By all accounts, EVERYONE is after Covington, including (oddly enough) the 76ers. You don't know what you've got till it's gone, I guess.
Sure, this forum will have him being the next hall of fame player to come out of Portland in less than a week.
Maybe, you gotta have trade chips. They may be able to clear more cap space in 2021 though. There should be something available next year This year is unusually quiet in terms of top players being available.
Ariza is an expiring contract if we pick up his option next year and would be good insurance till Hood is back playing and then can be dealt at the trade deadline if we choose. As we have seen, the market for expiring contracts isn't always that lucrative.
Well the deadline hasn't passed yet so technically there could be value in expirings. Last year there was tremendous value in expiring contracts as it led to Chicago getting Porter, Philly getting Tobias Harris, and Dallas getting Porzingis. 2021 potentially has a much better free agent class so the expirings could have more value then. But the point myself and Bones have made all along is that if you want to even have the ability to make a big trade without giving up Dame/CJ/Nurk it's much easier if you're not forcing the other team to take on multi-year bad contracts. So we're not saying the exprings themselves have some huge value but they do become important in matching contracts. I doubt Sacramento does the Ariza trade if Bazemore still has another year left and if they did it would've probably taken a 1st for them to take it.
Yeah, he has a good start. Stars usually make around $30M, so wed have to send out $24M to match. If we were to combine Ariza, Hood, and whoever we might sign for the MLE, we could match but itd kill our wing depth to trade Ariza and Hood, and dont even know if theyll use their MLE Skal could be thrown in their if he resigns to a good deal, it just gets iffy on the numbers. Plus, it only limits us to one trade, even if we have the assets (prospects, picks) to go make two trades that upgrade our roster into a true contender. Thats why I want the flexibility of having another expiring next year. Itd make it easier to go make something happen without killing our depth, and if the contract was big enough, it could open up the possibility for 2 trades. I like that level of flexibility. Also, what if we want to make a trade on draft day or do sign-and-trade? Having another 1-year contract on the books could make that easier to accomplish. I also think a lot of teams will be looking for expiring contracts next year since the free agent class of 2021 is much better than this years. But this isnt a simple equation by any means. Lots of factors to weigh. Im just of the opinion that we'd be setting ourselves up much better if we traded Whiteside for some combination of help at other positions, 2nd round pick(s), and/or 2-year contracts.
No. He put up 45 10 days ago in the G League and has been looking really impressive. Can shoot, defend, pass. Good post moves, too.
My only fear about getting a high pick is that we would trade it to get some average veteran like Gordon, who won’t help us win that much but will ensure that our mid term future remains grim. Us actually using that pick to get a young player who improves us long term is a long shot.
Exactly. Teams don't intentionally tank in January. Lets all run that idea past Dame and see what he says. Because until he quits on the season, they will still win once in a while. You think he will stop performing at a high level before the All Star selection? It is a little too early to start sitting key players. If they keep losing, and their current active roster suggests that they will, then it will take care of itself.