Official Trade Thread -- Part XXXIX

[payitforward]

Agree -- you don't eat Smith's $6m salary so you can replace him short term. You could argue that Shabazz Napier, still without a team, is better than Smith. In fact, I think he is -- but not enough better that I'm going to pay both their salaries!

For that matter, if I'm Houston I sign Napier at vet minimum before I spend any assets to acquire Smith or anyone.

[bsilver]

Despite Ish Smith’s horrible performance the other night, he did play well last year, and should have some value.

Neto has played well, and we do have Winston, so Smith could be considered expendable.

Houston is desperate for PG depth, and would like Smith unless someone better is available. But Houston doesn’t really have anyone we need or that Houston would give up.

So, the best trade is Smith to Houston, for nothing ( a 2nd round pick would be nice, but Houston wouldn’t think so). We need the roster spot. This trade is unlikely, but we could help facilitate a Harden trade to third team.

I don't see the value in dumping Smith just for the roster spot. Surely, Smith is better than anyone we would pick up off of waivers. If there's a guy we like a lot, then dump AP and add him.

I'm not saying Smith is untradeable. I'm just saying Smith has value as an actual, rotation-worthy, NBA player. Why squander that?

I totally agree if Smith is actually going to be the 2nd string PG, or Westbrook is really not going to play back-to-backs. (If he's really that fragile, that's pretty worrisome given Westbrook's already old for an athletic PG)

Smith played well for us last year. Maybe I'm reading too much into his last performance. He was really selfish, and ineffective. Acting like he felt he was being relegated to 3rd string.

[bsilver]

Agree -- you don't eat Smith's $6m salary so you can replace him short term. You could argue that Shabazz Napier, still without a team, is better than Smith. In fact, I think he is -- but not enough better that I'm going to pay both their salaries!

For that matter, if I'm Houston I sign Napier at vet minimum before I spend any assets to acquire Smith or anyone.

Napier never really seems like a PG. More an undersized SG, like Trey Burke. For a PG, he has a poor AS/TOV ratio (about 2:1). He's best at getting shots for himself and generating instant offense, rather than setting up teammates.

[NatP4]

RHJ was just waived by the Twolves. We should be all over that.

[NatP4]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

[payitforward]

Agree -- you don't eat Smith's $6m salary so you can replace him short term. You could argue that Shabazz Napier, still without a team, is better than Smith. In fact, I think he is -- but not enough better that I'm going to pay both their salaries!

For that matter, if I'm Houston I sign Napier at vet minimum before I spend any assets to acquire Smith or anyone.

Napier never really seems like a PG. More an undersized SG, like Trey Burke. For a PG, he has a poor AS/TOV ratio (about 2:1). He's best at getting shots for himself and generating instant offense, rather than setting up teammates.

Sure. But, his defects as a PG might not matter as much given Harden. Anyway, I picked him almost at random; plus Harden isn't a given!

Main point -- given where that team is right now, trading for Ish Smith wouldn't seem logical.

[Dat2U]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

He's available because he's all D and no 3 lol. A slightly younger MKG.

[NatP4]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

He's available because he's all D and no 3 lol. A slightly younger MKG.

The advanced metrics look really good and he rebounds and gets steal and blocks. I think he would help us against top level wing scorers like PG, Durant, LEBRON etc...

Good option to have as a small ball C specialist.

[nate33]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

He's available because he's all D and no 3 lol. A slightly younger MKG.

Yeah. I wouldn't add him to take away minutes from Bonga, Hachimura and Avdija. Forward is the one position where we have so much depth we already have a problem distributing the minutes.

[WallToWall]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

He's available because he's all D and no 3 lol. A slightly younger MKG.

Yeah. I wouldn't add him to take away minutes from Bonga, Hachimura and Avdija. Forward is the one position where we have so much depth we already have a problem distributing the minutes.

Still, with this and especially other positions, if we have the possibility for incremental benefits by adding a player, and removing a player, we should not shy away from it.

[pcbothwel]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

Wouldnt be against it, but he was largely underwhelming his entire career until last year with Toronto. And they have a knack for getting guys like that to overperform because of Elite coaching. Boucher, Davis, RHJ, Van Fleet.

