This is a misrepresentation. It was a bad trade to begin with, but now people are just piling on. I forget where I saw it, but when Gobert is on the court the Wolves have a top-10 defense, and when he's off, they're among the league worst, so that's not the issue. It's funny that people have REALLY started to unload since KAT went out, when the Wolves have been about the same. Why dump on Gobert when KAT makes no difference to your record? Yes, it was an unbalanced trade - the league should prevent a team giving up that many first rounders. But if the Wolves could get a couple of really solid 3-and-D guys for KAT (plus a couple of first rounders back), they'd be back in business. People also forget that "the real" Ant came in very out of shape, and is learning how to play with Gobert. (To his credit, he's become a much better passer this season.) The Wolves are a cursed franchise, sure, but "worst trade ever" is ridiculous hyperbole. (I should note that I was always a firm believer that Gobert was the one behind the Jazz's good record and Mitchell got all the credit. I am definitely re-evaluating that view! Gobert is kind of a dinosaur in today's NBA, certainly with THAT contract. Maybe if Nurk gave him three point shooting lessons?)
Abso-fucking-lutely. Been saying this for years. Does he have value round the league, I wonder. Bigs who play no defense are a bit stuck out of time, as poor old Jahlil Okafor can attest. The only difference is KAT has an outside shot. But remember that he was the #1 pick in the year Jokic was a second-rounder... If only Minny could combine KAT and Gobert into one BrundleCenter...
There's simply not enough to be said about this lopsided trade. The Jazz traded: 1st round pick in 77 (#6), 78 (#8/Freeman Williams, Portland State) and 79 (#1) AND a 1980 2nd round pick in exchange for a 1977 2nd round pick and a 1978 1st round pick (who played 2 years), all because they signed Gail Goodrich...who absolutely sucked at that point in his career. Fun fact about the 78 pick. August 5, 1976: Traded by the New Orleans Jazz (as a future 1978 1st round draft pick) with a 1977 1st round draft pick (Kenny Carr (future Blazer) was later selected), 1979 1st round draft pick (Magic Johnson was later selected) and a 1980 2nd round draft pick (Sam Worthen was later selected) to the Los Angeles Lakers for a 1977 2nd round draft pick (Essie Hollis was later selected) and a 1978 1st round draft pick (Jack Givens was later selected). This exchange was arranged as compensation for Utah signing veteran free agent Gail Goodrich on July 19, 1976. December 27, 1977: Traded by the Los Angeles Lakers (as a future 1978 1st round draft pick) with Don Chaney and Kermit Washington (future Blazer) to the Boston Celtics for Charlie Scott (Scott turned into Ron Boone, who in turn turned into wasted pick) June 9, 1978: Drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 1st round (8th pick) of the 1978 NBA Draft. August 4, 1978: Traded by the Boston Celtics with Kevin Kunnert, Kermit Washington and Sidney Wicks (all played for the Blazers) to the San Diego Clippers for Tiny Archibald, Marvin Barnes, Billy Knight, a 1981 2nd round draft pick (Danny Ainge was later selected...future Blazer) and a 1983 2nd round draft pick (Rod Foster was later selected). January 20, 1982: Traded by the San Diego Clippers to the Atlanta Hawks for Charlie Criss and Al Wood. September 2, 1982: Traded by the Atlanta Hawks with John Drew to the Utah Jazz for Dominique Wilkins. So that #8 pick ended up going back to the Jazz and was involved in two of the most lopsided trades in NBA History. The trade that netted the Lakers Magic, and the trade that netted the Hawks Dominique.
Some other good (awful) examples have been mentioned, but I'm partial to Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish for Joe Barry Carroll. Honorable mention: Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner.
I lived in the Bay Area during that time and every Boston game on TV was a painful reminder for the die-hard Warrior fans. Fun fact.....Kevin McHale had an 8' wing span
Yeah but I give the Bucks a break on that one. Kareem forced a trade to either NY or LA. No matter what, whoever ended up with Kareem was going to get the better end of the deal. But the Bucks did get 4 decent players. They tried for 8 months to get a better deal, but they did not have much leverage since he demanded the trade.
The thing about some of the old trades in history, especially the old Yankee and Celtic trades.......teams were essentially forced to make them because they needed the money to either stay afloat or simply could not afford to keep their best players. Dynasties were built because of it.
That is the issue. This article says Gobert is a negative on defense this season: https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/arti...disastrous_for_timberwolves/s1_13132_38287329
Have to say, I didn't see it with him (not surprising, since I'm constantly wrong). Gotta give props; @Fez Forthright was all over Kessler leading up to the draft.
It's nowhere close to the worst trade ever but it was fucking stupid the day it was announced and it looks just as stupid if not worse today. The redeeming thing about this trade is that if the Wolves have the sense to cash in KAT for what they could get for him, they can still have a roster that makes sense. It won't likely be a contender but it could make the playoffs. The big problem I have is that I didn't think that Gobert was necessarily worth Kessler, Vanderbilt, Beasley and PatBev... even though those guys are all role players, newsflash: so is Gobert. I get it that he's dominant in the paint on the defensive end of the court but that's just it he's only a defensive specialist. Dude has never had a season where he broke the threshold of 16ppg, the guy's career high is 2.0apg. He is a screen setter and cleanup guy on offense who can't defend the perimeter on defense. So I have a hard time thinking that he was worth Kessler, Vanderbilt, Beasley and PatBev and then there are those FRPs: 2023 unprotected, 2025 unprotected, 2027 unprotected, 2029 top 4 protection. It's a clusterfuck for sure just not close to the worst we've seen.
Good centers compared to guys barely in the NBA just make very little difference to a team winning in 2022. It's the most irrelevant position. Think of them as a kicker or punter in the NFL Not saying they don't have a very unique attribute compared to the general public. But there's way more than 50 of these guys on the planet aged 20-30 that can perform at a relatively similar level. Compared that to Dame, Curry, LeBron, Giannis, etc. There's never enough of these guys to fill out NBA rosters.
NBA should get rid of all the Stephen rule restrictions about keeping consecutive picks, but limit teams to trading 4 years out instead of 7. 7 years from now it'll be different coach, GM, star player, maybe different owner... So it's only the fans that get screwed that far out.
What? First off without a good Center you ain’t winning. Second, without a good kicker you ain’t winning either. Worst post of yours I read in a long time.
