Free agency and trade ideas: Which wings do we go after this summer?

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

The last time we traded a pick to save cap space, the Bulls ended up with Luol Deng (though legend has it we would have drafted Iguodala) and we ended up with the pick that became Nate Robinson the following year.

We used that money to get Quentin Richardson (as it wasn't needed to net Nash). We traded Q AND the pick we got from the Bulls to the Knicks the following summer in exchange for Kurt Thomas. The following summer, we traded two future picks (one of whom became Serge Ibaka) to clear Kurt Thomas's contract off the books.

End result? Minus three draft picks, two years of solid play from KT and Q, and then nothing to show for it. Dealing picks to clear space is self-defeating.

[nevetsov]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Who wants Josh Jackson? Will a team like Sactown overpay for Oubre?

I think they go after Vujevic. All Star, Euro, fills a position of need.

[darmani]

Some James Jones quotes from the last 6 months (from December, January, February and April):

“The reason a lot of these players are available is because their teams don’t think they fit long-term. Your teams think those guys are declining in value and so they’ll try to push them upon you and if you’re desperate and they know that’s something that you need they’re hopeful that they can trick you into setting yourself up for short-term success but long-term failure.”

“We’re focused on adding veterans, just not the veterans that are at that declining point.”

“For the most part, our team is all under 22, so if you try to add someone that’s 33-34 years old, it usually just doesn’t work. There’s too big of a gap.”

“Especially when you factor in the speed and the pace of the game has increased. The elite players, there’s very few of those guys between the age of 32 to 35 that maintain a high level and take a jump.”

“Yeah, we have to worry about what happens in the draft but our primary focus is on this team currently and what we can do. We have a bunch of young players in this draft. We’ve been deep in the draft, we’ve drafted a lot of players over the years and our focus has shifted more to development of these players and looking at NBA players that we possibly can add to this team.”

“We shifted focus. I think in the past our primary focus — a great amount of our time was spent turning over every stone as it relates to players and college players, but college players don’t win NBA games. NBA players do, so that’s where our focus is now.”

“I can’t give you a definitive timeline, but I can tell you that our focus right now going forward in free agency and the draft is to add players who will allow us to play and not rely on the production of young guys.”

“We have to add guys that will allow us to play and allow us to win games without relying on the production of extremely young players.”

“I don’t want our young draft picks to feel the pressure or feel like they have to impact winning for us. I want them to come in here and organically grow into really good NBA players.”

“We need to add guys in their prime. We need to raise the floor of our team, and you only do that with NBA players. Not prospects, but NBA players.”

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Who wants Josh Jackson? Will a team like Sactown overpay for Oubre?

Well, If what Gambo reported a few days ago is accurate, Then it's New York and Sacramento. But I would still also look to possibly add Indiana, New Orleans, Lakers and maybe even Atlanta to that list obviously too.

So IF the suns are truly intent on moving Jackson,
I could envision the framework of a trade with these potential teams being something along these lines:

Sacramento-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y9c8tqyc .

Phoenix gets- Namanja Bjelica ( floor spacing big man).

Sacramento gets- Josh Jackson and a 2nd round pick.

New York-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y3kuanc7 .

Phoenix gets- Mario Hezonja and the 55th pick ( Tacko Fall) or ( miye oni) ???

New York gets- Josh Jackson and a future 2nd round pick.

Indiana- ***My favorite trade option idea personally!

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yyjmquu9 .

Phoenix gets- T.J. Leaf( floor spacing big man) and the 18th pick. ( Nickeal Alexander Walker or Cam Johnson)??? **** ( Holiday was only added to make the numbers work) he isn't actually part of the trade.

Indiana gets- Josh Jackson and the Milwaukee pick.


New Orleans-

Phoenix gets- the 4th pick ( rerouted) from the Lakers/Davis trade. Or if no trade, then just get cap space and a 2nd round pick.

New Orleans gets- Josh Jackson.

Lakers-

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

Phoenix gets- Lonzo Ball.

Lakers get Josh Jackson and the Milwaukee pick.

Atlanta-

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y4pkxedt .

( I just put Len and Poythress in the trade to make the numbers work. But the actual deal would be-

Phoenix gets- Atlanta's 35th pick and cap space.

Atlanta gets- Josh Jackson and the Milwaukee pick.

*****With our 32nd pick and Atlanta's 35th pick,
We look to trade back up into the late teens to early 20s' for Nickiel Alexander Walker. ( IF we take Clarke at 6). Or Kabengele or Johnson (IF we take Garland or White at 6).

