[news.google.com] — Thursday, September 28, 2023 7:27:15 AM
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[news.google.com] — Wednesday, September 27, 2023 5:58:00 PM
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[news.google.com] — Wednesday, September 27, 2023 5:00:00 PM
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Damian Lillard Traded to Milwaukee Bucks: Is New York Knicks … Sports Illustrated
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[news.google.com] — Wednesday, September 27, 2023 1:04:00 PM
Evan Fournier: Knicks holding me ‘hostage’ with season approaching New York Post
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Mitchell Robinson’s Trainer Teases ‘Go-To Moves’ For New York … Sports Illustrated
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Evan Fournier ‘Just Wants to Play’ As New York Knicks Drama … Sports Illustrated
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[news.google.com] — Wednesday, September 27, 2023 11:55:58 AM
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Knicks Trade For Pelicans Star Brandon Ingram In Blockbuster … NBA Analysis Network
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3 Non-New York Knicks storylines fans should be glued to Daily Knicks
78 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2023.09.28)”
Have to say I was totally blown away by that trade yesterday. So happy that Portland gave the finger to Miami — with the last 2 star trades NOT ending up the way the stars wanted (Donovan, now Lillard – not counting Beal which was different because of the NTC), maybe the teams are finally finding a backbone when dealing with the “I only will agree to be traded to X team”.
I also did not realize how statistically great Jrue Holiday has been offensively – 48/38/86 last year, TS of ~59 on 25 usage while playing all-world defense of course. No wonder there will be a wild scrum to trade for him even at age 33.
I am not sure what it will take to get him, but he would be a ginormous upgrade over RJ on both ends of the floor. If it turns out the main pieces going out would be RJ and Quickley and a pick or two, I think you have to do it, although the math is hard without including either a 3rd team or trading Hartenstein — but trading Hartenstein means going into the season without either a backup PF or C unless you trust Sims.
But a rotation of Brunson, Holiday, Grimes, Randle, Mitch with DDV, Hart, and Hartenstein (and Fournier as the 9th guy in the rotation?) would be pretty sweet.
Portland doesn’t need IQ. They could have used Obi, maybe…
Macri’s argument against a Knicks trade for Jrue this morning was less about his age and impending ginormous contract than it was about the idea that a lot of his value, at least on offense, comes from him being able to do all the things he does while playing point guard. He’s a good shooter but far from an elite one, so putting him off the ball isn’t necessarily the best use of him. Sort of like the Dejonte/Trae backcourt in Atlanta. That said, if Portland loves RJ and is willing to take him and a protected pick or two, I would have to seriously consider it and see how it works with him and Brunson.
I’m not sure I totally agree with Macri on the PG point — Jrue is a much better spot-up shooter than Murray (39.5% from 3 over his last 1000 3PA) and more importantly can guard basically 1-4 which is a useful ability no matter what position he’s playing on offense. Murray is nice but is so skinny he can really only guard 1-2 and he’s a liability off-ball because he can’t shoot. And having TWO guys that can be elite on defense (Grimes + Holiday) takes a lot of pressure off Brunson, as opposed to having to trust RJ to guard one of the better offensive players.
True though that by far Brunson’s best ability is on-ball scoring, so relegating Holiday to mostly off-ball stuff is not ideal. That said, Brunson showed his ability to be successful off-ball with Luka, so definitely doable. And Holiday running the backup unit is 5x IQ’s ability to run the backup unit, no matter how much I love IQ.
I think Jrue just makes too much sense for other teams (like the Heat) for him to end up on the Knicks, where he would be more of a “it would be nice to have him” type of guy. He’s also a free agent after this season.
Put me firmly in the trade for Jrue camp. Yesterday’s trade changes a bunch of assumptions I had about using our draft stockpile. First and foremost is that he is available. An RJ to OG upgrade pales in comparison to an RJ to Jrue upgrade. The age difference is more than compensated by having his experience of winning a chip and his game is so easy to root for. If he comes back to the EC and not to us, the team that gets him will be better than us so whatever overpay we saved is somewhat wasted. Much less concerned if we loose him to a WC team, but I would want us to be in the hunt.
