Around the NBA 2022 Playoffs: The Thread

Jazz barely beat Luka-less Mavs. Minnesota/Memphis is Upset City. And the Sixers suck (they'll lose, you'll see!).

Playoff talk!! Go get it!

 

Josh Hart is not a scrub. And we could see that before we benched him and revved up the tank. What were you expecting for a non-All Star guard who can't play D? Giannis?

 

Happens all the time in this league. Trading Monta Ellis moved Klay Thompson into starting role. Trading Enes Kanter made Utah better, like they acquired Gobert. And the Nuggets traded Nurkic to open up time for Jokic.

 

and Portland traded Zach Randolph to make room for Aldridge

Blazerkor doesn't want to hear that shit though...he's on a jihad against Cronin

 

You really think that the return that Cronin got for CJ, Norm, Larry and RoCo was enough? Even if you consider the time freed up for Ant and the cap savings?

 

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.....and so on....
Edit..
It's also about building chemistry..We saw that today with Minnesota.
Hart, Winslow, bring a dawg-like personality this team sorely needs.
You can't find that in the numbers.

 

Every time James Harden drives to the hoop he thinks he should get a call.

 

YES. Giannis + KD might've been nice but not realistic. I like what we got.

 

And losing Wes Matthews made room for CJ.
And now losing CJ makes room for Anfernee.

(Actually, I think trading Zach Randolph was so he wasn't a bad influence on Greg Oden. Zach actually thought we'd draft Durant and start a Durant/Randolph/Aldridge frontcourt. He was years ahead of his time...)

 

I actually think the Norm/RoCo trade wasn’t as bad as people think. RoCo is a role player on an expiring contract. You weren’t going to get anything for him. I think Norm for Winslow is an even swap. Norm was a redundancy on a supposedly unattractive contract. Winslow was the exact player Portland needed. From the games he played, he will fit in well here. The only question with him is health.

As far as the CJ trade, the pick not conveying this season really killed the trade. But that was a calculated risk that required a historic Lakers implosion and PG contracting Covid-19 at the last minute to not convey. That’s just bad luck. Had the pick conveyed, I believe it was fair. The only question I had with the CJ trade was the need to include Nance in the deal. I think Nance would have really contributed to Chauncey’s system.

Also with the CJ trade, people are forgetting that the organization “took care” of CJ by letting him pick and have input on where he wanted to go. This took away a lot of leverage Cronin had to negotiate. While it’s hard to swallow, I think taking care of CJ was the right thing to do. Players talk and they know how organizations treat players. For a small-market franchise, this is magnified even more.

 

the return was light in my view, mainly the Clippers trade...I've said that many times before, and I know you've seen me say that. I count a lot of factors into my trade evaluations and I also know you don't count some of them like I do. That's fine

if you gauge by the other trade proposals that Jake Fisher talked about for CJ, there were (and Fisher has good sources):

ATL: Gallinari + filler + future protected pick

Dallas: Powell + Kleber + future protected pick

Pelicans: Hart + Louzada + future protected pick + 21M TPE

that doesn't even account for the opportunity the Blazers had for an 11th pick if PG13 hadn't got Covid. And it doesn't count the 70M in salary relief the trade provided. I just have a hard time seeing how the Blazers got big time hosed in that deal, even with the Nance factor added (he played in 9 of 28 games for the Pels)

now, I'm guessing that you won't accept that those 3 trades were the market for CJ, but at least there is some evidence for that being the case, rather than some hypothetical 'better' market we haven't heard a shred of evidence indicating it actually existed

 

I think Zach was too much a threat to go jail-blazer for Paul Allen's tastes

 

I’m not sure I would want to be in Philly’s position this summer when James Harden is looking for an extension. He’s turning 33 this summer and already looks like he’s on the decline. He’s had an injury history and isn’t known for taking care of his body. He’s up for a $220M+, 4 year extension this summer. That means you’ll be paying him $50M+ per year when he’s 36-37 years old.

 

I'd let him go. Maxey's got this.