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

I’m really bummed about all the injuries to end the season but let’s see if can win a series in the playoffs. Draft wise, I’m starting to see multiple mocks say we take Krivas, which I’d be happy with since it’s not clear what direction we want to go with in our center rotation. If we could trade up in the second round we could get another rotation ready guy like Joshua Jefferson if he drops. Or if we prefer to go for more of a project maybe one of the Duke wings, Evans or Starr drops to the early second round. Either way I’d be happy with a draft like that. I agree Mara will go mid lottery similar to Edey a few years back and even Yang last year. Someone is always willing to gamble on skilled 7 footers.

 

so weird how poorly michigan played after how they looked against arizona. was like watching two different teams. and i think arizona would have beaten uconn. all those offensive boards michigan gave up, plus they didn't hit a shot from outside the paint until like, 25 minutes into the game. they went 2-15 from three after going 12-27 against arizona. and i don't think this was anything special uconn did on defense--they packed the paint just like arizona did. you'd say michigan had tougher shots against uconn due to fewer break opportunities, but arizona only turned the ball over three more times than uconn did--michigan just didn't convert in the title game. i think at half uconn had nine turnovers, and michigan literally had zero points off of them!

anyway, michigan was the best team in college hoops this year, but they nearly choked away the title with a pretty s***ty performance everywhere but the ft line (where they missed two down the stretch in what appeared to be part of a deliberate attempt to lose the game that involved forgetting how to inbound the ball for several consecutive possessions).

anyway, for our purposes...mara's getting picked higher than we'll be picking. johnson is interesting, but hard to project. he's quite an athlete, but he's nba pf sized (traditional not modern, but still not center-sized). like that he can move his feet on the perimeter, though. honestly, that guy off the bench (mckenney?) is a really interesting prospect. i'd never watched him much, but he was beasting on defense, and his shot looks pretty good. legit nba sg size, and bully sg size at that. not really a fit for us, but i think he can play in the nba. lendeborg was definitely playing injured, as i've seen him look MUCH better. he may slip in the draft because he's old, but he should be a very playable rookie. no glaring weaknesses in his game. prototypical big wing type. maybe like a better torrey craig?

the only guy on uconn who really looked like an nba player to me was mullins, who's probably back to projecting as a lotto pick after looking like he should maybe stay in school for most of the year. very tyler herro-ish on offense, but he appears to be a better athlete and is quite a gamer, for sure. again, not really a guy that fits with luka and reaves.

 

Whoever watches tonight's game against OKC should get a die-hard fan badge. I know I can't put myself through it.

 

Abeer you said the quiet part out loud. What was the guy who was playing hurt? Lindwlig. He literally caught the ball dribbled towards the opposite basket which was Uccons basket. Like you’re supposed to dribble up court towards your basket. He dribbled in the opposite direction. Like if I were playing a video game. And it was 2k and I made the joystick dribble backwards to do a backcourt. Then he falls and literally throws the ball out of bounds like he was traveling. I was like what the actual f***. What was sus was that literally every player on Michigan in that stretch except the point guard and Mara were doing it. Falling and trying to give the ball to UConn. I was like s*** the press ain’t that good. The dude who fell after the other guy fell and threw his arms up and UConn forced a jump ball.

Then after they make 16 in a row dude literally misses two. In the middle of this stretch Mara doesn’t even touch the ball at all and he’s wide open under the basket with a smaller man on him. It’s a dunk. Only reason Mara didn’t do this cause he didn’t touch the ball.

I’m not conspiracy guy but this looked sus as f***. Like protect the ball. They had a 11 point lead with 2 minutes to go. And UConn cut it to 4. With all the stuff about point shaving. It looked like Michigan was like oh we’re up by 11 we better get this lead down. The sus part was they were so flagrant about it. And not making any attempt at scoring only the 3 that they had to take with the clock winding down. I understand keep away but this was like don’t score. Okay I’m done.

 

Btw I would absolutely draft Mullins.

and I’m weird like that but after Peterson Debaynesta Boozer and Ackoff I would take Mullins. If he’s light skinned he’s Curry. He can shoot anywhere on the court. I’d take him before Boozer and there might be a debate about Ackoff. You can’t teach shooting and he’s got it. The kids raw. But he can shoot. His range is deep.

 

i'm not quite that bullish, but i do think a couple of the guards taken in that mid-lotto range (there are like, 5, projected there) are going to disappoint, and it's quite possible mullins ends up better than some or all of those guys. it would take some stones to pick him ahead of acuff, for example, but...i could see why someone would do it.

i'm actually kind of glad we're not having to choose in that area of the draft this year, as the draft looks to be so deep that there's a reasonable chance guys taken in the later first are going to outperform some decently high lotto picks, which is painful for fans of those teams. you lose all year and some playoff team gets a better player in the draft.

 

How did Danny Tantrum Hurley look on the sidelines last night losing the BIG one again?

