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

i'm not sending out christie unless i'm getting a decent future 1st, tbh. i think he could be a rotation-quality player as soon as next year.

i'd actually consider the knicks deal with no picks going in either direction. yes, in principle, we should get something for giving up our cap space. but a) i'm not sure we actually want it, and b) i think getting a look at reddish is the sweetener. my guess is they could get a couple 2nds for reddish even at his current low value.

 

yeah, this deal OR something with charlotte, imo. in fact, i'd probably tell those teams right now that that's the situation, so make your best offer soon because we plan on trying to be good this year.

 

Yeah, I don't like him either. Like Kuzma, he is putting up good numbers on a bad team. I'm not even sure he would crack our rotation. However, him and Plumlee are just (expiring) throw ins to make salaries match. The objective is to get Rozier. With that being said, if Walker stays in the starting unit, and Westbrook is traded, we would then need some scoring punch off the bench, so maybe Oubre could actually provide that.

 

I like Christie an awful lot, but i would be willing to trade him in the right deal. We are currently projected to have the 27th, 36th (Bulls), and 37th picks in the 2023 draft, so we would be able to replenish our young players at that time. Unfortunately, our 2023 1st is untradeable at this time, so Christie could help compensate for that. Though, I acknowledge Christie is likely more valuable to us than any other team. I wonder if Detroit would want Christie? It seems like he would fit with what they are doing, and he went to Michigan State.

 

so...i have two answers nobody will like.

1. jeanie wanting to get below that tax line is real, imo.
2. i also think that if russ is ok coming off the bench, he may return next year on a lower salary, as i've outlined elsewhere.

those things together allow us to use the full MLE and probably retain all the players we want (assuming lonnie plays ball).

and then we have all our picks and fournier's expiring to be ready to upgrade the team again next year. plus we'll have a bunch of smaller chunks of salary instead of a few huge ones, which also helps flexibilty.

to refresh:

lebron 47
AD 41
fournier 18
russ 10 (3 year deal, partial guarantee on 3rd year)
full MLE 10 (or split up if we want)
reaves 8-9 (using 20% raise option, player option on 2nd year, early bird rights if he busts out)
lonnie 8-9
reddish 7 (make it two year, player option--if he busts out, we have bird rights)
christie 2


that's 151. the rest of the roster can be vet mins. tax is set at 162, so we'd be just under, i think. we can possibly negotiate with russ to avoid the tax line (he'll want more than 10, but won't get it elsewhere, imo). we could also just use the MLE to retain lonnie, though that's not optimal to me.

 

i see why there's hesitation to commit to another luxury tax season and be locked into next year's roster at this year's deadline. that's why i really don't expect two trades. if there are two trades, i expect the russ deal to involve a lot of expiring salary coming back. something more like the SA deal than the indy/charlotte deals.

in fact...if we could pull the SA deal, i think we'd actually get under the tax THIS season because SA has so much space under the cap. we couldn't take reddish back in the ny deal, though, so i think that's probably a no go. just something to think about if say, lebron or AD goes down for a significant period of time. we'll be looking to cut costs then.

 

No to bringing back Russ- not even for free.
However, he has time to change my mind by suddenly turning himself into a dependable player in close games.

 

Seen many pieced-together rosters come together quickly in the NBA over the years. Took this roster here 12 games to do it. We got a lot more than 12 games left, most names being mentioned are vets with Cam Reddish, a 3+ year player being around the newest. Our bubble roster had a lot of new names including AD. Chemistry can come quickly, one good road trip will do it.

 

Lot to catch up on after a week with Mickey Mouse...

I like Bogdanovic, he cooked us to remind Rob who he is. But I don't like the age or the ask from Detroit. That's going to be a competitive market, there's like 10 teams chasing. Price is going to go up and I'm good avoiding the bidding war.

I like the Knicks deal. I've been pushing for Cam for awhile. Got a close look at him here in ATL. I think Ham can unlock him. We desperately need his size so we can stop putting DS, Bev, and Russ on big wings. Fournier gives us our needed shooting. We clear another roster spot and can try to get some rebounding from a big like Favors on the FA market.

There's a lot of different reports (5 by my count) on the Knicks deal each with some very interesting nuggets. Just wondering what's accurate. Some of the highlights...
- they contacted us
- they might have to include a 1st to get off Fournier
- there was mention of a 3rd team. Who and what's going where?

 

knicks might want a player instead of expirings (they won't have a lot of cap wiggle room). not sure who it would be, though.

they're basically right at the cap for committed salaries next year (assuming rose isn't retained, reddish is gone, etc.). so they basically gain fournier's salary slot to use in FA if they think they can make good use of it (i'm dubious, which is part of why i'd trade for him). but maybe ny's feeling lucky after luring brunson and think they can get another guy of slightly lower quality for fournier's cash. i think reddish is gone no matter what, tbh.

 

I'd take that Knicks deal in a heartbeat if they give us a first with Fournier and Cam.

We can get another superstar in exchange for Russ with 3 firsts (not saying that we should)

 

We'll know as soon as they hire another assistant who just happens to be the dad of an upcoming FA. Pure coincidence.

 

Oh I like that, let's get Fournier + Reddish + a FRP for Nunn/Beverley. Sign right now.

 

I think it was that old sage wiz Aesop who tried to tells us a leopard cannot change his spots.

 

I don't want Fournier, he's just a bad basketball player at this stage of his career IMO. He may be 6'7" but he's not a wing; he offers no strength/versatility on either end of the court. He's just a taller shooting guard that gets blown by and bullied on defense. I get that he can make some shots but he does not fit in with the defense Ham has managed to cobble together. Melo shot 38% from three last year for a team that desperately needed it and yet he ultimately did not help us much if at all.

Reddish still has some untapped potential but he's also just a bad basketball player right now. I understand the same can be said of Beverley and Nunn and we would at least have some slightly taller guys, but if this is the one trade we're making this year then no thanks unless we're somehow getting a lightly protected FRP from NY (which we won't). If we trade for Fournier/Reddish and call it a day, do we really think LeBron is going to be happy about that? How much longer are we going to get this awesome version of AD if/when it becomes clear the FO won't do anything besides swapping our bad players for NY's? If Fournier and Reddish are the reinforcements expect to see LeBron and AD go into cruise control and start missing games with ticky-tack injuries.

If we also do a good Russ trade then sure, do this deal with NY. But if that's not the case I'm not interested unless NY does something really stupid.

 

Lebron and AD don't have the luxury of going into cruise control period. Reputations are at stake...I'm expecting the best they have whether we make any trades or not. They can both complain about that during the off-season.

Reddish and Fournier...meh...I don't really think either are much better,if any, than Reaves, Walker or Brown. Getting a 1st rd pick out of it makes it a good idea, but I wouldn't be wowed by picking them up straight up. Bringing in guys sounds good, but they have to play, which means more than just replacing Bev's minutes. Playing them means other guy"s minutes will be cut too. Both are on the outs in NY for similar reasons...poor defense and declining offensive production. Whoopee!!!!