Luol Deng Discussion: No #Dengdump, Rather Stretched Into Cash

I can no longer eat food prepared upon a griddle.



and it was so savory too

 

hahaaahhahahahahaha!!!!!!

 

He was 3/4 of the season behind on Kuzma too.

 

I wouldn't give up Hart (and obviously not Kuz) to unload Deng. Zubac or T. Bryant have little tangible value beyond an obligatory throw-in. Realistically it'd take two 1st round picks to unload Deng. Unless some team hires Isiah Thomas as General Manager, they're not going to spend that much of ownership $ for one 1st round pick.

 

Heard from who exactly?

 

No one. I never said I heard it from anyone. I've been relaying my opinion on what I think is realistic for another team to absorb the awfulness that is Deng.

You said "Most of what I've heard" so I thought you heard things from multiple sources and most of them said a 1st, 2 2nds, and a Zubac or Bryant would be enough. So I was just curious, given I've really heard nothing myself, where your info was coming from. It was just a question, not a sarcastic shot at your stance.

 

Did Pincus say which team(s) he felt would do such a deal in terms of taking on Deng for a 1st, two 2nds and Zu/TB? Sure he is being logical in a vacuum but obviously takes two to tango and just curious who feels are logical trade partners.

The closest comparison I have for my stance would be the Raptors salary-dumping DeMarre Carroll and the 2 years 30.2M left on his deal on to the Nets just last summer. They gave up a 1st and a 2nd to do so. Now one would say "Ok then, the Lakers should pay a similar price with a 1st and 2nd". Well, not exactly. Carroll wasn't coming off the best season with Toronto (8.9ppg 3.8rpg 1.0apg) but he at least played and started 72 games and most could see his issues had more to do with being a poor fit offensively in Toronto than anything to do with his skill, or a lack thereof. He went on to be a quality player for the Nets as a full-time starter this season (13.5ppg 6.6rpg 2.0apg), so they clearly acquired him as a player and not just an unwanted contract attached to picks. Deng is older, more expensive and far less useful as a player unless some GM has fond memories of days past. This is why I think it'd take 2 1sts because of the gap between Carroll/Deng.

Another example is from 2013 when the Jazz took on the contracts of Richard Jefferson (1 year 11M left), Andris Biedrins (1 year 9M left) and Brandon Rush (1 year 4M left) and got 5 picks. Two 1st rounders and 3 2nd rounders - which is the deal that allowed Golden State to get Andre Iguodala. This was only 1 year 24M and they got that haul. The Jazz knew the Warriors were desperate to unload and took advantage of it. Everyone knows the Lakers are freeing up cap space and that hurts their leverage in a similar fashion.

Of course I understand these aren't exact examples but if Pincus' defense is challenging someone to find an example of a team trading two 1sts to unload a 2 year deal, my retort is finding an example of a team taking just a 1st, two 2nds and a lackluster young talent for a player that matches Deng right now in terms of contract size, player age and player production. There probably aren't examples of either so really it just comes down to this being a unique situation.

I think there is more leverage from teams willing to absorb a bad contract because there aren't many teams with cap space and there are a good number of teams who'd love to unload contracts (whether to increase cap space or reduce payroll due to tax concerns).

If it ends up costing just a 1st, two 2nds and Zu/TB, great. I just don't believe that personally. Assuming the Lakers even do a straight salary-dump for Deng. Personally I think it's more likely that if he is dumped, it's via the stretch provision OR even a deal more akin to the Mozgov dump is more likely in my eyes.

 

Brooklyn also absorbed the majority of Allen Crabbe's ludicrous contract and got no picks back.

 

Crabbe was my Fantasy Basketball Finals MVP. Last 4 games he averaged 25.5ppg 5.3rpg 3apg, shot 56.1% overall and made a ridiculous 23 threes. But yeah, in terms of the whole season, he certainly didn't justify his contract whatsoever. The Blazers were crazy to match it and lucked out big time they were able to unload it after 1 season.

Even after taking on the contracts of Crabbe, Moz, Carroll in salary dumps, they are still looking at having some cap space this summer. Just saying, it might be worth it to float a phone call their way regarding Deng.

 

If we have to give up too much I don't mind waiting till trade deadline, Ofcourse depending on how the off-season goes because if a crap team is out of the playoff race then they only tackle on one full year of Deng.

 

This will go down as the most uselesss contract in sports...the guy ate himself out of shape the first day he signed his deal lol Kupcrap...idiot