I like our team, but if a player like Durant is available, everyone has a price they are willing to give up if they think they player would help them contend.
PROPOSITION: Brooklyn needs to crater. Kyrie Irving is done as a Nets player and is KIEC and basically untradable. (Free speech + reality + KI’s past behavior + consequence) I hope Ben Simmons’ biggest difficulties are behind him. (Wish him well on mental health.) But I don’t see him returning to all star Ben Simmons. 1. In other words, trade Ben ASAP — 3 years of contract and $$$. Expiring contracts returned (and/or young players) with protected picks. 2. KI is suspended until his public penance is done. No more need for public statements by the Nets. If he then can be traded for ANYONE useful (especially younger), get it done. Cut bait. 3. Then, when the timing and offers are BEST possible, trade Durant. Getting Anfernee Simons would be a slam dunk for the Nets, IMHO. All time player at age 34 with a locked in contract and a boat full of team issues … go young and with good guys who are ballers. Rebuild the Nets. Take an enormous mulligan and move on.
So here's the rub, and there's other people who are more knowledgeable than me on this (@hoopsjock ) You have to carry a minimum of players. I can't remember if it's 13 or 14. The two-way players do not count towards this minimum. You cannot go over the hard cap to sign players if you're going to be below the minimum. So if we trade for someone like Durant, and we need to send out 4-5 guys to do it, I don't think we will have the space to stay under the hard cap and sign even vet minimum guys.
Yeah, we wouldn't be able to afer that trade. That would put us right up against the hard cap. A follow up move would have to happen almost immediately.
pretty sure the minimum is set at 14 players because of the league hitting the trigger last season. IIRC it's something like the majority number of teams having 14 players as far as trading for Durant while staying under the apron, it's do-able, just wouldn't be easy Durant makes 44M. Sending out Simons (22.3M), Grant (21M), and Keon (2.7M), for instance, would get Portland over 8M below the apron. And this would be at least half-way thru the season so any signings would/could be pro-rated. Like a 1.8M vet minimum would be 0.9M. A d-leaguer would be 400K; If the Blazers had to sign 3 players, they could actually use their BAE with that 8M margin under the apron (assuming any player would be worth it)
Does trading Simon's and Grant for Durant make the Blazers a contender? Dame Hart Winslow Durant Nurk. Nice starting lineup but I'd think it's unlikely to be a contending team. 2 aging stars and 3 below average starters. I'd rather keep the young 20 something Ant plus the other players required to send out than a 35 year old Durant. The time to trade for Durant was in the summer when the Blazers had Bledsoe contract, no hard cap, options to add other starters, and time to build such as training camp. Just doesn't make any sense for the Blazers now.
Thanks, they will prob stay the course till next off season and the cap goes up to engineer any big trade.
Hart as a “below average” starter is highly disingenuous. Nurk isn’t a below average starter, he’s an average starter. But otherwise, what you’ve said is true. I don’t think swapping out Ant and Grant for KD makes us a contender, even if no picks were involved.
I wasn't advocating to trade for Durant, at all. I was simply pointing out it wasn't as big an obstacle in terms of being hard-capped as people were thinking.
I’d do Simons and Grant for Durant in heart beat and I’m a huge Simons fan. That said I’m perfectly content to ride it out with the core we have Dame, Simons, Grant and Sharpe
I'm going to at least need a blurry picture of him at the airport before I even consider debating the chances of KD in a blazers uniform.
Can't PHX trade Ayton at the deadline? Throw in some other pieces? That is where he wants to be or MIA. He would never want to be a Blazer and this is clear to Cronin. PDX is beneath him. He probably still cannot see how these ridiculous super teams were/are a huge failure.
