Thoughts in General, Rumors, etc 4.0

[doctor him]

More leaks from Portland. You can literally hear the ticking time bomb from across the country

https://ahnfiredigital.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/cj-mccollum-on-the-blazers-management-changes-theres-s-t-going-on-every-day/

The money quote below:

“This is different than anything I’ve ever experienced because of the circumstances,” McCollum told Jason Quick of The Athletic. “This is the first year of my career where we lost our whole coaching staff, brought in a new coach, a new staff, the GM gets fired in the middle of the season … all of that affects you on the court. But there is no excuses. I didn’t come here to tell you ‘There’s a lot of s— going on’ … but yeah, there is. There’s s— going on — every day. And I’m a f—— human being. But look, at the end of the day, my job is to play basketball. So I go play basketball.”



When you have to bleep out CJ...Yikes.

[Consequence]

Minnesota out:
Okogie
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Minnesota in:
Boucher

Indy out:
LeVert

Indy in:
Dragic
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie

[Troubadour]

Minnesota out:
Okogie
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Minnesota in:
Boucher

Indy out:
LeVert

Indy in:
Dragic
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie

Raptors take this and run........

[Texas Chuck]

Minnesota out:
Okogie
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Minnesota in:
Boucher

Indy out:
LeVert

Indy in:
Dragic
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie

I like this, but you would need to find a way to shift Lamb out of Indy otherwise they are going well into the tax this year and considering the size of the payouts to non-tax teams at the moment that just doesn't make sense. Indy would need to follow up by sending Lamb/incentive to OKC or a TPE team with room under the tax.

[Consequence]

I like this, but you would need to find a way to shift Lamb out of Indy otherwise they are going well into the tax this year and considering the size of the payouts to non-tax teams at the moment that just doesn't make sense. Indy would need to follow up by sending Lamb/incentive to OKC or a TPE team with room under the tax.

Ok, I don't know if Indy cares about Wanamaker but I think this keeps everyone out of the tax:

Min out:
Layman
Okogie
WAS 2nd

Min in:
Boucher
Wanamaker

Indy out:
Levert
Wanamaker

Indy in:
Dragic
WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie
Layman


Toronto cuts layman or Svi or something if need be.

[Scoot McGroot]

Minnesota out:
Okogie
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Minnesota in:
Boucher

Indy out:
LeVert

Indy in:
Dragic
Layman
2022 WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie

This has Indy sending out $17.5m and taking back $23.6m. It doesn't work legally, and Indy's not going to go almost $5m into the luxury tax this season for most any realistic reason.

[Scoot McGroot]

I like this, but you would need to find a way to shift Lamb out of Indy otherwise they are going well into the tax this year and considering the size of the payouts to non-tax teams at the moment that just doesn't make sense. Indy would need to follow up by sending Lamb/incentive to OKC or a TPE team with room under the tax.

Ok, I don't know if Indy cares about Wanamaker but I think this keeps everyone out of the tax:

Min out:
Layman
Okogie
WAS 2nd

Min in:
Boucher
Wanamaker

Indy out:
Levert
Wanamaker

Indy in:
Dragic
WAS 2nd

Toronto out:
Dragic
Boucher

Toronto in:
LeVert
Okogie
Layman


Toronto cuts layman or Svi or something if need be.

That would keep Indy out of the tax, but we actually (and sadly) need Wannamaker with TJ McConnell's injury. Dragic would be our only other PG on the roster (with Brogdon starting), so we'd need him as a 3rd PG.

Even then, you're deal has Indy unable to fill the 15th roster spot until much later in the season, due to the luxury tax. That probably isn't happening either.

[Consequence]

That would keep Indy out of the tax, but we actually (and sadly) need Wannamaker with TJ McConnell's injury. Dragic would be our only other PG on the roster (with Brogdon starting), so we'd need him as a 3rd PG.

Even then, you're deal has Indy unable to fill the 15th roster spot until much later in the season, due to the luxury tax. That probably isn't happening either.

I'd expect that extra roster spot would get filled in the upcoming Turner/Sabonis/lamb/Holiday trades a good point though, being able to cycle through prospects is an important part of a reset year. Is Kelan Martin too interesting of a prospect to sub in for Wanamaker? That would keep Indy out of the tax just the same.

[Scoot McGroot]

That would keep Indy out of the tax, but we actually (and sadly) need Wannamaker with TJ McConnell's injury. Dragic would be our only other PG on the roster (with Brogdon starting), so we'd need him as a 3rd PG.

Even then, you're deal has Indy unable to fill the 15th roster spot until much later in the season, due to the luxury tax. That probably isn't happening either.

I'd expect that extra roster spot would get filled in the upcoming Turner/Sabonis/lamb/Holiday trades a good point though, being able to cycle through prospects is an important part of a reset year. Is Kelan Martin too interesting of a prospect to sub in for Wanamaker? That would keep Indy out of the tax just the same.

Kelan Martin has been a really productive player for Indy this year. Waiving him to keep a necessary evil like Wannamaker at PG is a huge negative.

And we'd still have the same issue of not being able to fill that 15th roster spot for much of the season. Which is still a huge negative. And you've made any future Turner/Sabonis/Lamb/Holiday trades MUCH tougher to swing, as Indy would ABSOLUTELY have to focus on cutting salary in the deal, which would probably require sacrificing value in return. A bad deal here, would be causing Indy to make another bad deal there. See the issue?

