THT: Trade or Not

[Slava]

Lets not let him going wild in a dead rubber game influence our opinion. He had plenty of opportunity to stake out a regular rotation role or even a starting spot all season and he flunked it by being lazy on defense and making questionable decisions on offense.

[Eric Bieniemy]

Lets not let him going wild in a dead rubber game influence our opinion. He had plenty of opportunity to stake out a regular rotation role or even a starting spot all season and he flunked it by being lazy on defense and making questionable decisions on offense.

Tucker is a baller when put in the proper role. If you give him a consistent 20 minutes at backup point guard surrounded by shooters, he'd excel.

For this team, he's a bad fit because he doesn't fit with James.

[Ball so hard]

It depends on what you can get for him. It's not as simple as trade or not. But yeah, should look to trade him if they get something worthwhile.

I doubt he gets a good offer though and I suspect he's kept.

I actually like Reaves, THT, LeBron, Davis as a starting group with a 2-way PG like Conley.

You pair a guy (Conley) with a long history of missing a significant number of games with AD and expect success? You can already pencil in Lebron to miss 1/4 of a season going forward. It would not be farfetched to expect those three to collectively miss half a season. Your lineup is at best a marginal improvement over our current squad.

[zimpy27]

It depends on what you can get for him. It's not as simple as trade or not. But yeah, should look to trade him if they get something worthwhile.

I doubt he gets a good offer though and I suspect he's kept.

I actually like Reaves, THT, LeBron, Davis as a starting group with a 2-way PG like Conley.

You pair a guy (Conley) with a long history of missing a significant number of games with AD and expect success? You can already pencil in Lebron to miss 1/4 of a season going forward. It would not be farfetched to expect those three to collectively miss half a season. Your lineup is at best a marginal improvement over our current squad.

Trying to be realistic of what's attainable with Westbrook. Unfortunately you don't get a guy as good as Conley without some flaws on areas like health and age.

[Kilroy]

Lets not let him going wild in a dead rubber game influence our opinion. He had plenty of opportunity to stake out a regular rotation role or even a starting spot all season and he flunked it by being lazy on defense and making questionable decisions on offense.

I'm almost positive, if you can show me an example of him being lazy on D, I can show how it's actually a result of him trying to cover 2 positions on the floor at the same time... His own guy and whoever LeBron/AD/Westbrook were covering.

He made some bad calls on offense, but every ball-handler in the NBA does, and they weren't nearly as bad or as often as any other ball handler on the Lakers this season, including Westbrook and LeBron...

THT is a future star in the NBA, just like Ingram, Randle, Ball, Dlo, etc... But he may need another team and a better, more consistent opportunity to show it...

I mean he is a natural 2, but he's never really gotten significant burn at the 2... And he gets the Randle treatment, in that every time he makes a mistake, he sits, while guys like Reeves, Monk, Johnson, etc, all can **** up regularly and it never seems to effect their ability to stay on the court.

[LAKESHOW]

Dude can't shoot the rock

[Ball so hard]

I'm almost positive, if you can show me an example of him being lazy on D, I can show how it's actually a result of him trying to cover 2 positions on the floor at the same time... His own guy and whoever LeBron/AD/Westbrook were covering.

He made some bad calls on offense, but every ball-handler in the NBA does, and they weren't nearly as bad or as often as any other ball handler on the Lakers this season, including Westbrook and LeBron...

THT is a future star in the NBA, just like Ingram, Randle, Ball, Dlo, etc... But he may need another team and a better, more consistent opportunity to show it...

I mean he is a natural 2, but he's never really gotten significant burn at the 2... And he gets the Randle treatment, in that every time he makes a mistake, he sits, while guys like Reeves, Monk, Johnson, etc, all can **** up regularly and it never seems to effect their ability to stay on the court.

Ball is a good player but hardly a "star". You can't ignore the fact that the players you mentioned were all lottery picks. There was a consensus those players had the potential to be "stars". THT is the proverbial diamond in the rough, that may not live up to the expectation. I've never heard anyone project THT to be a future star. Going all the way back to his college days he's shown to be a poor shooter. At some point this has to become a concern. Also, at the age of 21 all the players you mentioned had several elite attributes. THT sole elite attribute is getting to the rim. He's below league average when looking at most metrics. You can't simply continue to dismiss these issues as minor blemishes. He'd be no different than a career journeyman if he does not significantly improve his shooting and other aspects of his game.

[aaron_gray]

His shooting has regressed, his defense has regressed and he simply feels like a player who got paid and shut up shop. He’s more than likely a certain trade candidate, along with Nunn.

I am still in wait and see mode with THT. It's just one of those things with combo guards that haven't had consistent shooting where for every Clarkson, there are 10 Dennis Smith Jr's.

I actually wonder what it would take to build out Toronto's infrastructure where the guys they get have a 3&D floor but franchise player upside. The talent they've accumulated with minimal draft capital (especially in terms of player development as a contending team) is arguably the best in the league. Siakam and OG were both drafted at the end of the 1st round, and you can lump FVV and Powell in the same category. It almost feels like they are at a Spurs / Tim Duncan draft inflection point, where they could trade everyone if they really wanted, or could just move on from Lowry, nab the right guy, and have a dynasty on their hands.

People like to say that the draft is a crapshoot. That's true... for those who don't how to draft, and Toronto definitely knows how to draft.

Toronto did well to out draft their capitol but I hardly see a superstar talent on that roster. Just a lot of starter caliber players who looked good with continuity and a superstar in Leonard. It’s hard to know how reflective the season in Tampa was of their nucleus but I’d be interested to see more before conferring a future dynasty tag on them.

In regards to THT, he’s an excellent finisher at the basket, so he’s already ahead of Clarkson and DSJ on that skill and unlike clarkson, he actually passes and facilitates well.

The shooting is a concern but he’s not hurting anyone if he is leading second units as a primary or secondary playmaker.

[aaron_gray]

Lets not let him going wild in a dead rubber game influence our opinion. He had plenty of opportunity to stake out a regular rotation role or even a starting spot all season and he flunked it by being lazy on defense and making questionable decisions on offense.

I'm almost positive, if you can show me an example of him being lazy on D, I can show how it's actually a result of him trying to cover 2 positions on the floor at the same time... His own guy and whoever LeBron/AD/Westbrook were covering.

He made some bad calls on offense, but every ball-handler in the NBA does, and they weren't nearly as bad or as often as any other ball handler on the Lakers this season, including Westbrook and LeBron...

THT is a future star in the NBA, just like Ingram, Randle, Ball, Dlo, etc... But he may need another team and a better, more consistent opportunity to show it...

I mean he is a natural 2, but he's never really gotten significant burn at the 2... And he gets the Randle treatment, in that every time he makes a mistake, he sits, while guys like Reeves, Monk, Johnson, etc, all can **** up regularly and it never seems to effect their ability to stay on the court.

Lakers have some serious soul searching to do on their development infrastructure, specifically shooting given Ball and Ingram's huge jumps in NOL under Fred Vinson.