NBA free agency/LeBronapalooza 2018

[Alsacs]

That might be a bit of stretch. They have to make the ECF minimum for this to be a win if Kawhi bounces after this year. They'll be completely irrelevant at that point and starting a rebuild minus Poeltl who has looked nice and no 1st rounder this year. Its absolutely worth a shot but winning big time on a probably 1 year rental of a player is probably not a term that most would use given that the downside that is fairly probable in a year is tremendous.

Uijiri could reflip Kawhi now and get a solid package.
DeRozen is one of Dominque Wilkins/Reggie Miller type players that is a solid player and All-Star player for a generation but is never good enough to be the best player on a real championship contender.
You will win games with him but no more. Uijiri saw that and cashed him into a top 5 player.
If Kawhi bounces his fanbase knows he went for it and they will accept the rebuild.
If they keep DeRozen they stay a playoff team and never contend.

I think its a clear win for Toronto. San Antonio gets to remain competitive but in 3 years what piece will they say helped them win the deal. Poelti is a solid bench piece no more.

Indiana won the Paul George trade when people didn't think because they got a young former #2 overall pick Oladipo who finally popped and another lottery pick for their bench, For Indiana they didn't want to bottom out and in the East can cash playoff appearances. San Antonio had a championship pedigree so they clearly aren't anymore.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I kinda feel bad for DeRozan. Wasn't he a pretty loyal Toronto guy?

 

[Arangeman]

Uijiri could reflip Kawhi now and get a solid package.
DeRozen is one of Dominque Wilkins/Reggie Miller type players that is a solid player and All-Star player for a generation but is never good enough to be the best player on a real championship contender.
You will win games with him but no more. Uijiri saw that and cashed him into a top 5 player.
If Kawhi bounces his fanbase knows he went for it and they will accept the rebuild.
If they keep DeRozen they stay a playoff team and never contend.

Agree on DeRozan. My only thought is maybe it would have been better to flip DeRozan for picks and youth for a true rebuild. But maybe no one would give much of that for DeRozan.

They can flip Kawhi at the deadline for picks etc if he’s still disgruntled. I wonder if the Sizers and Celtics would still be in play. Pretty sure the Lakers are gonna ride it out.

 

[Alsacs]

I mean Uijiri could reflip Kawhi right now to Minnesota for Butler/Wiggins.
Minnesota would want to get out of Wiggins contract. Maybe that would convince KAT to resign.

This is a no lose situation for Toronto. Even if Kawhi doesn't want to play they flipped DeRozen for him and can IMO get enough value back to cover his loss.

 

[chugg21]

I mean Uijiri could reflip Kawhi right now to Minnesota for Butler/Wiggins.
Minnesota would want to get out of Wiggins contract. Maybe that would convince KAT to resign.

This is a no lose situation for Toronto. Even if Kawhi doesn't want to play they flipped DeRozen for him and can IMO get enough value back to cover his loss.

Honestly if Kawhi is miserable there and it gets near the deadline, a Kawhi/Wiggins deal could make a ton of sense. Wolves get out of that albatross and Raptors could bring him home. Might be the only team that could view Wiggins with his new deal even remotely favorably. Still imagine they would rather have the cap space after all the contracts clear out after the next year than a lesser version of DeRozan making an obscene amount of cash.

In regards to a no lose situation. I think going from a 59 win 1 seed to probably becoming absolutely irrelevant within 18 months represents a big loss, regardless of the playoff failures.

 

[Melancer46]

I thought if Toronto traded DeRozan, they'd be lucky to get a chance to take a swing on a guy like Andrew Wiggins. To flip him, a backup C, and a protected 1st round pick for a top 5-10 player in the NBA is a gigantic upgrade in the short-term, and it allows them to hit the reset button a year from now if Kawhi and Danny Green walk. Win-win as far as I'm concerned for the Raptors.

I don't really get it for San Antonio; a lineup of Murray, DeRozan, Gay, Aldridge, and ??? doesn't really make sense to me. If anyone can figure it out, it's Pop, but there's almost zero 3 point shooting there and I don't think Poeltl or a late 1st round pick are that big of assets either. DeRozan to me is an okay #2 guy on a contending team; not someone I would want to build a team around at all and he'll be angling for a huge contract in a couple years too that he doesn't deserve IMO.

 

[Arangeman]

Uijiri isn’t trading for that horrible Wiggins contract. Can see him trying to get Clippers and Lakers in a bidding war though.

The more I think about it the smarter it is for Toronto. Kawhi isn’t signing there but Toronto will get what they want.

 

[Alsacs]

The fact Danny didn’t offer Brown or Philly offer Fultz tells you Kawhi wouldn’t commit to anyone.

I don’t think the Spurs got enough for the future plus they will be in no man’s land themselves now good enough to not bottom out and not good enough to win anything in the playoffs.

 

[Alsacs]

This makes sense. He was offered 4-40 last October. He isn't getting 4-60 like he wants. So meet in the middle 4-50 for Smart.

 

[chugg21]

Melo for Schroeder talk is interesting. Can OKC dump Schroeder quickly or plan to keep him and just save a good chunk of that tax bill?

 

[MikeSU02]

The fact Danny didn’t offer Brown or Philly offer Fultz tells you Kawhi wouldn’t commit to anyone.

I don’t think the Spurs got enough for the future plus they will be in no man’s land themselves now good enough to not bottom out and not good enough to win anything in the playoffs.

