JA:
So Suns didn’t draft Haliburton. No one will care if they sign Kawhi;-)
AW:
That’s some wishful thinking. LOL! Suns are already over the cap, so unless Kawhi is willing to sign for the midlevel exception or a sign-and-trade deal is made–which would mean trading either Paul or Booker or everybody on the team not named Paul, Booker, or Ayton–it ain’t gonna happen. The Lakers, also over the cap, could trade Kuzma, Caldwell-Pope, and Harrell (plus draft picks) to get Kawhi. If Kawhi wants to stay home in L.A., you can bet that will get explored. The Warriors, who are way over the cap, could trade Wiggins and Wiseman to get Kawhi. Gotta think though that Ballmer ain’t gonna facilitate Kawhi going to one of the Clips’ Pacific Division rivals.
AW:
The Blazers have gone the get rid of the coach route. Stotts and the Blazers “mutually” parted ways today. This doesn’t preclude doing a roster makeover too, but I suspect that they will try to add a few pieces and run it back with Dame and CJ.
JA:
This is one time that I think management obviously made a mistake. Stotts may very well have been the reason they did so well and had a chance to advance. How is it Stotts fault that Nurkic and Covington just aren’t as good as they need to be? Or that Melo and McCollum simply don’t give them enough to support Lillard and Powell?
They’ll need to trade McCollum and Covington – it’s just so frickin obvious. Powell and Lillard are awesome, and it looks like Anfernee Simons can step into McCollum’s role. McCollum has trade value and could garner them a defensive wing that’s better than Covington at all aspect of the game. Oubre would be better for instance.
It’s a shame that Jerami Grant has chosen to stay in Detroit. A team like Portland really needs him to help get to the next level. Denver kind of lucked out to have replaced him with Aaron Gordon. Suns need Grant to advance. Mavs. Lakers. Celtics. Hot commodity if he was available. Makes me wonder if some of the 2020 draftees will grow into what Grant is now. Patrick Williams and Bey and Okoro have a chance to be that sort of guy. Who else?
JA:
assuming jerami grant wants to play with the Suns, and assuming a multiple team trade scenario, is it even possible if it means keeping Booker, Ayton and Johnson? I assume Paul *will* be on the Suns team next year, but if James Jones finds a team that wants Paul and the only way to get Grant is to trade Paul and Bridges in a multi team trade while keeping Book, Ayton, CJ then are there any ways to get that done or is Grant too expensive?
AW:
Grant for Bridges, Saric, and Jalen Smith would work salary cap wise. Can’t really use the trade machine right now to figure out a trade that would send Paul to a 3rd team because Paul is untradeable right now until he picks up his option or not.
211 thoughts on “2021 Off-Season ”
About mid-way down the Playoffs thread, I have some posts showing the draft order and number of draft picks that would be good here.
i thought so. if you give me a hint as to which day it was i can find it easy
June 23rd.
workin on it
amwoods writes:
NBA draft order after lottery:
1. Detroit Pistons
2. Houston Rockets
3. Cleveland Cavaliers (moved up from 4th/5th spot)
4. Toronto Raptors (moved up from 7th spot)
5. Orlando Magic (down from 1st-3rd spot)
6. Oklahoma City Thunder (down from 4th/5th spot)
7. Golden State Warriors (from Minnesota, down from 6th spot)
8. Orlando Magic (from Chicago)
9. Sacramento Kings
10. New Orleans Pelicans
11. Charlotte Hornets
12. San Antonio Spurs
13. Indiana Pacers
14. Golden State Warriors
15. Washington Wizards
16. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Boston)
17. Memphis Grizzlies
18. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Miami)
19. New York Knicks
20. Atlanta Hawks
21. New York Knicks (from Dallas)
22. Los Angeles Lakers
23. Houston Rockets (from Portland)
24. Houston Rockets (from Milwaukee)
25. Los Angeles Clippers
26. Denver Nuggets
27. Brooklyn Nets
28. Philadelphia 76ers
29. Phoenix Suns
30. Utah Jazz
And 2nd round:
31. Milwaukee Bucks (from Houston)
32. New York Knicks (from Detroit)
33. Orlando Magic
34. New Orleans Pelicans (from Cleveland)
35. Oklahoma City Thunder
36. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Minnesota)
37. Detroit Pistons (from Toronto)
38. Chicago Bulls
39. Sacramento Kings
40. New Orleans Pelicans
41. San Antonio Spurs
42. Detroit Pistons (from Charlotte)
43. New Orleans Pelicans (from Washington)
44. Brooklyn Nets (from Indiana)
45. Boston Celtics
46. Toronto Raptors (from Memphis)
47. Toronto Raptors (from Golden State)
48. Atlanta Hawks (from Miami)
49. Brooklyn Nets (from Atlanta)
50. Philadelphia 76ers (from New York)
51. Memphis Grizzlies (from Portland)
52. Detroit Pistons (from LA Lakers)
53. New Orleans Pelicans (from Dallas)
54. Indiana Pacers (from Milwaukee)
55. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Denver)
56. Charlotte Hornets (from LA Clippers)
57. Charlotte Hornets (from Brooklyn)
58. New York Knicks (from Philadelphia)
59. Brooklyn Nets (from Phoenix)
60. Indiana Pacers (from Utah)
amwoods writes:
Here are totals for each team (in reverse order of record):
1. Houston Rockets: 3 first round picks; 0 second round picks
2. Detroit Pistons: 1 first round pick; 3 second round picks
3. Orlando Magic: 2 first round picks; 1 second round pick
4. Cleveland Cavaliers: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
5. Oklahoma City Thunder: 3 first round picks; 3 second round picks
6. Minnesota Timberwolves: 0 first or second round picks
7. Toronto Raptors: 1 first round pick; 2 second round picks
8. Chicago Bulls: 0 first round picks; 1 second round pick
9. Sacramento Kings: 1 first round pick; 1 second round pick (both their own)
10. New Orleans Pelicans: 1 first round pick; 4 second round picks
11. San Antonio Spurs: 1 first round pick; 1 second round pick (both their own)
12. Charlotte Hornets: 1 first round pick; 2 second round picks
13. Washington Wizards: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
14. Indiana Pacers: 1 first round pick; 2 second round picks
15. Boston Celtics: 0 first round picks; 1 second round pick
16. Memphis Grizzlies: 1 first round pick; 1 second round pick
17. Golden State Warriors: 2 first round picks; 0 second round picks
18. Miami Heat: 0 first or second round picks
19. Atlanta Hawks: 1 first round pick; 1 second round pick
20. New York Knicks: 2 first round picks; 2 second round picks
21. Portland Trail Blazers: 0 first or second round picks
22. Los Angeles Lakers: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
23. Dallas Mavericks: 0 first or second round picks
24. Milwaukee Bucks: 0 first round picks: 1 second round pick
25. Los Angeles Clippers: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
26. Denver Nuggets: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
27. Brooklyn Nets: 1 first round pick; 3 second round picks
28. Philadelphia 76ers: 1 first round pick; 1 second round pick
29. Phoenix Suns: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
30. Utah Jazz: 1 first round pick; 0 second round picks
amwoods writes:
If I’m the Warriors, I’m thinking that the team really doesn’t have room for 2 rookie players, so I’m trying to package both first round picks and perhaps a player–Paschall is the only one that makes some sense–to try to move up to the 3rd or 4th spot. Both Cleveland and Toronto are in need of multiple good young players, so perhaps they’d be willing. Ideally, I want Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs on the Dubs.
amwoods writes:
Wiseman is expected to be ready for training camp and is hoping to work out this summer with Kevin Garnett. So his injury shouldn’t be a concern.
By the way, there are reports that both Cleveland and Houston are interested in trading their high 1st round picks. Warriors should be on the phone with Cleveland to try to get the #3 pick.
Woj is reporting that this trade is about to go down:
Pelicans get: Jonas Valanciunas, #17 and #51 picks in 2021 draft
Grizzlies get: Eric Bledsoe, Stephen Adams, #10 and #40 picks in 2021 draft
A couple of things to note here…this is a GREAT deal for the Grizzlies if this goes through. For Pelicans though, this opens up the lane for Zion, who won’t have Adams clogging things up for him. Valanciunas can play some stretch 5.
Secondly, there has to be more to this deal. Both Bledsoe & Adams have bigger salaries than Valanciunas, so Pelicans have to be giving up more salary for the deal to work. Makes me think there may be a 3rd team involved in this that isn’t being reported yet.
Reportedly, the Pelicans are interested in signing Kyle Lowry. Unclear if this would mean that they would let Lonzo Ball go.
I completely get why the Pels want Lowry, but why would he sign there unless it’s a multi-team trade?
Sports Illustrated’s list of the top 50 [potential] free agents:
1. Kawhi Leonard (if he opts out)
2. Chris Paul (if he opts out)
3. John Collins (Hawks have right to match any offer)
4. Mike Conley
5. Lonzo Ball (Pelicans have right to match any offer)
6. Kyle Lowry
7. DeMar DeRozan
8. Jarrett Allen (Cavaliers have right to match any offer)
9. Norman Powell (if he opts out)
10. Dennis Schroeder
11. Duncan Robinson (Heat have right to match any offer)
12. Victor Oladipo
13. Tim Hardaway, Jr.
14. Spencer Dinwiddie
15. Evan Fournier
16. Kelly Oubre, Jr.
17. Richaun Holmes
18. Gary Trent, Jr. (Raptors have right to match any offer)
19. Will Barton (if he opts out)
20. Lauri Markkanen (Bulls have right to match any offer)
21. Derrick Rose
22. Devonte Graham (Hornets have right to match any offer)
23. Goran Dragic (if Heat declines option)
24. Reggie Jackson
25. Serge Ibaka
26. Talen Horton-Tucker (Lakers have right to match any offer)
27. Kendrick Nunn (Heat have right to match any offer)
28. Montrezl Harrell (if he opts out)
29. Bobby Portis (if he opts out)
30. Doug McDermott
31. Josh Richardson (if he opts out)
32. Alex Caruso
33. Josh Hart (Pelicans have right to match any offer)
34. Kelly Olynyk
35. Nic Batum
36. Danny Green
37. Andre Drummond
38. TJ McConnell
39. Cameron Payne
40. Reggie Bullock
41. Lou Williams
42. Bruce Brown (Nets have right to match any offer)
43. Blake Griffin
44. JaMychal Green (if he opts out)
45. PJ Tucker
46. Jeff Green
47. Nerlens Noel
48. Malik Monk (Hornets have right to match any offer)
49. Paul Millsap
50. Austin Rivers
Norman Powell. Hmmm … did not know he could opt out. Portland might be in trouble unless they act superfast, or unless he’s committed verbally.
The NBA is going to change the rules to stop offensive player from drawing fouls. They will stop calling fouls on these types of plays:
1. Offensive players launching into defenders.
2. Offensive players abruptly veering off of their path.
3. Shooters kicking their legs out at abnormal angles.
4. Offensive players using their off-arm to hook the defender.
Furthermore, if the ref determines that the offensive player’s conduct impacts the defender’s speed, quickness, balance, or rhythm, then they can call an offensive foul. I’m thinking that it will take some time for these kinds of called to be officiated consistently, but the league needs something like this because offensive players get away with way too much.
And I believe the players are well aware that the rule(s) needed to be changed. Mainly 1 & 2.. I doubt there will be many complaints, especially after we saw some extreme abuse of the current guidelines during the playoffs. Am trying to remember who it was, but the extra step back and to the side was starting to make Harden blush. I think it was Morant, but after that obviously Doncic. It’s great that they’re actually taking some meaningful action here.
Meanwhile, let’s see if all those no-calls nearer to the rim in the finals set a trend for the regular season. Usually you’d see the refs getting back to their more whistle-calling ways in the regular season, but the Bucks won regardless of all the Suns’ fans whining about no calls on drives and shots in the lane. IMO the result of the no calls was excellent even though the Suns probably win one of those final 3 games. If Suns want to beat the Bucks or other teams like them, they’ll just have to match force with force at that PF-wing spot. Hopefully that becomes a trend league-wide, and we start getting back to that kind of blue collar basketball league wide.