[Consequence]

Kelan Martin has been a really productive player for Indy this year. Waiving him to keep a necessary evil like Wannamaker at PG is a huge negative.

And we'd still have the same issue of not being able to fill that 15th roster spot for much of the season. Which is still a huge negative. And you've made any future Turner/Sabonis/Lamb/Holiday trades MUCH tougher to swing, as Indy would ABSOLUTELY have to focus on cutting salary in the deal, which would probably require sacrificing value in return. A bad deal here, would be causing Indy to make another bad deal there. See the issue?

Ok! I was just trying to spin in some other things and thought the player/pick value and fit was decent for Indy! I do try to consider larger team building implications but it's sometimes hard to lay out an entire season's worth of moves at once.

[Scoot McGroot]

Kelan Martin has been a really productive player for Indy this year. Waiving him to keep a necessary evil like Wannamaker at PG is a huge negative.

And we'd still have the same issue of not being able to fill that 15th roster spot for much of the season. Which is still a huge negative. And you've made any future Turner/Sabonis/Lamb/Holiday trades MUCH tougher to swing, as Indy would ABSOLUTELY have to focus on cutting salary in the deal, which would probably require sacrificing value in return. A bad deal here, would be causing Indy to make another bad deal there. See the issue?

Ok! I was just trying to spin in some other things and thought the player/pick value and fit was decent for Indy! I do try to consider larger team building implications but it's sometimes hard to lay out an entire season's worth of moves at once.

No worries at all! It's just that Indy is in a weirdly specific spot with all the injuries, salary structure, roster building, etc. I appreciate the effort. I apologize if I came off as harsh in any way. Was certainly not intended.

[ejftw]

If Indy is willing to give up LeVert for expirings and a second, I'd hope Frank would call immediately and offer Bledsoe, and if Indy wants to cut more salary, toss in a Winslow/Craig swap.

Bleds would give them the backup PG and Winslow could be a spot primary ball handler as well. Just think Indy would want more for Caris.

[ejftw]

How close is Bledsoe/couple 2nds for LeVert? Pacers do this mostly as a salary dump. Clippers do it as LeVert can't be worse than Bledsoe and Ballmer can just keep writing big checks.

Bledsoe fully expiring, right? If so, no argument from me.

Ha, should've known Chuck would've beat me to the punch on this

Bleds does have a little guarantee, but his guarantee was pushed back to match with after the end of the moratorium, so Indy could actually use him to acquire a player via S&T as a solid $$ ballast (don't believe they are near triggering the HC?) along with an option for a huge expiring deal in a movie as well.

[Scoot McGroot]

How close is Bledsoe/couple 2nds for LeVert? Pacers do this mostly as a salary dump. Clippers do it as LeVert can't be worse than Bledsoe and Ballmer can just keep writing big checks.

Bledsoe fully expiring, right? If so, no argument from me.

Ha, should've known Chuck would've beat me to the punch on this

Bleds does have a little guarantee, but his guarantee was pushed back to match with after the end of the moratorium, so Indy could actually use him to acquire a player via S&T as a solid $$ ballast (don't believe they are near triggering the HC?) along with an option for a huge expiring deal in a movie as well.

All potential bonuses count against the hard cap, even unearned/unlikely, so we're surprisingly close to this year's hard cap at this moment, even though we're safely under the luxury tax. For next year, that changes a bit, but re-signing Warren and then potentially acquiring a player via S&T would probably put us precariously close to it.

But, we'd have to overpay not just in salary to acquire a player to Indy, but also in compensation to another team if they're forced to guarantee Bledsoe's deal. Seems like we'd look to figure something else instead. It's certainly not a positive overall. Just may not be as much as a negative?

[Mamba4Goat]

Someone’s already posted Wiseman and whatever for Turner, right? It feels like the most obvious trade.

[eminence]

Someone’s already posted Wiseman and whatever for Turner, right? It feels like the most obvious trade.

Yup, though IND fans don't seem much interested in Wiseman.

My favorite variation is roughly like this:

IND In: Kuminga, mediocre 1st from OKC (Kenrich if they'd like him?)

GS IN: Turner, mediocre 1st from OKC

OKC In: Wiseman

[bondom34]

Read on Twitter

This isn't even trade rumor stuff but just in general that sounds painful. Get better CJ.

[Dr Positivity]

Now that Beal isn't playing that well, at what point does Simmons+1st for Beal make sense? Do Wizards really want to extend Beal for 45 million a year?

[eminence]

I'd be all over that deal for the Wiz.

And ouch CJ, get better, that pretty much torpedoes Simmons to Portland for the near future and quite possibly for this season.

[Scoot McGroot]

Someone’s already posted Wiseman and whatever for Turner, right? It feels like the most obvious trade.

Reports are that Indy is receptive to offers on Turner or Sabonis to clear up the twin center logjam, so why would trading them for a younger guy that can only play center make sense? The other part of the report specifically stated Indy wanted to clear minutes for Isaiah Jackson to play more consistently, which doesn’t happen if we bring back Wiseman. We also still have Goga as a developmental 5
We like that we think can bring a lot of what Turner brings us.

So, does Wiseman and whatever for Turner still feel like the most obvious trade?