Merged: Cousins traded to N'Awlins (for some Cajun shrimp)

Maybe Cousins' can get his pal back after-all.

 

an interesting twist indeed, if the pels pick him up it will confirm the boogie whisperer rumor

 

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=18725359

Zach goes IN on the Kings

 

Jailbirds.

 

To everyone who said we'd have to trade CJ to get DMC:

 

I think people confuse someone being a headcase with being a criminal. Just because someone is an asshole doesn't mean they're going to break the law. I find that jump to be completely ridiculous.

 

We got DMC? Awesome!

More seriously, yeah, the package they got bit, but it's actually not a package Portland could have matched. Which is a little pathetic. Portland didn't have sufficient expiring contracts or a cheap young player that Sacramento loved (unless they loved Vonleh, which they probably didn't but with the Kings you never know). Portland probably would have had to deal McCollum to get Cousins (though, more likely, they were among the teams that weren't getting their calls answered or weren't even bidding).

 

My point being that traded stars don't fetch players of CJ's caliber.

 

I don't think one of the worst-run franchises in the league trading one of the riskiest stars in the league constitutes a good template. But, actually, I overall agree with you--not because traded stars aren't worth players of McCollum's caliber but because teams trading a star usually aren't actually looking for a replacement star of similar age/cost. They're looking to rebuild and want great young prospects and premium draft picks (and maybe salary relief).

The reason I keep saying that the only way Portland gets players like Butler or Cousins is to trade someone like Lillard or McCollum is because Portland doesn't have any of those things (unless they get super lucky in the coming lottery). They have no great prospects, their first-round picks aren't projected to be premium ones (again, barring great lottery luck) and they can't offer huge salary relief. Literally, their only high-level assets are Lillard and McCollum.

So, I've never felt your above sentiment is wrong (though maybe not for the reason you imply--that traded stars have too low trade value to get a McCollum), but Portland doesn't have the other assets a rebuilding team would want. It's Lillard, McCollum or nothing.

 

I mostly agree with that. Though I still hold out hope (though it's declining) that our pick ends up being Top 5, and that would make a package for Butler much more likely. Before trades started going down I was hopeful that we could drop to 3rd worst in the West, but now 5th worst looks like the best we could do...

 

We still would. I get the impression that their crazy owner thinks that Buddy > CJ.

 

Not a team bidding would be my guess. Olshey might have inquired a while back, but I'm sure that ship sailed. SAC was probably very greedy on the market with Cousins, and then teams went and made alternative moves, and now that the Kings feel their hand is forced they end up taking what they think is the best offer they can get before the Pelicans decide to make an alternative deal for Buddy.

I'm sure the majority of teams have probably inquired about Boogies trade availability over the years. It would be interesting to find out what some of those offers over the past 5+ years have been.

 

If you guys honestly think this trade happened because the Kings owner has a boner for Buddy, you need a reality check. We've seen suggestions for a couple years now that Cousins trade value is remarkably low due to his chemistry killer issues. His value was so low the Kings were stuck with him knowing they were going to have to shell out $200mil plus for a guy that was going to continue to make that locker room a volatile hostile environment... This is not fake rumors about his issues.

I fully believe the Pelicans were also backed into a corner where they had to take the risk. I imagine keeping Anthony Davis happy by giving him some help was extremely important. Once Ibaka fell through they looked to Cousins, and the price was too low to not risk rolling the dice. I know everyone thinks this is a steal, but in reality it's like trading your pet Gecko for a rattlesnake without a cage.

 

I don't think a young roster is a good fit for Boogie. He needs to be surrounded by more established players. So I can see why the Lakers shied away. He is a big time talent but not actually someone you want your young players influenced by.

 

How about when the Wolves traded (Mbah A Moute and Alexey Shved expirings to the 76ers) Love to the Cavs for Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins, and Thaddeus Young. That is the most comparable "blockbuster" in recent memory.

Cousins is a more dominant player than Love, and the Kings ended up getting significantly less for him.

 

To take on DMC without giving up Dame or CJ would leave no Money left for anything else for years to come. I think NO is looking to off salary, not add more max players. As much as it would have been nice, I dont think NO was in on this for this reason

 

you are right. ny nightclub

 

Damn, Grant isn't holding anything back!











And then there's these

 

Jailblazers = Whitsitt era