Harden and Curry will have to adjust to #1 as they are masters at faking the shot, getting the defender in the air, and then jumping into that defender. Both of them also use #3 a lot, kicking their legs out to make contact. I’ve seen a lot of players dribble in front of a defender and stop, as they start up floor, so the defender runs into them. Bigger players like LeBron and Giannis do the arm-hook thing in #4 as they drive through the lane to the basket. Players will adjust to the new rules, but I expect there will be a bunch early season griping about not getting calls that they are used to getting.
Booker also got away with a lot of arm hooks in the playoffs.
There’s been a lot of talk that the Warriors have been talking to the Wizards (Beal) and Trail Blazers (Lillard) about potential trades. Also a bunch of local sports talk hosts saying the Warriors have to go all-in to bring in another superstar while Curry, Thompson, and Green are still at the top of their games. The “superstar” deals suggested usually go like this, Warriors trade Wiggins, Wiseman, both 1st round picks this year and a future 1st round pick for Superstar Player. I’m not a fan of such a deal because bringing in Beal or Lillard results in the loss of 2 starters (Wiggins and Wiseman), moves Klay to SF, creates a small backcourt that does not defend as well, and punches a hole in the Warriors’ future with the loss of Wiseman and so many 1st round draft picks.
This year’s Warriors’ team was on the fringe of the playoffs. Next year’s team gets Klay back, gets Wiggins with his first full training camp with the team, and returns a number of young players now with added experience and a full training camp. Even without bringing in any new big name, this team should be much better next year.
If the Warriors do make a move involving this year’s draft picks, my preference is that they package the two picks and a player (Paschall is the logical one) to move into the top 4 of the draft. Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs would be a great draft pick fit for the team. Both the Pistons (#1 pick) and Raptors (#4 pick) are rumored to be willing to trade down to pick up additional draft picks and/or players. If they can’t move up, I would stick with their picks or keep the #7 pick and package the #14 pick for a useful back-up and future 1st round pick.
The key problem with last season’s Warriors team was a lack of veteran depth. They can solve that by adding a good veteran on the mid-level exception and some older ring-hunting veterans on the veteran minimum. However, guys like Looney, Lee, Paschall (if not traded), and Poole will all be entering their 3rd or later year, so they’ve got some experience in the Warriors’ system. I am fine if the Dubs don’t make any big moves as I think getting healthy and having everyone experience a full training camp will make them a much better team.
I’ve heard the same rumblings about the Warriors plans and I don’t buy what I’m hearing because of some obvious points that I’ll restate …
Poole is 6′ 5″. Curry is 6′ 3″. Klay is 6′ 6″.
Beal is 6′ 3″, and forget Lillard for a bunch of reasons that won’t land him on the Dubs. but still … short.
Teams should be going hard after Poole, but I’m not sure enough of the league has been put on notice regarding him. At least not all teams. And if the Warriors move Poole it’s going to be for something bigger than a throw in to gain a higher draft pick. But mostly, I don’t see why the Warriors would even consider moving him and that leads to a big time height problem. No one including Kerr and Poole know how good he’ll be, so to assume he’s a bench player is just a guess and I think a pretty bad one since I saw excellent production and efficiency when both he and Curry were on the floor together at the end of the season.
How is Beal at 6′ 3″ a good fit for the Warriors then? And let’s say he is, does it make sense to move Poole in an effort to grab Beal? It doesn’t, because obviously the Wiz are listening to the highest bid and that won’t be Poole and change but rather Poole and something else that’s substantial. Wiggins plus Poole for instance. Regardless of the details of how to make that work, the Wizards will get much better offers.
And then there’s the next point: the league isn’t getting smaller, and specifically a lineup of Klay, Curry and Beal or Poole just isn’t going to beat the Bucks unless they want to do what Phx tried to do and rely on the passing and shooting. And the good news: they won’t have to. They have so many options right now to get bigger AND have Klay work his way back gradually by playing Poole more minutes alongside some not-yet-named bigger perimeter defender that can also score. My understanding is that they might be able to find that guy in this draft, but if not there are several veterans out there they can go after. Really looking forward to seeing what they and the Pistons cook up.
Given the Warriors financial limitations, I’m hoping they can sign either or both of Ibaka and Millsap on veteran minimum or mid-level exception contracts to provide veteran big man depth. Millsap in particular may be game to go ring-hunting, though staying with Denver gives him a good shot at that (as does Ibaka staying with the Clippers). PJ Tucker would be a good fit as well, but I suspect he will command too much money (as would Bobby Portis).
I’ve been reading several trade back possibilities for the Warriors today. One is trading the 7th pick to the Grizz for the 10th pick and other unnamed considerations, perhaps another future 1st round pick. If the Warriors think they can still get one of Kuminga, Wagner, or Giddey, all good passing, good-sized wing players, at 10, I’m fine with this.
The other has the Hawks offering Cam Reddish and the 20th pick for the Warriors pick at 14. The Warriors would have to send some salary back to make this work, but I’d be good with getting Reddish. That would help solve the wing need and the Warriors could then use the #7 pick for a good shooting guard, maybe Moses Moody.
And Reddish has size and is improving perhaps substantially. I’m surprised Atl would offer this.
Apparently Atlanta has a glut of wing players and is looking to trade one to move up in the draft to pick a big man.
We’ve reached draft day. Obviously, there are a lot of mock drafts out there, but there seems to be a consensus top 4 with a lot of divergence thereafter. Below is this morning’s mock draft by from SI. This will likely be affected by some trades tonight, but at least it gives us an idea of the names to look for.
1. Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham, 6’8″ guard, Oklahoma St
2. Houston Rockets: Jalen Green, 6’5″ guard, G-League
3. Cleveland Cavaliers: Evan Mobley, 7’0″ center, USC
4. Toronto Raptors: Jalen Suggs, 6’4″ guard, Gonzaga
5. Orlando Magic: Scottie Barnes, 6’8″ forward, Florida State
6. Oklahoma City Thunder: James Bouknight, 6’5″ guard, Connecticut
7. Golden State Warriors: Josh Giddey, 6’8″ guard, Australia
8. Orlando Magic (from Bulls): Jonathan Kuminga, 6’8″ forward, G-League
9. Sacramento Kings: Alperin Sengun, 6’10” center, Turkey
10. Memphis Grizzlies (from Pelicans): Franz Wagner, 6’9″ wing, Michigan
11. Charlotte Hornets: Kai Jones, 6’11” center, Texas
12. San Antonio Spurs: Moses Moody, 6’8″ guard, Arkansas
13. Indiana Pacers: Corey Kispert, 6’7″ wing, Gonzaga
14. Golden State Warriors: Davion Mitchell, 6’1″ guard, Baylor
15. Washington Wizards: Chris Duarte, 6’6″ guard, Oregon
16. Oklahoma City Thunder: Ziaire Williams, 6’9″ wing, Stanford
17. New Orleans Pelicans: Trey Murphy, 6’9″ forward, Virginia
18. Oklahoma City Thunder: Jared Butler, 6’3″ guard, Baylor
19. New York Knicks: Keon Johnson, 6’5″ guard, Tennessee
20. Atlanta Hawks: Cameron Thomas, 6’4″ guard, LSU
21. New York Knicks: Isaiah Jackson, 6’10” center, Kentucky
22. Los Angeles Lakers: Jalen Johnson, 6’9″ forward, Duke
23. Houston Rockets: Usman Garuba, 6’8″ forward/center, Spain
24. Houston Rockets: Joshua Primo, 6’5″ guard, Alabama
25. Los Angeles Clippers: Day’Ron Sharpe, 6’11” center, North Carolina
26. Denver Nuggets: Tre Mann, 6’4″ guard, Florida
27. Brooklyn Nets: Miles McBride, 6’2″ guard, West Virginia
28. Philadelphia 76ers: Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland, 6’3″ guard, VCU
29. Phoenix Suns: Quentin Grimes, 6’5″ guard, Houston
30. Utah Jazz: Jaden Springer, 6’4″ guard, Tennessee
Reportedly, the 76ers are making “outlandish” trade demands for Ben Simmons. The Warriors declined an offer of Wiggins, Wiseman, both 1st round picks this year and 2 future 1st round picks. The Spurs apparently declined an offer of four 1st round picks, three pick swaps, and a young player. Apparently, the 76ers think they can get the same kind of haul for Simmons that the Rockets got for Harden. That won’t happen. It is looking increasingly likely that Simmons won’t be traded before the draft. The same is likely also true for Beal and Lillard.
Don’t you think this is just Morey playing around knowing that he can do this for more than a year if he wants given Simmons multi-year contract? I can see where it’s a good strategy to force the highest bid even if that bid is way below what is currently being asked. I guess the problem there is if Doc Rivers doesn’t like the tactic it will then mess with team chemistry etc if this doesn’t get done before the 22 all star break.
There’s a potential downside if all the continuing trade speculation messes with Simmons’ head and he plays poorly to start the next season and further drives down his trade value.
Lakers and Wizards have made a deal.
Lakers get Russell Westbrook and 2 future 2nd round picks
Wizards get Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and 2021 1st round picks.
Damn. Lakers squad is looking better for next year.
So Schroeder and Westbrook. That’s better, mostly because Harrell wasn’t the force that was expected, but it’s likely still not good enough vs all these improving teams in both West and East.
First 3 picks went according to expectations.
Pistons take Cunningham
Rockets take Green
Cavaliers take Mobley
The Raptors surprised by taking Scottie Barnes with the 4th pick. The Magic picking next were known to covet Barnes, who projects as a Draymond type player. I wonder if the Dubs can package their two picks to jump up 2 spots to take Jalen Suggs.
Magic take Suggs and Thunder surprise by taking Josh Giddey. Warriors now on the clock. Probably taking Kuminga or Bouknight here.
Warriors nab Kuminga. But did they take him for themselves or to package in a deal with the 14th pick? We’ll see. If they keep Kuminga, he may be the best defender in this draft and he’s a really good rebounder. Not a playmaker though and doesn’t shoot well from deep, at least not yet.
Just tuning in to see that pick. So hard to know what the Dubs plans are. I assume they’re on the phones with everyone.
8. Magic take Franz Wagner
9. Kings take Davion Mitchell
10. Pelicans (for Grizzlies) take Ziaire Williams
11. Hornets take James Bouknight
This draft has gone completely off the boards according to most predictions. Kings have a very crowded backcourt now with Fox, Hield, Halliburton and Mitchell. They’ve been trying to trade Hield, so maybe they think that they can deal him soon. The Grizzlies, via the Pelicans, taking Williams is a huge surprise. The Magic getting Suggs and Wagner is a really nice start on their rebuild. The Hornets stopped the Bouknight slide, who was largely mocked into the top 7 and is considered one of the best scorers in the draft.
Charlotte should be even more fun to watch now.
Spurs surprise by taking Joshua Primo. Really expected them to take the Turkish center, Sengun because they need a big man and they do really well with foreign players. Pacers, who everyone thought would take Corey Kispert, instead took Oregon guard, Chris Duarte, one of the oldest players in the draft.
That left Moses Moody for the Dubs, who according to Woj was a consideration for them at the #7 pick. Moody makes for a good companion for Kuminga since their skills are different. Moody is a better offensive player and shooter and a better creator while Kuminga provides better defense and rebounding. Both have a great deal of length and both are smart players.
15. Wizards take Corey Kispert
16. Thunder trade pick to Rockets who take Alperin Sengun
17. Grizzlies take Trey Murphy III
18. Thunder take Tre Mann
19. Knicks trade pick to Hornets who take Kai Jones
20. Hawks take Jalen Johnson.
Not sure what the Wiz are doing. They have a plethora of wing players and just traded for Kuzma and traded away Westbrook. They needed a PG, but took another wing.
Nice move by Grizzlies to nab Murphy, who is another one of the best shooters in the draft. Ja Morant will create a lot of open looks for him.
The Hornets were expected to take Kai Jones with the 11th pick, but saw Bouknight dropping and took him instead. So nice move by them to trade for the Knicks pick at #19 and still get Jones.
The Hawks getting Jalen Johnson could be a great move. He was expected to be one of the top picks in this draft until he dropped out of Duke after 13 games last season. Given how much he moved around in high school and leaving college early, you worry about his head, but the talent could look good next to Trae Young.