This is the definitive analysis, I think. I would love to have Jrue but he’s not the missing piece and I’m not competing with Miami’s all in offer. I would imagine Morey is going to want to throw a lot into the pot, as well.
So Re: the new Replacements reissue…hahaha
Thank God we finally have some basketball to discuss!
Re: Jrue, if Portland can’t find a better return than RJ, I’ll be very surprised.
And quite frankly if we’re going to put a 6’3″ quasi PG next to Jalen Brunson I’d rather it be Immanuel Quickley.
And to be honest, I think that Portland did so well in this deal with just Ayton and the pick and two pick swaps that they can essentially afford to…if not give away Jrue, they don’t have to exactly optimize the return for them to still be in a really good spot with the deal, so I could see a situation where the Clippers and Sixers work out a three-team deal with Harden to Los Angeles, Jrue to Philly and some okay assets to Portland. Getting Jrue for Harden seems like the sneaky shit that Morey would somehow pull off.
Definitely seems like some sneaky shit Morey would somehow pull off.
Herro for Jrue, though, just seems to make so much sense for both sides. Miami’s offer was way too low for Dame, but it’s just right for Jrue.
I’m not in favor of a Holiday trade for a few reasons.
First, he is a fantastic player. LOVE that he is a two way player and if we did trade for him, I’d ultimately be on board because I do think he would upgrade our defense. A starting line up with him, Grimes and Mitch could be VERY good defensively.
However, a few reasons I’m opposed.
1. His age. He is 33.
2. We have a glut at shooting guard already. If IQ went out Jrue could be back up PG some but if we’re starting him and Brunson, you’re basically making Jrue shooting guard and we have IQ, Grimes, DD, Fournier (who doesn’t really count but still).
3. Short term he is not the most pressing need (see above). We need a back up 4. We need a long wing who can shoot.
4. Similar to OG, I see the price being too high for him. We could probably trade him and still ahve enough left over for a star trade but we’d have less and I don’t see Jrue as being enough of an upgrade to make us real contenders. I guess we would be quasi though but we already are in the quasi contender category.
5. I still believe our young players, particularly IQ, Grimes and RJ, are going to get better. IQ could end up being as good as Jrue. I watched young Jrue Holiday when he player for the 76er’s a lot. IQ has that potential. We’d potentially send out 2 of those guys for Jrue. We raise our age considerably and give up a lot of room for internal growth.
6. With this Dame trade happening, I feel like our best move is to just continue to be patient and be good, not great, while we wait for the best player to become available for us. If someone trades for Jrue that’s one more team without trade assets for a star.
Again, I would be ok with it as a whole because he is good. But I feel like it shortens our window to be consistently good while not catapulting us to elite level.
Jrue Holiday is IQ – 9 years ago.
I love Jrue too especially his veteran savy, postseason and championship experience. But the timing is off.
Leon has stayed away from shiny objects dangled in front of him before and with Rojas closer to him, – I trust that he will stay away again.
This is where I’m at. IQ took such a big leap forward last year I feel pretty confident that another leap forward can happen for him.
While I’ve been happy to criticize Thibs for lousy in game tactics, I’ve always been a staunch supporter of his player development. I don’t particularly care that he doesn’t give young guys minutes. He spends a lot of time with them in practice and in the film room and he gives them the following mandate: “be so good that I can’t not play you.” *
I think he’s done a great job with IQ, and hopefully this is the year IQ forces his hand. If Quickley isn’t starting next to Brunson by the end of the year, it will likely be on him, not Thibs. And if he is starting next to Brunson by the end of the year, it will be a game changer.
Much rather roll the dice on IQ here than Jrue.
* Of course and inexplicably, this never applied to RJ Barrett. For whatever reason, Thibs seems to have counted him as a vet from the get go.
I’m old enough to remember a time when the Sixers drafted Jrue Holiday but traded him because he was getting too good. That was kind of sneaky too.
