2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I mostly love this idea, but I'd rather go for Peyton Watson or Tari Eason over Keon Ellis personally and have Dort at the POA and either Watson or Eason at the wing. I feel like we could get a S&T done with Houston for Eason pretty easily, considering they already have a ton of talented young players on their roster and could get a valuable First for trading Eason.

Granted, doing that would be a bit of an "all in" move alongside drafting this year's First, trading the '31 for Dort and an OKC pick.

That said, if we can still do it by then, I'd love to draft Morez Johnson Jr. at #23 after securing Mara first with the OKC pick. Recreate that Double Big frontcourt from Michigan and swap in Eason or Watson at the 3 in lieu of Lendeborg.

 

that’s what that 4th quarter was in the Heat/Wizard game

 

This morning I heard a replay of a guy who was there for Wilt’s 100 point game. I’d heard the interview years ago. Originally I thought “man, what a hater” as the guy basically said the game was a farce and they forced Wilt the ball, made dumb fouls and even the other team helped him get the record. Now, I completely get it.

If that guy watched what we saw last night then he was 100% correct and my apologies to him.

 

Same group of media types calling our championship a Mickey Mouse ring want us to respect this.

 

….. and 100% that was NOT the way Kobe got his 81 OR his 60 in his last game. Those weren’t bogus either.

 

After last night, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see someone beat Wilt's record in the next few years doing exactly what Bam did to get to 83 and what Wilt apparently did in his 100 point game.

Kinda makes me feel ill thinking about that though...

 

I'd flip those assignments. Dort has about 20 pounds on Watson despite being 4 inches shorter. Watson is better defending guards and lankier wings than he is guarding the bigger wings, whereas Dort's whole thing is the physicality.

As for Eason, I think Jabari Smith might end up being the guy that becomes available rather than Eason. They can slide KD to the 4 and start Eason who's both the better spot-up shooter and perimeter defender IMO. Jabari has a more expansive offensive game IMO, but I'm not sure they need that as much around the Amen/KD/Sengun trio. I saw someone on Reddit propose Vando + 2 firsts for Jabari, which I thought was interesting. Udoka is one of the few coaches that might actually want to play Vando significant minutes since he's obsessed with defense. Jabari would slot in as our starting 4 and be something like a more mobile Rui.

 

wizards seemed to at least be trying their best to stop him. they were triple teaming him at the end

but not much they can do when the heat kept fouling in the backcourt to get the ball back

 

You bring up a fair point on Dort and Watson. Still I have a really hard time seeing Dort at the 4 considering his height is 6'4", even with his physicality. He's way more of a natural 2 or 3 IMO.

I think Eason's probably easier to flip due to his RFA status and his health issues could be a potential point of concern for Houston re-signing him long term. But I certainly wouldn't say no to us trading for Jabari Smith Jr.

That said, if we do go after Dort on Draft Night in the way that Showtime and I have been speculating, we'd only have one remaining First left afterwards to trade- which is another reason I could see Eason being an easier target for us than Jabari; he's likely got a lower price tag from Houston.

 

Lakers were losing to Toronto by 18 points in second quarter when Kobe set his record,our best second player in the game was... awesome Smush lol
Bam yesterday played entire second half and was substituted only for last minute after he got 83 points.
So congrats on your record,but it wasn't good

 

f*** Heat Culture.

 

see that’s the s*** I didn’t like. The fouling in the backcourt. If it’s gonna happen let it happen. But in the flow of the game. Not like that. This was a force.

 

Kobe’s game was beautiful. Bam’s was a free throw contest.

I’ll take it there. Kobe got 60 points through 3 Quarters against Dallas and Phil sat him. Kobe could’ve shattered that record. But they didn’t put him in the game.

I honestly thought Klay could’ve done it. 60 through 3 Kerr sat him.

coaches have sat guys. There’s a respect for the game. We can always just force feed guys the ball and stop games. We can just hack players and slow the game down.

you don’t think Luka can get 92 in a game.

props to Bam he did the thing. But this s*** was comical. You had guys who shouldn’t be in the league attempting to play defense. It’s like all of us guarding Bam. Like dude really you want it that bad?

to me kind of has a Hank Aaron Barry Bonds feel. Like the moment will always be Hank Aaron running through Fulton county stadium and those two white guys running on the field to greet him breaking Babe Ruth’s record. even though Bonds broke it.

like the moment will always be Kobe against Toronto. the wave to the crowd. The way he did it. Even though Bam did what he did.

 

Small update on the ACC tournament; I just found out that Ngongba is apparently going to miss the tournament due to "right foot soreness."

So that's a bummer, as I would've liked to have been able to watch him in person to try and assess him as a potential draft option for us. Guess I'll focus on Cam Boozer for obvious reasons and some of the other guys like Dame Sarr as a potential 2nd Round pickup for us on the wing instead.

 

Well I don't think he'd really be at the 4, he'd just be our wing defender. Luka would be our low-man/helper, which is the defensive role he's best in and most associated with the 4. Watson would be the second tallest guy on the court so I guess he'd be the 4, but would be more of a point of attack defender. Luka would be the 3rd tallest guy so I guess the 3, but he likes to be listed as a guard rather than a forward but also works best as low-man/helper. The defensive roles and positions don't always align neatly - those CP3/Booker Suns teams would use CP3 as a low-man/helper and he was their point guard.

Houston is one of the most interesting teams of the offseason IMO, I'm very curious as to what path they take. I'm assuming they go out in the first, maybe second round and now SA is looking like a juggernaut in their backyard. A year ago Amen was getting hyped as one of the ascending superstars of the league, I think his stock is down quite a bit with the experiment of him as a primary ballhandler not working out at all. Are they trying to go all-in on KD's remaining timeline? If so, I think it does make sense to move Jabari rather than Eason. I think KD and Jabari together are a bit redundant. But if they're trying to be relatively patient building around Amen and Sengun, I'd keep Jabari as I like him as a 4 next to Sengun.

 

Ah, fair point. Yeah, that could work then, I suppose.

I think you bring up good points, but IMO if Houston tries to move off of Jabari, they're probably not making that trade with us if we do the hypothetical Dort trade on Draft Night first, since I don't think a single First would be enough to get Jabari. But I think it could be enough for Tari Eason, and that could be a good addition to Houston's war chest if they want to make a "Win Now" move to trade for Giannis and have an extra First to send to Milwaukee.