21. Knicks trade the pick to Clippers who take Keon Johnson
22. The Lakers deal this pick to the Wiz in the Westbrook deal, who then traded it to the Pacers who took Isaiah Jackson. The Wiz got Aaron Holiday in the deal.
23. Rockets took Usman Garuba
24. Rockets took Josh Christopher
25. The Clippers deal this pick to the Knicks to move up to #21. Knicks use this pick to take Quentin Grimes.
Not sure what the Knicks are up to. They are on the cusp of being really good, so drafting some good players seemed ideal, but they deal both the #19 and #21 picks for the #25 pick and future 1st & 2nd rounders. They got a PG in Grimes, which was a position of need, but seems like they are hoping to do more in free agency.
26. Nuggets take Nah’Shon Hyland
27. Nets take Cameron Thomas
28. 76ers take Jaden Springer
29. Suns trade pick to Nets for Landry Shamet and Nets take Day’Ron Sharpe
30. Jazz trade pick to Grizzlies who take Santi Aldama
Nuggets probably needed some PG depth, so Hyland is a nice pick-up for them.
Not sure how the Nets got so lucky with Thomas falling all the way to them. Thomas is another one of the top shooters in the draft. With Kyrie, Harden and Durant, all Thomas has to do is hang around the arc, where he shoots better than 40% and wait for the many open looks.
Sixers took a PG. Wonder what that says about Simmons possibly getting traded.
Really thought the Suns would take a PG to groom given Chris Paul’s age, but turning the pick (and Jevon Carter) into Landry Shamet ain’t bad. Shamet will provide good wing depth behind Booker. Meanwhile, the Nets used the Suns pick to grab a center, which given DeAndre Jordan’s injury history, was probably a smart choice.
Jazz unloaded the last pick of the 1st round for three 2nd round picks, one this year, the others in future years. Don’t know anything about the guy the Grizzlies took here.
This guy just drafted by the Pacers … that this kind of talent is taken so late says a lot about this draft,
Primo is a good shooter, but is very young. He needs to work on his defense a great deal according to scouting reports. Given his age, I could see him spending time in the G-League initially.
So Dubs go taller and much more dynamic with these picks. Smart players as well I understand.
I like the Dubs’ picks, but neither player should get a lot of playing time this upcoming season. Kuminga will come off the bench after Paschall and Toscano-Anderson. Moody will be behind Poole and Lee. Neither is going to likely be particularly helpful in winning a championship next year.
Some other trades reported:
Detroit basically paid the Hornets to take Mason Plumlee’s salary off their books. Plumlee and the 37th pick went to Charlotte for the #57 pick.
The Timberwolves traded Ricky Rubio to Cleveland for Taurean Prince, a 2nd round pick, and cash. Given that the Cavs already have Garland and Sexton on their roster, they must be planning to trade one of them. There’s no need for them to have a stockpile of starting level PGs.
If Sixers are serious about winning a championship this next year, they could grab Love and Garland for Simmons plus/minus whatever is needed to make it work. Knowing Morey though, he’s more likely to be going after something more like Lillard. By the way, I could see McCollum and Covington in Philly and Simmons alongside Nurk, Powell, Simons and Lillard. Morey needs to be smart about these pairings instead of greedy. Now that I’ve thought about it some, it makes no sense to drag this out for long because there are so few teams that can use Simmons. Those that can might improve in some significant ways, but those that can’t (like the Warriors as long as they keep Dray) simply can’t value him highly. I’m guessing only about 6 teams can realistically be involved with discussions, so Morey needs to just get this done asap or those 6 will become 4 which will become 2 and then he has zero leverage.
Here’s a 3-team deal for you that works in the Trade Machine.
Philadelphia gets: C.J. McCollum and Darius Garland
Portland gets: Ben Simmons
Cleveland gets: Anfernee Simons and Matisse Thybulle
Philly gets a new backcourt and can use Seth Curry off the bench. Portland pairs up Simmons with Lillard. Cleveland decreases its PG glut and adds two young shooters. Throw in whatever draft picks needed to get the deal done.
I’m assuming there’s no way the Blazers trade Simons, or if they do it’s going to be for an all star.
But even if they could, I don’t think they’d consider Simons for Simmons straight up.
The first post-draft trade has gone down. Three teams are involved.
Celtics get: Kris Dunn, Bruno Fernando, and a 2023 2nd round pick
Hawks get: Delon Wright
Kings get: Tristan Thompson
This is a fairly minor deal. Celtics get a little bit younger and shed a few million in salary and maybe they can turn Dunn around as his career has gone off the deep end. Looks like they will have about $15 million in salary cap space to sign someone. Delon Wright is a slight upgrade for the Hawks over Dunn. Unloading Wright helps to break up the guard glut on the Kings and maybe Thompson can mentor Bagley.
In a separate deal, the Celtics obtained Josh Richardson from the Mavericks for Moses Brown, who they just got a month ago in the Kemba Walker deal with OKC.
Can you remind how sign and trades work again? For instance, now that the draft is over what are the rules for say the Warriors if they decide to trade Moody and/or Kuminga within the next week?
Rookies aren’t really sign and trade deals as their salaries are pretty much set by the contract between league and union and depend upon their draft position (so Cade Cunningham will get the biggest rookie deal). I believe first round draft picks get 2-year deals with 3rd and 4th year team options (and a restricted free agent year after that). This rookie scale does not apply to second round picks, but they rarely get more than the minimum or a two-way contract. Weirdly, if a 2nd round pick proves to be really good, they’ll have an opportunity to cash in on a big contract before a 1st rounder because the team won’t own their rights for as long.
A better example would be Kelly Oubre, Jr. Say he wants to sign a $20 million/yr deal with the 76ers, but they don’t have the cap space to pull off the deal. The Warriors can go over their salary cap to sign Oubre to that $20 million deal and then trade him to the 76ers, who would need to send about $20 million in salary and/or trade exceptions back to the Warriors to make the deal work.
Let’s say the Suns really like the two Warriors picks. How could they trade Bridges for those guys and a player or two for instance?
It’ll depend on what salaries the two Warriors picks are slotted into. Last year’s #7 pick, Killian Hayes, made around $5.3 million (compare that to the #2 pick overall, Wiseman, who made $8.7 million). Presumably Kuminga will be a little bit more than that. Last year’s #14 pick, Aaron Nesmith of the Celtics, got about $3.5 million, so expect Moody to get a little bit more. Together that means that Kuminga and Moody will probably be around $9 million in total salary. Bridges is making close to $5.6 million this year, so the Suns would likely have to send some more salary with Bridges to make the deal work.
In another salary dump, the Jazz sent Derrick Favors and a future 1st round pick to the Thunder for the least favorable of the Thunder’s four 2027 2nd round picks. Apparently the deal will help keep the Jazz out of the luxury tax threshold if they re-sign Mike Conley. The Thunder are so far under the cap (about $26 million committed toward next season right now), they can make a killing by helping other teams out of their salary cap issues.
Speaking of salary cap issues …
I get the Westbrook trade but I don’t understand why it’s happened already, and that’s mostly because they’re so far over the cap why make that move so early in the offseason? That move doesn’t make sense to me for that reason, hence this question …
I’m not saying the Lakers are specifically going after CP3 or Lillard, but I do know the Suns are the perfect team for Westbrook. I’m not sure he’s the perfect player for them, but much of what happened in the finals stopped dead when booker or anyone else went strong to the hole. Westbrook is taller than Paul and gets there so fast, and the Suns are so quick at moving from outside in to slash or cut or rebound … I like Westbrook on the Suns. Not more than CP3, but I like him at that spot.
If both teams are in agreement how could Lakers and Suns get this done without trading CamJ, Booker or Ayton?
The reason the deal happened before the draft was so that the Wizards could have the Lakers choose the player they wanted with the 1st round draft pick they got in the deal.
I can’t run any trade simulations with Chris Paul unless he declines to exercise his opt out. However, if he opts in or signs a new deal, his and Russ’ deals pay nearly the same next season, so they could be traded straight up for each other or you could add other players with similar contracts or draft picks to the deal.
The bigger problem for the Suns here is that there are rumors that the Pelicans want to bring in Chris Paul. They just unloaded 2 of their biggest contracts to create enough cap room where they could sign someone to a max contract. Remember also that the Pelicans just signed Suns assistant coach Willie Green to be their new head coach. Paul and Green are tight. They played together in New Orleans and L.A. and Green was apparently a big part of bringing Paul to Phoenix last season. If this is the case, I wonder if New Orleans and Phoenix might work a sign and trade deal involving Paul and Lonzo Ball.
Unloading Paul salary isn’t a problem for the Suns IMO. So much talent on the team still and now $$ …
and Lonzo is still improving and is similar to Westbrook in some ways. If that happens I’m certain a Lonzo signing won’t be the only big move made by the Suns this offseason.
BTW, if the Westbrook deal hadn’t happened before the draft the Wizards could have drafted a player for the Lakers still. But both parties wanted it over with asap regardless.
If there are rumors that Paul wants to be on the Pels then I’m even more convinced he’ll end up a Laker. I see NO reason for why he would think the Pels will get him to the semis next year much less the finals. It’s possible, but I think it would be bizarre.
One more thing, if Kawhi really wants another championship he’ll get it by simply signing with the Suns if Paul leaves. Slam dunk – Suns have essentially no weakness if he replaces Paul. Assuming he’s healthy of course.
Today was the deadline for option decisions. Here’s what I’ve heard so far:
Opting out (all player options unless otherwise indicated):
1. Kawhi Leonard, but is expected to resign with Clippers
2. Chris Paul
3. Norman Powell
4. Will Barton
5. Bobby Portis
6. JaMychal Green
7. Spencer Dinwiddie
8. Isaiah Hartenstein
9. Bryn Forbes
10. Ryan Arcidiacomo (team)
11. Avery Bradley (team)
12. Justice Winslow (team)
13. Andre Iguodala (team)
14. Omer Yurtseven (team)
15. Didi Louzada (team)
Opting in (all player options unless otherwise indicated):
1. Goran Dragic (team)
2. Montrezl Harrell (he opted in early so that he could be traded in the Westbrook deal)
3. Josh Richardson (he opted in early so that he could be traded to Celtics)
4. Kris Dunn (he opted in already so that he could be traded to Celtics)
5. Al-Farouq Aminu
6. Kevon Looney
7. Serge Ibaka
8. Derrick Jones
9. Willie Cauley-Stein (team)
10. Edmond Sumner (team)
11. Mitchell Robinson (team)
And as would be expected, reportedly the Dubs have already set up a meeting with Iggy.
nice!
Free agent signing began today. Here are the early deals:
1. Jarrett Allen – 5-yr, $100 million deal to stay with Cavs.
2. Lonzo Ball – 4-yr, $85 million deal in sign-and-trade with Bulls. Pelicans will get Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple and a 2nd round pick.
3. Mike Conley – 3-yr, $68 million deal to stay with Jazz.
4. Tim Hardaway, Jr. – 4-yr, $74 million deal to stay with Mavs.
5. Kyle Lowry – 3-yr, $90 million deal in sign-and-trade with Heat. Don’t know yet what Heat is trading back to Toronto.
6. Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard, and Wayne Ellington – all agreed to one-year deals with the Lakers. Terms not announced yet, but likely to be veteran minimum deals.
7. Mike Muscala – signing with Thunder, terms not know yet.
8. Alex Len – signing 2-yr deal with Kings, money not known yet.
9. Zach Collins – 3-yr, $22 million deal with Spurs.
10. Bobby Portis, Jr. – 2-yr, $9 million deal to return to Bucks.
11. Gary Trent, Jr. – 3-yr, $54 million deal to return to Raptors.
12. Furkan Kormaz – 3-yr, $15 million deal to return to 76ers.
13. Mo Harkless – 2-yr deal to return to Kings, money not known yet.
14. David Nwaba – 3-yr, $15 million deal to return to Rockets.
15. Jeff Green – 2-yr, $10 million deal with Nuggets.
16. Sterling Brown – deal with Mavericks, terms not known yet.
17. Doug McDermott – 3-yr, $42 million deal with Spurs.
18. Chris Paul – 4-yr, $120 million deal to return to Suns (reportedly only first 2 years are fully guaranteed with partial 3rd year guarantee and team option for 4th year).