Eh. The big thing out of all of this is that teams know they can't beat the GSW next year, period. Everyone is in no man's land outside of Houston and Boston. No other team can compete with GSW outside of those two.

Pop is setting up for the future with LMA and DDR as anchors for good to great players and they are getting long and athletic everywhere else with DJ, White, Lonnie and Metu. They like those guys a lot. DJ was already 2nd team all-defense.

I don't see how the Spurs don't get to 50 wins with this roster which gets them in the playoffs.

I think people are way overrating OKC, NOP and Portland. I'll grant Utah if they stay healthy, which is a big if.

Like Stevens, Pop is worth, imo, about +5 wins from an average coach, if not more.

A team where people said they had NO leverage just got an SG upgrade by an order of magnitude and a likely first round pick for next year plus a potential rotational big.

My guess is Pop was never sending Kawhi to LA. He wasn't going to reward him for doing what he did nor help out a huge rival for the foreseeable future unless LA mortgaged the farm.

I think it was either getting a Tatum/Brown level player and once that wasn't happening, he wanted to secure legit talent - hence DDR.

At the end of the day it's GSW, then Houston/Boston, then Philly if they can stay healthy. Everyone else is probably a level below.

 

[Melancer46]

Melo for Schroeder talk is interesting. Can OKC dump Schroeder quickly or plan to keep him and just save a good chunk of that tax bill?

I would guess that if they could dump Schroder quickly, Schroder would already have been dumped from Atlanta.

 

[Melancer46]

Interesting angle to the Kawhi trade...if the Raptors aren't looking like a Finals contender/if they have the idea that signing Kawhi long-term is a lost cause, they can flip him to one of the LA teams, scoop up an asset or two, and in the process, probably drop themselves into the top 20 of the draft, thus making it so they don't need to surrender their 1st round pick to San Antonio

 

[jncuse]

Agree on DeRozan. My only thought is maybe it would have been better to flip DeRozan for picks and youth for a true rebuild. But maybe no one would give much of that for DeRozan.

They can flip Kawhi at the deadline for picks etc if he’s still disgruntled. I wonder if the Sizers and Celtics would still be in play. Pretty sure the Lakers are gonna ride it out.

SInce Toronto was over the lux tax, they had to take back salary for Demar and that always compromises a rebuild trade.

Apparently Ujiri had a hard time trading Demar to get into the 10-15 range of the draft.

 

[Melancer46]

SInce Toronto was over the lux tax, they had to take back salary for Demar and that always compromises a rebuild trade.

Apparently Ujiri had a hard time trading Demar to get into the 10-15 range of the draft.

Zach Lowe is also reporting that there's little interest in DeRozan league-wide; the Spurs are in the unique position where they had the disgruntled Kawhi but weren't ready to bottom out either, but he says the Spurs would have a hard time flipping DeRozan for assets if they end up deciding later on to begin the rebuild process.

 

[jncuse]

Toronto Raptors now the betting favourite to land Kawhi Leonard at +200 to +250 per a few sites.

Vegas was right (as of last Friday).

 

[jncuse]

Zach Lowe is also reporting that there's little interest in DeRozan league-wide; the Spurs are in the unique position where they had the disgruntled Kawhi but weren't ready to bottom out either, but he says the Spurs would have a hard time flipping DeRozan for assets if they end up deciding later on to begin the rebuild process.

Doesn't surprise me about Demar. No many top scorers, have as many flaws as he does. (Shooting inefficiency, blinders at times, bad D)

 

[Alsacs]

Doesn't surprise me about Demar. No many top scorers, have as many flaws as he does. (Shooting inefficiency, blinders at times, bad D)

He is also terrible in the playoffs.
I said it before DeRozen is one of those Reggie Miller/Dominique Wilkins players who makes all-NBA but isn’t going to win a championship as the lead dog.

 

[jncuse]

He is also terrible in the playoffs.
I said it before DeRozen is one of those Reggie Miller/Dominique Wilkins players who makes all-NBA but isn’t going to win a championship as the lead dog.

Yes that is his biggest flaw. If it was just one or 2 playoff series... but its every series, even those they win.. I think he played well against the Bucks last year and that is about t.

 

[bpo57]

Doesn't surprise me about Demar. No many top scorers, have as many flaws as he does. (Shooting inefficiency, blinders at times, bad D)

Reading DeRozan's comments about a lack of loyalty in the NBA was hysterical.

 

[Alsacs]

 

[jncuse]

Reading DeRozan's comments about a lack of loyalty in the NBA was hysterical.

Despite Toronto saying everybody was available in the offseason, apparently he nagged management multiple times since season end to say he wouldn't be traded. I would call him professionally immature.

Demar was a good kid (now adult) here in Toronto... model citizen. But his past interactions in social media show a certain lack of maturity and inability to handle criticism.

 

[jncuse]

Toronto also created a largely ISO system and decided to make Demar the man fairly early in his career despite not being that efficient. They allowed him the leeway to be 22-25 PPG guy, and he was handsomely rewarded. For him to cry about loyalty given all the freedo Toronto gave him is sort of pathetic.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I'm kind of surprised by the criticism DeRozan is facing. It seems like being a Raptor meant something to him.

 

[chugg21]

I'm kind of surprised by the criticism DeRozan is facing. It seems like being a Raptor meant something to him.

You either keep your mouth shut or your a whiner apparently. Not much middleground I guess. They sure like when he's outspoken about how much he loves Toronto until they're not.