2021-22 Season/Offseason Speculation

[lilfishi22]

Watching these preseason games it really doesn't make sense to make a trade that moves Saric. Minutes are going to be hard to come by for any trade we make unless it is a big-time starter to replace Crowder or the Suns have a bad injury.

CP3, Payne
Booker, Shamet, Nader
Bridges, Johnson, Nader
Crowder, Johnson, Smith
Ayton, McGee, Smith

That's where all the minutes are going ... Frank, Hutchinson, Randle, Payton will get mop-up duty. Smith and Nader might get some burn at times.

The question is can we do better than Frank, Hutch, Randle and Payton by trading Saric who will be zero value this year and who knows what he'll look like next season. I don't know what the market is for the guy but I'd imagine we could probably get at least a depth piece (maybe 8th/9th man).

He's going to have no value to us this season and you could argue this season is the most important one since it'll get harder to keep a championship roster together and to build on it as the big salaries hit the books.

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

[bigfoot]

The question is can we do better than Frank, Hutch, Randle and Payton by trading Saric who will be zero value this year and who knows what he'll look like next season. I don't know what the market is for the guy but I'd imagine we could probably get at least a depth piece (maybe 8th/9th man).

He's going to have no value to us this season and you could argue this season is the most important one since it'll get harder to keep a championship roster together and to build on it as the big salaries hit the books.

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

It's hard to replace CP3, Booker, or Ayton. All the other players can be replaced with the existing roster. Personally, I'd be more worried about losing CP3 for an extended period of time. Everybody is hollering for Thad Young but what happens if our PointGod goes down. Save the final roster spot until you need it. That way you can fill in the missing piece.

[bwgood77]

The question is can we do better than Frank, Hutch, Randle and Payton by trading Saric who will be zero value this year and who knows what he'll look like next season. I don't know what the market is for the guy but I'd imagine we could probably get at least a depth piece (maybe 8th/9th man).

He's going to have no value to us this season and you could argue this season is the most important one since it'll get harder to keep a championship roster together and to build on it as the big salaries hit the books.

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

Brooklyn is not good because of depth, they are good because even with 1 or 2 of their superstars and a fairly solid supporting cast, they are still a juggernaut.

9 players in the playoffs IS super depth. If one of our stars gets injured, we are done anyway. If it's another rotation player than you can always drop down to a 7 man rotation in the playoffs if absolutely needed. No team's 10th man is making that big of a difference. My guess is our 9th man is as good as anyone, and certainly our 8th. I'd say our 9th best player is JaVale, an olympian. To have him go down it would hurt, like having to play Kaminsky in the finals, but it's still 3 Cs instead of 2.

[bwgood77]

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

It's hard to replace CP3, Booker, or Ayton. All the other players can be replaced with the existing roster. Personally, I'd be more worried about losing CP3 for an extended period of time. Everybody is hollering for Thad Young but what happens if our PointGod goes down. Save the final roster spot until you need it. That way you can fill in the missing piece.

Obviously. Our two most important playoff pieces are CP3 and Ayton, more to lack of depth at 1 and 5. Shamet helps more though and him and Booker could play or Payne and Booker but that's not a contender.

Obviously with CP3 we went from sub 500 team to the finals. And without Ayton, that really hurts. Booker and Bridges hurt too but Bridges can slide to 2, Shamet can play 2, etc, and we could still spread floor, hit 3s, play Cam more, etc.

[lilfishi22]

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

It's hard to replace CP3, Booker, or Ayton. All the other players can be replaced with the existing roster. Personally, I'd be more worried about losing CP3 for an extended period of time. Everybody is hollering for Thad Young but what happens if our PointGod goes down. Save the final roster spot until you need it. That way you can fill in the missing piece.

I agree, we don't NEED to do anything now, we have time until the trade deadline. Cam J could play the 4 competently as soon as this season or at least play significant minutes off the bench for us at that position. Jalen could turn into a competent 10mpg PF grabbing boards and scoring put backs but I'd be cautious about being overly confident taking that into the playoffs. That's where I think a Thad Young could really help because he has that ability to give you 15-20pts if you really need it from someone and he's also turned into a decent big man playmaker. I also like that he can be a small-ball 5 as well. He's just a guy I can be confident in.