19. Torrey Craig – 2-yr, $10 million deal with Pacers.
20. Duncan Robinson – 5-yr, $90 million deal to return to Heat.
21. TJ McConnell – 4-yr, $32.5 million deal to return to Pacers.
22. Cameron Payne – 3-yr, $19 million deal to return to Suns.
23. Kelly Olynyk – 3-yr, $37 million deal with Pistons.
24. Nerlens Noel – 3-yr, $32 million deal to return to Knicks.
25. Alec Burks – deal to return to Knicks, terms not announced yet.
26. Will Barton – 2-yr, $32 million deal to return to Nuggets.
27. JaMychal Green – 2-yr, $17 million deal to return to Nuggets.
28. Jimmy Butler – agreed to 4-yr, $184 million max extension with Heat.
29. Boban Marjanovic – deal to return to Mavs, terms not announced yet.
So Suns have resigned Paul and Payne, but lost Torrey Craig. With Lonzo Ball going to the Bulls, seems unlikely Paul would be traded to the Pelicans now. It seems unlikely to me that the Suns would trade Paul to the Lakers for Westbrook.
Have also seen reports today that the Warriors are close to signing Curry to a 4-yr, $215 million supermax extension.
More!
30. Alex Caruso – 4-yr, $37 million deal with Bulls.
31. Derrick Rose – 3-yr, $43 million deal to return to Knicks.
And more!
32. Solomon Hill – deal to return to Hawks (terms not known yet).
33. Evan Fournier – 4-yr, $78 million deal to return to Knicks.
34. Nic Batum – 2-yr deal to return to Clippers (money not known yet)
35. JaVale McGee – 1-yr deal with Suns (money not known yet)
36. Cody Zeller – 1-yr deal with Trail Blazers (money not known yet)
37. Cory Joseph – 2-yr deal with Pistons (money not known yet)
38. Daniel Theis – 4-yr, $36 million sign-and-trade deal with Rockets. Bulls will get trade exception from Rockets.
39. Reggie Bullock – 3-yr, $30.5 million deal with Mavericks.
40. PJ Tucker – 2-yr, $15 million deal with Heat.
41. Georgi Dieng – 1-yr, $4 million deal with Hawks.
42. Devonte Graham – 4-yr, $47 million sign-and-trade deal with Pelicans. Hawks will get lottery-protected 2022 1st round pick from Pelicans.
43. Austin Rivers – 1-yr deal to return to Nuggets (money not known yet).
44. Norman Powell – 5-yr, $90 million deal to return to Trail Blazers.
45. Blake Griffin – 1-yr deal to return to Nets (money not known yet).
46. Kent Bazemore – 1-yr deal with Lakers (money not known yet).
47. Dwayne Dedmon – 1-yr deal to return to Heat (money not known yet).
48. Max Strus – 2-yr, $3.5 million deal to return to Heat.
49. Richaun Holmes – 4-yr, $55 million deal to return to Kings.
50. Semi Ojeleye – 1-yr deal to return to Bucks (money not known yet).
51. Gabe Vincent – 2-yr, $3.5 million deal to return to Heat.
52. Otto Porter, Jr. – 1-yr, vet minimum deal with Warriors (reportedly turned down mid-level exception with another team to sign with Warriors)
Even more!
53. Sam Dekker – 2-yr deal with Raptors (money not known yet).
54. Rudy Gay – 2-yr deal with Jazz (money not known yet).
55. Nemanja Bjelica – 1-yr, vet mininum deal with Warriors.
56. Bruce Brown – 1-yr deal to return to Nets (money not known yet).
57. Rodney Hood – 1-yr deal with Bucks as soon as Raptors release him (money not known yet)
58. James Johnson – 1-yr deal with Nets (money not known yet)
Yet more!
59. Andre Drummond – 1-yr, vet minimum deal with 76ers.
60. Taj Gibson – 1-yr, $2.7 million deal to return to Knicks.
61. Robin Lopez – 1-yr deal with the Magic (money not known yet).
62. Abdel Nasser – 2-yr, $4.2 million deal to return to Suns.
63. Patty Mills – 2-yr, $12 million deal with Nets.
64. Malik Monk – deal with Lakers (terms not known yet).
65. Carmelo Anthony – 1-yr deal with Lakers (money not known yet, but likely vet minimum).
66. Tony Snell – 1-yr deal with Trail Blazers (money not known yet).
67. DeMar DeRozan 3-yr, $85 million sign-and-trade deal with Bulls, who will send Al-Farouq Aminu, Thaddeus Young, a future 1st round pick, and 2 future 2nd round picks to Spurs).
68. Kendrick Nunn, 2-yr, $10 million deal with Lakers.
Also two BIG extensions officially announced:
1. Steph Curry signed a 4-yr, $215 million extension with the Dubs that begins after the upcoming season. Curry is first player to sign two $200 million contracts in his career.
2. Trae Young signed a 5-yr, $205 million extension with the Hawks.
It’s getting hard to keep track of everything, but here are some more:
69. Enes Kanter – 1-yr deal to return to Celtics.
70. Ish Smith – 1-yr deal with Hornets.
71. Tony Bradley – 2-yr deal with Bulls.
72. Trey Lyles – 2-yr deal with Pistons.
73. Nic Batum – 2-yr deal to return to Clippers.
74. Taylor Horton-Tucker – 3-yr deal to return to Lakers.
75. Mo Wagner – 2-yr deal with Magic.
76. Georges Niang – 2-yr deal with 76ers.
There’s also another big extension:
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a 5-yr, $172 million extension with the Thunder.
Too much to respond to, so just what comes to mind first …
Devonte Graham with the Pels seems significant to me as it means less reliance on Bledsoe and a very real and possibly consistent scoring threat from everywhere. You wrote something about the Hawks but I thought he was with the Hornets. Maybe he was traded.
Fournier was with the Celtics wasn’t he? Is he now with the Knicks?
Tucker is now with the Heat. That’s huge for many reasons.
Olynyk – why in the heck would the Pistons want an older player when I believe they’re one of the youngest in the league?
Payne – I don’t like that signing at all. McGee is great, but why Payne unless they believe they can polish him up a bit before next year’s playoff run.
So, Schroeder and Dragic – no news on either? Interesting if the Heat want to play Dragic alongside Lowry. That’s a pretty heady pair that can shoot and score, but not sure that’s their plan.
Really hard for me to believe that the Blazers might try to move forward with their present lineup after losing Collins. They can’t be thinking that changing coaches was the answer. Seems stupid if they don’t deal either Lillard or McCollum asap. Obviously Lillard is unlikely, but something needs to happen there.
I didn’t have the details on the Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade when I posted about it above. Dragic (and Precious Achiuwa) and going to Toronto in the deal.
I haven’t heard anything about Schroeder yet, but I suspect that the Lakers are signing free agents first to fit under their cap restrictions. They can then go over the cap to sign Schroeder.
As for the Blazers, they signed Cody Zeller to, I guess, back-up Nurkic and Covington at the 4 and 5. Hardly a move that will make them a championship contender, but they are cap-limited, so not a lot they can do without trading Dame or CJ.
Yes, I meant Hornets when I said Hawks for Devonte Graham. Fournier was with the Celtics last season, so Knicks take from a division rival.
Tucker is a great add for the Heat. Butler will like what he brings defensively.
Don’t know what the Pistons are doing with Olynyk. Pistons don’t have a lot of cap room this off-season, mostly because their buy-out of Blake Griffin last season means that they are paying him $29 million this season. They also waived Dedmon last season, despite him being on the books for almost $3 mil per year for the next 4 seasons. Suffice to say, Pistons management are idiots.
As for Payne, what choice did the Suns have? While still quite good, Chris Paul is old and the Suns have no other PGs. They needed a back-up PG and weren’t likely to get one as good as Payne in free agency. I think Reggie Jackson and Lou Williams are still out there on the market. Perhaps the Suns can pick one of them up for the mid-level exception.
I don’t have a specific name in mind, but there are a lot of PGs in the league that would fit. I’d prefer Caruso over Payne for instance, not that he was available but it tells you how I feel about Payne.
Thus far, the Warriors have signed Otto Porter and Nemanja Bjelica to veteran minimum deals. That is a big come down for Porter, who has been making $25+ million for the last four years. Both are bigs (Porter is 6’8″ and Bjelica is 6’10”) who shoot the 3 well (Porter at 40% and Bjelica at 39% for their careers). Neither is known for their defense, but will at least be able to throw up long arms at outside shooters. Right now, there roster is looking like this:
C: James Wiseman, Kevon Looney
PF: Draymond Green, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Nemanja Bjelica, Alen Smailagic
SF: Andrew Wiggins, Eric Paschall, Otto Porter; Jonathan Kuminga
SG: Klay Thompson; Damion Lee; Mychal Mulder; Moses Moody
PG: Stephen Curry; Jordan Poole, Gary Payton II
That is 17 players which is obviously too many. Lee, Smailagic, Mulder, and Payton have non-guaranteed contracts, so likely that at least 3 and maybe all 4 get waived and 1 or 2 of them brought back on a 2-way contract. Moody, or more likely Kuminga, could get assigned to the G-League, but would still count against the 15-man roster.
Assuming all four of Lee, Smailagic, Mulder, and Payton are waived, that would bring the Warriors down to a 13-man roster, so they could sign two more players. Since both Porter and Bjelica signed for the veteran minimum, they still have the mid-level exception available and that exception can be split between 2 players. They can also re-sign Oubre for any amount they want and Oubre may be a little more reasonable since no big contract has come his way since free agency opened. Warriors definitely need some back-up guard help. They are reported to be interested in Patty Mills, but don’t know if Mills would sign for the mid-level exception or some part of it. If not Mills, George Hill just got waived by Philly. Once they secure a guard, I’m guessing Iggy gets the last spot.
There is also the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal involving Oubre that could bring back a player who makes a lot more than the mid-level exception. The Warriors could also trade a player, maybe Paschall as the Jazz are reportedly interested in him, for a trade exception that would free up a roster spot.
I think it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of movement still to come for the Dubs.
Well, Warrors are out on Patty Mills who signed with the Nets. George Hill, Lou Williams, or Reggie Jackson look like the best bets out there. Or maybe Victor Oladipo is desperate enough to sign for less. He won’t be ready to play until January or February and his injury history is very scary. But maybe he would take a cheap contract with the Dubs in an attempt to prove himself worthy of a big contract next off-season.
I didn’t realize there was any possibility of Reggie J leaving the Clipps. I thought I heard he would not leave them.
Regarding Dragic in another comment – ridiculous that he’s considered so far below Lowry that he’s almost a footnote in that move. It simply isn’t true that those two are much different at PG. I have no idea why anyone would think Dragic isn’t Lowry’s equal in many ways, not as good at some things but better at others. Raptors are in no way taking a step back wrt talent at PG. They ARE losing a leader though, but a gaining an awesome “locker room guy.
Warriors are now also out on Oladipo–not that it was ever likely that they could sign him–as he is returning to the Heat on a 1-yr deal. Also, the Dubs have released Smailagic and traded Paschall to the Jazz for a 2nd round pick. Paschall and Donovan Mitchell are childhood friends.
The Thunder and Kemba Walker have agreed to a buy-out of his contract making him a free agent. He is signing with the Kncks. Kemba was born and raised in the Bronx and went to high school in Harlem, so this is a return home for him. The Knicks starting 5 is now, Kemba, RJ Barrett, Fournier, Randle, and Mitchell Robinson with Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Kevin Knox, and Obi Toppin coming off the bench.
Don’t know if you saw the Ramona Shelbourne story about Kawhi. When Kawhi was first looking at signing with the Clippers as a free agent, Russ Westbrook called him and told him that he would like to team-up with Kawhi on the Clippers. Apparently Russ and Kawhi are long time friends, perhaps stemming from both growing up in the LA area. However, Kawhi stabbed Russ in the back and called Russ’ then teammate, Paul George, and told him that Russ wanted to leave the Thunder and come to LA, but that he would prefer to have PG join him there. PG had been considering a long term deal with OKC because he thought he and Russ had a chance to build something together there. When he heard Russ wanted out, PG was all-in for coming to the Clippers, so Kawhi went to the Clippers to have them make it happen. Russ then asked out of OKC and got traded to Houston. Then he asked out of Houston and got traded to Washington. Then he asked out of Washington and finally got to Los Angeles. Clippers-Lakers games may have an extra edge to them this year.
