Seems impossible to know if Tatum was the only other player they could have got... I've said as much that AD's agent did a good job of chasing off other teams by telling them he was going to leave next year, which is part of why I think this deal looks so bad. I think they could've gotten much more for AD if his agent hadn't chased everyone off. Like I said, probably was the best deal available, but that doesn't mean it was a good deal. I keep wondering why NO wanted to do it now, why not wait until mid-July find a desperate team that struck out in FA and do it then?
By my statement you can see that’s what I think happened. They got a bunch of mediocre players. If the goal is to be good they’ll probably succeed. Something like the Pelicans with Anthony Davis have been.
I hope for the Pelicans' sake they acquired Ball with the intent of flipping him. If they are forced to trade him they will likely get a worse deal. Either way, I don't expect him to be in NO a year from now.
Ingram sucks. He's a bad shooter both from 3 and the FT line. His defense is average at best. Passing is okay but not anything to elevate his status. Sure he scored 18 ppg this year but he's an inefficient scorer. More promise than Tatum? I wish you were the Celtics GM then. Lonzo might be a tad underrated but I can't stand guards that can't shoot from 3 or the FT line. He hasn't been durable at all so far either. I do like Hart's game but he'd be better as a bench player on a good team instead of a rebuilding one, in my opinion. How could NO do this trade without the other team taking Solomon Hill? The sneaky part about not taking Hill means that the Lakers could sign a really good player this summer that they wouldn't have otherwise. If that player signs a 4-year deal and they re-sign AD then those picks could have really low value. The pick swaps won't matter if the Pelicans are worse than the Lakers.
Until Ball develops a dependable outside shot he will not have real value. Until then he is not a closer on a playoff team. Hell he shot 41% from the line. I like Ingram much more but still 33% from deep and 67% from the line needs to be improved upon....and hope to hell the blood clot issue does not happen again.
I mean this trade is probably better than letting him walk for nothing next summer, though my immediate reaction to the trade was a long the lines of, "why not just let him walk lol", but ok it's not that bad. I just think it's a trade that could easily end up being really, really bad for NO, their banking on what AD in his prime not being able to keep the Lakers afloat.
I think once people start looking past Lakers hate they will realize Lonzo and Ingram aren’t mediocre.
Doesn’t matter. Deals wouldn’t get better. Teams who would likely be after him are not the ones that would have the assets to outbid this. Knicks couldn’t possibly put together a better package, neither could Clippers or Nets.
I saw a ton of Lonzo in college and thought he was really over hyped then, I think he's been over hyped because of him being in LA. I don't think Ingram is a bad player, but I see his potential as maybe a good starter type.
Couldn't out bid this? What was the bid throw in a bunch of draft picks? Literally every team could do that... The rest of it Josh Hart, Lonzo, Ingram a lot of teams had young guys who have been hurt a lot or have some potential. I think a desperate team next month could find a way to put at the least the same type of package that NO got.
He shot 39% from three the season before. His technique is fine, and he’s just 21 with plenty of room to improve. I like him a lot as a prospect.
The no. 4 pick in this draft also gets conveniently disregarded here for some reason. That is a good asset as well. I guess I will not agree with many here on Ingram and Lonzo because people can’t look past Lakers hate. I expect at least one of them to develop into a top 5 player in the league in their position at some point of their career. I’ve seen people say CJ and Collins would have been a better deal which is an absolutely ridiculous nonsense.
Tatum, Brown, Smart all Celtics picks this year plus Grizzlies pick would have been a better deal. And it would have never been on the table because Ainge isn’t dumb. Griffin has probably spoken with them and knew the deal they would willing to offer wouldn’t be close.
Well, my only point on the #4 this year is this draft is incredibly top heavy, after Morant, I'm not sure there's any one in this draft that jumps out as top end prospect, that doesn't mean guys can't pop, there are always surprises, but this is a weird draft in my opinion, I think the #4 in other years is probably more valuable then this year, to be fair NO doesn't have a time machine to go back and make this the 2003 draft class or whatever. Time will tell on Lonzo and Ingram, I don't see either of them as growing into that type of player, but we'll see. I think Ingram has a higher upside than Ball. I think CJ and Zach are a worse deal all by themselves, but if they added all those picks it would be a much better deal. However, Portland wouldn't of given them all those picks and swaps. I guess time will tell on how all those future picks play out.
Also Pelicans wanted to make it now to have control over that pick. This also makes sense. They can choose their own player, they can flip it for 2+ picks or other assets. It’s completely understandable that they wouldn’t wait.
