2023-24 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

don't want wood. he's very skilled offensively but can't play a lick of defense to save his life. would much rather have someone like plumlee or biyombo

 

Those contracts for players who's in league only for 2-3 years are getting out of hands...

 

we don't know about everything here. lots of those rumors were fan/media speculation, and i'd be willing to bet teams were trying to fleece portland precisely because lillard had already been making noise about his situation before the draft. for example, there were already reports that ingram was off the table for the #3 pick, same with bridges, i think.

right; my issue isn't that lillard wants out. the situation wasn't going anywhere. i tend to believe portland tried to move the #3 and couldn't find anything that justified it, so everybody can just move on. my issue is that a lot of the positive sentiment about lillard was that he was portland's dirk nowitzki. he's most definitely not that. but he tried to act the part for several years before just doing exactly what all the villains do.

so my point is IF you liked lillard because he was built different, you shouldn't anymore. he's built the same. if you just liked his game or his rapping or whatever, you're still on solid ground! but he's not a martyr. he said he was for years, then started suggesting that maybe the martyr thing sucked, then checked all the way out.

maybe kd was a step too far, but i was pointing out just how bad this is--it's worth discussing with league's most ubervillain of the moment. i hated kd's (and lebron's first move to miami) for the same reasons you do. but that's different to me. both guys were cowardly, imo, but they acted well within their rights to choose their destination using the rules they agreed to when they signed a contract. the fans and media have never forgiven AD for demanding a trade to the lakers because people say he violated these principles. at least he actually had the threat of walking legitimately, though. he didn't sign an extension.

i have questions about whether taking on a contract you probably wouldn't have used your space on in addition to two and a half picks of very uncertain value (miami's history suggests they'll be mid-to-late firsts, all) is actually much better than losing someone in FA. and it's definitely worse than what an actually competitive market for the player would yield. hell, the most recent kd trade, under similar circumstances, yielded much more for a very similarly valuable player.

 

it's ok. he can demand a trade to us for dlo and some future picks.

yeah, like other attempts to help small markets, i think the supermax is having the opposite effect. teams can't afford to build around these guys and end up having to sell them off for pennies on the dollar, talent-wise.

 

Signing a deal doesn't make a difference. Look at Lillard. If he wants to be here, he'll get here.

 

The league has changed. Take Brown in Boston. Conventional wisdom says they may part ways. But, he'll probably re-up for the max. Brown gets his money, and it only takes a few months for him to be on the trade block, and already locked in for more years.

Players run the league, plain and simple.

 

funny thing is that despite my complaining about lillard in this thread, i'm ok with players trying to influence their own outcomes with whatever power they have. my lillard issue is that you don't get to criticize and act like you're different when you're the same. this is my annoyance.

also: portland doesn't HAVE to do what he wants. san antonio didn't do what kawhi wanted, and their reputation is fully intact.

semi-related side note: it does warm my heart to hear that lillard explicitly said no to boston. lol.

 

Big man update: listening to Irwin's pod and he's heard that internally they're debating between Mo and TT.

Now maybe if one of the bigger names is still there when the other more lucrative openings are filled, maybe that changes.

If it's between those two, I'll take TT. I think Mo is better, but Tristan offers up more weight, a different look, brings something to the locker room, and mentorship. Mo doesn't do that.

 

Yeah we already have our upside bet on Hayes. Would rather have TT too

 

Suns out of roster spots probably factored in

 

I agree with all of this. The Leonard point is exactly what I was referencing earlier. Portland doesn't have to trade him to Miami "just because".

 

Why turn down more to stay there? That's a mistake with the big market this summer.

 

He has a girl in the area. Has to be.

 

Don’t forget, Summer League action today at 3:00 PST, on ESPN2!!!

 

Maybe he just wants a chance to use those special toilets in the new arena before he moves on? That alone is worth the pain of playing for a Franchise that nobody really cares about.

 

gotta love toilet smack

5 mil, I hope he can suffer through life. Sometimes living and playing where you want mean more than additional millies

 

Yeah, I feel sorry for him. With inflation being the way it is, he can only afford one new McLaren and one new 50 foot yacht.

 

turning down more money to stay with the clippers? yikes

 

On Thompson vs Bamba, I agree that while Bamba’s upside is intriguing, we may need someone a bit more reliable and experienced considering Hayes is also a question mark. So I’d probably give the edge to Thompson. I think he showed he has more in the tank than we initially anticipated, he’s still only 32 years old.

Plus he can teach Hayes how it’s possible to sleep around/cheat with influencers WITHOUT roughing them up or getting in legal trouble! You can be a bad person off the court and still be a good locker room presence!

I think of our remaining realistic minimum targets though, Biyombo might be our best bet. Also a steady veteran, but brings much better shot blocking.