2019 season speculation including trade ideas

[Jorgeglez7]

If the Grizz like Clarke as their PF of the future, I wonder what it would take to nab JJJ. Probably something we don't have.

Zero chance they trade him. They actually work well as a 3 man rotation...they can throw a rebounder and just an offensive guy even with either one in there...or play together in small ball, though rebounding could be a problem. I like their future. Strong defense and solid PG. Will be interesting to see if Melton develops into much.

On another note, Bender, Chriss and Josh Jackson should join the BIG3 contest. They could even get Isaiah Canaan and maybe Jamal Crawford to join.

I agree they won’t trade him, but it’s funny to see Memphis posters so low on him and constantly trying to trade him on the trade board.

Why does that happen? The little I've seen from JJJr it's been nice appart from his fouling troubles and maybe prone to injuries. Really memphis posters do want to trade him??

[NapoleonII]

I think the current Western standings contain (not in order) all the teams that will make the playoffs.

The top 4 will be Lakers/Clippers/Mavs/Nugs in some order.

The bottom 4 will be Spurs/Suns/Rockets/Jazz in some order.

I'm predicting that Portland/Minny/OKC/Sac are all out (already) with the bloodbath that is the Western conference.

[Crives]

Zero chance they trade him. They actually work well as a 3 man rotation...they can throw a rebounder and just an offensive guy even with either one in there...or play together in small ball, though rebounding could be a problem. I like their future. Strong defense and solid PG. Will be interesting to see if Melton develops into much.

On another note, Bender, Chriss and Josh Jackson should join the BIG3 contest. They could even get Isaiah Canaan and maybe Jamal Crawford to join.

I agree they won’t trade him, but it’s funny to see Memphis posters so low on him and constantly trying to trade him on the trade board.

Why does that happen? The little I've seen from JJJr it's been nice appart from his fouling troubles and maybe prone to injuries. Really memphis posters do want to trade him??

JJJ has been pretty bad this year, check his stats

[Dual]

I think the current Western standings contain (not in order) all the teams that will make the playoffs.

The top 4 will be Lakers/Clippers/Mavs/Nugs in some order.

The bottom 4 will be Spurs/Suns/Rockets/Jazz in some order.

I'm predicting that Portland/Minny/OKC/Sac are all out (already) with the bloodbath that is the Western conference.

I'll change Mavs with Jazz and I agree.
Porzingis hasn't been consistent for the moment, and I still doubting about his health, 7,3 guy with some injuries in the past.
If Mavs have some injury I'll put Portland instead.

[Jorgeglez7]

I agree they won’t trade him, but it’s funny to see Memphis posters so low on him and constantly trying to trade him on the trade board.

Why does that happen? The little I've seen from JJJr it's been nice appart from his fouling troubles and maybe prone to injuries. Really memphis posters do want to trade him??

JJJ has been pretty bad this year, check his stats

Yep, but until the injury he was playing really good last year. This season he only played 7 games. He is very young, phisically gifted for basketball, with modern NBA skillset. He only has one problem, now he is not surrounded by vets to facilitate his game. It's a matter of time he adapts and breaks out.

Maybe he doesn't, but trading him at this moment would be crazy in my view.

[bwgood77]

I think the current Western standings contain (not in order) all the teams that will make the playoffs.

The top 4 will be Lakers/Clippers/Mavs/Nugs in some order.

The bottom 4 will be Spurs/Suns/Rockets/Jazz in some order.

I'm predicting that Portland/Minny/OKC/Sac are all out (already) with the bloodbath that is the Western conference.

It's still simply WAY too early, in part because teams will likely face some signficant injuries to key players.

If the Lakers were to, they would torpedo. Nuggets and Clippers are probably the two that could withstand it the most. Obviously Dallas has depth problems, and I don't see them top 4.

I think Jazz still put things together and get into that top 4 barring injury.

[Qwigglez]

I think the current Western standings contain (not in order) all the teams that will make the playoffs.

The top 4 will be Lakers/Clippers/Mavs/Nugs in some order.