As for your point about losing CP3, I think we already have one of the best backup PG in the league. You could add another piece but I think ultimately, it'll just mean more Point Book and more Payne and Shamet. The thing is that our guard rotation is fairly solid and they are manned with players who are prepared to ramp up their minutes significantly. Like I think Payne and Shamet can both comfortably play 25-30mpg for a decent stretch if need be. Shamwow averaged 27-28mpg for the Clippers. Our front court depth, like last season, gets shallow real quick if we lose a Crowder or Cam and then you're relying on guys who aren't really big minute players like McGee and Smith to step into those minutes.

[lilfishi22]

We have a 9 man rotation not even including Nader and Smith. Nader can play spot minutes if Bridges/Johnson/Crowder don't take up all 96 minutes of 3/4, though Monty even talked about Booker at the 3 (with Shamet and CP3).

But a 9 man rotation is right with a guy like Nader to play if needed. Smith will probably improve throughout the season and be ready for some minutes here and there by around mid season.

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

Brooklyn is not good because of depth, they are good because even with 1 or 2 of their superstars and a fairly solid supporting cast, they are still a juggernaut.

9 players in the playoffs IS super depth. If one of our stars gets injured, we are done anyway. If it's another rotation player than you can always drop down to a 7 man rotation in the playoffs if absolutely needed. No team's 10th man is making that big of a difference. My guess is our 9th man is as good as anyone, and certainly our 8th. I'd say our 9th best player is JaVale, an olympian. To have him go down it would hurt, like having to play Kaminsky in the finals, but it's still 3 Cs instead of 2.

They can't win with just 2 of their stars and a bunch of pine riders. They went as far as they did with KD and a gimpy Harden because they had the supporting cast to help KD. They are the championship favourite again this season because they have 3 of the top 10/15 players in the league AND arguably one of the most stacked supporting cast of all the contenders. But the stacking of the roster is not just essential in keeping the team running when the stars sit but also to keep the stars fresh for the playoffs.

If I think about our 9 players for the playoffs, it's CP3, Book, Bridges, Crowder, Ayton, Payne, Johnson, McGee and Shamet. That's a great 9 deep playoff rotation. There's not a whole lot of contingency if one of the front court guys go down. I'm fairly comfortable with the guard and wing positions but it's the front court that's pretty thin.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) Tweeted:
Next step in Mikal Bridges' game?

"We're trying to put him in environments where he can handle the ball and even play in pick-and-roll with (Deandre Ayton) or JaVale (McGee)." Monty Williams.

Part of five takeaways from #Suns preseason victory at #Lakers https://t.co/vVuUN5cPM9 https://t.co/mWSx2XaT1J

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[Ghost of Kleine]

Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) Tweeted:
Devin Booker getting up shots. #Suns https://t.co/kyzZD9Adhv

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Watch on YouTube

[Ghost of Kleine]

Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
We have not been able to speak with Deandre Ayton since the report Tuesday on his contract extension talks

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[bwgood77]

What I've learned watching other contenders and champions is that having enough is not really enough. You need to have more than enough because injuries, slumps and changes in opposing team strategy may force you to look past your regular rotations/lineups and it's better to have more options than not.

Look at Brooklyn for example, they are absolutely stacked. Why? They could lose one or two depth pieces and they are still going to be fine as the favourite. It's because you can't tell what might come up that forces you do things differently. What if Kyrie can't play 75% of the games or playoff games? Good thing they added Mills. What if teams are banging up on KD in the post? Good thing they have a plethora of bigs who can bang in there.

It's all good now and you have all the minutes neatly allocated but all it takes is one injury to one of our key guys or a key player being totally nullified/slumping and then you're forced to play the Frank's, Hutch's and Randle's of the world.

