2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

I was on board with getting Tuner before the Lakers started playing really well since Lebron's move to center. The two rim protectors covering for mediocre perimeter defenders was my main reason why. Also, Turner is the ideal center that enables AD to stay at the 4. That's kind of a slower front court though. Turner could also replace AD's shot blocking if he is eventually traded. You never know. I think LeBron's days at the 3 could be behind him though, so i don't know.

 

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The Sixers are looking to package Tobias Harris with Ben Simmons in trade talks, per @MarcJSpears (h/t @RealGM)



8:08 AM · Jan 11, 2022

 

might be great haul for someone

 

IIRC, his update during the summer was actually that there was a lot of division amongst the higher up’s on trading for Westbrook. So unfortunately this may very well be what many of the executives envisioned, seems that Pelinka was just dead set on putting together a “Big 3” and overruled some of the dissenting opinions.

That’s probably in large part due to Lebron and AD pushing for Russ, but I have to wonder if Pelinka was also lead astray due to his Kobe attachments. Kobe had always praised Westbrook and suggested he was one of the main guys who channeled that “Mamba Mentality”, so I wonder if that blinded Pelinka to the lack of fit.

 

You could be right but I'm remembering it a little differently. I thought I recall Mr. Rambis saying it was the analytics department that was bearish on the Westbrook move. I don't recall him discussing divisions beyond that. But I could have missed it or maybe I'm misremembering what was said.

 

Remember those games where Kobe’s “mamba mentality” lost us the game because his jump shot was off? That’s Russ.

 

that's a LOT of salary.

that said: russ/tht/nunn for simmons/harris works, salary-wise. we add cash, though, which apparently is a no-no.

i think the rumor of attaching harris means the asking price for simmons advertised in the summer hasn't been and will not be met. so now they're trying to saddle you with another max salary who's not a max player.

harris is having a down year, too. be curious to see who's down for that level of an overhaul, though.

 

Is Tobias Harris the highest paid non-All star player ever? I can't think of any other player who got paid this much and never sniffed an All star game or been on an All NBA team

https://clutchpoints.com/breaking-down-tobias-harris-total-nba-salary-from-his-career/

 

in fairness, i think 150 (!) of that hasn't been paid out yet. i know we've debated wiggins on this forum, but he's made 170 million and never sniffed an allstar game until this year, where injuries are the only reason he might get the nod.

porzingis is another guy who's made a bunch of cash and never made an allstar team.

 

The league will adjust to him at some point, but I wonder if this A) pushes Portland to shutdown Dame for the year. B) Move either Dame or CJ to make room for him going forward. C) and if they shut Dame down, do they sell off their assets to the highest bidder? They have 8 players on the final year of their contracts.

I think they'll be one of the more interesting teams to watch at the deadline.

 

With Dame injured and them going nowhere, they may never get a better time to rebuild.

 

Harris is one of the worst contracts in the league (worse than Russ)... and i remember many here, wanted him. Thank God for another dodged bullet.

 

on one hand, that team was build to maximize scoring/ballhandling guards, so it computes that the next one up would fit nicely. but still, that's pretty good for a young fella. if i were portland, i'd tank this year but i wouldn't trade lillard just yet. his value is low right now, and he means more to the franchise than what you'd get back in return.

in fairness, i think folks wanted him back when he signed his first big deal, which wasn't nearly as big. we offered DS more than that, iirc. speaking of bullets.

 

What do you guys think of a Lakers/Philly trade where Philly trades us Simmons+Harris for Westbrook+THT+Nunn (needed to match salaries).

The Lakers would be in definite cap hell and have a fairly significant luxury tax hit.... but doesn't this solve alot of the Laker's problems?

The depth could be:

Simmons/Monk
Bradley/Reaves/Ellington
Lebron/Johnson/Bazemore
Harris/Melo/Ariza
AD/Dwight/DeAndre

You've got plenty of 3 point shooting outside of Simmons... you could also stagger Simmons/Lebron at the point guard position to have playmaking. When one sits on the bench, the other stays on the court to playmake for the team.

 

I'm shockingly not opposed to this tbh.

 

He'd be a good fit, practically KCP 2.0. But we need more size instead of bigger guards. AND he doesn't move the needle enough where I'm comfortable trading THT for. Grant's size and Turner's fit next to AD moves the needle more.

 

WTF … not another ******g ******n ******g bleeping **** guard!

 

This guy is a legit 3 and D guard though. We currently don't have that.

Monk 6-3 Good shooter, below average defense
THT 6-4 Below average shooter, above average defense
Ellington 6-4 Great shooter, poor defense
Bradley 6-3 Average shooter, great defense
Westbrook 6-3 Poor shooter, below average defense
Reeves 6-6 above average shooter, above average defense

Trent 6-5 Good shooter, good defense and at 22, has upside. Also has a bargain contract.

 

Three Team Deal:

Lakers get: Trent

Raptors get: Turner

Pacers get: THT, Nunn, and Reeves

Lakers also benefit from opening two roster spots.

Lakers would be solid with small starting 5 of Westbrook/Monk/AD/Trent/Lebron

 

i sort of mentioned it above. eating harris's deal is kind of a huge issue, and we'd be blowing through the tax in ways that make keeping caruso look like child's play. my guess is that we'd try to move harris to a third team for a lower-salaried player or collection of players (probably less talented).

but i'm still a simmons fan, and i think if we could get him without giving up lebron or AD, it's probably a win. it's like having westbrook, but bigger, and a defensive monster instead of a defensive minus.