The bottom 4 will be Spurs/Suns/Rockets/Jazz in some order.

I'm predicting that Portland/Minny/OKC/Sac are all out (already) with the bloodbath that is the Western conference.

It's still simply WAY too early, in part because teams will likely face some signficant injuries to key players.

If the Lakers were to, they would torpedo. Nuggets and Clippers are probably the two that could withstand it the most. Obviously Dallas has depth problems, and I don't see them top 4.

I think Jazz still put things together and get into that top 4 barring injury.

I'm just fascinated with this year's NBA teams. Nobody has three go-to guys offensively, except maybe the Clippers IMO with Kawhi, George, and Lou Williams. Injuries could definitely be a deciding factor in terms of where guys land in the playoff picture. I don't think the Blazers will be out of the playoff picture just yet, and I'm not overly concerned for the Mavs as they lack serious depth behind Doncic/KP. I thought Jamal Murray was more Trae Young-like but I'm beginning to think Murray is severely overrated. The Nuggets still have a ton of depth though.

Wolves actually have some quality role players with Teague/Covington/Wiggins. But they remind me of the Suns in 2013/14 where they lack serious talent to get them to the next level. They also don't have much depth and are waiting for guys like Culver/Okogie to grow. Still disappointed in Fox with the Kings, as I took him with my 2nd pick in fantasy. I knew I shouldn't have trusted a lefty with a broken jumper. Spurs are still only a decent squad only because of Popovich. That team is poopoo.

[bwgood77]

I think the current Western standings contain (not in order) all the teams that will make the playoffs.

The top 4 will be Lakers/Clippers/Mavs/Nugs in some order.

The bottom 4 will be Spurs/Suns/Rockets/Jazz in some order.

I'm predicting that Portland/Minny/OKC/Sac are all out (already) with the bloodbath that is the Western conference.

It's still simply WAY too early, in part because teams will likely face some signficant injuries to key players.

If the Lakers were to, they would torpedo. Nuggets and Clippers are probably the two that could withstand it the most. Obviously Dallas has depth problems, and I don't see them top 4.

I think Jazz still put things together and get into that top 4 barring injury.

I'm just fascinated with this year's NBA teams. Nobody has three go-to guys offensively, except maybe the Clippers IMO with Kawhi, George, and Lou Williams. Injuries could definitely be a deciding factor in terms of where guys land in the playoff picture. I don't think the Blazers will be out of the playoff picture just yet, and I'm not overly concerned for the Mavs as they lack serious depth behind Doncic/KP. I thought Jamal Murray was more Trae Young-like but I'm beginning to think Murray is severely overrated. The Nuggets still have a ton of depth though.

Wolves actually have some quality role players with Teague/Covington/Wiggins. But they remind me of the Suns in 2013/14 where they lack serious talent to get them to the next level. They also don't have much depth and are waiting for guys like Culver/Okogie to grow. Still disappointed in Fox with the Kings, as I took him with my 2nd pick in fantasy. I knew I shouldn't have trusted a lefty with a broken jumper. Spurs are still only a decent squad only because of Popovich. That team is poopoo.

The Wolves do need someone like Culver and Okogie to step up, but to have a top 10-12 guy who does everything, but scores so efficiently, along with the best defensive wing in the game, it's a nice start. But yeah, if Culver could be that third guy with Teague and Wiggins hopefully not being negatives, they could be fairly tough.

But someone looking at our team from the outside would say they have average players at all positions except SG, where they have a top 5 guy (though some wouldn't give him that credit). Then as for our bench they wouldn't think much (unless you think of Ayton starting with Baynes on bench).

But basically Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Baynes. I'm not sure they'd say we are realy deep because of Carter and Kaminsky or our rookies.

We are just playing balls out with great coaching and schemes.

[WeekapaugGroove]

It's still simply WAY too early, in part because teams will likely face some signficant injuries to key players.

If the Lakers were to, they would torpedo. Nuggets and Clippers are probably the two that could withstand it the most. Obviously Dallas has depth problems, and I don't see them top 4.

