Merged: Who would you give up for Paul George?

To me, trading someone like Crabbe and a pick isn't really that shitty. That's worth the risk.

 

Except I saw through the Aldridge facade years before he left. I can see what George is trying to do, plain as day.

 

Yeah after driving for 3 hours this morning listening to about 5 different stations, I am off the Paul George bandwagon. Woj was too consistent with his "back channels" comments about PG to the Lakers. But I am in to helping him go to Cleveland For Love. I am
not a huge fan of Klove's max contract, but I do think he and Vonleh are a good tandem next to Nurk.

 

Of course Crabbe and a pick is a freaking no-brainer. Crabbe is arguably negative value. If that's all it took we would be easily outbid. If they actually want a shot at acquiring George it's going to take multiple picks and even then we would probably be outbid.

None of the players on our roster outside of the big 3 have any sort of value. Harkless and Vonleh may have slightly positive value. Most have negative value.

 

Woj recently said the right situation could get him to stay. I think Portland could have the best chance of anyone outside of Cleveland at keeping him. I think how hard Lillard and McCollum have been pushing for him and the great fans we have here in Rip City would make him think twice about leaving for LA.

 

And I think that's essentially what most of us are saying at this point. George has drastically driven down his trade value. I think trading out Turner or Crabbe is worth the possibility of losing one of this year's picks and next year's pick. With PG our 2018 pick probably isn't going to be that great. So we given them:

Turner (salary dump)
#20 (potential loss)
2018 Pick (potential loss)

We potentially lose two picks in the tail end of the 1st round for nothing - that's the worst case scenario.

Best case scenario is that George discovers that he likes being on a winning team competing deep into the Playoffs.

Middle of the road, we trade-flip George to the Lakers at the deadline.

 

I gotta say, it's nice that we have 3 draft picks to fall back on in case the dream of a mega-trade doesn't happen. The last two free agency periods relied on LaMarsha staying and enticing a star to sign in Rip City, both of which were far-fetched and had no good backup plans.

 

On one hand you're saying that George to LA is a done deal and that only a moron would trade for him.

And then you're coming back and saying that we would be "easily outbid" if we offered a pick and a young guard who was a leader in three pointers last season.

Which is it?

 

Zach Lowe in his podcast today came up with an Aminu + Harkless + one of our picks this year and a future pick as an option. He and Arnovitz said Portland could put together both the best package and the best team, but the fear would be that PG would still leave in 2018

 

I'm saying giving up significant value (multiple picks + possibly a value player) is a mistake because he's a rental.

If Indiana was willing to accept a combination of Crabbe/Turner/Leonard/1st for George I 1000000% guarantee you there is some other team out there that will give them a better deal, and we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

 

I just listened to him on the Bomani Jones show and to me it sounded more like he was talking in a hypothetical scenario where the Lakers had to worry that PG might go to a Portland or a Cleveland and find out that he likes the city and the situation and re-signs......... but unless he changed his tune.........it was not too promising

 

Chris Webber was furious when the Bullets traded him to Sac. It was a huge gamble by the Kings. And yet.... they were able to keep him. He loved playing there.

Sometimes it's worth the risk.

 

There is no chance Indiana accepts that deal. And if there was, I'm sure Cleveland would offer Love and a pick even knowing George is a rental.

 

Except CLE doesn't have a pick (remember? WE have it!). And even if they DID have a pick, we have two picks that are better. And nobody wants Love - especially not IND. CLE has NOTHING that ANYBODY wants outside of LBJ and Kyrie.

 

Yeah nobody wants Kevin Love the all-star. They would much rather have Evan Turner on a 70 million dollar contract!

 

Did he specifically list Portland though?

 

Kevin Love or two draft picks in a loaded draft for a rebuilding team... Hmmm...

 

Yeah two late firsts not to mention eating Turners shitty contract.

That sounds fun and super engaging.

And Cleveland can offer a future first.

 

Yup. Love was never able to get the Wolves out of the lottery, and he was younger and they had a better team than Indy. I think Love is fine as a second or third star, but not the primary star. He's simply not that good.

 

I think Love is being severely underrated because he's the one who sacrificed the most, offensively, in Cleveland. In Minnesota, he was a low post and rebounding monster who also developed a good three-point shot a few years into his career. He's still only 28, not exactly a declining vet. I said before that Love wouldn't be an ideal fit for a rebuilding team, but Indiana isn't going to get any ideal offers at this point. If Cleveland really puts Love on the table, it's going to blow away any other offers including Portland's. Mid-to-late first round picks have poor expected value, strong draft or not. The chances that they all, collectively, have anywhere near the value of Love for the rest of their careers is low.

I'm not a big fan of Love because of his defense, but he represents far more value than anyone else is likely to offer (unless the Lakers really offer the #2, which seems so fantastical that I probably won't believe it even if I see it).