JDR720 wrote:In a vacuum, Sabonis for Hal is a fine trade. Basically swapping an all-star big for a probable all-star guard.
However, I don't get it for Sacramento. They're not a good team. Trading for Sabonis, an established all-star, doesn't make sense for them. They're still trying to rebuild, and Hal was one of their main pieces. Sabonis isn't good enough to take them out of a rebuild.
I'm legitimately confused by Sacramento Fans' reaction. Everyone seems to think Sacramento got hustled and Indy came away with a steal -- maybe it's just me, but all I see is that Sacramento absolutely robbed Indy in this deal.
You say that Sabonis for Haliburton is fine, and seem to realize that Sabonis is a far better player than Haliburton right now -- okay, so then, is your issue with the rest of the pieces in the trade? Hield is literally one of the worst contracts in the entire NBA and has a massive negative value -- Jeremy Lamb is basically a straight-up better Hield with a much cheaper, expiring deal, and Justin Holiday is a serviceable back of the rotation guy with an entirely reasonable contract. And Indy threw in a 2nd round pick on top of it.
I literally don't get why anyone would think Sacramento didn't just smash Indy in this deal. Sacramento got the best player in the deal, by far, got rid of the worst player in the deal, got rid of the worst contract in the deal *by far*, got salary cap flexibility, and got a pick back on top of it.
I think the hold-up is that Sacramento fans see Haliburton as having more potential, but sorry to say, his potential isn't greater than what Sabonis already is. Haliburton has serious holes in his game -- first of all, he's a terrible defender. And his one true calling card is his ability to shoot 3s, but actually, his TS+ is just barely above league average, because he doesn't get to the line at all (his FTr+ is 74, which is abysmal, while Sabonis' is 188, which is phenomenal). In fact, Sabonis is much more efficient and has a much better TS+ than Haliburton. Sabonis over the last 3 seasons has averaged something like 19p/12r/6a on great efficiency with slightly above average defense. He's a good offensive rebounder, he can hit his FTs -- he does literally everything well, he's 25, and he's cost controlled/on a *very* reasonable contract for 3 more seasons. He's not a superstar, yet, but he certainly could be, and right now he's a perennial all-star level player. That's basically the best case scenario for Haliburton. Young, perennial all-star big men that are as well rounded as Sabonis don't grow on trees -- there's only a couple in the entire NBA right now. Decent young guards with some potential? There's a couple of those in every draft.
I've also seen some people complain about fit, but frankly, Sabonis/Holmes gives Sacramento one of the best front lines in basketball now. What about Bagley, you might ask? My response would be, what about him? He simply hasn't played well for several seasons, but he's a serviceable first big off the bench. You certainly don't worry about fit because it might reduce Bagley's playing time -- he's had 4 seasons now to show he's worthy of investing minutes in to develop him, and he hasn't shown any improvement -- it's time to move on.
If I was a Sacramento fan I'd be ecstatic with this trade. This is an absolute no-brainer. Good for Sacramento for trying to get Sabonis without having to give up Haliburton, but if Haliburton was the price for getting Sabonis and shedding Hield's albatross contract, you do it without thinking. The fact that Indy threw in a pick on top of it just blows my mind. I'd actually be really upset at this deal if I was an Indy fan, honestly.