Or we just keep the 2nds' and draft prospects such as Tyler Jerome:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/ty-jerome-1.html .

A 6'5 guard that shoots over 39% from three, plays tenacious defense, and is a gifted passer.

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

.

And at 35( Atlanta pick)- Chuma Okeke. A 6'8 230 lb. Power forward, with a good defensive skillset and who is a career 38% three point shooter as well.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/chuma-okeke-1.html

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

[Ghost of Kleine]

The last time we traded a pick to save cap space, the Bulls ended up with Luol Deng (though legend has it we would have drafted Iguodala) and we ended up with the pick that became Nate Robinson the following year.

We used that money to get Quentin Richardson (as it wasn't needed to net Nash). We traded Q AND the pick we got from the Bulls to the Knicks the following summer in exchange for Kurt Thomas. The following summer, we traded two future picks (one of whom became Serge Ibaka) to clear Kurt Thomas's contract off the books.

End result? Minus three draft picks, two years of solid play from KT and Q, and then nothing to show for it. Dealing picks to clear space is self-defeating.

I agree with you man, I really do. And I'm sure you all know fond I am of the draft.

But I'm merely presenting tangible options to be considered for discussion.

There are some on here who would prefer to just trade the pick for cap space, some who hope to trade it for an impact player, And some that actually want to keep the pick and make the most of it.

Essentially, nobody is completely wrong in their perspective as to potential plans, As they're all just theoretical.

But irregardless of any of our interests, In the end, it's up to Jones and Bowers to hopefully have enough ingenuity and vision to create and achieve the best and most realistic plan possible for our improvement.

Personally, As I'm sure many of you are aware of by now.

My preference would be to draft some combination of Clarke and Nickiel Alexander Walker( Or Ty Jerome).

Or another solid option in my opinion, IF we take White or Garland at 6, And then trade Jackson to Indiana for their 18th pick, and select Kabengele or Johnson for the frontcourt.

So IF it's Garland or White ( 6th pick) Then trade back up for Kabengele ( a young Ibaka).


If it's Clarke at the 6th pick, Then trade back up for Tyler Jerome or Nickiel Alexander Walker.

That way we still reasonably address both positional holes in our roster with young, low cost talent, and can then address quality veteran depth in free agency.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Jackson for Bjelica is my favorite semi realistic trade that's been thrown around lately.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

[Ghost of Kleine]

Jackson for Bjelica is my favorite semi realistic trade that's been thrown around lately.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I definitely like that one as well. I hope that something like that happens for us possibly. He's like a cheaper bargain version of Mirotic. But obviously would be a great floor spacing option next to Ayton.

[BobbieL]

Jackson for Bjelica is my favorite semi realistic trade that's been thrown around lately.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I definitely like that one as well. I hope that something like that happens for us possibly. He's like a cheaper bargain version of Mirotic. But obviously would be a great floor spacing option next to Ayton.

I agree - nice work GoK!

I would throw in the Suns SRP this year or the Bucks FRP in 2020 if need be. Thats a very good use of the Jackson contract. I like it

[Walt_Uoob]

Some James Jones quotes from the last 6 months (from December, January, February and April):

“The reason a lot of these players are available is because their teams don’t think they fit long-term. Your teams think those guys are declining in value and so they’ll try to push them upon you and if you’re desperate and they know that’s something that you need they’re hopeful that they can trick you into setting yourself up for short-term success but long-term failure.”

“We’re focused on adding veterans, just not the veterans that are at that declining point.”

“For the most part, our team is all under 22, so if you try to add someone that’s 33-34 years old, it usually just doesn’t work. There’s too big of a gap.”

“Especially when you factor in the speed and the pace of the game has increased. The elite players, there’s very few of those guys between the age of 32 to 35 that maintain a high level and take a jump.”

“Yeah, we have to worry about what happens in the draft but our primary focus is on this team currently and what we can do. We have a bunch of young players in this draft. We’ve been deep in the draft, we’ve drafted a lot of players over the years and our focus has shifted more to development of these players and looking at NBA players that we possibly can add to this team.”

“We shifted focus. I think in the past our primary focus — a great amount of our time was spent turning over every stone as it relates to players and college players, but college players don’t win NBA games. NBA players do, so that’s where our focus is now.”

“I can’t give you a definitive timeline, but I can tell you that our focus right now going forward in free agency and the draft is to add players who will allow us to play and not rely on the production of young guys.”

