DOOMSDAY:Cookin The Tears Of The Oposition

i'm still trying to wrap my mind around the gamble they made in that zubac trade. they have basically a 50/50 shot of handing over the 6th pick in the draft this year to the clippers. i just don't think i do that for zubac. i suppose if your scouts are certain that there's a big drop after 5, but that's not what most people are saying.

imagine going through this tank job and your prize isn't a lotto pick, but rather...zubac (for whom you also paid ANOTHER first round pick AND your recent lottery pick).

baffling stuff.

 

Clippers always getting bailed out for some reason

 

in this case i'll just call it good management for them and a bit of recklessness from indiana. i get that they weren't going to keep mathurin, and that RFAs don't have a ton of trade value, but they could have gotten something just for him, imo. add in that you've traded two first round picks on top of it, including one that could be 6 or 7 in a stacked draft...yikes. keep in mind that if the pick doesn't convey, it becomes a 2031 unprotected pick. that's five years from now. the pacers haven't had consecutive 50-win seasons in the last 20+ years. you'd have to go back to the 94-96 seasons to find that.

iow, one of those 2029 or 2031 (or this year's pick) is going to be a good one. zubac is 28, so not old, but also has reasonably reached and probably passed his peak as a player. now, i do like his contract for his production, but as a non-shooter, he definitely makes indiana have to change up their formula (which worked really well!).

just seemed like a super weird move to me for them and kind of a no-brainer for the clippers. i'd have done it for less!