Merged: |0fficial| Trade Deadline

Who says Yes, who says Maybe, who says No?

Kings Get: (For Cousins, Gay, Caspi)
C.J. McCollum
Noah Vonleh
Maurice Harkless
2018 CLE 1st
2019 POR 1st
2020 Right to Swap Portland
Blazers Get: (For C.J., Moe, Noah, MyLe, Mase, Ed, E.T.)
Demarcus Cousins
Jrue Holiday
Tyreke Evans
Kenneth Faried
Pelicans Get: (For Evans, Holiday)
Rudy Gay
Mason Plumlee
Meyers Leonard
Nets Get: (Trade nothing, accept Turner and pick)
Evan Turner
2017 POR 1st (Top 12 Protected)
Nuggets Get: (For Faried)
Ed Davis
Future POR 2nd
Omri Caspi

 

A five-teams trade? Well, somebody is going to say "no."

 

That would leave us with:

Lillard / Holiday / Napier / Quarterman
Crabbe / Evans / Connaughton
Aminu / Layman
Faried
Cousins / Ezeli

We address some needs but lose depth and the roster seems unbalanced still. That being said, our supposed depth hasn't been performing as of late. More defense but less shooting.

I'd miss CJ.

 

The lineup would be more like this:

Lillard / Holiday
Holiday / Crabbe
Evans / Layman
Faried / Aminu
Cousins / Ezeli

Obviously a 5-team trade would never happen. But I am interested in seeing if we could trade for one of Evans/Holiday by giving up one of our bigs (and possibly offloading Turner and a pick to Brooklyn).

I just love Holiday as a C.J. replacement. I don't think there'd be a fall-off. He's the same size, a better defender and not quite as good of a scorer. However, he does distribute the ball fairly well and he can slash and shoot. He's also a great locker room presence and only 26. He's expiring, and New Orleans sucks, therefore he could very well be available.

 

NO says no.

 

DMC.

 

Why are Nets offering nothig and getting two assets?

 

Damn... He wants to offload Turner BAD. LOL.

 

Because they'd be taking on Turners monstrosity of a contract.

 

I just wonder how available Holiday would be. I'm fully on his bandwagon. We just need a PG off the bench that has the size to play SG, while being a solid defender and an all-around scorer. There is no one like Holiday that could be available.

The thing is, they could be interested in Crabbe as a SF floor-spacer that would fit well next to Davis. They could be interested in Plumlee who's defensive limitations would be limited by Davis, and who could fit well next to Davis offensively as a passing big man. They could be interested in Leonard as a floor spacing C, if they wanted to go all in with shooting. Davis would also cover up his defensive shortcomings. All 3 are young, and under control for a while, while Holiday would probably leave them this off-season.

What do you guys think it would take to get Holiday?

I also am gradually stepping onto the Rudy Gay bandwagon. The dude is shooting 48%FG and 41% 3pt this year. He also has been an above average defender according to DBPM, and that's with him playing half of his minutes at PF. He could start at SF or PF depending on who we wanted next to him, and we could always have 2 high-level scorers on the floor at all times.

What do you guys think it would take to get Rudy Gay? Who would you give up for him?

 

Once Ezeli gets healthy I'd do all of these:

PHI Gets: Allan Crabbe
POR Gets: Nerlens Noel

POR Gets: Jrue Holiday, Rudy Gay
NOP Gets: Mason Plumlee, 2018 CLE 1st
SAC Gets: Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard, 2018 POR 1st (Lottery Protected)

Lillard / Holiday / Napier
McCollum / Holiday / Connaughton
Gay / Turner / Layman
Aminu / Davis / Vonleh
Noel / Ezeli / Vonleh

 

A mediocre team shouldn't be trading 1st round picks unless a superstar is coming back, imo.

 

Why not? A mediocre team has to go somewhere. There's no point being mediocre, and staying mediocre because you want to keep mediocre picks that don't push the team forwards.

That's why we would lottery (or Top 10) protect any pick of ours. The Cleveland pick is gonna be at the end of the first round.

 

I just believe we need to try to trade for expiring players (Gay, Holiday) or smaller contracts (Noel) because expiring players are more available, and because cap room would still be possible. (If we can't trade for a star). If we don't get better, and can't get that star, I wouldn't mind a semi-blowup, with the intention of restocking this summer around a more defensive oriented core.

