Domejandro wrote:#33 and cash for one of Boston’s later First Round Draft Picks (26 or 30).
Strangely, I was going to propose a deal like this anyway, and it had nothing to do with Stepian.
Ten years ago, an argument could be made that the first few picks of the second round may have had more value than the last few picks of the first. Teams used them to invest in really good euros that may be two years away from coming to the nba. GM’s liked the idea of getting their rights, and taking no cap hit until they came over. If you used a late 1st, you had a cap hit, wherever he was.
These days you don’t see that so much. Every team has plenty of international scouting, and they would identify anyone who had the potential to be a decent starter, like Pekovic (#31), and draft him in the 1st round. The buyout amounts on euro contracts carry less sting, and I believe teams can contribute more in the past.
But while trading 33 and cash for 30 creates more roster crowding for MIN, I think it is offset by giving MIN
4 years of team control, and Bird rights after that. Minnesota needs to find and develop talent, but they also need to make sure they can hold onto that talent too. And I’d note that if it was a follow up to these Simmons deals, we’d have created some slots to avoid the roster crowding issue as well
33 and cash for 30 is not a deal that you are likely to see most BOS posters endorse, but since Domejandro is talking about realism - this is a very realistic deal. It might be even more realistic this draft, with so little known about the prospects, that some teams might see some benefit to not be locked into paying a guy two years.