I’m sure this was brought up yesterday- but the more I think about it, I think Jrue Holiday is a Celtic this season. They have the easier salaries and players to throw Portland’s way. It would be extremely hard for the Knicks to get him. I would think that with Jrue being 33 with his injury history, that Leon & Co wouldn’t want to give up multiple picks or top rotational young guys like RJ AND Quickley or Grimes. I’d go as far as RJ, Fournier, and ONE pick if I had to but that would be the absolute max for me. They can have one of RJ and Quickley, and that would make the deal difficult- especially if Quickley is the centerpiece. Ideally, we’d probably want a starting lineup of Mitch/Randle/RJ/Jrue/Brunson more than a lineup with Hart at SF with Jrue at the 2. Jrue’s not aggressive or healthy enough to consistently take the shots that we have allotted for RJ- if that makes sense. So it would be a tricky trade for us, though I’d welcome it. C’s could easily get him unfortunately
This is simply not true, though. Jrue Holiday has always been able to get to the rim (27% of his career FGAs, 34% at his peak). IQ is significantly beneath that at 10% career (though he is trending up; last year he made it to 12%). There is a better player in IQ, but it’s not Jrue Holiday.
Re: OG and Ujiri,
That 2019 championship where Kawhi made a pot luck shot that bounced aroudn the rim against Embiid and KD tearing his achillies are the reason that Ujiri still has his job. Dumped his failings since 2019 on Nick Nurse. This season is his last straw.
Instead of selling, he became a buyer and spent a first round on Poetl. Refused to trade Vanvleet and saw him walk for nothing to Houston. Lowry left for basically nothing too. He held OG hostage at trade deadline last year at his peak value and reportedly, they won’t trade GTJ either and he too is a free agent next offseason.
No way are they gonna be able to pay GTJ $25M, OG $35M, and Siakam a supermax – just so they can win 40 games again.
A new GM would dump assets for picks and young players and OG asking price would be at a 50% discount.
Substituting Jrue for RJ and moving Grimes to SF in the starting lineup would imo have a significant positive impact. But I don’t think it’s enough to say we are as good as the Bucks and Celtics (we’ll see what the 76ers and Heat do). I think we’d possibly leapfrog over the Cavs who I think will be a solid favorite over us this year due to adding more and having higher quality upside.
Unless you think having Jrue increases the probability of landing Embiid (or some other star later), it’s probably not the best move because of his age. Quick is off the table for me.
May be cherry picking stats here, Hubert. I could be wrong but my eye test says that they the same two way players at age 23 season. Just feels like Jrue had an early greenlight in his career, – so more usage and a slighlty steeper learning curve that comes with that…
I agree with the Director – if Masai hadn’t won a championship, he’d be gone. His decisions the last 12 months have been poor. Baffling, even.
If by both sides you mean “only Miami,” sure. For Portland? Not in the slightest.
100% agreement.
I think the problem may be more political than basketball.
IMO, the correct starting lineup is Mitch, Randle, Grimes, Quick, Brunson.
The problem is moving RJ to the bench.
That’s tougher to do given they’ve invested so much in him and it might also reduce his trade value. I think Thibs would rather start RJ and finish with Quick.
Herro for Jrue doesn’t make sense.
One of the reasons Miami didn’t land Lillard was that the Trailblazers didn’t want Herro. They already have their starting guards. Miami was trying to move Herro for picks to change the deal but apparently couldn’t find a deal that landed them enough assets.
What might make sense is moving Herro to a 3rd team and then using those assets plus whatever to land Jrue since Jrue won’t cost as much. But they have to find something that Portland wants.
I don’t think politics plays any role here. Thibs has put plenty of egg on Leon’s face (see Kemba, Cam, Obi, Evan). IQ is a Rose guy anyway.
The Bucks are apparently 360 and the Nuggets are 650.
IMO, that’s just wrong.
Boston 500
Suns are 550
Grizzlies 2000 (looks interesting though they may start off slow due to Morant )
Knicks are 4600
Cavs 1800 (looks a bit interesting to me)
We have a few weeks to see what else happens.
Spot on. This is why Hart trade last year saw RJ minutes trickle down. Thibs path of least resistance while minimizing RJ “exposure” this year is to start him but lower his total minutes to 28-30. This is why an RJ trade has many positive uninteded consequences in addition to the actual return. Hopping FIBA summer switches the trend. RJ gets of to a hot start in first 25- 30 games and Rojas moves him for a great return at peak market value.
I agree with the Director – if Masai hadn’t won a championship, he’d be gone. His decisions the last 12 months have been poor. Baffling, even.
