Fake Trade Thread #6

[MasterIchiro]

We have a swath of cap occupied by neutral/negative assets.

On the one hand, it will translate to losses, but on the other, we have matching salary to bundle with a full cupboard of draft capital (5-6 first round picks) for a big time positive asset we could target this deadline or next.

In order of cap hit with highest first:

Grant Williams - 13
Josh Green - 12.6
Cody Martin - 8.1
Vasilije Micic - 7.7
Nick Richards - 5

Total non-core cap = 46.5 million

Not this trade deadline but next, we could see a total transformation of the roster that ignites a new phase of this team's pathway to contender status.

Also, Hornets could potentially replace Grant Williams and Micic with cheap internal solutions if Salaun & NSJ are ready by next deadline after this one to hold their rotation spots/minutes.

This means we can maintain some depth while consolidating assets for 1-2 big time additions.

[JustBuzzin]

I would trade Micic for free if I could.

[Rich4114]

I would trade Micic for free if I could.

I'd just demote him to end of the bench emergency PG and try to find another solution. But if Denver wants him for literally anything at all, I'd do it.

[MasterIchiro]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

[MasterIchiro]

LaMelo Ball
Brandon Miller
Miles Bridges
Jerami Grant
Mark Williams

Tre Mann
Nick Smith Jr.
Tidjane Salaun
Robert Williams III
Nick Richards

[Bassman]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

I like that with the exception of giving up Green. Still think he needs to be a key part of our rotation, even if off the bench. But no real options of not including him.

[Braggins]

I might be down for them to give the Blazers a 2nd for Duop Reath.

[JMAC3]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

This is the perfect the grass is always greener on the other side trade. We are up in arms over Mark missing 60 games and have the assumption he will never play again. But ready to give up assets for a guy that has played on averaged <35 games a season for his 6+ yr career. Williams played 6 games last year... The best part is even when he is healthy he is a worse player than Mark.

Yes Jerami Grant is the best player in the trade but he is overpaid. This feels like a lose lose trade for both sides.

[JMAC3]

An interesting team to monitor this year will be the Clippers.
On paper they are not one of the 10 best team in the West, especially if Kawhi misses half the year.
They are relying on a 35 yr old Harden to run the show every night.

They don't own their own picks moving forward so they could look to sell some pieces off for picks.
Also, they probably want to dump PJ Tucker, but my guess is they will wait to see if they can use him to swap for a player on a longer term deal first.

Zubac could be a guy that makes sense for Hornets as his deal is 3/60 which is solid starting center money.

Something like Grant and Miami first for Zubac if Clippers decide to tank this year. Wouldn't be shocked if they move on from Harden if right deal came along.

[MasterIchiro]

I'd have big time interest in developing Mathurin as a starter if the Pacers let him rot on their bench. They start Nembhard and recently awarded him a large multiyear deal.

So it looks like Mathurin is pigeonholed as a 6th man.

He's immensely talented and has good size as SG1. He can pressure the rim.

Read on Twitter

[yosemiteben]

Was going to make a similar post about Nembhard. Seems like Pacers have some excess depth.

[fatlever]

I would rather dangle the Dallas first round pick rather than the Miami first round pick. I feel like Miami is much closer to completely falling off a cliff. Jimmy Butler is 35. Then again they still have bam and his prime and it's Miami they'll never have a problem recruiting talent and they have arguably the best coach in the league.. But as long as Luka is healthy for Dallas they won't be at minimum middle of the road.

[MasterIchiro]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

This is the perfect the grass is always greener on the other side trade. We are up in arms over Mark missing 60 games and have the assumption he will never play again. But ready to give up assets for a guy that has played on averaged <35 games a season for his 6+ yr career. Williams played 6 games last year... The best part is even when he is healthy he is a worse player than Mark.

Yes Jerami Grant is the best player in the trade but he is overpaid. This feels like a lose lose trade for both sides.

Which neutral/negative contract will the Hornets miss once gone here?

Micic?