I heard that, but am still surprised that this news ever got out.
I heard Shelbourne on the radio this morning. She said she’s known about this for 2 years, but it has taken her this long to get confirmation from reliable sources.
Reports today that Ben Simmons has cut off direct communications with the 76ers and is open to joining the Warriors. The Dubs previously refused to trade Wiggins and Wiseman and draft picks for Simmons, likely because they don’t want Draymond and Ben on the court together. But what if the Warriors trade Draymond in a deal for Simmons. The 76ers probably don’t want him because Draymond is an older, lesser version of Ben and the Sixers want someone who is not afraid to have the ball in the closing minutes of games. So is there a 3rd team that could get involved to make the trade work?
This was discussed on local sportsradio this morning. I don’t know if the show hosts came up with this themselves or saw this somewhere else, but the answer could be Portland with Draymond going to the Blazers and CJ going to the Sixers. Apparently Draymond and Dame are real good buddies and Dame wants Draymond to come to Portland. Draymond ($24 mil) does not make as much as Ben ($33 mil) or CJ ($30 mil), so the Dubs would have to throw some small contracts into the deal to make it work. If all the Dubs’ unguaranteed contracts (Lee, Mulder, and Payton) are added to the deal, the Trade Machine says it works. Obviously, there would have to be draft picks added into the deal as well.
Would the Warriors give up Draymond to get Ben? I would have to think yes, despite what we just saw of Simmons in the playoffs. Ben is younger, longer, a better defender than Draymond at this point, a better passer, and a better finisher at the hoop. Would the 76ers give up Ben to get CJ (and picks)? Again, I have to think yes as CJ is the shooter that Ben will never be and the divide between Ben and the Sixers seems so great right now that the Sixers have to do something. Would the Blazers give up CJ to get Draymond (and a pick or two)? This one I’m less certain of, but perhaps with Dame pushing for it, they would.
I want to say “you heard it here first!” because I mentioned this swap more than 2 years ago, but there really isn’t anything novel about it. but I don’t think Simmons is an upgrade simply because he and Dray would do the exact same thing on the Dubs, but Dray knows Steph and Klay so well and he may actually be quicker than Simmons
Some will say that Simmons upgrades the Dubs on the fast break but I’m not sure about that. Dray is dang good leading the break as well. There may be some advantages to the extra height of Simmons but I doubt it.
In the end I think the Dubs will have to decide if they want to risk the horrific shooting of a Simmons vs. Green. Specifically at the line. I haven’t looked at the %s though, so maybe it’s closer than I think.
Did you really mention that possible trade 2 years ago? Impressive! In any event, there is something to be said about Green already having chemistry with Steph and Klay. Green also shoots FTs at a 71.5% clip, as opposed to Simmons’ 60% rate. Do all of Simmons’ other advantages outweigh these attributes? I don’t know, but, as much as I like Draymond, I’d be willing to take that chance.
I think it was more than 2 years ago when I was in a discussion (argument?) on Quora.com with someone who was a huge Ben Simmons fan. He didn’t get my *strong* comparison Simmons<->Dray so I spelled it out, specifically that I was certain he needed to be in that PF spot for the Sixers and learn how to play it exactly the way that Dray does. After that discussion I wrote sporadically on more than one forum that Warriors could go younger in that swap.
What spurred that last point was your mention that you were listening to someone locally on the radio who outlined how and why the Warriors wouldn’t win more than 1 more title or something like that. Then I believe you explained how Dray’s contract was part of one scenario – how he might opt to go to Detroit? I’m very fuzzy on that. Eventually (more than a year later) I thought that a trade for Simmons would be in the Dub’s interest if Dray was leaving.
I don’t believe this anymore though. Dray is a better player IMO, even at his age. Sending him to Philly is basically setting them up for a championship, because there’s no way the Sixers give up more than Simmons to get Dray. They should, but they won’t.
Looks like Oubre is going to sign with the Hornets on a 2-yr, $26 million contract, making the Hornets an even more fun team to watch. However, this is a big come down for Oubre who was seeking a contract worth $20 million per. It also means no sign-and-trade for the Dubs that would bring back a useful asset. That leaves the mid-level exception, short of a trade, as the only way to bring on another player. Reportedly, Iggy is trying to decide between offers from the Dubs, Lakers, and Nets.
IMO a stupid move for Charlotte. I don’t see Oubre and PJ Wash getting along at all. Regardless, they already have a better version of Oubre in Miles Bridges. I don’t get the move, unless it’s just to add another asset. Even then oubre isn’t someone you sit on the bench without him disrupting the locker room. What’s the starting lineup going to be??
Ball
PJ
Bridges
Hayward
??
I don’t think Oubre fits in the ?? spot, at least not before their rookie Bouknight who should be getting minutes by the end of the year. And clearly they need one or more of their centers to get minutes. Something’s gotta give, right? Can Oubre be on a team and sit on the bench? Hmmm.
Hayward hasn’t had a fully healthy year since he left Utah. Last year, he missed about half of the season. I think Charlotte just bought themselves some insurance for Hayward’s health at a very reasonable price. If Hayward does prove healthy this year, they’ll have a good trade chip (either Hayward or Oubre) at the trade deadline. The Hornets are hurting for some height. Their centers check in at 6’8″ (Biyombo) and 6’9″ (Carey). Oubre at 6’7″ doesn’t help there, but with all the guys at 6’6″ or 6’7″ (Ball, Bridges, PJ, and Hayward), they’ll have a size group of strength they can trade from to get bigger.
This was part of my point and actually strengthens my argument in two ways …
1. When hayward is healthy he’s twice the player Oubre is, so Hayward gets the nod
2. When hayward isn’t healthy Oubre is STILL not in that starting lineup by the end of year.
In other words, and you put it well, Charlotte has bought themselves some insurance. IMO they bought the wrong insurance, because he’ll be disruptive.
Put more strongly: if the Hornets think Oubre fits in their starting lineup OR if they think he’s good for 20 minutes a game they’re wrong because they have better options even without Hayward. Now, Oubre coming off the bench as a sixth man … I can sort of see that, but unless the Dub-experience changed him for the better in some dramatic way, he’ll come in thinking that he’s a bigger version of Lou WIll and will fair miserably trying to live up to that.
He’s a very good defender, pick setter and slasher. If he sticks to those things any team could use him. But why would any team think he’ll stick to those things?
Iggy is coming back to the Warriors! Further, he is doing so on just a veteran minimum contract. This will give the Warriors some flexibility with the mid-level exception still available to add a player if they create roster space to do so.
Great move. Now what’s next with this lineup? Seems so strange that Lakob et al haven’t orchestrated something brilliant. I realize that the Dubs are probably asking too much for some players (I assume Wiseman is still on the block), but then why wouldn’t a team like Memphis or Charlotte want Wiseman badly enough to trade some of their talent? Maybe I’m out of the loop, but my understanding is that Wiseman (assuming he’s healthy) will be a fantastic center in just a couple years if not by the end of this year.
Or is it simply obvious, and the Dubs feel the best chance at a title in the next two years is with Wiseman vs without him? Admittedly I’m not at all informed on this.
I think Warriors leadership looked into making a trade for another superstar, but the price was way too high (Simmons, Lillard) or the team wasn’t entertaining offers (Beal & Wizards). Failing that, I think they are content to build upon what they have. They were thrilled with the two players they scored in the draft and have continuously said that they believe Wiseman is a big part of their future. Besides not having Klay last year, their big problem was they were way too young on their bench. Now they have added Iggy, Portis, and Bjelica to shore up the bench and can afford to play Kuminga and Moody in the right spots and/or get them experience in the G-League.
Basically, the Warriors see a chance where they can still compete for a title with the squad they have now and have a solid core down the line when Steph, Klay, and Dray are nearing the end of the line that will still be able to compete for a title.
I have yet to see scouting reports for either Kuminga or Moody.
Super impressed with Jrue Holiday. I would not have predicted that his confidence and poise would rise to the level of “floor general” in the way it has for the last 5 weeks or so. Really impressive to see his level of confidence explode as a 12 year vet. Quickly becoming one of my favorite players to watch.
For some reason I need to know the answer to this *again* even though you’ve indicated that the Dubs feel good keeping Wiseman …
Are they expressing big enthusiasm? If he’s healthy then they should be. Could be an all star if healthy and takes a 2nd year leap. Any super-excited chatter coming from the front office?
The Dubs have been pretty clear that they think Wiseman will be great. It seems to be the primary reason why none of the big deals that the Warriors were rumored to be a part of never happened. The other teams wanted Wiseman and the Warriors weren’t trading him.
Exactly where I was going …
I can think of only one good reason for the Dubs (apparent) decision to not make a big roster change, and that’s a realistic expectation that he’ll be all-star caliber or just below that this coming year. Without that they’re unlikely to get far in the playoffs.
Suns picked up Payton taking the Suns from 3 playmakers to 6 in just a few weeks. (Shamet’s able to do more than just get his own shots).
Payton’s second stint with the Suns now, so they get him cheap. He’ll be after Payne’s job – some good competition there.
I haven’t seen any news about that yet, but that’s a good pickup. Payton did some good work, particularly on defense, with the Warriors last season, but there was no room for him.
On a related “there was no room for him” note, Nico Mannion is headed for the Italian pro league. Probably comes down to money and playing time for him. The Warriors were unwilling to offer him anything other than another two-way contract and with the several new veterans populating the Warriors bench, he was unlikely to get any playing time on the NBA squad. After starring for Italy’s Olympic team, I’m sure he picked up a nice contract in the Italian league. He’ll be playing for Virtus Bologna, the reigning champion of the Italian league. If and when he returns to the NBA, the Dubs will still have his rights.
The Dubs meanwhile did sign PG Chris Chiozza, formerly of the Nets, Wizards, and Rockets (on either 10-day or two-way contracts) to a two-way contract.
Just discovered that it was Elfrid Payton, not Gary Payton II, that you were referring to. LOL! Elfrid Payton is an even better pickup for the Suns.
Dennis Schroder signed with the Celtics for the mid-level exception. According to Brian Windhorst, the Lakers had offered Schroder a 4-yr, $84 million extension, but Schroder rejected it. After the Lakers subsequently traded for Westbrook, that offer was off the table and Schroder didn’t sniff anything close to it in free agency.
Kemba’s equal in many ways. Impressive acquisition by the Celtics.
I’d be interested in knowing what offers were on the table for Schroder. Was the Celtics the only one or did he choose the Celtics over other suitors? And if he chose the Celtics over others, were the Celts offering more money or did he have other mid-level exception deals on the table? Schroder and his agent severely overestimated the market when they turned down the Lakers deal. I’m assuming that Marcus Smart will be the starting PG with Schroder as the back-up because Smart is one of their best defensive players.
great stuff here …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XxCPqibCEQ
Green has looked pretty damn good so far in summer league. Outshined Cade Cunningham last night. Not that Cunningham looked bad, Green was just better.
A new biography on Giannis apparently has a lot of bad things to say about Jason Kidd as a coach.
https://www.audacy.com/sports/nba/jason-kidd-lambasted-in-giannis-biography
Maybe Kidd has learned a thing or two after a couple of seasons on Frank Vogel’s staff. But if Luka starts getting unhappy with him, he won’t last long in Dallas.
“In another bizarre episode a couple years later, the team was made to run after reserve center Thon Maker was late for practice owing to a snag with his cell phone. Maker was the only Bucks player who used a cell phone other than an iPhone, which apparently infuriated Kidd and represented a lack of team unity.”
priceless
According to Woj, the Clippers are trading Rajon Rondo, Patrick Beverly and Daniel Oturu to the Grizzlies for Eric Bledsoe. The Clippers save a good deal of money (about $6 million) by making this deal, but I don’t understand what basketball reasons they would have for this deal. Also, not sure why the Grizzlies would want two PGs with Ja Morant already on the roster.
Beverly has as much effect on the game as Bledsoe. The Clippers must be up to something else here.
I wonder if they are freeing up money to use elsewhere or in order to save money on salary cap penalties.
I can’t believe West would be very interested in Bledsoe. Maybe he’s not with the Clipps anymore, or slowing down considerably.