You sort of can’t take winning a championship out of the equation when evaluating a GM, no matter what he did before or afterwards. And before he traded for Kawhi, he was probably a top 2-3 GM, and afterwards drafted Scottie Barnes, a widely derided decision at the time. He’s not going anywhere unless he wants to.
Not taking it away completely but adjusting its valuation. Ujiri himself did it to Nick Nurse and other championship head coaches got canned too. Jimmy’s incredible acrobatics and super low percentage shot making alongside Giannis back issues got Bud fired two years after winning the first championship in franchise history.
Time will tell…we shall see.
Looking into Jrue’s profile and I noticed he has won the NBA Teammate of the Year Award 3 times. Did not know there was such an award. Delved further and realised there are a bunch of other awards I never knew about–did you know there is an NBA Hustle (note not hustle bunny) Award? Marcus Smart won the last two.
…by the way, Mitch came in 4th for the Hustle Award…
I think Masai is good at finding non boxscore value. He finds guys that are solid players that are long, able to switch multiple positions, defend at a high level, efficient on low usage with some chance of expanding their game etc… But he has the same problem everyone else has. You have to land a superstar or at least have 3 solid all stars to contend. That’s tougher to do, especially in Toronto and Denver. This time around he has some very nice pieces, but it’s not enough and he has to start paying them. It’s a problem.
I would happily trade RJ for Jrue just to be rid of RJ.
I wouldn’t trade IQ for a one year rental. That would be foolish.
I agree our starting lineup and closing lineup would be a little off but he’s a great player and we would figure it out.
Flags fly forever but the Raptors title really is one of the luckiest in the history of professional sports. It doesn’t get said enough. I begrudge them nothing, it was a long shot bet that paid off huge. But what it took for them to win was remarkable.
Strat, I’m too lazy to look it up, but I’m guessing Grimes has played less that 10% of his minutes at SF. I really don’t think Thibs wants to put him there as he’s only 6’5”, probably closer to 6’4”, and not particularly long. Hart is also that height, so he probably sees RJ as the best true SF we have, considering his height and strength. I know we all know this, but it bears repeating.
ess-dog
I agree.
We are a bit undersized if we move RJ out of the starting lineup given that Brunson is not a giant either. That’s why I love OG. He’s an immediate upgrade on both sides, bigger, and can even be the backup PF.
Here’s a wild idea.
Let’s trade RJ, Grimes, IQ and picks (in two seperate deals) for OG and Jrue.
Brunson, Jrue, OG, Randle, Mitch
McBride, DDV, Hart, Sims, iHart
Defensively that team is nasty. Would want some more shooting somewhere. Maybe a stretch back up 4 so Sims can go back to being the 11th man.
I don’t think Jrue fits all that well on this team, but I’d probably do RJ & 1st if that was enough to get it done. The real issue I have is Jrue’s age and the money he’ll want going forward, but we could take a swing at the title this year and then try to move in another direction
Lowe confirms here we’re in on Jrue: https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/38509230/zach-lowe-breaking-three-team-damian-lillard-trade
I like the idea–POA defense and another high-ish usage option offensively are real needs.
I’d also have a firm line in the sand regarding price. We need to maintain enough assets to make a trade that makes us a contender. This might put us on the fringe (yes, I think the RJ –> Jrue upgrade is that substantial), but wouldn’t get us all the way there.
RJ and 2 protected picks, take it or leave it. No IQ.
you need to be lucky to succeed…. but even tho the raptors benefited from luck does not mean their success was driven by it… they’re tied for 2nd for most deep playoff runs (2nd rd or higher) in the last 10 years with the celtics and sixers…. the championship year they won 58 games… the year before they won 59 without kawhi… and the year after without kawhi they won 53.. to even be in a position to win a championship during the onslaught of the dynasty warriors is a tall feat…. they’ve had one under .500 year in the last 10 years….