J. Grant is an upgrade over G. Williams so you can't argue there.

Robert Williams III would be a C2 here but ahead of Nick in a playoff rotation. A clear upgrade. And we get to keep Nick for big depth. Nick is our hedge against injuries to both Mark & RWIII.

So you're going to miss Josh Green. He cost 2 second rounders to move here - negative value.

Martin? Really?

[MasterIchiro]

I would rather dangle the Dallas first round pick rather than the Miami first round pick. I feel like Miami is much closer to completely falling off a cliff. Jimmy Butler is 35. Then again they still have bam and his prime and it's Miami they'll never have a problem recruiting talent and they have arguably the best coach in the league.. But as long as Luka is healthy for Dallas they won't be at minimum middle of the road.

I don't have a preference but would you really consider losing either one a deal breaker?

The most valuable first round picks we control are our own. Given budget/market and all that.

[fatlever]

I don't consider either a deal breaker if the right trade was in front of us. I was merely making the point that I valued the Miami pick more than the Dallas pick. Curious about what Others felt about the value of those two picks.

refreshing myself on protections
2027 first round draft pick from Dallas
Dallas' 2027 1st round pick to Charlotte protected for selections 1-2; if this pick falls within its protected range and is therefore not conveyed, then Dallas will instead convey Miami's 2028 2nd round pick to Charlotte [Charlotte-Dallas, 2/8/2024]

2027 first round draft pick from Miami
Miami's 1st round pick to Charlotte protected for selections 1-14 in 2027, conveyable if Miami conveys a 1st round pick to Oklahoma City in 2025, and unprotected in 2028 [Charlotte-Miami, 1/23/2024]

Can you imagine if Dallas was a dumpster fire in 2027 and was one of the bottom five teams in the league and somehow they ended up with the first or 2nd pick and we got screwed and ended up only getting Miami's second round pick out of the deal.

[MasterIchiro]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

I like that with the exception of giving up Green. Still think he needs to be a key part of our rotation, even if off the bench. But no real options of not including him.

Yeah he's a cap casualty of this consolidation move because J. Grant is the best wing with size in this deal and his contract reflects it. He earns an amount nearly equal to the total of our outgoing wings in this deal - Martin and Green. He's better on offense and defense than both of them.

G. Williams' salary matches with RWIII.

It's 3 rotation players bundled for 2 rotation guys. But we concentrate our depth at 4/5 where we need it most. J. Grant & Mark could anchor a defense. LaMelo & Miller have to commit on that end like Tatum & Brown.

But a consolidation move frees minutes for prospects like NSJ, Salaun, and Cooper Flagg.

[JMAC3]

Robert Williams III is back on the court returning soon from a hamstring injury. I know he's injury prone, but I believe he should be a target because the Blazers would not demand Nick Richards considering they start Ayton who's on a large contract and drafted his backup with pick 7. So we would keep Nick as insurance for Mark & Robert Williams III.

But I'm thinking bigger. The Blazers are a rebuild team as we climb out of ours with cupboard of draft capital that should interest a rebuild team. I would want Jerami Grant.

Hornets trade Grant Williams, Josh Green, Cody Martin, Vasa Micic for Timelord & J. Grant.

The salary matches within 1 million dollars.

That's the framework.

For draft capital, I was thinking Heat 1st plus 2027 Blazers 2nd.

Recently, in rebuilding around a teenage PG in Scoot, Blazers traded win-now talent (Holiday) for 2 first round picks.

I think Holiday is worth more than Grant/RWIII so my bid is 1 first instead of 2. The 2027 Blazers 2nd likely falls close to a late 1st.

This is the perfect the grass is always greener on the other side trade. We are up in arms over Mark missing 60 games and have the assumption he will never play again. But ready to give up assets for a guy that has played on averaged <35 games a season for his 6+ yr career. Williams played 6 games last year... The best part is even when he is healthy he is a worse player than Mark.

Yes Jerami Grant is the best player in the trade but he is overpaid. This feels like a lose lose trade for both sides.

Which neutral/negative contract will the Hornets miss once gone here?