“We have to add guys that will allow us to play and allow us to win games without relying on the production of extremely young players.”

“I don’t want our young draft picks to feel the pressure or feel like they have to impact winning for us. I want them to come in here and organically grow into really good NBA players.”

“We need to add guys in their prime. We need to raise the floor of our team, and you only do that with NBA players. Not prospects, but NBA players.”

This is helpful perspective to have all in one place. So we want guys who are out of their fledgling stage but not yet approaching their declines. So probably no Conley, for example (as I know several people have been saying all along). Pretty clearly points to us trying to get guys like Beal/Dinwiddie/Russell/Ball at PG and maybe Gordon/Siakam/Randle types (who else fits the mold?) at PF.

But of course those guys are super hard to acquire because they're largely up and coming stars under team control. Ideally you find someone with a ton of talent who's been given up on by their team, like the Nets did to get Russell just for taking on (a very big) salary. Maybe the Lakers do it twice and give us Ball for not much in return. Otherwise it sounds like Jones is very willing to give up picks and prospects for players along those lines. I could get into that as long as we're not overpaying and mortgaging our future.

[Saberestar]

Jackson for Bjelica is my favorite semi realistic trade that's been thrown around lately.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I definitely like that one as well. I hope that something like that happens for us possibly. He's like a cheaper bargain version of Mirotic. But obviously would be a great floor spacing option next to Ayton.

They are not trading Bjelica as long as Divac is their GM.

[BobbieL]

Some James Jones quotes from the last 6 months (from December, January, February and April):

“The reason a lot of these players are available is because their teams don’t think they fit long-term. Your teams think those guys are declining in value and so they’ll try to push them upon you and if you’re desperate and they know that’s something that you need they’re hopeful that they can trick you into setting yourself up for short-term success but long-term failure.”

“We’re focused on adding veterans, just not the veterans that are at that declining point.”

“For the most part, our team is all under 22, so if you try to add someone that’s 33-34 years old, it usually just doesn’t work. There’s too big of a gap.”

“Especially when you factor in the speed and the pace of the game has increased. The elite players, there’s very few of those guys between the age of 32 to 35 that maintain a high level and take a jump.”

“Yeah, we have to worry about what happens in the draft but our primary focus is on this team currently and what we can do. We have a bunch of young players in this draft. We’ve been deep in the draft, we’ve drafted a lot of players over the years and our focus has shifted more to development of these players and looking at NBA players that we possibly can add to this team.”

“We shifted focus. I think in the past our primary focus — a great amount of our time was spent turning over every stone as it relates to players and college players, but college players don’t win NBA games. NBA players do, so that’s where our focus is now.”

“I can’t give you a definitive timeline, but I can tell you that our focus right now going forward in free agency and the draft is to add players who will allow us to play and not rely on the production of young guys.”

“We have to add guys that will allow us to play and allow us to win games without relying on the production of extremely young players.”

“I don’t want our young draft picks to feel the pressure or feel like they have to impact winning for us. I want them to come in here and organically grow into really good NBA players.”

“We need to add guys in their prime. We need to raise the floor of our team, and you only do that with NBA players. Not prospects, but NBA players.”

This is helpful perspective to have all in one place. So we want guys who are out of their fledgling stage but not yet approaching their declines. So probably no Conley, for example (as I know several people have been saying all along). Pretty clearly points to us trying to get guys like Beal/Dinwiddie/Russell/Ball at PG and maybe Gordon/Siakam/Randle types (who else fits the mold?) at PF.

But of course those guys are super hard to acquire because they're largely up and coming stars under team control. Ideally you find someone with a ton of talent who's been given up on by their team, like the Nets did to get Russell just for taking on (a very big) salary. Maybe the Lakers do it twice and give us Ball for not much in return. Otherwise it sounds like Jones is very willing to give up picks and prospects for players along those lines. I could get into that as long as we're not overpaying and mortgaging our future.

I am just hopeful that Jones (with Bower, Bukstein) has a more creative summer than Ryan McDunce had last summer. One could argue that Ryan had more "assets" to play with last summer when you count 25m of expiring deals (Chandler, Daniels, and Dudley), draft picks like the 16, 31, the Bucks pick and even the Miami Heat 2021 pick with some 15m of cap space. I persoanlly think Ryan could have done "more" than trade for Bridges (and I know SGA was on the table) and sign Ariza for all cap space.