Here's something we could to (Warning: Lots of big moves)

If we hypothetically switched Crabbe for Noels smaller contract, that'd save us about $10M. If we traded Leonard for nothing (or an expiring) we'd save $20M. That would leave us only $13M or so above the cap next year. We'd be frontcourt heavy but switching Crabbe and Leonard out for Noel likely makes us better presently, as well as for the future, and would save us apx. $20M. We'd be frontcourt heavy, but then we could possible toss in Plumlee for another expiring (Holiday?), which would balance our team, make us better now, and save us even more money during the off-season, if Holiday left.

So take that $20M we saved and we're still about $14M above the cap.

However, it's likely Ezeli doesn't get healthy and we don't pick up his team option. Suddenly we're about $6M above the cap, and losing Ezeli wouldn't be a hit either.

It's also likely that we'll be able to use the amnesty clause next summer on Turner. I like Layman taking his minutes next year, and I don't think that would be a loss either.

So far, we swapped Crabbe and Leonard out for Noel, which is a plus. Plumlee is a loss if we want this cap space, but Holiday would possibly resign. Turner gets replaced by Layman, and then we end up with $10M in cap space during a summer that has less teams with cap space and better free agent options.

We'd still have a starting lineup with a solid bench.
Lillard
McCollum
Harkless / Layman
Aminu / Vonleh
Noel / Davis

We would then have four paths:
1.) Trade McCollum, Davis, and a pick or two for Cousins, saving us $13M, giving us 2 all-stars with nearly max cap room with a better chance of landing a big-time 3rd player than last year.
We could pursue guys like Hayward, Griffin, and if we won't land one we could resign Holiday to replace CJ. We could also sign mid-level players.

2.) We could try to sign a max player and if we get lucky we could trade 2 of Harkless/Davis/Aminu to clear up the necessary space.

3.) We could resign Holiday or whatever expired contracts we acquired in the process, then use are MLE to shore up the bench. (Covington, Mills, Patterson, Randolph?)

4,) And if all else fails, we could use that $10M in cap on a backup guard that fits better with Lillard and McCollum than the guys we have right now.

All 3 options would likely be improvements over what we have going right now. Just some ideas.

 

I have a hard time believing any GM is interested in Crabbe.

Crabbe is playing 30 minutes MPG, starter minutes. Despite coming off of the bench and often playing against other teams bench players, his production is very low when compared to his salary of $18.5 million. Due to his large contract, Crabbe has a negative trade value at this time.

Then add in his 15% trade kicker (thanks to the Nets poison pill offer we matched). Any team trading for Crabbe will be carrying him @ $21.2+ million of cap space. That’s getting very close to all-star money, for a below average bench player.

I could be wrong, but to unload Crabbe’s contract will take adding serious sweeteners.

 

Pelicans won't give up Holliday without a big time guard coming back... Well unless they're rebuilding and decide to trade AD as well.

 

I could see a couple GMs thinking he'd be effective starter in the right situation. He's also young and will probably continue to improve. The team I think would really be interested in him is Philadelphia. With Simmons and Embiid, they could really use a 3rd guy next to them he could space the 4 and shoot nearly 40% from 3. With them being stocked at center, I think that if Crabbe does happen to get traded, it will be for Noel. We might have to throw in a pick or two to sweeten it however.

 

Why do you figure? A big time guard isn't getting them any closer to contention. I think it's likely Holiday will be gone and I don't think they want to handcuff themselves by paying him big money. I think they try to get a piece that fits with Davis (Like Plumlee) and a pick.

 

Thank you. That's why you don't give players ridiculous contracts, such players are not "trade assets".

 

I see them throwing big money at Holliday if he keeps putting up the numbers he is right now in limited minutes. As well as gets close to 55 games this year.
AD is under contract but 5 years isn't very long. If they're not contenders soon that bridge might be burnt quickly.
They gave up the 6th pick in the draft for him. Really the only thing that has kept Holliday down is injuries.
I just don't see them accepting Gay + Plumlee for Holliday.
They'd at the very least want someone to take one of their bad contracts back. Like Asik or something to build that team with. If not require CJ for him.
I like Holliday, I just don't see that trade working because the Pelicans seem to also.
(dealing with his injuries, letting him go be with his wife then instantly putting him back in the lineup as soon as he's back.)