I think the plan is to trade the pick

yeah Bam is a great defender and Sabas not so much. Many of the basketball sites have him listed as a pf.

 

I wonder if a young player with length, like Jabari Smith jr would be available?

 

I treat every rumor / idea as fiction and just roll with it and give my opinion on that basis cause it can be fun as long as it's a realistic rumor. I mean if someone came here and said they saw a rumor / idea of Grant and 1st for Giannis ( extreme stupid idea ) then I would prolly call it out but if I could see a realistic path on a rumor / idea then I will go with it ( play along ). -- period

 

If they end up getting a top 4 pick from Phoenix…. Then I’d say probably.

 

it's going to be super-irritating if Houston picks 2nd and Portland picks 10th

 

Agreed though ideally the knockdown shooter should be a catch and shoot knock down shooter who is good enough on D that teams don't continually target him in their sets... I'd happily take that add at any position

STOMP

 

And of course the Spurs get the first pick.

 

I have no reasonable trade targets.

Either they make too much money (Lauri) or are not definitive upgrades to rise to the level of a true #1. Think Zion is a nonstatrer for me in any if these discussions because of his injury history.

Would rather take a swing in the draft for a rookie who could outplay his rookie contract.

Or maybe go for some recent underperforming top picks like Jabari Smith or Anthony Black but not sure how either definitively raises our ceiling.

 

Zion definitely scares me. He probably needs a change of scenery, but I’m not sure if that idea is enough for me to take that big of a risk on him. Like anything, it depends on the asking price.

 

Blazers can trade a guaranteed 4 picks (2025, 2029, 2030, 2032)

Blazers could trade 2028 as well which would get it to 5 picks traded but it would be conditional on the Blazers making the 2026 playoffs.

 

After thinking it over, yes, you are right. So it's good it's not happening.

 

Domantas Sabonis could be our next episode of the CroShow.


Sacramento is notoriously stupid and treadmillish, he fits our team in an almost scary way if you remove at least Jerami and possible DA too. Imo

Scoot/Draft or trade for pg
Shae/Toumani
Toumani/Deni
Deni/Sabonis
Sabonis/Clingan

Part with Grant, Ant, Ayton in ways that hopefully bring this trade to light, plus fill in roster.

I personally feel that Sacramento is on board with our 2025 pick plus Mil Swap, plus future 1st or 2nds/plus Ayton or Grant.

I keep hearing they would decline that and want Shaedon instead, I don’t think we’re talking about the same Sacramento Kings but for me personally.. I would only get this deal if we were parting with multiple picks and not scoot or Shaedon. We can’t afford to break apart our core, but we have a bit of valuable future pick opportunities atm to trade

 

just a reminder, in his career, Zion has played 214 games (35.6 games/year); and missed 268 (44.6 games/year)

I really doubt any team will pony up a godfather package for this guy considering he's due 42M/year over the next 3 seasons. There are teams like OKC, Utah, Spurs, Nets that have a lot of extra first round picks. OKC doesn't need dead weight and has to re-sign several players soon; Utah already has Markkanen and they's probably prefer him. Nets don't really have the contacts unless they want to dump both Johnson and Claxton (unlikely). Spurs could do it with Barnes and Vassell/Johnson. I doubt they'll take the risk, especially with the worries over Wemby

Blazers could take a shot. They have expiring contracts and this year's pick. It would be a mistake though

 

I'm intrigued by Zion on the Blazers, but I agree it would have to be a low-ball offer. The most that I would be willing to trade for Zion is:

One promising prospect [Scoot or #9 pick] and one salary ballast player [Grant or Ayton]

 

That's just because you can't speak Finnish.

 

personally, I wouldn't trade Scoot. But that's mainly because I don't want Cronin to have another excuse to re-sign Simons

I think it would need to be Ayton and his expiring contract. I don't think the Pels would consider accepting Grant and his 3 year deal

Ayton + 9th/10th. Might even consider adding the worst of the two 2029 picks (lottery protected)

I just think a 'healthy Zion' is a fictional character and the Blazers would have another albatross contract

it is kind of intriguing consiering a starting unit of Sharpe-Camara-Avdija-Zion-Clingan. There may be enough passing in that unit to not need a PG

 

I tend to agree. To get a reasonably young all-star type (not super star), the other team has to either want to tank, save money, move an often injured player, move a player with off-court issues, or need a change a scenery. I am sure I missed a few, but those come to mind.
None are ideal.

To me, trading an ending contract has little risk. Trading this year's pick (unless we move up) has little risk. The biggest risk is the unprotected pick from the Bucks. That one I hate to lose.

As long as Grant's contract is gone, I would take a risk on Zion. Talk about high-risk risk high-reward. But I don't see a better one, although I do like the suggestions of a player, Jabari Smith.

Anthony Black would be a good backup PG in my mind, but still a backup, so can't get too excited about that.

 

I heard and this was before Griffin got fired that they want two guaranteed FRPs, that's hardly a godfather package. I wouldn't be mad... a little scared but not mad if we sent Ayton, this year's pick if it's 9-11 and the worst of the three picks in 2029 for Zion.

A better package would be to acquire the Denver first along with something else for Ant in a pre-draft trade, send that pick, Ayton and the worst of the 2029 FRPs for Zion... we still get to draft with our pick and we get a guy we know can play at an all star level.

You're good at keeping me in check when I overvalue our current assets. Do those trades seem realistic to you?

 

If you can get Zion for DA / Grant and a pick - that's a no brainer imho. You got to make these kinds of swings.

I suspect that's not going to happen.