I think Jazz still put things together and get into that top 4 barring injury.

I'm just fascinated with this year's NBA teams. Nobody has three go-to guys offensively, except maybe the Clippers IMO with Kawhi, George, and Lou Williams. Injuries could definitely be a deciding factor in terms of where guys land in the playoff picture. I don't think the Blazers will be out of the playoff picture just yet, and I'm not overly concerned for the Mavs as they lack serious depth behind Doncic/KP. I thought Jamal Murray was more Trae Young-like but I'm beginning to think Murray is severely overrated. The Nuggets still have a ton of depth though.

Wolves actually have some quality role players with Teague/Covington/Wiggins. But they remind me of the Suns in 2013/14 where they lack serious talent to get them to the next level. They also don't have much depth and are waiting for guys like Culver/Okogie to grow. Still disappointed in Fox with the Kings, as I took him with my 2nd pick in fantasy. I knew I shouldn't have trusted a lefty with a broken jumper. Spurs are still only a decent squad only because of Popovich. That team is poopoo.

The Wolves do need someone like Culver and Okogie to step up, but to have a top 10-12 guy who does everything, but scores so efficiently, along with the best defensive wing in the game, it's a nice start. But yeah, if Culver could be that third guy with Teague and Wiggins hopefully not being negatives, they could be fairly tough.

But someone looking at our team from the outside would say they have average players at all positions except SG, where they have a top 5 guy (though some wouldn't give him that credit). Then as for our bench they wouldn't think much (unless you think of Ayton starting with Baynes on bench).

But basically Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Baynes. I'm not sure they'd say we are realy deep because of Carter and Kaminsky or our rookies.

We are just playing balls out with great coaching and schemes.

Average players are a huge upgrade over the bad players they had before. One thing this group and this good start shines a light on is I think we tend to underappreciate how much even a couple of bad players in your rotation just kills you. Bad players not only do bad things individually that are detrimental but one guy **** up on D can ruin the whole thing.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

I'm just fascinated with this year's NBA teams. Nobody has three go-to guys offensively, except maybe the Clippers IMO with Kawhi, George, and Lou Williams. Injuries could definitely be a deciding factor in terms of where guys land in the playoff picture. I don't think the Blazers will be out of the playoff picture just yet, and I'm not overly concerned for the Mavs as they lack serious depth behind Doncic/KP. I thought Jamal Murray was more Trae Young-like but I'm beginning to think Murray is severely overrated. The Nuggets still have a ton of depth though.

Wolves actually have some quality role players with Teague/Covington/Wiggins. But they remind me of the Suns in 2013/14 where they lack serious talent to get them to the next level. They also don't have much depth and are waiting for guys like Culver/Okogie to grow. Still disappointed in Fox with the Kings, as I took him with my 2nd pick in fantasy. I knew I shouldn't have trusted a lefty with a broken jumper. Spurs are still only a decent squad only because of Popovich. That team is poopoo.

The Wolves do need someone like Culver and Okogie to step up, but to have a top 10-12 guy who does everything, but scores so efficiently, along with the best defensive wing in the game, it's a nice start. But yeah, if Culver could be that third guy with Teague and Wiggins hopefully not being negatives, they could be fairly tough.

But someone looking at our team from the outside would say they have average players at all positions except SG, where they have a top 5 guy (though some wouldn't give him that credit). Then as for our bench they wouldn't think much (unless you think of Ayton starting with Baynes on bench).

But basically Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Baynes. I'm not sure they'd say we are realy deep because of Carter and Kaminsky or our rookies.

We are just playing balls out with great coaching and schemes.

Average players are a huge upgrade over the bad players they had before. One thing this group and this good start shines a light on is I think we tend to underappreciate how much even a couple of bad players in your rotation just kills you. Bad players not only do bad things individually that are detrimental but one guy **** up on D can ruin the whole thing.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I totally agree...we are much better now. It will be interesting to see if we can keep it up through the season. I think it might be a little early to start penciling in the playoffs at this point though.