Micic?

J. Grant is an upgrade over G. Williams so you can't argue there.

Robert Williams III would be a C2 here but ahead of Nick in a playoff rotation. A clear upgrade. And we get to keep Nick for big depth. Nick is our hedge against injuries to both Mark & RWIII.

So you're going to miss Josh Green. He cost 2 second rounders to move here - negative value.

Martin? Really?

This has nothing to do with what I said. Robert Williams has played less than Mark, so how does that help in a world where we are making the trade because we are assuming Mark is hurt?

Do I think Micic, Green, Martin or Grant are great players in a vacuum? No but you are also talking about giving up a ton of depth to probably get 1 player, who is overpaid. Plus adding in a first round pick.

So yeah giving up 4 of our top 9 players for 1 guy seems like a bad deal for a team that is always hurt and struggles with depth.

[Braggins]

I don't think they should trade any 1st round picks this year unless they were seriously ripping off the other team, or if they were so far down in the standings at the time of the trade that they won't make the playoffs regardless.

Their most valuable asset that they own besides LaMelo/Miller is their 1st round pick this season and they can't trade that until this offseason. They can get a much better player with their draft capital this offseason if that is what you want them to do with their draft picks.

[JDR720]

We don't need to trade anything of value in general. We're still a rebuilding team, not one that should be trading for big contracts or trading 1st round picks. We already, potentially, will lose ours this draft to the Spurs. So our best 1st isn't one we could use anyway.

We have no idea if/when Mark will ever be healthy. I think we also know that at some point, Melo will get hurt and miss 10-15+ games.

Our core is those two and Miller, who happens to be injured. And Miles, who I'd guess a lot of the fanbase want to trade.

As of today, we have no bad contracts and a few incoming 1sts from Miami and the Mavs. When it's time to make a move (that is, Melo/Mark prove they can be healthy and Miller takes a step) then we should trade for player(s) who are on their level. Not ones that are injured all the time or no better than Miles is while making more money.

[MasterIchiro]

This is the perfect the grass is always greener on the other side trade. We are up in arms over Mark missing 60 games and have the assumption he will never play again. But ready to give up assets for a guy that has played on averaged <35 games a season for his 6+ yr career. Williams played 6 games last year... The best part is even when he is healthy he is a worse player than Mark.

Yes Jerami Grant is the best player in the trade but he is overpaid. This feels like a lose lose trade for both sides.

Which neutral/negative contract will the Hornets miss once gone here?

Micic?

J. Grant is an upgrade over G. Williams so you can't argue there.

Robert Williams III would be a C2 here but ahead of Nick in a playoff rotation. A clear upgrade. And we get to keep Nick for big depth. Nick is our hedge against injuries to both Mark & RWIII.

So you're going to miss Josh Green. He cost 2 second rounders to move here - negative value.

Martin? Really?

This has nothing to do with what I said. Robert Williams has played less than Mark, so how does that help in a world where we are making the trade because we are assuming Mark is hurt?

Do I think Micic, Green, Martin or Grant are great players in a vacuum? No but you are also talking about giving up a ton of depth to probably get 1 player, who is overpaid. Plus adding in a first round pick.

So yeah giving up 4 of our top 9 players for 1 guy seems like a bad deal for a team that is always hurt and struggles with depth.

I am not assuming Mark is hurt here, moving forward.

I am asserting that we need to add depth at 4/5 even if the assumption is Mark is healthy.

In fact, I'm not even selling out Nick here, because he's a part of the depth we need with our bigs, Mark healthy or injured indefinitely. There is a world where Mark returns and we still lack depth at center/PF.

And J. Grant is a legit 2-way player with size and versatility to switch and guard multiple positions.

His archetype is one of the game's greatest commodities, therefore rarely cheap. J. Grant would attract bids of at least 1 first rounder. But that's a cheap entry point.

The most Hornet valuable contract in this proposal (Josh Green) cost Dallas 2 second rounders to unload.

J. Grant is far more valuable, so the grass is greener. Maybe you're color blind?