rd year) leaving AG with less touches and being molded into a 3/D guy (Which he's sub-optimal at this point of his career). And this is not adding the fact that they could potentially add another play-maker over the off-season
At least to me, it doesn't make sense to keep AG with his contract and diminishing role seeing that you need to surround the core players with shooters/secondary scoring. Fournier is historically a great shooter and can keep defenses honest along with with Vucevic who can also space the floor and take the pressure off those guys.