On the opposite end of this deal, there is more happening. Woj now reporting that the Grizzlies are sending Beverley to the Timberwolves for Jarrett Culver and Juan Hernangomez. Beverley will bring some much needed defensive intensity to the T-Wolves. Culver and Hernangomez will provide some depth for the Hawks bench.
The Grizzlies ain’t keeping Rondo either. He’s agreed to a buyout and is expected to sign with the Lakers. Apparently the Grizzlies are simply acting as a PG way station. They picked up Eric Bledsoe in the Steven Adams/Jonas Valanciunas deal. Then they traded Bledsoe and got Rondo and Beverley. Then they traded Beverley and bought out Rondo.
I’m going to post this without comment initially. Draymond has a Bleacher Report show called Chips. This morning, an episode where he interviews Kevin Durant, was released. Here’s the full thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x6DjeJNd64
Lots of good stuff in it, but the part getting all the talk on sportsradio this morning begins at the 8:35 mark, when Draymond asks about the incident between the two on the court against the Clippers.
I heard that a couple times yesterday, and it was most of what they were talking about on siriusxm. I’m guessing that between Myers, Lakob and Kerr they roll their eyes collectively and forget all about it.
I heard some great comments about this today. Brian Scalabrine was pretty insightful as was a caller who gave his take. The caller said that what makes most sense to him is that this was more or less scripted, and resulted from or was rather a continuation of what those two almost certainly discussed while in Tokyo recently. Scalabrine added his guess that Durant agreed (more or less) with Dray, because KD has never actually stated the exact reasons he left the Dubs, even though it was rumored that he’d leave long before the November 2018 game in question. Scal thinks Dray’s “big idea” about Myers et al gives KD a good “out”, and it’s easy for KD to blame those guys now that he’s long gone.
In any case, amazingly childish crap coming from Dray. I don’t know why the Dubs would do anything but just wait until training camp to address it.
Will add one more point. This one my own and haven’t heard it yet from elsewhere: there’s really no reason at all to think that this specific Dray incident is worse than a number of others that we’ve never heard about. Kerr and Myers have seen and been there for it all most likely. I don’t see how this affects anything with the Dubs going forward. The dubs front office are too good to let it derail them, and well … Dray is still there going strong prior to this … whatever it is. That says everything I think.
I agree. Frankly, I think the media was making far too much out of this. For one thing, what Draymond was saying now is what he told Warriors management then. So they already heard this from him. It’s been nearly 3 years since the on-court incident between Dray and KD. As far as the Dubs are concerned, it is over and done with and this new interview doesn’t change that.
Didn’t think there was much more off-season maneuvering to do, but there was. This deal just went down.
The Bulls sign-and-trade Lauri Markkanen to the Cavs. Cavs send Larry Nance, Jr. to Portland and a 2nd round pick to the Bulls. Trail Blazers send Derrick Jones, Jr. and a protected 1st round pick to the Bulls.
For the Bulls, it was probably good to get something for Markkanen, who apparently did not want to resign there, but Jones, a protected 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick isn’t much. For the Cavs, they get 5 years younger, 5 inches taller, and a more versatile threat at PF by replacing Nance with Markkanen. Nance provides a stable option at PF for the Blazers and probably fits better with the veteran core and their timetable for contention than Jones does.
i heard an interesting simmons trade idea today. no idea how to make it work but it’s worth mentioning …
Celtics trade Marcus Smart and Nesmith and some draft pick
Celtics get Simmons
Smart transforms the Sixers like Dray would. It’s a great fit. Nesmith is only 6′ 5″ though. I wonder if Morey and Rivers are on the same page with respect to how to make up for the height difference lost when Simmons leaves.
Seems to me that Sixers need to get back veteran height of some sort. I keep thinking Crowder and Bridges should be good enough for Morey. I know I’m probably missing something, but Crowder’s height would be needed in a trade I think.
after 2 days of grueling efforts towards wifi enable-ment,
this is my first post now that I’m back planted in the world of http data transfer …
Since Griffin needs a PG and Maxey looks like he’ll be an excellent one, couldn’t Ingram + Graham garner Simmons + Maxey plus one other player like Thybulle?
The Lakers are trading Marc Gasol to the Grizzlies for a 2024 second round pick and the rights to Wang Zhelin (27-year-old, 7’0″ Chinese player). The Grizzlies will then buyout Gasol, who will, I guess, effectively retire by staying in Spain with his family.
there has to be a good contest going somewhere to see who can
get closest to naming the top 75 best NBA players all time. Apparently
that ‘Official’ list is going out by the league next month.
Here’s the list of the top 50 selected 25 years ago …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Greatest_Players_in_NBA_History
I really think it’s just going to be the same top 50 named 25 years ago
plus another 25. the young guy then was Shaq and I think that sets a
precedent for some young guys now. which young guys? Zion is probably
a top 10 player all time, but he hasn’t played enough games and gets
injured. Jokic is young – is he too young?
Here’s my preliminary list. One issue with it is that I hear people
projecting that Carmelo is a lock for the next 25. He’s not on my
list though, because I don’t think the league’s talent was nearly
as good as now except for several guys that are better than Carmelo.
I think of Kevin Johnson the same way. I don’t know how good
he’d be relative to the more recent talent.
Also, I’m guessing a few players who played earlier in the NBA will be
named. Scottie Pippen is on the top 50 list. Robert Parish. Hmm …
that kind of sets the bar pretty low I think. I’d like to see Connie Hawkins
on there for instance. And Reggie Miller who would kill it today. I’m sure
there are plenty of others that are worthy and as good orbetter than Pippen
and Parish. For instance, was Vlade Divac better than Parish? Dantley?
English? Rodman?
Would be fun to have a discussion about players from the past that
should be on here.
So in no certain order (other than a scrambled chronological order)
this is my list of candidates who I’m going to whittle down …
My Locks are …
Kobe
LeBron
Durant
Curry
Duncan
Iverson
Kidd
Nash
Nowitski
Garnett
Giannis
Ray Allen
Westbrook
Reggie Miller
Chris Paul
Payton
Kemp
Harden
Less sure about these …
Embiid
Kawhi
Jokic
Wade
Connie Hawkins
Petrovic
Divac
Rodman
Pierce
Tatum
Doncic
Trae Young
Lillard
Carmelo
Beal
Tony Parker
Manu Ginobili
Daugherty
Stoudemire
Dantley
English
David Thompson
Ralph Sampson
Zion
Pau Gasol
Zach Randolph
Reggie Lewis
Klay
Dray
Mashburn
Dumars
Goodrich
Westphal
Richmond
Smits
I edited the above because somehow Chris Paul was erased and not added back in. There might be others like that.
I edited it some more. Tatum, Doncic, Klay, Dray, Mashburn, Trae
dumars. goodrich. westphal
damn. i left off payton and kemp and shrempf and tom chambers and Rick Smits.
Connie Hawkins story has been made more available than it was 25 years ago. More
important is all the YouTube footage which clearly shows he would dominate in any
age because of his ease of scoring around the basket, his rebounding, shot blocking
but what I think makes a clear case for him was his passing ability for his size and body
type.
he was a better passer then than Giannis is now. he was better than most guys his size
in history. sure he had issues, but the more important point is how good would he be
if he had grown up without those issues. it’s not like he didn’t play long enough.
He needs to be on the next 25 IMO.
Maybe he didn’t play long enough actually. I guess it was only 7 years. thought it was more.
I think Wade is probably a lock at this point. And unless I’m blind, I don’t see Kyrie or Webber in the “less sure” area and they probably should be. As good as Reggie Lewis was, five good years plus a rookie season where he barely played isn’t going to get him anywhere near the top 75 list. If I was betting, Kawhi would make the top 75 list, but I might not put them there.
Yeah. I’ve been back and forth on this in emails and online post forums and then I just gave up. There just aren’t enough spots for anything to work out objectively. In the end all I know is that McAdoo, Dominique and Payton are getting some love from many places. I don’t hear Reggie Miller’s name enough though – that’s completely wrong to me as his brand of move move move catch shoot a la Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton and now Klay and Booker are the ways of the future NBA. Reggie absolutely deserves to be on this top 75 list IMO.
Regarding Kawhi, he’s a top talent in the history of the league but he has too much left to prove in order to be a lock. I just don’t know if there are enough spots.
Wade is very popular and I expect he’ll be in there, but again … at who’s expense? Some people of note are certain that Carmelo and Vince Carter will be in there. That would suck for the guys who get pushed out because of it.
No idea what to say about Kyrie. Webber I left off simply because I don’t see how he gets on there with so many others deserving. Pau Gasol for instance. Or Divac. Who knows!
And of course Rodman makes it.
Woj is reporting that Ben Simmons not only told the Sixers that he would not report to training camp, but also told them that he would never play another game for them. If Morey lets this situation drag on into camp or worse, the season, he’s going to find the offers decreasing for Simmons.
It’s strange if we don’t hear very soon. Got to believe there’s a deal being done and the details are being ironed out as I type.
also will add that I don’t understand why a good % of teams aren’t extremely interested in Simmons.
Portland seems most obvious. Move both McCollum and Nurkic with Nurk ending up somewhere else.
Suns are probably the best fit but not sure Bridges and say Payne are enough without some height added. Throw in Crowder and Jalen Smith maybe.
Detroit – Cade and Simmons would work as long as Simmons is ok being subservient. He’ll be that everywhere else, so why not Detroit? Jerami Grant to Sixers. Hayes as well. Why wouldn’t Simmons want to play alongside Cade?
Houston is like Detroit – Simmons could actually play PG there – maybe the only team on which he could be the primary ball handler. Like Detroit in that Simmons would be a fool to not want to play alongside Green?
And the Pels. I’m sure Griffin is trying to work Morey somehow.
All to say that I don’t see how Morey is having any trouble right now, but it sure seems to be coming down to the wire. How many more days will he let slip by knowing there’s risk? And by the way, I would have expected the Warriors to announce something like “they’re out of the talks withe the Sixers”. They could have stated that long ago but didn’t and still haven’t.
The Warriors dropped out of it before when the Sixers trade demands were outrageous. If the Sixers get more reasonable, I could see the Warriors start talking with them again. I still don’t like adding Simmons to the Warriors roster, mostly because of Simmons’ reputation for not working hard on his shortcomings. I don’t think that attitude will fly on the Dubs.
If you are the Sixers with championship hopes, you ideally want a good PG in the deal to replace Simmons. There is one team with two really good PGs on the roster. Sacramento. They are probably not giving up Fox, but perhaps they’d give up Haliburton and Buddy Hield (they just drafted Davion Mitchell who’d replace Hield anyway). You may have to add a few more salaries/draft picks to the deal to make it work, but the basics of the deal would be Haliburton and Hield for Simmons. That might be very attractive to the Sixers.
agreed. sac as well, but simmons needs to want to be there. not sure he will – something is definitely wrong with the way the team is run from high up.
Also, it would be almost impossible for the Suns to work out a deal. Even if they traded all four of the players you mentioned, they fall about $7-8 million short of making the salaries work. I don’t see how the Suns could make a deal without including Booker, Paul (who can’t be traded until mid-December) or Ayton (on a sign-and-trade for bigger salary than he has now and Sixers won’t want him anyway with Embiid already on roster).
The Pelicans have a number of options available for a deal with the easiest being trading Ingram in the deal. But they have lesser salaries that could be lumped together to make the salaries match, although such a deal would be less attractive to the 76ers.
It would be almost impossible for the Pistons to deal for Simmons without including Jerami Grant, because they don’t have any high salaries other than his.
I have to image Houston is looking into whether they can trade John Wall (who wants out of Houston) for Simmons. Unfortunately, Wall makes a lot more than Simmons, so Philly would likely have to include Seth Curry for Simmons in the deal, but Houston has a shit-ton of #1 picks that could be used to make a deal work.
Portland has an easy path to a deal since McCollum’s salary matches up well with Simmons in any potential deal. Then it just becomes a question of what other salaries and draft picks to include in the deal.
As I stated … Jerami Grant to the Sixers.
And wrt the Suns … as with all the ideas floating about I’m referring to multi-team deals. Also, I mentioned Payne but they also have Payton and some other PG talent. I’d guess they can get that disparity down below $5M and, as has been mentioned before, once in that range there’s wiggle room with the rules as far as how close one needs to be with salaries matching up.