[Crives]

The Wolves do need someone like Culver and Okogie to step up, but to have a top 10-12 guy who does everything, but scores so efficiently, along with the best defensive wing in the game, it's a nice start. But yeah, if Culver could be that third guy with Teague and Wiggins hopefully not being negatives, they could be fairly tough.

But someone looking at our team from the outside would say they have average players at all positions except SG, where they have a top 5 guy (though some wouldn't give him that credit). Then as for our bench they wouldn't think much (unless you think of Ayton starting with Baynes on bench).

But basically Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Baynes. I'm not sure they'd say we are realy deep because of Carter and Kaminsky or our rookies.

We are just playing balls out with great coaching and schemes.

Average players are a huge upgrade over the bad players they had before. One thing this group and this good start shines a light on is I think we tend to underappreciate how much even a couple of bad players in your rotation just kills you. Bad players not only do bad things individually that are detrimental but one guy **** up on D can ruin the whole thing.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I totally agree...we are much better now. It will be interesting to see if we can keep it up through the season. I think it might be a little early to start penciling in the playoffs at this point though.

We may have quite a few “average” players, but most of these average guys are are excellent in specific specialties that Monty knows how take maximize.

[Jorgeglez7]

The Wolves do need someone like Culver and Okogie to step up, but to have a top 10-12 guy who does everything, but scores so efficiently, along with the best defensive wing in the game, it's a nice start. But yeah, if Culver could be that third guy with Teague and Wiggins hopefully not being negatives, they could be fairly tough.

But someone looking at our team from the outside would say they have average players at all positions except SG, where they have a top 5 guy (though some wouldn't give him that credit). Then as for our bench they wouldn't think much (unless you think of Ayton starting with Baynes on bench).

But basically Bridges, Tyler Johnson and Baynes. I'm not sure they'd say we are realy deep because of Carter and Kaminsky or our rookies.

We are just playing balls out with great coaching and schemes.

Average players are a huge upgrade over the bad players they had before. One thing this group and this good start shines a light on is I think we tend to underappreciate how much even a couple of bad players in your rotation just kills you. Bad players not only do bad things individually that are detrimental but one guy **** up on D can ruin the whole thing.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I totally agree...we are much better now. It will be interesting to see if we can keep it up through the season. I think it might be a little early to start penciling in the playoffs at this point though.

Agree. But we can't deny that having beaten the teams we've done is a huge progress indeed. You also have to take into acccount that teams which were supposed to be in the playoffs or fighting closely for it are now out of the picture. Namely, NOLA, GSW, OKC, let's see what happens with SAC and maybe even PTB with Whiteside, Collins and Nurkic out. Only DAL, MIN and us are claiming those spots, and if you stop to think about it, MIN had easy matchups and still doesn't transmit confidence and DAL seems legit but they have ZERO depth. One injury of KP away to be the same team as they were last season. Also we are still missing Ayton. Why not believe.

[suns12345]

Check out the lowe post podcast. Good section on the suns from 11mins

[Crives]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[lilfishi22]

Average players are a huge upgrade over the bad players they had before. One thing this group and this good start shines a light on is I think we tend to underappreciate how much even a couple of bad players in your rotation just kills you. Bad players not only do bad things individually that are detrimental but one guy **** up on D can ruin the whole thing.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I totally agree...we are much better now. It will be interesting to see if we can keep it up through the season. I think it might be a little early to start penciling in the playoffs at this point though.

Agree. But we can't deny that having beaten the teams we've done is a huge progress indeed. You also have to take into acccount that teams which were supposed to be in the playoffs or fighting closely for it are now out of the picture. Namely, NOLA, GSW, OKC, let's see what happens with SAC and maybe even PTB with Whiteside, Collins and Nurkic out. Only DAL, MIN and us are claiming those spots, and if you stop to think about it, MIN had easy matchups and still doesn't transmit confidence and DAL seems legit but they have ZERO depth. One injury of KP away to be the same team as they were last season. Also we are still missing Ayton. Why not believe.