Not saying we need to do anything now but I sure hope we have thought about about what we can do with Saric's contract. I mean, I dunno is the DPE still available to us?

Brooklyn is not good because of depth, they are good because even with 1 or 2 of their superstars and a fairly solid supporting cast, they are still a juggernaut.

9 players in the playoffs IS super depth. If one of our stars gets injured, we are done anyway. If it's another rotation player than you can always drop down to a 7 man rotation in the playoffs if absolutely needed. No team's 10th man is making that big of a difference. My guess is our 9th man is as good as anyone, and certainly our 8th. I'd say our 9th best player is JaVale, an olympian. To have him go down it would hurt, like having to play Kaminsky in the finals, but it's still 3 Cs instead of 2.

They can't win with just 2 of their stars and a bunch of pine riders. They went as far as they did with KD and a gimpy Harden because they had the supporting cast to help KD. They are the championship favourite again this season because they have 3 of the top 10/15 players in the league AND arguably one of the most stacked supporting cast of all the contenders. But the stacking of the roster is not just essential in keeping the team running when the stars sit but also to keep the stars fresh for the playoffs.

If I think about our 9 players for the playoffs, it's CP3, Book, Bridges, Crowder, Ayton, Payne, Johnson, McGee and Shamet. That's a great 9 deep playoff rotation. There's not a whole lot of contingency if one of the front court guys go down. I'm fairly comfortable with the guard and wing positions but it's the front court that's pretty thin.

Well, most everyone thought their depth was a problem. Mike James was their 9th guy. They had Joe Harris, Shamet, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Blake Griffin in addition to their top 3. Mike James, Tyler Johnson, etc...well, you know how good those guys are.

You can see their minutes and time here if you scroll down to the bottom to see series stats.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2021-nba-eastern-conference-semifinals-bucks-vs-nets.html

They lost Shamet and added Mills who is a nice replacement but I still wouldn't call them a really deep team.

[bwgood77]

Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
We have not been able to speak with Deandre Ayton since the report Tuesday on his contract extension talks

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What was the report Tuesday?

[lilfishi22]

Brooklyn is not good because of depth, they are good because even with 1 or 2 of their superstars and a fairly solid supporting cast, they are still a juggernaut.

9 players in the playoffs IS super depth. If one of our stars gets injured, we are done anyway. If it's another rotation player than you can always drop down to a 7 man rotation in the playoffs if absolutely needed. No team's 10th man is making that big of a difference. My guess is our 9th man is as good as anyone, and certainly our 8th. I'd say our 9th best player is JaVale, an olympian. To have him go down it would hurt, like having to play Kaminsky in the finals, but it's still 3 Cs instead of 2.

They can't win with just 2 of their stars and a bunch of pine riders. They went as far as they did with KD and a gimpy Harden because they had the supporting cast to help KD. They are the championship favourite again this season because they have 3 of the top 10/15 players in the league AND arguably one of the most stacked supporting cast of all the contenders. But the stacking of the roster is not just essential in keeping the team running when the stars sit but also to keep the stars fresh for the playoffs.

If I think about our 9 players for the playoffs, it's CP3, Book, Bridges, Crowder, Ayton, Payne, Johnson, McGee and Shamet. That's a great 9 deep playoff rotation. There's not a whole lot of contingency if one of the front court guys go down. I'm fairly comfortable with the guard and wing positions but it's the front court that's pretty thin.

Well, most everyone thought their depth was a problem. Mike James was their 9th guy. They had Joe Harris, Shamet, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Blake Griffin in addition to their top 3. Mike James, Tyler Johnson, etc...well, you know how good those guys are.

You can see their minutes and time here if you scroll down to the bottom to see series stats.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2021-nba-eastern-conference-semifinals-bucks-vs-nets.html

They lost Shamet and added Mills who is a nice replacement but I still wouldn't call them a really deep team.

