2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

Trading for Russ in the first place. Letting Caruso walk.

Those were the catastrophic moves that led us to this point, and fans are justified in being upset about them.

But that’s water under the bridge. I still don’t think there is much that we could have done since then to put ourselves in a significantly better position.

Trading Russ and a first for John Wall last year wasn’t going to help (and in fact would have been terrible). Signing a different assortment of castoffs with our limited free agency options wasn’t going to make a big difference (I still think all things considered we did a decent job in free agency, there weren’t any “shooters” out there coming for the minimum).

Since this summer, it’s been established that other teams were playing hardball and unfairly demanding both picks in Russ trade negotiations. Seemed like most fans were on board that we shouldn’t succumb and make a bad deal just to make a deal, and that our picks were valuable and too risky to gamble upon unless in a homerun deal. So sure, if we did give up the picks for Hield and Turner we probably have a much better record right now. But it’s just as possible that we’re just as mediocre or that Turner gets hurt and leaves in free agency, and then we’re just as upset and screaming “Why did Rob mortgage the future, we’re screwed for a decade!”

So sure maybe punting was always the plan and it sucks that they “lied” to the fans… but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong plan.

Extending Rob was foolish… but if he stands pat despite the public pressure AND actually learned from his mistakes and pivots to a more conservative/long-term team building philosophy, I’ll actually have some hope.

 

lebron hasn't played like top-end talent at all. i'm not convinced we're wasting anything.

exactly.

oh yes. where are the shooting saviors that were available for what we had to offer. quite frankly, we knocked FA out of the park without schroder even having played yet!

no, we complain about the now with no past nor future as context. this is what we do.

the fact that we HAVEN'T moved all the picks to triple down on ancient lebron is the only reason i have for optimism, tbh. feel like rob learned his lesson and isn't playing those games anymore. and yes, that means short-term pain. perhaps extreme pain.

 

There is no will on this team. If you say to anyone that you have Lebron @ SF, Anthony Davis at PF/C and Russell at guard, very little time missed by the big 3 so far and you can't rise above being 1/2 game out of dead last 10 games into the season, in the entire league, then anyone could tell you that you have something inherently wrong that is not talent related. Maybe AD has given up, maybe he doesn't want to play with LBJ anymore maybe he's just so concerned about his body these days that contending is out of the question. He may look alright on the court but we don't know what's up off-court right now.

At this point a blowup is ok with me, we are sitting nicely on remaining draft picks with only 1 FRP lost going forward. Also Pel's have the right to swap FRPs with us this year so tanking isn't going to do anything. Under no circumstances extend either AD or LBJ and maybe that will be enough to cause them to force a trade. Both can of course still play but for how long and how often? When AD took this last extension rather than wait out his contract so he could be resigned at the highest tier, he said it straight up was because he is worried about his body.

Remember it isn't just about what they are doing on the court, it's also what they are doing or not doing in the locker room.

 

So he's basically saying that the alleged deal is all pipe in Pelinka's head. It's Kobe saying "If you build it, they will come Rob"

 

Out of the top 20, the only ones who could possibly shake loose in best case scenario...
-KD
-Embiid (starting to see reporters floating the idea of them shopping him this summer)
-Dame
-Beal

Considering we've already targeted Dame and Beal when we settled for Russ, I don't think they're a "mystery star. "

 

feel like it's durant, but it doesn't surprise me at all that they're hoping to swing big. i'm not a big-swing fan, but it's definitely the organizational philosophy, and it's worked pretty well for the most part.

my guess is we don't get the guy, but we'll probably find out who and why by next summer.

anyway, agree with beck that it doesn't matter--the deals on the table so far just weren't worth doing. maybe the big prize shows up. it probably doesn't. but at least you're not out of things for 5 years.

 

sounds like he's not saying that. like maybe it's someone people aren't expecting.

i'm going to vomit, but...harden?

 

Agh..Harden....so does he fit better than Russ? I mean would he fit with LeBron? He can be a Kyrie/D Wade type right?

Lonnie and Russ and 2 FRP for Harden and Maxey.?

 

It's likely not the obvious choices.

 

I’ve been thinking for a while that two “mystery stars” that may surprisingly become available behind the scenes would be Beal or Lillard.

They have massive contracts, so I could see their respective teams realizing they’re not going anywhere and look to get some major cap relief and draft compensation. Russ + 2 unprotected firsts may actually be a competitive offer compared to what other offers those teams could get on the trade market.

The thing is… I’m not sure if I pull the trigger. If it’s a mid-season trade, our season is likely too far gone by the time such a trade could develop.

Sure those players may be significantly better fits around Lebron and AD, so you’d probably be able to build a more competitive team next year… but how much more competitive? As pointed out, this revolving core of veteran minimum players around an aging Lebron just doesn’t seem like it’s going to be able to get it done.

 

lol they hang up hard. harden would only be available because maxey's been so good for them.

russ/bev/nunn/1st for harden/harris? they basically clear a max for next summer in the deal.

i hate it, of course; just thinking "big".

yeah, that's what i'm thinking.

agree on all of it. feel like those are the two, but both guys haven't been quiet about wanting to stay in place (this, of course, can change) and the move would have to happen like, yesterday, to help.

 

A deal has to be thought of as a long term move. Not just this season. If you can bring in guys who help then you do it and start righting the ship.

while I kind of role my eyes at the thought of chasing another star as that’s what got us here with Russ, I do like hearing more acknowledgment that there’s more potential deals out there than just Indiana. Feel like that deal is brought up as if it’s the only trade we can make. The front office should be working the phones and examining any moves that improve the team.

If they don’t we will be right back here with a bunch of mediocre off-season signings and another round of excuses for why the roster is bad.

 

The mystery player may not even be a third star. It could be a replacement 2nd star for AD. If the player is that good, he would likely be worthy of more than just WB and picks.

 

Agreed completely

 

Could be someone like Giannis, Trae Young, Tatum, etc.

 

We’d need a star to force their way here. Even then just don’t see it.