2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

this was always the danger of any dlo trade. for a lot of his career, lebron has wanted his teams to get pgs, and for a lot of his career, AD has wanted his team to get centers. both guys' teams have seemed interested in not doing that because they felt those two are better in those roles.

at this point, i'm not sure where exactly to turn to replace dlo's ballhandling and playmaking. i don't think sexton is the answer (he can do it, but he's really a ballhandling sg), but he's the only guy out there right now.

rui/jhs/wood for sexton/kessler still works, salary wise and frees up a roster spot. just don't know how much blood danny would want to extract and whether finishing 7th instead of 9th is worth that at this point.

 

welcome to the site!

i think offensively, vuc is really talented and does everything we would want in a center, including passing. his defense isn't as bad as people say, imo, but we'd take a hit there. his game also doesn't suit jj's preferred defensive schemes, it seems. though i'd argue that jj maybe needs to shift his thinking there (we can't switch that much; teams know how to punish that when you've got weak links).

it will be interesting to look back after all the dust settles and see where our priorities were heading up to the trade deadline this year. i feel like there are plenty of centers on the market within our price range, but we haven't moved on any. is that negotiating tactics or is it because we don't think it's a primary need?

 

I just don't see much value in a center that can fit okay next to AD sure, but is a poor option to man the 5 while AD is on the bench. You're just asking for those groups to be atrocious defensively with our already lacking perimeter defenders.

 

who's atrocious defensively? valanciunas or vucevic probably works as well or better in non-AD minutes than any of our current center options (hayes, koloko, lebron, rui, dfs) on the defensive end. and they're leagues better offensively than hayes or koloko.

i think the narrative that you can't defend with lumbering centers is false. plenty of teams make it work. and you're right--you do it by having good team defenders at the other spots.

if AD sat and you ran

vuc or jv/DFS/lebron/reaves/vando or max, i think that's a credible defensive unit.

you could also sub gabe in for reaves or max/vando and still be solid enough, imo.

 

Vucevic provided 22 points (10-16 FG, 1-2 3Pt, 1-2 FT), 15 rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal across 35 minutes during Tuesday's 119-113 loss to the Pelicans.

It was the 25th double-double of the season for the veteran center, tying him for sixth in the NBA
Over his last 14 games he's averaging 18.9 points, 11.0 boards, 3.4 assists and 1.7 threes.
He's averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds this season
And he barely misses game due to injuries which is huge in load management b*******
Just do it, Rob
What is wrong with you