OT Donavan Mitchell trade watch

I am not a big Mitchell fan. Not saying he is not good, because he is, but I don't think he makes his teammates better. His best games have been when he dominates the ball, much like James Harden. The problem is he is not as good as Harden. Not sure what type of players are best to surround him with, but I certainly don't think it is Dame.

 

Fuck no

 

I wouldn’t worry too much. I don’t even think the Blazers front office has the balls too try for such a move. A big part of the problem is they haven’t even had the balls since the trader Bob days.

 

The numbers just don't back that up. They're not that different offensively in terms of production.

 

CJ now has to be the leader on his team, and it will be interesting if he becomes that every game -- including how it affects his production. As the 3rd option on O, he should be a good one. On D, he's going to get lit up.

Mitchell would be the starting SG and has been the driving force on Utah as a 1A from SG. The fit with Lillard would have to be worked out and their collective D would have to improve. It wouldn't be worse than with CJ. Would not.

Mitchell and CJ's stats/production aren't FAR apart -- as you say. Mitchell has gotten his from the jump. CJ grew into his pretty quickly and has been Dame's wing man, since ... a clear number 2 and gets the 2nd best defender of guards from the other team. I hope he does well with NO's forwards -- they could fit really well on O unless CJ continues to pound the air out of the ball.

Would I rather have Dame and CJ vs. Dame and Mitchell? Easy call. Okay, way too easy. Mitchell. They'd go AFTER the other team on O. The apparent valuation of the League on CJ and Mitchell's worth in trade, aside.
Dame, Ant, and Sharpe vs. Dame and Mitchell? I don't know. I'll know (a little) more by January 15. I hope for Utah's sake Mitchell is gone before the season starts, and they get their boatload.

 

when did that trade happen?...I missed it

 

If that’s the going rate. And we saw already what Gobert got them. Unless you think Lillard would fetch less than those two which is possible.

 

you didn't have any "if" in your post and were using speculation of the Mitchell trade to argue in favor of trading Lillard

as far as the Gobert trade, to start with, what one team pays for a player, who is a completely different player than Dame, is no indication at all at the market for Dame. Minny has been pretty universally gauged as having made a really stupid trade. As far as the return Utah got, the players aren't much, and the best player they got back is a convicted felon. What has made some ga-ga about the return is the draft pick capital, and there's plenty of reason to believe the picks won't amount to much, at least not over the next 4 seasons. Hard to "revamp" a team when the best assets returned might be draft picks 5 & 7 years from now

like it or not, and apparently, a bunch of people don't like it, Dame's extension pretty much kills his trade value for the next couple of seasons

 

Minnesota had had so many lottery picks over the years and they really haven't paid off to date.
The picks they give to Utah are a ways off, and wont probably pan out?

 

First off it won't be Minnesota's stupid GM's making the picks.

Second, people thought the Boston picks acquired in the KG/Pierce trade were worth even less. Boston ended up with Brown and Tatum.

Sure the picks might not amount to much, but who knows, they might amount to an MVP. Getting a number of extra chance at a star is a great way if not the best way to rebuild a team.

 

that's not true at all. Garnett was 37 and Pierce was 36. What "people' really thought was that Ainge totally snookered a Russian noob owner and Billy King. Kind of a larger version of the snookering after Chad Buchannen snookered Billy King in the Wallace for Dame (6th pick) trade

 

Nobody thought that about the Boston deal. Everyone mocked Brooklyn for that.

 

Not accurate.
Everyone thought Brooklyn mortgaged everything for a couple of has beens. And it turned out, everyone was right.

 

Uh actually Minnesota's GM is Tim Connelly who was instrumental in getting Jokic, & Murray in Denver. Dude is a good GM.

 

Here's the rub. First of all the Jazz haven't even made the Mitchell trade yet. Then they will get something of value for Conley. When they get everything they're going to for these guys they are not going to wait around to make those picks. They will tank next season and use many of the future picks they get to trade for higher picks in the upcoming draft or young players.

They won't look at this as a rebuild where they're still adding rookies to the roster as foundational building blocks five years from now. This isn't going to be Houston or OKC, Ainge isn't that patient. He'll try to have all of the main pieces in place by the start of 2024-25.

If he continues to amass the kind of capital he did for Gobert when trading these other guys, he'll have an excellent chance at success. He's done it before.

 

I don’t see how CJ compares to Mitchell. Mitchell was the best player on a team with the best record in the league. CJ isn’t capable of that. Also- Mitchell’s stats make a big jump from regular season to playoffs. He’s a primetime player.

 

And this is why, it's at least worth a look.

 

Dame and Mitchell would be way more scary to any other team as a combo.