 

he was surprisingly relaxed about it as it became clear they were going to lose, imo. like, after one particularly crushing play (think an alley oop to mara on the break that put michigan up to where the outcome was certain) he just kind of dramatically winced.

his post-game comments were basically that he thought they played about as well as they could aside from making shots, which i actually agree with. tbh, had ball not banked in a contested three, it wouldn't have even seemed that close, and that's with michigan sort of melting down for a couple minutes.

i was pretty surprised with his composure. you could tell that he really wanted the 3 in 4 title narrative, mostly for ego purposes--but it's almost like he has a friend or therapist or something who helped him reframe the loss as a positive (e.g., he made a specific point to say that losing in the finals is WAY BETTER than losing earlier, even though most people say the opposite).

 

Pelinka probably .....

 

Lakers one of the worst team in the league in blocks (24th), steals (17th), opponent points in paint (20th), opponents FG% within 5 feet (3rd), opponents FGM within 5 feet (9th). All kinds of problems with the defense. Perimeter players allowing scorers to get into the paint, and Ayton and Hayes are just not good enough rim-protectors to help make up for it. Also, Redick likes to go small for the minutes Ayton and Hayes are not in there.

• Smart can't do this all himself, and we also need insurance in case Smart gets injured. Smart must be re-signed next season for sure though. Just need to kind of get a "second Smart" that helps prevent scorers from getting to the paint.
• Need to get a rim protector to replace Ayton. Hayes is fine as the backup.

-Draft day trade: Knecht + 2031 1st + 2028 swap + 2030 swap to OKC for Dort + #12.

• Draft Mara with #12. He blocks shots at a high rate and limits opponent field goal paint attempts.
• Draft Cameron Carr with #23. Elite shot blocker for a guard. Insanely athletic. Kind of like a guard version of Thiero, but elite shooting. Not sure why he would still be on the board. I would be tempted to take him at #12.

-Sign Smart for a deal starting at 12 million, possibly descending.

-Sign Ball and Trent to minimum deals. Ball is a good defender and connector, who might be signed as early as today who knows? Trent is an excellent shooter and decent defender, who at least generates steals.

-Thiero hopefully healthy next year, and that provides defense as well.

We ad defense while also improving our offense.

Dort is an excellent catch and shot guard- doesn't hesitate- he's high volume. He's also athletic. We have been lacking athleticism on the perimeter. He's an upgrade over Rui in terms of defense and offense, in terms of what we need. Doesn't muck up the offense and shoot inefficient shots, like Rui does at times. He just catches and shoots, or cuts.

Carr is an elite college 3-pt shooter, and athlete. He throws down plenty of dunks, he's a high flyer. His verticality and length also helps him block shots. He's a better shooting version of Derek Jones Jr. Defensive fundamentals might still need some work, but he has a ton of two-way potential. Huge upgrade over Knecht.

Mara doesn't seem to be the type that need his touches to be happy, like an Ayton. In fact, he is a very unselfish center, and likes to pass. Luka never seen this large of a catch radius in his life. Lob-City. Also, Mara gets over 4 blocks per 36 minutes. Even as a rookie, he's an upgrade over Ayton.

Trent is an excellent 3-pt shooter, and decent defender. He's a decisive shooter. He gets steals at a decent rate. Not the connector Kennard is, but not sure Kennard takes the vet minimum. Trent is an upgrade over Kennard imo, for what we need. Trent might be obtainable for the minimum, because he is having a bad season, and he is a Klutch client.

Ball is an extra ball handler/ connector that is still a very good defender. He might be able to get his shot back too.

Put a bow on it by signing Lebron with the remaining 12 million or so. Lebron could also chose to give some of that money to Trent. Then sign Reaves for whatever you need to, and sign Hayes to about 7 or 8 million.

 

OKC are never sending #12 AND Dort to us.
Luka, Shai, Wemby will run the West the next decade. OKC will do anything in their power to not send Dort here. They have a zillion picks and Dort himself is picks worthy, there will be other teams willing to eat his contract and OKC willing to pay more if needed

Don't think Trent is an upgrade on Kennard. He's a better defender, but seems to be in the downtrend phase of his career.
Ball is not there anymore. He was in a good context in Cleveland and they went and got Schroder and Ellis

Very unlikely to have 2 rookies playing key minutes on a contending team, specially mid round picks. Almost never happens. And based on this year's evidence and that JJ is going nowhere, not counting on Adou as an option. More of a x-factor next year if he gets to the rotation, not having him on our top10 rotation.

We must do better.
I'm really hoping we convince guys like Ellis, Thybulle or Oubre to sign for less here and get an opportunity of solidifying a key role in a Luka team

 

I'm a huge NO on Dort.

Don't need to see a dirty football player on our team. He will get called for way more fouls when he leaves OKC.

 

Dort and whoever Denver parts with are going east to Chicago and the Nets.

 

yeah, that's my fear. but then we become the only team with space for the deals we're not currently expecting, if that makes sense.

 

Yeah, that makes sense. Bulls will have significant cap-room, especially without signing Ivey to a deal. I suppose Denver could send their 1st to Brooklyn to take Cam back again or something.