Lets just figure your original assessment is probably correct. I highly doubt they go 45-20 the rest of the way.
Devil's advocate: what about the 94-95 Rockets? They looked bad but made a big trade (Clyde for Thorpe) midseason, limped into the playoffs (6th seed?) and won it all!!!!!!
That is the one exception I could think of and figured that would be brought up. And if Portland had one of the greatest players in the history of the game on their team and were the defending champions, I'd probably have thought that was more of a possibility.
Seriously. If this was available? I would be on board with this. Just think after getting Nurk and Collins back?
Adams is a good insurance policy regardless. I remember Bill Simmons talking about how horrible that contract is for OKC, you can't tell if he's speaking his mind or if someone in OKC's front office actually feels this way too though.
This will probably get me banned from the board, but honestly I'm starting to think about what life would be like if we traded Lillard for Ben Simmons. Simmons/Simons/CJ just makes a much better fit long-term. I'd love to see Dame take over the East, running pick and rolls with Embiid. It's probably his best chance to make the NBA Finals. We'd get younger, but still have a franchise player locked up on a long-term deal. Simmons' window fits in much better with Collins and Ant. He's not an ideal fit for Nurk, but maybe Nurk doesn't 100% recover anyway or maybe he develops a reliable 3, or maybe he also attracts a nice piece in a trade. It sounds crazy, but I never would've guess how many guys would switch teams in the past year....
I think you make a valid point. Dame is the limit on his own window now. This was a prime year and it is gone. I would rather trade CJ for talent and try with Dame for a few more years with a healthy Nurkic and Collins and the youngsters. But, if you don't have faith in that, then punting with a quick rebuild and swapping Dame for Simmons would give you a window that fits more with Nurkic, Collins, 1M (I like that) and Little. It also removes the whole problem of two short guards.
I really like the Labissière and Bazemore for Steven Adams idea. Then we could flip Whiteside in a trade to the Bulls for Porter Jr.