IQ has played pretty well his whole time here. Awareness of how good his defense is has blossomed lately. Maybe it’s leveled up. But he has been like this the whole time basically and I don’t know why we gave RJ the deal we did knowing that.

As for IQ. I think he absolutely has it in him to maybe be an all star caliber player. The progress he has made this season has been phenomenal and he has turned into a really well rounded two way player. And his work ethic seems off the charts. No way I’m including IQ in any trades right now unless it’s a true elite superstar in their prime.

It only makes sense if his yoyoing is synched with Randle’s yoyoing, but unfortunately they are staggered. Pass.

This is totally a fair POV, as none of us know for sure how IQ, Grimes and RJ will pan out. I just happen to be more optimistic on their prospects than you, hence I consider them more valuable than you do in terms of critical decision-making. Time will tell, of course, but I am just trying to highlight the amazing advanced-metrics takes on IQ and Grimes in valuing them, and the *good* RJ stretches that possibly indicate a reasonable ceiling when he stabilizes at a more mature level. But I understand the reasoning behind wanting to turn over the assets we have before they depreciate, either by hitting a ceiling or by hitting their next contract.

And I have more regard for the FO’s process than many here do. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that *reasonable* guys like TNFH were definitively stating that there wasn’t a process at all, yet now he is recalibrating based on new data. I’m not fully in the “trust the process” camp…there have been enough hiccups to warrant healthy skepticism…and some *bad* decisions have been pre-empted by fate, e.g. selling the farm for Spida.

But the process seems to be at least theoretically grounded in being opportunistic and shrewd rather than rash and cavalier (npi) with our assets cache. And the product on the floor reflects some success with that methodology. So being patient at this critical time is of the utmost importance. Let’s take the risk and see what we really have in these advanced metrics-wrecking assets, rather than taking a risk on a player with a known serious medical issue. That’s pretty much all I’m saying.

i think he’d be a great Plan B or C target for us to go after this off-season…

Also, don’t look now but we have two elite shot makers in Brunson and Randle, which gives me hope for the playoffs this year. They thrive on taking the kind of shots a playoff defense schemes to for you.I think we’ll be a tough out for any team outside Boston and Milwaukee.

I don’t know if the Nets would be willing to trade with us. Either of those players would fit, but I’m not sure DFS does quite enough on offense for what we need.

That’s probably some of it, but some of it is that Brunson and Randle are clearly the #1 and #2 options. RJ is kind of a black hole with the ball that often has more shots than our two best scorers. That makes Grimes 4th option. If someone (ahem Thibs) would finally discipline RJ’s shot selection, I think we could get more out of Grimes and we’d be a better team for it.