If you actually compare him and Bell, both are 25 and Bell has better number... but his are front loaded with a strong rookie year and RHJ's best year was last year.

[payitforward]

It's irrelevant. We have 14 fully-guaranteed contracts plus Pasecniks. Unless we waive AP, it's a full roster. No room to add anyone.

Moreover, if we did waive AP, I would want to give Mathews a regular contract & add Yoeli Childs to the 2-way roster.

[NatP4]

Hollis-Jefferson is actually one of the better wing defenders in the league. I sure hope we sign him immediately

Wouldnt be against it, but he was largely underwhelming his entire career until last year with Toronto. And they have a knack for getting guys like that to overperform because of Elite coaching. Boucher, Davis, RHJ, Van Fleet.

If you actually compare him and Bell, both are 25 and Bell has better number... but his are front loaded with a strong rookie year and RHJ's best year was last year.

.146 WS/48, 0.6 VORP, 26th for SFs in RPM. 13-9-3-2 per36. Really impressive stuff.

Totally agree on your toronto point though, same thing for Bell in his rookie season at GS.

[payitforward]

He's available because he's all D and no 3 lol. A slightly younger MKG.

Yeah. I wouldn't add him to take away minutes from Bonga, Hachimura and Avdija. Forward is the one position where we have so much depth we already have a problem distributing the minutes.

Still, with this and especially other positions, if we have the possibility for incremental benefits by adding a player, and removing a player, we should not shy away from it.

True enough -- & it would be true for any position on any team.

Depending on the costs involved compared to the benefits expected. IMO, one thing is sure -- we need to be focusing on long-term benefits. Building the core of the team.

[NatP4]

I think taking a flyer on Bell and RHJ would be good moves for the future. A lot better than Signing Lopez and Ish Smith

[payitforward]

I give up, Nat.... Lopez & Ish Smith are signed; they are part of the 15-man roster. There's no way to change that short of eating $13.3m in salary. So it's pointless to mention them in the context of Jordan Bell.

When those decisions were made, good or bad, RH-J wasn't available & if Jordan Bell was (might have been?) no one was calling for him to be signed.

When Jordan Bell was available, btw, you were not calling for him to be signed. Now he's on the waiver wire. How many posts will we devote to this fact?

I liked Jordan Bell when he went #38 in the 2017 draft, & he had a strong rookie year at GS. He's not an offensive player at all, but he was effective on offense anyway by posting super high efficiency & somehow managing to get over 5 assists per 40 minutes.

For some reason, he went downhill his 2d year in GS, & he didn't get better this last year either. Why, I don't know. But, right now, there's not much reason to think about why. Or to think about him at all.

So much for my saying there was no reason to think about Bell -- we just signed him!

[payitforward]

Look for him on the Go Gos.

[payitforward]

Where by the way he was under contract last year. He was signed on Mar 11 -- the season was suspended the following day.

[Dat2U]

It's irrelevant. We have 14 fully-guaranteed contracts plus Pasecniks. Unless we waive AP, it's a full roster. No room to add anyone.

Moreover, if we did waive AP, I would want to give Mathews a regular contract & add Yoeli Childs to the 2-way roster.

Yoeli was an exhibit 10 guy and they waived him. That means they didn't view him as good enough to play for the Go-Go. Maybe they bring him back as an exhibit 10 later on? But its very unlikely they bring him back as a two-way player.

I'd also wager AP's roster spot is penciled in. He's the 4th center with limited upside. Deciding to upgrade his foster spot is not a stretch of the imagination.

I still personally think another move is coming. Maybe after the season starts to shore up the roster.

[payitforward]

It's irrelevant. We have 14 fully-guaranteed contracts plus Pasecniks. Unless we waive AP, it's a full roster. No room to add anyone.

Moreover, if we did waive AP, I would want to give Mathews a regular contract & add Yoeli Childs to the 2-way roster.

Yoeli was an exhibit 10 guy and they waived him. That means they didn't view him as good enough to play for the Go-Go...

Not necessarily: even when you assign an Exhibit 10 guy to your G League team, first you waive him from his Exhibit 10 contract.

Still, you may be right.