Jones has: jackson, warren, the Bucks pick, the Suns SRP , the current FRP -6th, maybe Tyler Johnson and the cap space. See if he is more "creative" with it.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Jackson for Bjelica is my favorite semi realistic trade that's been thrown around lately.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I definitely like that one as well. I hope that something like that happens for us possibly. He's like a cheaper bargain version of Mirotic. But obviously would be a great floor spacing option next to Ayton.

They are not trading Bjelica as long as Divac is their GM.

Maybe not, But if I'm Jones, I'm calling every name on that list of teams with the most cap space, And enquiring about both Jackson and Warren.

And even if the kings say no to Jackson, there's always Indiana and the Flakers , etc.

[nevetsov]

If Bjelica doesn't pan out, there are quite a few similar options out there:

Sacramento (Nemanja Bjelica)
Portland (cap/ Jake Layman)
Detroit (Jon Leuer)
Charlotte (Marvin Williams)
Cleveland (Larry Nance Jr)
FA (Taj Gibson, JaMychal Green)

[Crives]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[Kerrsed]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

That is amazing.

Both Gonzaga and Villanova always seem to fail to get the top 5-star recruits. But somehow the always seem to get the most out of the guys that they do get and always end up ranked rather high in the NCAA. I attribute that to development. Look at what Brandon Clarke was able to do....as a red shirt junior!

This is seriously another great hire. I may have been wrong about Jones, things seem to be looking up!

[Crives]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

That is amazing.

Both Gonzaga and Villanova always seem to fail to get the top 5-star recruits. But somehow the always seem to get the most out of the guys that they do get and always end up ranked rather high in the NCAA. I attribute that to development. Look at what Brandon Clarke was able to do....as a red shirt junior!

This is seriously another great hire. I may have been wrong about Jones, things seem to be looking up!

I can’t wait to see our assistant coaches
Maybe he didn’t make a mistake with our medical staff.

[BobbieL]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

That is amazing.

Both Gonzaga and Villanova always seem to fail to get the top 5-star recruits. But somehow the always seem to get the most out of the guys that they do get and always end up ranked rather high in the NCAA. I attribute that to development. Look at what Brandon Clarke was able to do....as a red shirt junior!

This is seriously another great hire. I may have been wrong about Jones, things seem to be looking up!

I can’t wait to see our assistant coaches
Maybe he didn’t make a mistake with our medical staff.

Mike Woodson or Tyronn Lue as lead assistant
Chad Forcier as #2 assistant

Those are my guesses based on names bandied about two weeks ago when Monty signed. I am adding Lue just so he can stick it to the Lakers as an assistant.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

That is amazing.

Both Gonzaga and Villanova always seem to fail to get the top 5-star recruits. But somehow the always seem to get the most out of the guys that they do get and always end up ranked rather high in the NCAA. I attribute that to development. Look at what Brandon Clarke was able to do....as a red shirt junior!

This is seriously another great hire. I may have been wrong about Jones, things seem to be looking up!

I really hope Jones does a good job with player evaluation and aquisition because I do feel like he's done a really nice job so far with the other aspects of running an organization.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

[BobbieL]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

That is amazing.

Both Gonzaga and Villanova always seem to fail to get the top 5-star recruits. But somehow the always seem to get the most out of the guys that they do get and always end up ranked rather high in the NCAA. I attribute that to development. Look at what Brandon Clarke was able to do....as a red shirt junior!

This is seriously another great hire. I may have been wrong about Jones, things seem to be looking up!

I really hope Jones does a good job with player evaluation and aquisition because I do feel like he's done a really nice job so far with the other aspects of running an organization.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I think it will be a different philosophy than Ryan McD, two ways: 1) building a team and not just acquiring perceived talented players without thought for roster building and how players fit together 2) understanding the value of role /bench players and how they add to the success of a team

[LukasBMW]

How can we snag a legit PF and PG with only giving up

-#6
-#33
-JJ (potential + expiring)
-Bumpy (Expiring)
-Bucks pick
-Top 3 protected 2020 first?

We need to roll into 2020 with

Legit Vet/Okobo
Booker/Bridges
Oubre/TJ
Legit vet/Bender
Ayton/Holmes

If we somehow add some LEGIT vets like Blake at the 4 and Dlo/Jrue at 1 then we might be able to further bolster our weak 1 and 4 spots by getting some average vets to sign for the MLE at 1 or 4.

But I'd rather not give up Booker/Bridges/Oubre/TJ/Ayton/Holmes. That is our 6 core young guys we need to keep.