I hope Olshey has the balls to make some actual moves and not just continue to be the middle man getting tea bagged while the other teams in the deal make out.
The Crabbe TPE plus a conditional 1st works, and we have an open roster spot, but: It makes our tax situation much worse. Chicago may want a young player, or two, combined with an expiring contract. You can't combine the TPE with a player for cap matching purposes, but you can so it as two separate transactions. With the Bulls under the cap, you could do something like TPE + 1st for Mirotic and Napier (or whoever the Bulls want) for a future top 55 protected 2nd. Is Mirotic worth the huge tax penalty (plus burning year one of a likely repeater tax situation)? If not, who would you give up (that Chicago would actually want) to get him? BNM
But would the Bulls? They have no need for Swanigan. Markkanen is their starter and Portis is a much better back up than Swanigan. They could use Harkless' length at SF (where they are currently playing a 6'6" SG out of position), but he might go into terminal pout mode if traded to CHI. I think they will receive better offers - plural. BNM
Looking at their very young depth chart....what do they need? What would they consider a better offer? You are probably right when you mentioned the TPE and a conditional 1st. That would would be valuable if they think they are a FA player this summer. Unfortunately that would not help our SF situation.
Idk I’m not the one that brought Swanigan up. My trade with Chicago has been Harkless and Leonard for Mirotic and filler like Felicio. And your little “Harkless pouter” crusade isn’t anything more than libel.
The Hawks seem to have a surplus of wings (Bazemore, Belinelli, Prince, Bembry, Babbitt, Dorsey) and a deficit in the frontcourt (aside from rookie John Collins, their best PF/C seems to be 30-year-old journeyman Ersan Ilyasova). Perhaps there's a deal to be made there?
LOL. So, sue me. Yeah, Mo has been great this year. So great, he lost his starting job to Evan Turner. SF is our biggest need, by far, and the reason has been Mo's uninspired play. Leave it to you to defend a player not putting forth full effort. I'll always support guys who play hard, regardless of their talent level (guys like Ed Davis, Al-Farouq Aminu, Pat Connaughton) over guys who have more natural talent, but just don't play hard. Mo's three month funk is inexcusable. He's a professional that's paid over $10 million a year. He needs to act like one. Davis, Aminu, Connaughton, Napier all make less and all put forth a lot more effort on the floor than Mo. Mo has had a couple good games recently. I suspect his motivation is to increase his trade value. While I'm fine with that, it makes me even more frustrated that he wasn't playing with that same effort for the first 30 games of the season. BNM
I wasn’t arguing that he’s played bad. Doesn’t mean he’s not trying, pouting, or being unprofessional. Everything I’ve heard and read points to the opposite. His body language is no different than it’s been since he’s been here so it’s interesting to me how you can jump to the conclusions you have without any sort of evidence beyond that.
Because I've watched the games. No way in hell was he playing as hard for those first 30+ games as he did last year. The effort just wasn't there. So, what's your explanation for his horrible play? He hasn't been injured. He's not in physical decline. Lord knows it's not fatigue. So, if it's not a lack of effort, why has his production fallen off a cliff? BNM
Moe’s best stretch of ball last year was before Nurkic arrived. His best games this year have been when one of Dame/CJ have been out. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When he’s somewhat featured, he produces. When everyone is on the court, he’s relegated to standing in the corner waiting to shoot a three, which isn’t his game, as he’s even admitted. So while he definitely deserves to be criticized, I don’t believe it’s 100% his fault as I believe you’re making it seem.
Just for reference--here's Mo's cumulative game log over the first 21 games this year (when he was getting regular minutes and performing poorly) as compared to the same span last year. Biggest differences are in his shooting %'s (across the board) and his total shots taken. So the question (to me) is, Were teams defending him differently causing him to defer; Were Dame/CJ giving him fewer offensive opportunities, or Was he simply choosing to be less aggressive offensively? I don't really buy into 1, but I think 2 is perfectly reasonable--especially with greater emphasis on involving Nurkic in the offense--potentially leading to 3 as well, especially given his "I feel like I'm just 'out there'" comments from November. If a guy feels like he's basically being frozen out, it's not surprising if he somewhat disengages, and personally I think that's what happened to Moe.
Doesn't Mirotic's current contract situation give him an essential no-trade clause? He has veto power I believe. Would he want to come here with all our other PFs?