EVEN IF you take out that championship run completely he still has better results than 90%+ of the league… he’s arguably done the most with less than any other gm which is why he’s in the discussion as the best one….
saying he should be fired if it wasn’t for his championship which he somehow fell over backwards and had it fall into his lap from the sky… is certainly a hot take… but seriously… you need to take a minute on that one….
i’m pretty surprised at how everyone is so gungho about jrue after all the squirming over dame…
a 33 yo pg who derives a lot of their value from defense and 3pt shooting is not a very reliable bet … but it also points to how we probably should’ve just went after dejounte murray who went for relative peanuts both at the time of the trade.. .and with the benefit of hindsight…
Ah yes, the continued inability to argue what was actually said, combined with condescension, what a delicious dish! Nowhere was there a “he fell over backwards” or “it fell into his lap” – simply, “his moves the last year have been terrible, and if it weren’t for the championship, he’d have been fired.” I completely agree that a championship is a pretty big “if it weren’t for,” which is why he hasn’t been fired. Nor did I say he should be. But had Leon made the same moves, you’d be pillorying him for his stupidity in squandering opportunity after opportunity.
I mean, I think people like the Jrue idea because the price would presumably be a lot lower. Dame would be the trade. The idea with Jrue is it’s a precursor. There’s also the fact that Jrue, while being a substantially worse player, is a much smoother fit with our current roster.
I would still take Masai as the Knicks’ POBO in a heartbeat, but the Raptors have been incredibly confusing for the past few years. Can you imagine this board if we let a player as good as FVV walk for nothing to pursue a play-in game? If we traded a lightly protected first for Poeltl and then gave him $80M?
Their situation is hardly irredeemable, but the amount of self-inflicted damage is pretty staggering.
i so love subtle snark…
yikes, hadn’t really thought too hard about what jrue might cost…
the cost could be grimes or quik…
Edit: they’re talking basketball, they’re talking basketball 🏀
i won’t trouble y’all with my current dmv experience 😛
actually the dmv lobby is much better than it used to be…not sure i’m high enough to be here right…breathe…
I have to give Hubert credit for his Nets rant: apparently Dame opened his list of teams up at the last second to the Bucks and Nets.
Idk if that’s more about Mikal or actually liking the organization, but it’s interesting considering that the Knicks had the better season and presumably offer better fans/limelight.
i think you flatter yourself too much if you think i’m targeting you specifically…. if you can navigate the deep recesses of your mind… your comment was actually a response to someone and maybe the bell might start ringing….
they’re dealing with the remnants of a championship squad and trying to stay competitive… they kept the core around as long as possible…. what were they supposed to do with lowry? they got just as much for him in a s&t in the offseason as they probably would’ve gotten for him before.. the poeltl deal was weird… but they needed a center and he knows poeltl and next year’s draft pretty much sucks…. he probably thought fvv would stay which was reasonable but if they’re trying to be competitive what else should they be doing? trade him?
for all this supposed dysfunction in toronto… they were .500 last year… they have a real blue chip potential front line player in barnes which took a lot of balls to pick… and they also have a relatively deep roster… they’re a pg short but i wouldn’t count them out.. they’ll be plenty competitive this year and if they’re not they’ll probably pull the plug like any rational gm would do….
haters gonna hate.. but there’s only two gm’s who have successfully rebuilt two teams… and that’s presti and masai… that record speaks for itself….
Is this threesome deal possible:
Toronto: Jrue + 1 unprotected NY pick
New York: OG
Portland: RJ + bunch of protected picks. (not Milwakee)
All get better basketball wise and GM makes a marketing splash.
the rumored ask is 4 firsts for jrue… i know people want lower… but dejounte murray went for 2 unprotected and 1 protected and that was considered really cheap for someone who was also an impending free agent… he might not be as good as jrue.. but he was also way younger….
jrue for scraps is probably not happening….
I can’t. They’re too deep.
Director on fire today. I think some version of it could work. Essentially Tor trades OG for Jrue and a pick – Jrue is much better, plays a position of need, but is old. On the other hand, OG may leave like FVV for nothing soon. So it seems about right, though Masai may not agree.
And essentially Portland trades Jrue for RJ and picks. That may be in the range of what Miami can offer. I mean, Portland doesn’t need another guard, so what can Miami do without Herro involved?
Also, we’ve traded with Portland recently, so there’s a relationship.
RJ – I wonder what his “true” value is league wide… beyond salary and stats…
he’s a name, has some flashes, national coverage…
and oh my goodness – have you seen this player’s usage…
he is not afraid to take his shots, and other better players’ shots too…
Go RJ Go
“RJ and 2 protected picks, take it or leave it. No IQ.”