It was a significant drop off in talent for them when both Harden and Kyrie were out/playing hurt. It would be like if we lost both CP3 and we only had a super gimpy Booker, you can't really replace that but that's if we lost our two best players. If we lost our 3rd or 4th best player, you can replace some of that impact if you have a good enough bench. If we lost Bridges for example, Cam could step up and so could Nader. But if we lost Cam or Crowder or perhaps McGee, then the next one up is who? Frank? Smith? We're just a bit too shallow up front imo. If Saric wasn't hurt, I think I would've been more comfortable.

I still think the Nets are super stacked especially upfront where they have to contend with the Buck's front court but they do have some backcourt questions with Harden's health and whatever Kyrie's dealing with every other week. I could see them going for it at the trade deadline to bring in more back court help.

[lilfishi22]

Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
We have not been able to speak with Deandre Ayton since the report Tuesday on his contract extension talks

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What was the report Tuesday?

Probably the Woj "bomb" last week?

[Ghost of Kleine]

Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
We have not been able to speak with Deandre Ayton since the report Tuesday on his contract extension talks

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What was the report Tuesday?

Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
https://t.co/CBep3MpmUZ

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Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) Tweeted:
Looks like we got ourselves a standoff: https://t.co/zc29ZLIO4j

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It’s pretty obvious that we value all of our guys.

And this comment too!

It was obvious there were some negotiations still afoot.

Basically this was their last report on Aytons' extension. That the suns value both Ayton and Bridges, And that negotiations are still ongoing?

[Saberestar]

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[BobbieL]

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Sarver is going to Sarver - he really should sell the team

If you are not willing to pay Ayton and Bridges via extension - than why did he trade for Paul

And don't get me wrong, last year was great and a lot of fun. But Sarver had a chance to show he had a long term financial vision. And I thought signing guys to one year deals, even McGee, was a LONG TERM FINANCIAL commitment to win. I don't win like the Warriors - as I wasn't sure they couldn't keep Cam J long term. But Ayton, Bridges and Booker. Thats a good core there

I hope this is just the dark before the dawn. But very disappointing that Bobby S is going to Bobby S.

EDIT: And if the Spurs would do the Young for Saric/Smith trade - which allows Sarver the ability to sign Ayton and Bridges longer term, make the damn trade.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

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Sarver is going to Sarver - he really should sell the team

If you are not willing to pay Ayton and Bridges via extension - than why did he trade for Paul

And don't get me wrong, last year was great and a lot of fun. But Sarver had a chance to show he had a long term financial vision. And I thought signing guys to one year deals, even McGee, was a LONG TERM FINANCIAL commitment to win. I don't win like the Warriors - as I wasn't sure they couldn't keep Cam J long term. But Ayton, Bridges and Booker. Thats a good core there

I hope this is just the dark before the dawn. But very disappointing that Bobby S is going to Bobby S.

EDIT: And if the Spurs would do the Young for Saric/Smith trade - which allows Sarver the ability to sign Ayton and Bridges longer term, make the damn trade.

We need cheap rookie contracts to keep this team together. So the truth is the opposite. We can't make that trade. Smith is an NBA player. Keep him.

Sarver is probably watching the preseason and seeing McGee put up numbers and thinks, See? McGee is just as good as Ayton - or better!

Sarver is an idiot. Just plain stupid. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and believes he invented mining and silverware. PROVE ME WRONG, BOBBY!! PLEASE!!!!

[Saberestar]

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[BobbieL]

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Sarver is going to Sarver - he really should sell the team

If you are not willing to pay Ayton and Bridges via extension - than why did he trade for Paul

And don't get me wrong, last year was great and a lot of fun. But Sarver had a chance to show he had a long term financial vision. And I thought signing guys to one year deals, even McGee, was a LONG TERM FINANCIAL commitment to win. I don't win like the Warriors - as I wasn't sure they couldn't keep Cam J long term. But Ayton, Bridges and Booker. Thats a good core there

I hope this is just the dark before the dawn. But very disappointing that Bobby S is going to Bobby S.

EDIT: And if the Spurs would do the Young for Saric/Smith trade - which allows Sarver the ability to sign Ayton and Bridges longer term, make the damn trade.