7 games doesn't make a season. I think you can certainly say we've made progress just in the way we play but the season is not 7 games, it's an 82 game campaign. Teams can also make moves, injuries could happen and teams could just get it together like we have early in the season. I love te optimism and enthusiasm from the fans here but I'd be cautious trying to extrapolate our success so far ahead with only a handful of games as data points.

I think you would have to be super optimistic to believe in us being playoff bound after 7 games. I'm currently more cautiously optimistic than just optimistic, fully recognising that Ayton hasn't really been part of the team just yet so him coming back would be like a big trade. But it's still too early to think the way we're playing is the way we'll continue to play all 82 games and the teams that aren't play well as well as you'd think would stay playing under expectations.

War is a campaign of many battles and winning handful of battles doesn't win you the war.

[Roddy B for 3]

Why is Mikal not producing? Has he regressed defensively? Why are his MPG at 20 and why has he only shoot 7 three pointers?

[lilfishi22]

Why is Mikal not producing? Has he regressed defensively? Why are his MPG at 20 and why has he only shoot 7 three pointers?

I think it's partially to do with coming back from injury and still getting comfortable but I think it's mainly finding his role in the new offense.

He's now coming off the bench and playing a ton of minutes without a really good creator like he did with Booker last season. In the minutes he's played with Rubio/Booker, he's looked really solid and making great cuts but this has been a bit of an adjustment period for him. His defense still causes a ton of trouble for opposing players but he just looks a little unsure offensively especially when playing with Carter and TJo who are average playmakers at best.

With regards to his minutes, Oubre is taking a good chunk of that since he's probably been our 3rd best offensive player behind Booker and Baynes (lol). But I do expect Oubre to level out a little bit and that could make way for more Bridges minutes.

It's a little disappointing he hasn't been able to attempt as many threes but I'm hoping adding a higher level playmaker in Ty Jerome will help him in that second unit.

[Saberestar]

Why is Mikal not producing? Has he regressed defensively? Why are his MPG at 20 and why has he only shoot 7 three pointers?

He had an small injury just before the start of the season so he has had a slow start.

He played pretty well in the last game against the Sixers. I think he is gonna help us a lot defending multiple positions and (hopefully) spreading the floor/cutting on offense.

[lilfishi22]

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-player-ratings/
Saw this on the GB. Not sure if it's been posted yet but it's an interesting early look at our players

Our top 5 offensive players
Baynes: +8.8
Booker: +4.7
KOJ: +2.1
Rubio: +2.1
Bridges: -0.7

Our top 5 defensive players (some surprises here)
Bridges: +6.5
Saric: +3.6
Kaminsky: +2.7
KOJ: +2.2
Carter: +1.7

Our top 6 players overall
Baynes: +9.6
Bridges: +5.8
KOJ: +4.3
Rubio: +3.3
Saric: +2.1
Booker: +1.7

[bwgood77]

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-nba-player-ratings/
Saw this on the GB. Not sure if it's been posted yet but it's an interesting early look at our players

Our top 5 offensive players
Baynes: +8.8
Booker: +4.7
KOJ: +2.1
Rubio: +2.1
Bridges: -0.7

Our top 5 defensive players (some surprises here)
Bridges: +6.5
Saric: +3.6
Kaminsky: +2.7
KOJ: +2.2
Carter: +1.7

Our top 6 players overall
Baynes: +9.6
Bridges: +5.8
KOJ: +4.3
Rubio: +3.3
Saric: +2.1
Booker: +1.7

Biggest surprise is Baynes on D, and maybe Carter not higher, but I can understand Baynes, because a lot of what he does may not show up in the box score as much (like boxing out for rebounds) and he doesn't get a lot of steals. I'm not that surprised he is high on offense because of his 3pt%, assist, efficiency, and just the team being better with him on the floor with screens, etc...but maybe kind of surprised he is that much higher that Booker. I probably would have expected Saric and/or Kaminsky to be higher than Bridges on offense.

I had already seen somewhere else that Bridges was our top defender by metrics, but am a little surprirsed of the next two.