Agree, but sure, throw in Fournier as a “sweetener” if we have to, as well…….and if they want him. We’re not using him, anyway.
I’d be intrigued with Jrue if it’s a deal that involves RJ and not a whole lot else. But four first rounders for a year seems like WAY too much
Again, I don’t think Toronto is going to be dealing with a litigious Dolan anytime soon.
That’s why Portland is key. If we have a good relationship with them, they deal with Toronto. They just bring us in and reroute OG to us.
I mean, this was as close to dismissive as you can get…
Or maybe we tell Toronto we’ll drop the lawsuit if they give us OG for a fair price. They are in the wrong after all. 🙂
I think Milwaukee hit a home run with the Lillard trade. I don’t know if there is a better player to pair with Giannis than Lillard and vice versa. They cover each other’s weaknesses so well. The last two years Lillard has been the best pure scorer in the NBA and Giannis is maybe the best multi-positional defender.
As for Jrue let’s not trade for a player that shortens our window especially since even with Jrue we are not close to the top couple teams in the East. We need to be patient and strike when Milwaukee’s window is closing and when Boston stumbles. That’s when we can push for short term improvement over long term gain. Not before while we are still very much in the pack as it were. We are fighting for the 5-8 seed, Jrue doesn’t particularly move that much. Maybe fighting for 3-6 seed instead.
Yeah I mean Toronto had some luck in 2019. Almost every championship team except for the dominant dynasties do have luck.
Does Lebron win in 2016 if Draymond doesn’t go around kicking dudes in the nuts?
Does Lebron win in 2020 if he and AD don’t get a few months of rest to be fully healthy and rested in the bubble?
Does Detroit win in 2005 if Shaw and Kobe were still getting along?
Does Golden State win their first one in 2015 if Kevin Love and Kyrie aren’t hurt?
And buzzer beater last minute shots are a part of the game. Dudes like Kawhi (when he plays) hit those shots all the time. It’s not like he made a miracle half court shot to win the game. Do we dismiss every buzzer beater that ever went in as “lucky?”
Toronto had been a ECF level team for multiple years in a row and then they added Kawhi in 2019. They got a little lucky. They also were a good team.
Exactly. We just started to get good. Let’s let our core get some more playoff experience. Maybe punch through with some luck to the ECF in the next few seasons. Make our move with Bridges or Shai or someone who fits us like a glove becomes available.
One could argue that Jrue opens our window rather than shortens it.
I think it depends on what your definition of “window” is.
I am loathe to bring up the mezzanine analogy again. But you could argue that Jrue gets us off the mezzanine to “contender” status although it feels like the consensus here is that he would improve us but we would still not be one of the top contender teams. So I guess he would raise us to the second mezzanine lol.
But his age and giving up a younger player/picks to get him might shorten our window of being on the mezzanine. As we stand right now, Brunson and the under 25 crew are young/good enough that we can chill on the mezzanine for hte next few years with Randle on the team and continue to hang out on the mezzanine post Randle for a few years after that. We could potentially be on the mezzanine with Brunson, RJ, IQ, Mitch, etc…for the next 5 to 7 years or until Brunson gets through his next contract.
Jrue shortens that long mezzanine window while elevating us in the short term.
I think Ben’s point about timing is a good one. Is it better to get better right now while The Bucks have Giannis and Dame and The Celtics are still (and philly) are all still potentially better than us? Or is it better to chill on the mezzanine for a few years and hope to make our move 2 or 3 years from now?
They may finish slow due to Morant. If you think his decision-making was bad while his time was occupied, imagine what it’ll be like for two months with nothing to do.
Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic there’s a 59-year-old male squirming over a mixed metaphor.
I am team trade for Jrue. On the Lowe Post they said RJ and one pick would be what Portland could expect. I think Jrue is worth at least one of our lesser 1st rd pick on top of that.
The coverage seems to look at this as you should value Jrue as a one year rental. I think more than worry about Jrue leaving or being overpaid on the next contract, what limits his value for me is that he seemed serious last year when he spoke about retiring after this contract. So potentially that would be two years and then all that you have is expiring contract that might not even get us under the cap if our other young guys have gotten paid already. Haven’t sat down with the numbers though. Maybe all that softens his trade market. I’m intrigued.