We need cheap rookie contracts to keep this team together. So the truth is the opposite. We can't make that trade. Smith is an NBA player. Keep him.

Sarver is probably watching the preseason and seeing McGee put up numbers and thinks, See? McGee is just as good as Ayton - or better!

Sarver is an idiot. Just plain stupid. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and believes he invented mining and silverware. PROVE ME WRONG, BOBBY!! PLEASE!!!!

I get what you are saying but if Bobby trades Saric/Smith for Young it opens up $14m of cap space that can be filled by players on the minimum contract alleviating his luxury tax burden.

If you want to win - you have to pay the players. You don't trade for Chris Paul, extend Chris Paul unless you truly are only in this for two years. Sarver is very up and down with his finances. Bigger picture, if you want to win, you need to pay Ayton and Bridges, Period. End of discussion. You have a great core group now - and I agoing to put Ayton and Bridges as higher priorities than Smith moving forward.

Granted, the lux tax burden for Sarver for next year if they do not bring back McGee, Shamet and Nader, but have Saric and Smith and extend DA and Mikal is probably around 20m or so - maybe 25m based on a bit of tweeting with David IV Point Play. This is nothing like what GSW paid last year for Oubre as a repeat repeat well above the Apron lux tax offender.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Sarver is going to Sarver - he really should sell the team

If you are not willing to pay Ayton and Bridges via extension - than why did he trade for Paul

And don't get me wrong, last year was great and a lot of fun. But Sarver had a chance to show he had a long term financial vision. And I thought signing guys to one year deals, even McGee, was a LONG TERM FINANCIAL commitment to win. I don't win like the Warriors - as I wasn't sure they couldn't keep Cam J long term. But Ayton, Bridges and Booker. Thats a good core there

I hope this is just the dark before the dawn. But very disappointing that Bobby S is going to Bobby S.

EDIT: And if the Spurs would do the Young for Saric/Smith trade - which allows Sarver the ability to sign Ayton and Bridges longer term, make the damn trade.

We need cheap rookie contracts to keep this team together. So the truth is the opposite. We can't make that trade. Smith is an NBA player. Keep him.

Sarver is probably watching the preseason and seeing McGee put up numbers and thinks, See? McGee is just as good as Ayton - or better!

Sarver is an idiot. Just plain stupid. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and believes he invented mining and silverware. PROVE ME WRONG, BOBBY!! PLEASE!!!!

I get what you are saying but if Bobby trades Saric/Smith for Young it opens up $14m of cap space that can be filled by players on the minimum contract alleviating his luxury tax burden.

If you want to win - you have to pay the players. You don't trade for Chris Paul, extend Chris Paul unless you truly are only in this for two years. Sarver is very up and down with his finances. Bigger picture, if you want to win, you need to pay Ayton and Bridges, Period. End of discussion. You have a great core group now - and I agoing to put Ayton and Bridges as higher priorities than Smith moving forward.

Granted, the lux tax burden for Sarver for next year if they do not bring back McGee, Shamet and Nader, but have Saric and Smith and extend DA and Mikal is probably around 20m or so - maybe 25m based on a bit of tweeting with David IV Point Play. This is nothing like what GSW paid last year for Oubre as a repeat repeat well above the Apron lux tax offender.

I understand your point as well. I also underestimated Smith's contract. $4.4 million is substantial for what he provides. Hindsight being 20/20, I went back and forth quite a bit before that draft between Jalen Smith and Paul Reed. Reed was taken in the second round and earns the league minimum. And at this point, he's at least as good a prospect as Jalen - probably better, if I'm being honest with myself.

I'm all in favor of ditching Saric's contract. Of course, we'll need to replace Young/Saric/Smith, but at this point, our rotation looks pretty complete without them. It's just that athletic 4s aren't very easy to find in FA. I can't think of one who was available this summer... Markkanen? Does Oubre count? Nance via trade... Oh yeah! Torrey Craig!

The thing is, guys who can't afford the lux tax shouldn't own an NBA team, because it essentially means they can't afford to own a contender.