Yup. That's exactly who I was thinking of as well. And that's fine.... I don't mind having a guy like that, but he's certainly not the centerpiece of a trade for Dame.
Irrelevant... As I said - "I wouldn't deal with OKC." Miami doesn't have to even talk to OKC to unlock the 24 and 26 picks. Get a late pick in '25 from Brooklyn, Knicks, or Utah.
So you think we should have drafted Amen over Scoot? Also, do you think Smith is better than Sharpe? We all know who's taller.
You can't unlock picks without dealing with OKC. They own the protected 2025 pick from Miami. If the pick is top 14 protected, so most likely the pick is going to OKC. You can't trade 2024 or 2026 until that pick is resolved.
You can unlock them. The only requirement is that Miami has a pick in '25. It does NOT have to be their own. This is why pick swaps are legal. As you said, OKC owns the '25 Miami pick which is lotto protected. If protected it rolls over to the 26 pick. If Miami gets a late 1st in '25 (say Milwaukee's), then they can trade '24, '28, & '30 without any conditions. They could also do swaps in '27 and '29 without condition. The only tricky part is the '26 pick would have to be conditional (since there is a chance that OKC gets it). However the condition can be "If the Miami '25 pick conveys to OKC, the Portland gets '26. If the Miami '26 pick does not convey, then Portland gets the higher pick between Miami '25 and Milwaukee's '25". In this scenario, if Portland got Miami's 25 - it would be guaranteed to be in the lottery. Since Miami would still be selecting a player in the first round in 25 - the conditions of the Steipen Rule are met.
That works unless the Heat are in the lottery in 2025... in that case the Heat keep their 2025 pick and OKC gets it in 2026. So yeah I think we could conditionally acquire 2026 but it wouldn't for sure convey.
I'd say that should be a plan to negotiate, one possibility is getting a weak 2025 from as you say one of those teams with multiple picks. But for due diligence Miami/PDX should also inquire with OKC as they could potentially offer a better way to unlock the pick. If OKC doesn't, then yes just deal with Brooklyn/NY/Utah/SAS/etc.
Incorrect, Miami can unlock their pick without OKC. They just need to have a 1st round pick in one of two consecutive years. It doesn't have to be their own first round pick in any year. To fully unlock it they need a pick in 2025 or if they miss the 2025 playoffs in 2026. It's probably a bit more complicated to get a pick from a 3rd team that exactly matches those conditions to convey, but certainly not impossible. Seems unlikely they miss the 2025 playoffs, so perhaps the Blazers would be fine with the pick only being "conditionally" unlocked.
Problem with that is I imagine we'd rather they guarantee the 2026 pick so they can free up 2024 because if Miami is bringing back a pick from another team, we're going to want that pick as well
Ahhh thats a good way to structure the conditional aspect.... yeah if Miami keeps their 2025 pick then its in the lottery so have a way that it goes to the Blazers instead.
Yeah, I forgot Shaedon was guarding centers, power forwards, small forwards, SGs and PGs and frequently guarded the opposing best player. Here ya go: https://theathletic.com/4687340/2023/07/20/jabari-smith-jr-rockets-nba-defense/?amp=1 Lol i guess you'd rather have Duncan Robinson or Luke Kennard than Jimmy Butler because they have higher FG%, 3pt% and efg%? Is that right? Or does the fact that they absolutely suck on defense change your opinion on that? Jimmy is better practically everywhere else but the "most important areas" after all. And I've got no idea if Jabari had a stretch as good as Shaedon's. I didn't watch the Rockets that often. And we clearly differ in measuring Jabari's impact defensively. Shaedon is undoubtedly a better scorer. That's like comparing Jaren Jackson Jr. or Evan Mobley to Valenciunas or Vucevic.
Well, first of all, Duncan Robinson sucks. He's not better than Jimmy on any metric. Like.... he's REALLY bad. Kennard is a really good three point shooter. I don't think he's good at literally anything else. He's a specialist. Do you think Shaedon is a specialist? Jabari got torched dude. Okay, they put him on the other team's best player..... and he wasn't very good at it. "For example, per Cleaning the Glass, the Rockets gave up nearly four more points with Smith on the floor versus when he was on the bench. That would slot him in the bottom quartile of defenders from last season — 16th percentile to be exact. Now, if Houston as a whole was an elite or even an average defensive unit, Smith’s impact would stick out. But given the Rockets were ineffective on that end of the floor as a unit, there’s more to be explored beyond the surface level." So basically..... he sucked at defense.... but if Houston was amazing at defense, he would be better? That's some amazing analysis right there.