I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better backcourt mate to Brunson, and obviously you can stagger them a bit to spread out the playmaking. I think as best as you can, you always have two of Randle Hart, and Grimes on the court. Holiday can take the toughest perimeter assignment anyway. I don’t think replacing RJ and Obi’s performance last year holds us back in any way. We’d be an interesting team to say the least and still have pieces. It shortens the window, but the window is definitively open.
If the cost is RJ and a 1RP then by all means do the Jrue trade.
That ain’t gonna be the cost though. Somebody will top that. Jrue is valuable
I really don’t see how you look at the east right now and feel like you’re better off waiting two years.
The Bucks are going to be insanely good but two-man teams are going to be vulnerable in the playoffs. Boston, Miami, Philadelphia are probably all going to be worse this year. We smoked Cleveland.
We trade for Jrue and we could be the 2nd best team in the East.
I’d do RJ, our 2024 first, and the two fugazi firsts. We’d have to throw in Evan to match salary.
I would, too, because even if Jrue is old, he’s good, and sending away RJ is addition by subtraction. You want that usage going elsewhere.
Plus what a great story for an ECF – Jrue vs his old team.
Yeah, but Portland probably doesn’t want that usage going to RJ, either. I basically just tried to send them two fake firsts and one fake player.
Imagine being the Suns and trading for 13 years of supermax Bradley Beal and then finding out that one of the best two-way players was available too
It should be a requirement that a major trade happen every September. Every month of the off-season maybe. I love it so much.
I would love to have Jrue. He’s a favorite of mine. I just don’t see how we are the high bid on him.
“Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic there’s a 59-year-old male squirming over a mixed metaphor.”
LOL I missed that when I read it. I guess metaphors are not something I generally have to deal with.
How did you know I am in the mid-Atlantic? Well, I am. Northern Virginia near Dulles Airport, to be slightly more precise. Nice to meet you.
-Great move for Blazers.
-Great move for Bucks.
-Suns? Who knows?
-Jrue isn’t coming here.
-Fuck the Heat.
-Fuck the Celts.
-Toronto should trade for Jrue.
-RJ is gonna make a bunch of KBers look dumb this year. (not sure which ones)
-Training camp in 5 days y’all.
-Fuck the Celtics.
-RJ is gonna make a bunch of KBers look dumb this year. (not sure which ones)
Favorite line of the day.
Thomas has a foothold, they got exactly who they wanted
I’m not even saying to trade for Jrue, per se, but I do agree that I would really prefer a bit more urgency from the Knicks. It’s not like we’re talking Year 3 KD, Year 2 Westbrook and Year 1 Harden here in terms of maturing assets.
Clearly bc you missed a golden opportunity to correct Donnie’s egregious misuse of mixed metaphor. The window metaphor remained consistent in both instances. A mixed metaphor would have been if “shortens our window” was followed by something like “elongates our curve.”
And here i was thinking that mid-Atlantic would be the Azores! 🤭
I have for a while thought that Jerami Grant would be a very useful addition. He might be the better player to pursue on Portland.
It might seem at first glance that he’s redundant with Randle but that idea doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. They are both 6’8″ but Grant is 40 lbs lighter and significantly more agile. He usually draws the big wing assignment on defense and capably guards the likes of LeBron, Butler, Tatum, etc (something we desperately need). I think he’d slot in well next to Julius as a SF in the starting lineup while also being able to cover those PF minutes when Julius sits.
He also opens up some potential small-lineup possibilities, which we will inevitably need to try to counter the kind of defensive treatment we saw in the playoffs.
At 29 y/o he fits our age bracket better than Jrue.
And he shot 40% from 3 last year (which was much higher than his career average of 36%, but even his career mark would make him the 2nd best shooter on the team).
The dude checks a lot of boxes for us.
He also makes it easy to afford losing Randle if we have to include him in any next trade we might make.
He is in the first year of a 5 year market value contract. This will likely scare off several suitors, as it should. But we’ve got RJ Barrett in the first year a 4 year contract that’s nearly the same AAV, so it shouldn’t scare us as much.
If they like RJ (a big if), building a trade around Barrett for Grant should be rather easy.