In any case, I think Morey’s best option is Grant, because I doubt Ingram is going anywhere and McCollum isn’t good enough and really really don’t see Sac trading Haliburton and don’t think Simmons wants to be there.
revising that. best option for morey is probably grant, but then Rockets need to shed Wall who certainly won’t end up in Philly …
what team out there will want to buy out wall in order to get their hands on simmons. heck … too complicated once you go down that road.
the nice thing about the Rockets: not only are they in the West, but Morey would see no threat from the Rockets to have Simmons haunt them in the finals.
Just to note that even in a multi-team deal, if the Suns are bringing in Simmons, they have to send out close to the same amount of salary, no matter where those players are going. That doesn’t seem very viable for them.
Given Simmons’ preference for going to California, the Pistons may be wary of giving up Grant for someone who may turn out to be a malcontent there.
Simmons and agent must be well aware that they can’t choose a small set of teams to play for. And now he’s limited himself by making it clear he won’t be back. He’s in no position to say where he’s going *within reason*. I think Sacramento is an exception though – no one can blame him for saying “no frickin way!”
I realize that the Suns aren’t the most likely, but I do think they’re the best fit. I’m leaning towards Houston as most likely.
With Houston and Wall mutually agreeing to work to find a place to trade him to, that seems like an ideal trade partner for the 76ers, whether Wall goes to the Sixers or to a 3rd team involved in the deal. And while Houston may be bad right now, they’ve got so much draft capital, they can get good in a hurry. Also Houston seems to be a preferred destination for a lot of players because of no state taxes and good (so I hear) strip clubs.
You almost nailed it. Warriors did not say they’re out on a Simmons deal, but owner Joe Lacob did come out and say that he didn’t think Simmons was a good fit with the Dubs. More or less the same thing.
Stephen A. reported on First Take this morning that Nets management was interested in trading Kyrie for Simmons, but that KD wouldn’t allow it. This may explain why Kyrie made it known a few days ago that he would not accept any trade and would retire if traded.
Frankly, a Kyrie for Simmons trade would be a win-win for the Nets and Sixers. The Sixers would get a PG who can shoot and is not afraid of having the ball in his hands in crunch situations. The Nets get one of the best perimeter defenders in the league for a team that needs defensive help and someone who won’t take away shots from KD and Harden. However, KD and Kyrie are buds, so no offer was ever made.
Agreed
So the NBA will not enforce a vaccine mandate for players, however, various jurisdictions can impose vaccine requirements to enter places with large crowds. San Franisco and New York are two places that have such a requirement. That means unvaccinated players cannot enter arenas for games. That is now a problem for the Warriors because apparently Andrew Wiggins is not vaccinated. So unless San Francisco issues an exemption (religious or some other basis) for Wiggins, he will not be able to play home games or games in any other city with a vaccine mandate to enter an arena. This also creates another problem in that some other teams may be unwilling to trade for Wiggins if he remains unvaccinated. Wiggins also is unlikely to be the only player who is creating this conundrum for his team.
i’m not sure what contract language would apply, but hopefully any player who is not vaccinated and therefore cannot enter an arena for a game will lose his game check for that game. Maybe losing money will get these $Wnppl3$kup3r d0Ut$!d30t$t3r knuckleheads to get the damn vaccine.
Stephen A. today on Wiggins…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue_N1Hsx-oE
Excellent sports media. Really enjoyed that!
The Warriors have signed Avery Bradley, Jordan Bell, and Langston Galloway to non-roster, training camp contracts. They will be competing for the 15th spot on the Warriors’ roster. I’m a little surprised that Bradley couldn’t get an actual roster contract from some team, but he’d be a nice fit for the last Warrior roster spot.
In the last week, two NBA teams have hired female play-by-play television announcers, the first two full-time females hired for such an NBA gig. The Bucks hired Lisa Byington, who I know nothing about, other than I’ve read that she’s been doing sideline and announcing work in several different sports in the midwest. The 76ers have hired Kate Scott, who is a Cal grad and has been on local radio here for awhile. She has also done announcing work on basketball (a Warriors all-female one-off, WNBA, Olympics, and Pac-12), football (NFL on the radio and Pac-12), hockey (a Sharks all-female one-off), and soccer (Copa America). A number of these broadcasts were female play-by-play firsts–first woman to broadcast NFL on the radio, first woman to call Pac-12 football games, first woman to do play-by-play for an all-female crew on a Warriors and a Sharks game. I think the Sixers made a great pick, but I wonder if the notoriously unruly Philly fans will warm up to her, both because she is a woman and because she is from California.
Re: Scott …
” I think the Sixers made a great pick, but I wonder if the notoriously unruly Philly fans will warm up to her, both because she is a woman and because she is from California.”
Philly fans are unruly because in general they tend to know the game better than almost any other crowd. And they expect more of course. If she doesn’t know her shit she shouldn’t be there and shouldn’t have accepted the job. I’m guessing she’s pretty awesome and will be recognized for that.
Byington has been everpresent on Sirius XM these past 10 days or so – that’s one of the best features of SiriusXM is that more than 50% of media know everyone: Eddie Johnson, Rick Mahorn, Amin Alhassan, Tim Legler, Reggie Theus, Brian Scalabrine, Frank Isola, Jason Jackson, Justin Termine, Sam Mitchell.
I haven’t listened the past couple days though. I’m sure Kate Scott has been interviews several times.
I’ve really wanted to get you a subscription, but there may be an issue even though you can listen to it on your PC as you do other things.
Problem is that some of the NBA stuff is fluffy crap or just … too cool for school I suppose. The Athletic has/had a reporter named Zach Harper who, although he’s good, he comes from another angle which is in a sense “millennial” at the expense of relevancy. For some reason it seems like Harper is becoming more popular on SiriusXM NBA – not a good trend IMO but maybe it’s so younger white people can feel at home? Lot’s of personal likes/dislikes stuff and not nearly the experience regarding NBA history. I think a lot of these writers try to keep up with Alhassan but no one really can. He’s probably the best we lay people have to Jerry West and Jerry Colangelo when it comes to overall knowledge of just about every facet of the game. And a great memory. Problem is you never know who will be joining him on a program – sometimes that person just needs to shut up but they don’t.
But Harper is known for his writing and I’m guessing a lot of it’s good. Maybe this is just my taste buds being offended. I’ll have to play some of the good snippets for you when I see you next. I need to figure out how to record and then play back. I’ve wanted to do that anyhow.
My comments about Philly fans are usually in contrast to two other types of fans I’ve noticed: Phoenix where the fans really aren’t knowledgeable in general but they are pretty pent up with aggression/machismo. D.C. and Minneapolis and I suppose Clippers (maybe not any more) where the fans are in general fair weather and not really engaged. In general I mean.
I think the problem with Philly fans is that enough of them are so engaged and know so much that tempers run hot.
My comment about notoriously unruly Philly fans has more to do with stupid, presumably drunk, antics, such as: beating up the Redskins mascot, throwing up (intentionally) on a little girl, and throwing snowballs, at Santa. Veterans Stadium in Philly had its own makeshift courtroom and jail to handle incidents during games. I don’t know about how knowledgeable 76ers fans are in general, but Eagles fans lustily booed their selection of Donovan McNabb in the draft. McNabb only went on to become the greatest quarterback in Eagles history.
As for Kate Scott, she definitely knows her stuff. Doubtful that 76ers fans will find that a reason to not like her.
I didn’t exactly need to write what I did, but if I was to make a good point related to this it would come in two parts …
1. there can be fans that are so inappropriately “loud” and even violent that the quieter ones feel threatened and just keep to themselves.
2. There is a level in between smart-quiet and stupid-loud-obnoxious. I think there are a lot of philly fans that fit into that category moreso that other places I’ve been. Smart people who know and love their teams and the history of the league(s), but they’re loud and opinionated and sometimes obnoxious but more as a social norm wrt sports. That norm isn’t unique to Philly, but it’s not very common.
I’ve wanted to include Raiders fans as another example, but I haven’t run across enough of those that were in that middle region to know. Just never got the impression they were that smart actually.
Boston. Chicago. New York have some of the same. I suppose Knicks and Giants fans are similar.
I see that she played Dykstra like a flute. That’s got to get her some props heading into the season …
https://thatballsouttahere.com/2021/09/27/phillies-lenny-dykstra-gets-owned-new-sixers-pxp-kate-scott/
Nice! Dykstra is a huge tool. Looks like he had enough good sense not to continue trying to knock her after Scott clapped back at her.
Whoops. I wrote “I think a lot of these writers try to keep up with Alhassan but no one really can. ”
I meant radio media people, not writers. Arg.
Morey should have announced a deal by now. Or .. how much longer? More than a few days isn’t sensible.
Presumably, given the reporting about Simmons’ threats not to report or play, other teams are trying to buy cheap right now, just like Morey was trying to sell (very) high earlier in the off-season. Don’t know how long it will take to get to a happy medium.
So Simmons’ most recent comment was that he wanted out of Philly because his and Embiid’s style don’t mesh and he didn’t like the Sixers building the team around Embiid’s style. Embiid spoke to reporters today about Simmons. While he said he wanted Simmons back on the team, he also said Simmons’ comments were “surprising,” because the reason the team didn’t bring Jimmy Butler back was so there would be no issue about whose hands the balls should be in. He also said the reason they signed Al Horford was because of his fit with Simmons. Here’s the SI story about it:
https://www.si.com/nba/76ers/news/sixers-joel-embiid-fires-back-ben-simmons-latest-report
This situation just keeps getting worse.
Kyrie Irving is another player who may not be able to play home games this season because of New York’s vaccine mandate. He has apparently refused to get vaccinated thus far. The NBA is refusing to grant religious exceptions to players who are not vaccinated (apparently Wiggins sought one). Teams that are in cities that require vaccines to enter arenas may have big problems.
Boot him! And by the way, I’m not hearing anything about players that are elsewhere (say … Houston) where there is no mandate, but what if that changes and there is a mandate in a couple months or so from now? It seems like sports media should be just as interested in all the players that fall into this category and not just Wiggins and Irving.
Now Beal is acting up. Great.
https://sports.yahoo.com/bradley-beal-who-missed-olympics-in-covid-19-protocols-is-not-vaccinated-201102441.html
First Take this morning on the whole Irving-Wiggins situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhXfFYZ2_8U
Is it true that Wiggins can play in NY and Irving can play in SF?
That makes no sense.
Yeah, apparently the city vaccine mandates only apply to employees of the local businesses, so visiting teams can play unvaccinated players. Incredibly stupid.
from the other thread …
”
Wiggs got the vaccine! Wiggs got the vaccine!
Great that it didn’t take that long really. I like this guy a lot better than I have yet because of this.
“
The NBA has announced that players who miss games because they are unvaccinated but playing in cities with a vaccine mandate will not be paid for those games.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32305199/nba-no-pay-unvaccinated-players-play
I had been expecting/hoping for this to be the case. Maybe the prospect of losing huge game checks will convince Wiggins and Irving to get vaccinated. I also hope that, behind the scenes, players like Steph, Dray, Klay, KD, and Harden are privately urging Wiggins and Irving to get the shot.
As you noted, Wiggins has gotten vaccinated, so he’ll be able to play all home games. So now we’re down to Kyrie. There are other unvaccinated players, but Kyrie is the only one in a city with a vaccine mandate to enter the arena.
The NBA season kicked off tonight. The Warriors have always been known as the 3-pt shooting team, but they have apparently kicked it up a notch. In their 121-107 win over the Blazers, the Dubs took 69 3-pt shots. For references purposes, the record for 3-pt shots attempted in a regular season game is 70. Every single player except Looney attempted a trey and overall, they hit 34.8% of them. After the game, Kerr said “we’re going to take a lot of three-point shots this year.”
WOW
Obviously Kerr wants to mega-spread the floor and use Wiggins, Wiseman and Dray’s high-post ability to pass out and in to cutters and guys coming along the baseline. Still, it only works if you can maintain something like 35% plus.
I gotta think there is also an idea here to get Kuminga more involved, maybe not with the shooting but with all that space he’ll have. Would love to see Kuminga take over Wiggins’ role before mid-season. Unlikely as that is.
