G9.
Pistons GM
- Messages
- 6,173
Yo man, he's gotta go.
When I was looking at the index last night doing the recap article, I noticed that the league is rather parous. Between the Win %'s of 40% and 60% we have 15 teams. A look back at last season revealed that 18! (of 29) teams won between 40 and 60 percent of their games. That means that only 11 teams finished last season in categories I would consider "true tankers" and "true competitors." Not to mention, a few of those "true tankers" were teams that were actually trying to make the playoffs! (Looking at you, Lakers & Heat). This middle ground might as well be called a dead-zone. None of us are winning anything in particular, and none of us are gaining any top talent from the draft. Occasionally we've seen some solid late-first or early-second round draftees enter the league, but they are truthfully rather rare. For every Zachary Norvell there's four Javonte Smarts. Of course, sometimes it is hard to tank. Sometimes half the league is tanking. Sometimes half the league is competing (or in this case, 20/29 teams). BSL is wishy-washy and I can understand why some of these middle teams want to hold their ground. I, for instance, have recently acquired star SG Bradley Beal. I'm fine with sitting in the middle as I gather assets around him. There are other instances similar to mine, but there's also a lot of instances where it truly might be time to just cash in - in one direction or the other.
Here I take a look at some of those instances.
PG/SG Avery Bradley
Washington Wizards
33 yo, 10M expiring
You guys know I like to keep it lighthearted. Avery Bradley man, he's gotta go! Now, obviously the Wizards aren't in the middle-ground, and I'm sorry for immediately breaking from that premise. But - he does have to go. GM GetBeard has been trying to sell Bradley for cash since the moment the Wizards signed him. Truthfully, he doesn't bring much to the table... but something is better than nothing. He still rocks a "B" defense rating and "B+" outside scoring. His career BSL splits aren't particularly horrible (although- note the recent decline), and he's not on an ugly long-term deal. These are all minor positives in terms of value generated by Bradley - so I'd gauge his value at about 3M GM Cash. He's not getting playtime for the Wizards, so I think Beard might have to settle for a sum that small. If nobody offers cash though I don't fault GB for holding him. No need to throw him up on waivers and give him away- he's just an expiring.
C/PF Montrezl Harrell
Denver Nuggets
30 yo, 52m/2yr
The Nuggets are certainly in the middle. Denver is currently rocking a +0.4 point differential and a 16-12 record with convincing losses to the Thunder, Bulls, Spurs, Bucks, and Hornets. They are good enough to win games against halfway decent teams, half the time. Come playoff time you can expect a quick exit from this team. They lack the defense - anywhere - to match-up with the Western Conferences elite individual talents (Jokic, Middleton, Norvell, Sabonis, Pippen, Ayton, Davis, Embiid, etc!). That being said, Trez remains the most valuable piece on this team (in the eyes of most managers). The Nuggets do have some solid shooters, but each of their contracts leaves more to be desired. For instance - SG Skylar Mays - putting up 19ppg on 2 turnovers. He's solid, but 130m/5 solid? I'm not sure. On the opposite spectrum of this is PG Nikos Arsenopoulos, a former 2nd rounder. Nikos is putting up 26/7.5 on 2.8topg and 50/91/47 splits. He's recently been made available by Greeme- but beware, he's expiring. Okay, back on track with Trez. He's still rocking A- defense and I'd expect him to stay there for a few more years. He's scoring quite a bit for the Nuggets as a non-option, probably as a putback guy. If you have shooters on your team but are lacking a big who can score and/or finish off possessions - look this way. Trez isn't expiring, you'd have him for at least one more season. He's not ridiculously old (30), and he's better than most of your bigs (perhaps). Consider sending 1 1st round pick + a prospect + cash for Harrell. His value may extend to two picks and a swap- as we've recently seen big man Goga Bitadze go for that.
