Game Thread NBA PLAY-IN - PELICANS @ CLIPPERS - APRIL 15, 2022 - FRIDAY - 7:00 PM (PDT) TNT

Don’t discount Chauncey’s role in personnel moves. Remember before he pursued coaching, he actually wanted to be a GM. He was rumored to be the front runner for the Cavs GM position but ultimately declined because of LeBron’s noncommittal stance on returning to the Cavs. I could see Chauncey targeting guys like Hart and Winslow that fit his style more. It could be Chauncey acting as de facto GM and Cronin being the cap/numbers guy.

 

I admittedly don’t know details around the Bucks 25’ pick but why do people think it will be a good pick considering it’s the Bucks and Giannis and all. Are they going to nosedive the next two years?

 

If we win the lottery none of this will matter to me.

 

With the Paul George news I now fully expect NO to win, keep their own pick, and then get the #1 pick via the Lakers.

 

Yeah, I haven't given up on our chances of the Pels pick conveying to us, I'm just even more convinced due to this proving just how needlessly reckless Joe's moves were that he should not be our head decision maker going forward. The guy made shitty deals in which he allowed our situation cap situation when we still have one of the richest ownership groups in the league to dictate other team's abilities to take advantage of us and get far more value from us than they gave back. That's not the kind of GM we should want running our franchise.

There will always be something that another team can try to hold over your head and a good negotiator won't allow that to affect their ability to get a fair and stable return. If this can happen because we were freeing up cap space why won't it happen for whatever reason in the future that we're at the bargaining table? Joe put himself in a position of weakness and a few actual GMs who need to be sharks, smelled blood in the water and took advantage, giving us shit that they didn't want or in the case of what we're watching today a very volatile asset for solid pieces with known value.

 

If it takes 2 L.A. super-teams crapping the bed, and Pop (the HOF coach) not dragging his team into the playoffs, AND Zion M.I.A. for the year AND the Pelicans make the playoffs to have the Blazers miss out on a projected #11 pick for a delayed MIL pick … well, then, the basketball gods are loopy as hell. Just not buying it. Clippers win.

 

Who out there was likely to give a 1st for Powell and RoCo?
It's easy to make demands for a better return and bitch about fleecing without looking team by team and what could even remotely possibly be realistic scenarios. It's then easy to fallback on the I don't know what offers are out there excuse, while bitching that this wasn't the best offer for them.

 

I thought we were done with Covid? Hardly anyone wears masks anymore.

 

Jrue and Kris will be 34 and 33 and I think many teams in the East will have passed them by then imo.

 

Their pick goes to Charlotte and I'm not counting the Clippers out of this game by any means but this does highlight just how shitty of a negotiator Joe is and the fact that he has a limited imagination that makes it very hard to trust his decision making.

 

The options for CJ at the deadline had been reported as Gallinari+filler+pick from Atlanta, Powell+Kleber/(maybe Hardaway?)+distant first from Dallas and the New Orleans deal. I can absolutely guarantee that this board would have been going bezerk if we had kept CJ past the deadline, and the same posters blasting Cronin now would be blasting him if he had turned down all offers and hadn't made a move.

Cronin likely took a gamble that the pick would convey this year (and as of the time of this post, of course, it still might). If it doesn't convey, is it not still a gamble worth taking at the time? The Milwaukee future pick may not be as shiny of an asset, but it still is an asset that can be utilized. Hell, that pick might be used to acquire Grant anyway (so really there would be no major difference on our end).

We can argue that Cronin should have negotiated for better terms after this season, but what if NOP simply says no. New Orleans was certainly interested in CJ, but I've never gotten the impression that they HAD to have him. NOP could have easily said, "meh, if you like those other deals better, we're fine." I'd still prefer Hart, the Milwaukee pick, and additional cap flexibility (along with the seconds, etc.) to the other offers.

 

I don't know, Giannis will be 29 when the season starts and should be even better than he is right now. Your confidence that they won't be able to move a piece here or there to make sure they keep a solid team around them is presumptuous. I just don't see that pick being close to the lotto, also it's three years from now so it's just an uncertainty and that's the reason why future firsts are worth so much less than current firsts.

 

Where was the pressing need to dump CJ this season? You make it seem like there was some mandate to tank and get him off the roster asap. Is it unfathomable to imagine CJ would have recovered at least some trade value if he had the ball in his hands in Portland w/o as he has now?

 

I mean, could have waited for Olshey to land another job. Haha

 

I thought NO gets the Lakers pick.

 

I don't trust the reporting that only three teams had interest in CJ. I do trust the reporting that the offers were pretty far below his actual value because of his contract but more so because Joe had just shown that he was willing to give away quality pieces. To think that a rookie GM's first move being pure shit didn't affect the offers he received for his second move wouldn't be very logical.

I'll say what I've said before. If the pick conveys and I still think there's a decent chance that it does, then the trade wasn't fucking awful but the Norm/RoCo trade was and that affected this trade. This trade not being awful in no way redeems Cronin from the first trade he made being awful. This is an interim GM and he's shown that he will let other GMs take advantage of him and possibly that he has no clue how to manage his ownership group for the betterment of the team.

I just don't know why we would keep him when we know this is 1 of 30 of these jobs in the world and not the least attractive one. The pool that we have to hire from is vast and we can do better than what Joe has shown he is.

 

If we move him in the offseason, we'd have to take back over 26 million in contracts to kitchen his deal. Which shoots our next year's salary through the roof. And makes it more difficult to retain both ant and nurk AND make other moves to improve the team.

 

I don't need to have the last laugh. But I live in LA and as we all know misery loves company. So at least I get some short-time enjoyment.

To be honest I could care less about RoCo. He was not coming back IMO so I don't care if he is on the Clippers next year. You say so yourself that he will get a pay cut in the summer. He is a replaceable talent. I personally like watching Winslow more just based on his ball-handling skills for his position, and his disposition.

 

They do get the Lakers pick which it's just being dramatic to say is going to be #1, they just don't get to "keep their own pick" that goes to Charlotte if the Pelicans win tonight.

 

Funny that the first trade by Cronin will totally fuck up his second. a fucking 2025 milwaukie pick and Hart for CJ and Nance is a fucking steal. I wouldn't be shocked if the Sixers are kicking themselves right about now for not taking CJ. He is playing better than Harden ATM and they would have got back picks!