Because Kuminga is still raw, I could see the Warriors let him get some playing time in the G-League at the start of the season instead of only getting 10-15 minutes a night in the NBA. Moody is more likely to get minutes early in the season, particularly with Klay probably not returning until December.
With Curry, Poole, Thompson (when he gets back), Lee, Bjelica, Bradley (if he makes the team), and Porter, the Dubs should have no problem averaging better than 35% from 3 during the season.
Right. I wonder what number kerr is looking at as “acceptable” when shooting so many 3s. I would think 37% when shooting 40 or more 3s a game. Still, the more 3s a team takes the less they work on the mid-range game. With Steph and Klay healthy though I guess you’re pretty much set in that department regardless.
Last year, the Warriors averaged 38.7 three point attempts per game, which was fifth in the league after Utah (43), Portland (40.8), Houston (40.6), and Toronto (39.7). The Rockets have averaged better than 40 3-pt attempts per game every years since the 2016-17 season. The Mavs are the only other team to average more than 40 and that was in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. Obviously, this is increasingly a strategy that teams have employed. Although the Rockets have been doing this for awhile, they’ve never shot better than 36% while doing it and are usually in the 33-35% area. Utah and Portland, meanwhile, were shooting 39% from 3 last year. The Warriors have consistently shot at better than 38% except for the COVID season when they were without Curry and Thompson for most of the season.
This year’s Warriors roster has Curry (lifetime 43% deep shooter), Klay (42%), Porter (40%), Bjelica (39%), Toscano-Anderson (39%), Mulder (38%), Galloway (37%), Lee (36%), Bradley (36%), Moody (36% in college), and Poole (35% last year). This is easily the deepest shooting roster that they have ever had. I suspect that the Dubs will easily average more than 40 3s per game this year and probably average better than 38% while doing so.
Right. But in volume as a plan you force some of those shots rather than taking them when they’re ‘good’. If you’re shooting this much more will likely not be good percentage wise.
If Kerr wants to lead the league in attempts he needs to have an eye on that % which will likely be less than 38%. Until Klay gets back;-)
I’ll revise this a bit to say that until we know how many 3PA per game it’s hard to guess, but if the number Kerr is going for is better than say 37% on 50 3PA per game then it seems very possible. Might as well try.
Looks like Simmons is turning up the heat on the 76ers. He put his Philly luxury apartment up for sale. How much longer can Morey let this go on? He is probably not going to get maximum value for Simmons, but it seems like the longer this goes on, the return will just get smaller.
Apparently the Sixers and Simmons’ agent are working on easing the tensions between Simmons and the team. My guess is that in return for Simmons reporting and playing for the Sixers, the team is promising to work a deal for him where their back is not against the wall and can get a better return for him.
That makes sense. Can you explain how that might go? Let’s say Blazers will do MacCollum + Covington.
maybe the discussion is “let’s wait until Dec 15th to get you where you want to be, and give us a better return”
something like that maybe?
That sounds about right. A lot of the trade restrictions will be expiring then.
Obviously this is still early, but apparently the Suns and Ayton have hit a stalemate in extension talks because Ayton wants a max extension and the Suns don’t want to give him that much. Ayton has been a solid double-double guy and defender all 3 years of his career and is the rare big man who can hit his free throws. The flip side is that he can’t shoot the 3, so he can’t play as a stretch 5 and he is not a great passer. So worth the max extension or not? I feel like they probably have to give it to him because there are not a lot of centers in the league who do what he does.
I think just posturing by both sides. Ayton wouldn’t be a likely all-star this year without williams and chris paul. He owes the suns entirely for his success so far, and considering he fucked them for 25 games when taking some illegal substance … I’m guessing he’s fine with whatever the suns want within reason, and that it’s his agent who is just playing the game, maybe because it makes his player look better in some way. People will be pushing hard for Ayton to get an all star bid this year and he’ll probably get close to it. Maybe his agent thinks this makes him look like one of the big boys.
Los Angeles enacted a vaccine mandate today (to begin November 4th) that will require a vaccine in order to enter most businesses. I haven’t heard yet if that would prevent unvaccinated players from entering Staples to play a game. That may not matter though as I’ve read that all Clippers and Lakers players are vaccinated or will be by the time the season begins.
If you want to read another example of why the Warriors have the best management, read this story about Bob Myers reaction to the Draymond-KD podcast interview that blew up a few weeks back.
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/why-bob-myers-draymond-green-havent-discussed-kevin-durant-interview
Myers clearly gets it. I knew there would be no overreaction from him about it like there would be on some other teams.
Looks like things are getting sticky in Brooklyn. The Nets announced that they will not allow Kyrie to practice or play with the team, even on road games where he would be allowed, until he is able to participate in all games. So either Kyrie would have to get vaccinated or New York would have to drop its vaccine mandate. I have not seen this confirmed, but I assume that this means Kyrie would not get paid at all until he is eligible to play. I imagine that they may cause some kind of league-union arbitration hearing because Kyrie would be technically eligible to play in any city except New York, i.e., all road games except against the Knicks. So would the Nets be allowed to not play AND not pay him for road games? This looks like it may get ugly.
I also wonder how Kyrie’s teammates really feel about this. The rest of them got vaccinated. The Nets did not impose a vaccine mandate, the city of New York did. If Kyrie ends up playing zero or (if allowed) the 39 non-New York road games, will teammates continue to support Kyrie? Sure, they are verbally supporting him now, but if his absence hurts the Nets’ record or playoff chances, will they feel the same? KD just signed a max extension, so he is in for the long haul, but Harden can opt out after the season. Will he decide that he can’t hang with Kyrie and opt out? And what happens if Kyrie sits out the season? Kyrie also is technically eligible to opt out after this season, but if he doesn’t play, does he lose his opt out eligibility and, if not, does Kyrie decide to opt out and go somewhere where there is no vaccine mandate? Lots of questions that need to be answered.
Still think a Kyrie for Simmons swap makes a lot of sense.
I think the problem here will be KD. Not only has he shown uber-loyalty to Kyrie but he isn’t exactly the most objectively minded individual. And he’s a bit of a problem himself at times. If it weren’t for KD I’m guessing Nash and/or Marks could just draw the line and maybe trade him or just not play him at all. I doubt they can do that because of KD.
KD needs to convince Kyrie to get the fucking vaccine. Someone needs to make Kyrie realize that whatever guides his decisions isn’t showing loyalty to KD the way KD is to him. Somehow he needs to be shown how outrageously selfish he’s being.
Hard to believe we’re discussing a successful adult here.
Kyrie did an IG Live session yesterday. Here’s some of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hSTXcNeZw
I don’t know how much more there was as the video seems to start mid-sentence and I’m unclear if the end is when he stopped. Nonetheless, there is 8+ minutes of Kyrie attempting to explain his position. He doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I want to focus on one thing he said.
Somewhere in the middle, Kyrie said he wasn’t hurting anyone. In reality, he doesn’t know that. If Kyrie had COVID at some point and didn’t know it because he had minimal or no symptoms, how many people did he infect who suffered or died? Kyrie’s statement simply further confirmed to me that he is only concerned with himself and not the greater good of his fellow humans.
he’s such a disappointment.
i just found out that my favorite argument for getting the vaccine isn’t very powerful, and that’s because it’s already been fake newsed.
it’s been proven that some of us can become super-spreaders of the virus such that we spread it around the community a magnitude or more than the average person with covid and covid symptoms. possibly more than just a couple magnitudes more. and there’s no way to know who *can* become a super-spreader. could be you!
if you’re vaccinated there’s such a little chance of this though. this is the best reason to get vaccinated in my opinion.
but it doesn’t matter that I know this or that i can make a very convincing argument when millions of people are out there saying something as simple as “not true” without any evidence whatsoever.
what in the hell is kyrie doing? he’s a dangerous fool because he’s influencing a lot of people. think what a great influence he could be if he simply came out and said he changed his mind. like wiggins.
Stop the presses!
Check out ‘Poku’ at 1:48, 2:08 and 2:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Hp8kH0YYo&t=48s
Pretty good moves for a seven-footer.
Great article about Kyrie except …
“obviously one of the smartest and most thoughtful players in the NBA”
I’m not sure where this comes from. “Thoughtful” might get a pass depending on your definition, but “smartest”?
Have you heard that one before? Not that he’s stupid, but I think it’s pretty easy to pick at least 50 players currently playing that are smarter.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/10/15/22727896/kyrie-irving-nets-vaccine-holdout-brooklyn-nets
I don’t doubt that Kyrie is smart. He’s been a ranking member of the player’s union for years dealing with various labor agreement issues. That takes some degree of intelligence. But he’s also paranoid and self-absorbed and increasingly seems to be letting those aspects of his personality dominate over his intelligence.
meh. so he’s smart. one of the “smartest” in the league?
no
Season starts Tues! I thought Weds.
https://www.espn.com/nba/scoreboard
Warriors/Lakers after Bucks/Nets? Incredible starting lineup.
I’ll still aim for Weds though. And all 3 games on Thurs look great as well.
https://www.espn.com/nba/scoreboard/_/date/20211021
Those three days should be a great kickoff.
I’d like to see Suggs first game as a pro. I might try to get League Pass in time to watch that.
The Suns and Mikal Bridges have agreed to a 4-year, $90 million extension. That’s about $22.5 mil per year, so not a max extension, but still a big bump for Bridges. Good to see the Suns keeping their core intact. Now if they can only get Ayton extended.
I’m a day late writing down this prediction: Simmons will intentionally cause issues a la Butler in Minnesota
I don’t think that prediction was far fetched at all, but since he’s been back in Philly all I’ve heard on SiriusXM is that the return likely means they’re going to try and make it work in Philly after all.
I never thought that for a minute. And based on what you wrote I doubt you did as well. Here are my thoughts …
It never made sense for Simmons to break off ties completely while waiting it out on the west coast. And that’s because as long as he did that there was no way to place much blame on Morey for the lack of trade action. Therefore Morey, while he needed to get something done, didn’t need to feel pressure that he was somehow the main problem. Clearly Simmons is and has been the main problem.
I’m assuming that Simmons and agent (or confidant) talked and concluded it would be best for him to go back and turn up the heat such that if nothing gets done soon the blame will become at least 50% Morey’s. And now that Simmons has already become an irritant in just a few days back, Morey simply has no choice but to get something done for fear of screwing up the entire season. Of course now it will be harder than ever since I’m guessing not many GMs and coaches even want that guy’s attitude on their team.
He’s sure as hell no Butler who actually does have a great attitude. Makes me think it would have to be a team like the wolves, kings or rockets willing to take a chance. I assume he’ll go west anyhow.
I’m guessing you wrote that before Simmons was suspended for the season opener by Doc Rivers for “conduct detrimental to the team.” That happened after Simmons refused several times to take part in a drill during practice, so Rivers threw him out of the practice. Apparently, Embiid and Simmons have not talked to each other since Simmons returned and Embiid said today that it is not his job to babysit his teammates. Simmons trade value is dropping fast.
Guess it is time for the new season thread. Here’s some questions for the new season:
1. Can the Bucks repeat? They return all their key players, but benefitted from injuries to Harden and Irving in the playoffs last year.
2. Are the Suns for real? No one expected them to be that good last year. CP3 is another year older, but Ayton and Booker should be in their primes.
3. Can the Lakers overcome their league-high age and can LBJ and Westbrook co-exist?
4. Can the Nuggets or Jazz finally break through in the playoffs? Both have been very good regular season teams, but keep getting knocked out in the playoffs.
5. With the addition of solid deep shooters like Bjelica, Porter, and Iggy, the continuing emergence of Poole, the return of Klay, and the drafting of Moody, will the Warriors go 3-point crazy?
6. Can the Nets survive a vaccine-less Kyrie? Will Kyrie play this year?
7. Can the 76ers survive the on-going Simmons mess? How long till Ben gets traded? Where does Ben get traded to?
8. Did the Clippers screw up with the Kawhi-PG pairing? Is this a championship team that everyone was expecting or just another Clipper disappointment?
9. Who will be the first young star (Luka, Trae, Tatum) to get to the finals?
10. Will last year’s surprising Knicks take another step forward with the additions of Kemba and Fournier?
Creating the new thread right now
new season thread here …
https://everphase.net/2021/10/21/2021-2022-regular-season/