There is close to zero chance the teams with Ingram, Sabonis, Randle, Grant would do a 1 for 1 trade with us.
When the trade for Chris Paul to the Lakers fell apart, the story goes that David Stern said the Clippers offer wasn't enough and Olshey ended the conversation. This was when the NBA front office was assisting the New Orleans' crapfest. Olshey waited and made other smaller moves while other teams moved on. When it looked like a trade of CP3 was stalling, Olshey was quickly back in it and pulled the trigger on a guy he said wasn't in negotiations for the trade -- Eric Gordon. Morey isn't going to sell Simmons for less than a strong trade. Olshey now has Lillard and Powell for a back court, yet Lillard has publicly said the roster wasn't good enough last season ... and most of us would agree it still isn't good enough to have a "chance" (as Lillard has put it) to contend. IMHO, Olshey is waiting. He knows he has to make THE trade necessary to keep Lillard. With Simmons (and Powell) on board, the days of doubling Lillard to get the ball out of his hands would be about over; Olshey has tried to fix this since the New Orleans series. The defense improves significantly. The size of the team becomes a strength. Keeping Norm makes the trade possible. This is the trade Olshey didn't just jump on like with Stern and CP3. Same thing with Morey. Olshey will have to pay up, but I think he's going to get this done -- Simmons to Portland in a CJ package. [If Olshey was really cagey, he'd get Draymond Green out of GSt while sending CJ to Philly along with Wiseman from the Warriors with Kerr getting Simmons. Additional contracts to make the numbers work, but handing Green to Lillard and Billups would be a whole lot of fun.]
I think he may be waiting to see if GS comes out slow and is willing to mix it up. I could see Klay not looking like himself or Wiggins taking a step back. If so, and GS is willing to roll the die on Simmons, that three way makes a hell of a lot of sense. It’s also one of the few moves that Dray (assuming GS starts out slow), CJ, Simmons, and Dame all sign off on.
It's so frustrating to see a trade that just makes so much sense for everyone involved not happen. The other super-obvious part of this would/should be Wiggins+pieces to Toronto for Siakam (assuming GS has enough left over after Morey extracts his pounds of flesh). POR: CJ out, Draymond in PHI: Simmons out, CJ/Kuminga/Moody in TOR: Siakam out, Wiggins/Wiseman in GSW: Dray/Wiggins/Wiseman/ Kuminga/Moody out, Simmons/Siakam in. Everyone wins, including the NBA as a whole, which gets one of biggest blockbuster deals it's ever seen, making for all sorts of exciting storylines. And of course, it'll never happen.
makes Norm's extension look like a bargain. We got an extra year for essentially the same $ total. Nuggets could have let him go to UFA next summer-- not sure I get the urgency to do this now.
in one way, basketball hasn't changed much: unless it's a case of elite talent, 6'8 is worth more than 6'3. But, a 5M/year difference between the two players is kind of large. That's 28% more than Powell's annual salary
Man, that’s a lot for Gordon. Seems like things are going to get dicey for the Nuggets when Porter’s rookie contract is up.
i am guessing that max will be announced shortly in the coming weeks, but next season is going to be tax hell for them once it kicks in.
Yup. I guess that they're going all in on making a run over the next couple of seasons. They won't be alone. Hella lot of money is going to get spent in the West.
Counting chickens before they hatch. I think it's gonna level out. I love the NBA, but it seems a lot of America says "Meh".
