Yes the board near unanimously loved that trade initially, but I was decidedly in the other very lonely camp loudly hating it the moment it was announced. It made for absolutely terrible on court chemistry on both ends as Portland's two best players (Zbo, SAR) could only play inside on offense and neither could defend. Together they clogged the middle on offense making each worse. Though he sucked everywhere on offense, with no jumper to speak of Theo Ratliff could also only be somewhat effective if he played inside so it was a true John Nash clusterfuck of stupidity doomed to fail... which is what I posted the day the trade happened. I'm fine with being on the opposite side from you on this view too. My preference for Bigs is defense and that is not KAT's forte so he is not the ideal target that I'm pining for... I'm just contending he'd be a big upgrade over JN. Like Nurk, he's only okay on D. Unlike Nurk, he's a load on offense. His lethal 3 point threat (career 40% from deep on 4.2 attempts) pulls the defending Big out of the paint for others to slash to the hoop. Offensively he's just a great overall shooter with his career TS% besting Nurkic 62% to 55%. His game is much more complimentary to others, so I really don't get the SAR reference. Regardless, what does Portland have that they'd really want? The pick of course... Ant maybe? With Rudy there they certainly don't want Nurk. The general consensus from the outset when they traded for Rudy was that he and Karl were a poor pairing which would also be true of Nurk and Karl. I just don't see it STOMP
If you're here for the lolz, then kindly piss off. I don't need you translating shit for me. If you want to be all gloom and doom then have at it
Some Portland 1st round picks: LaRue Martin Barry Parkhill (↳POR) Phil Lumpkin Major Jones Wally Walker Rich Laurel (↳ATL) Keith Herron Ron Brewer Ronnie Lester (↳CHI) Jeff Lamp Bernard Thompson Sam Bowie Walter Berry Byron Irvin James Robinson Aaron McKie Shawn Respert (↳POR ↳MIL) Sebastian Telfair Martell Webster (↳POR) Greg Oden Victor Claver Meyers Leonard Zach Collins Caleb Swanigan Nassir Little building
Trader Bob did great, yes Sheed, Pippen, Smith. Who is the best player we've acquired in the 22 years since? I can't think of any good ones. Rolo? Miles? Gerald Wallace? Could probably rank Josh Hart as high as any of them. Just a pathetic list. When you compare it to the draft list - very clear how we best acquire talent.
If the only option is to massively overpay by trading the #3 pick, I don't think they should do it. Scrolling through twitter I saw a bunch of the usual idiotic trade ideas from fans regarding the 3rd pick. Including one from some guy who suggested Portland trade Grant, Walker + the 3rd pick for Ayton. the 3rd pick alone would be overpay for him, let alone throwing in Grant. Then I saw someone say the team would have to trade Sharpe + #3 + Simons for Bridges (and filler). I'm glad that twitter is the fiction section of sports takes. It's where good ideas go to die.