John Collins | Marvin Bagley | Lauri Markkanen
Atlanta Hawks
26 yo, 85m/3 | 25 yo, 110m/4 | 26yo 87m/3
PG Luka Doncic, SG Cam Reddish. That's it. That's all I keep. NC recently made move to try and propel himself back into championship contention, but I don't think this was the time to do it. As I mentioned, I keep PG Luka Doncic. I pray his defense rebounds back to a C, begging the gods to make it C+. SG/PG Cam Reddish recently made it to A defense and the Hawks just added PG/SG Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (one of few players with A+ defense). NC is trying his damndest to score enough points against the leagues better defense, while also shutting down their stars (R.J. Barrett, anyone?). The addition of Shai will help him slow down some of the individual talents who come to shine in the playoffs, but ultimately I don't think this team stacks up against the Bulls, Bucks, Magic, or Clippers. When it comes to playoff matchups I don't see Doncic, Bagley, and Collins offensively exceeding Barrett, Tatum, WCJ. Or Giannis, and Dipo. Or Cole and Siakam. Let's look at this another way; who's the Hawks best player? Collins or Doncic? One of those two I suppose. Is that a good thing though? Neither of those players stacks up against the aforementioned stars of the East (I haven't even mentioned the West). From there this trend continues. Who's their third-best player? Bagley? Reddish? Both solid - both lacking. NC has built a well-rounded team up from the ground, but they're nothing more than that. They simply do not have the star power to take over a game. PG Luka Doncic, SG Cam Reddish. That's it. That's all I keep. There's one more problem - the Hawks don't own any of their own picks. Nada. Maybe some 2nds. But else? Nada. Still, I think it's time to ship it all out. All this mediocrity you've worked so hard to acquire, it's gotta go man. Collins will demand the greatest return, Bagley the second greatest, Markkanen ... should be on waivers. ATL should look to reacquire their own picks or combine some of this "junk" (not literally junk) to acquire the aforementioned superstar.
Jalen Johnson | Nassir Little | Terrence Clarke | Rylan Jones
Phoenix Suns
20 yo, 12m/2 | 23 yo, 12m/2 | 19yo, 12m/3 | 21 yo, 14m/4
I get it. He wants to do it homegrown. Now me, personally, I've never done it. Homegrown is hard. It takes a long time and then when all your talent expires contracts really start to add up. If your talent is at all mediocre by the time this happens you end up with a bunch of overpaid mediocre homegrown losers. Air - make a push. The Suns still have De'Andre Ayton, Bol Bol, and De'Vion Harmon on long-term, relatively cheap contracts. Wiseman will soon hit their cap, commanding a full max I'm sure. That immediately puts this Suns team near the hard-cap before all their needs are addressed. Re-sign Wiseman. Wiseman-Ayton-Harmon is a fun trio that is probably capable of winning a title. They'll combine for ~60m for the next two seasons. That leaves ~70m in hard-cap room to surround this trio with solid, solid talent. As I said, I get it- Johnson/Little/Clarke and Jones all look potentially valuable (Little the littlest, but still). One (or more) could blow up into a supreme starter, but there's no more time for could's. The Suns need to begin to push- this season or next. This season honestly might be a bit out of reach even if they do make some moves, but if the Suns don't make a few big trades by next trade deadline- they're foolin'. If you have a SG/SF who is top 5 (maybe 10) at their position, consider hitting AIR up for 2+ of these prospects. Wiseman-Ayton-Harmon with another top 5 positional talent + Bol Bol off the bench? Give me that over waiting on a blow-up any day. It's not like Air doesn't control his own future. Bud, you can always draft more prospects.
All of it?
Portland Trailblazers
As far as I can tell (beware: I've been wrong before) the Portland Trailblazers are back to owning their own future. They have all their picks. So what is this? Yo man, get to gettin'. Now ain't the time to be farting around with T.J. Warren and .. Kyle Anderson? I count six players that are potentially sellable for cash - and a few that may gather a halfway decent return. Just go, yo. Ship it all out. Suck it up and eat out McCollum's contract. Watch Akinjo develop next to an actual young co-star. Honestly, before I started this article I thought they didn't own their 2024 1st. They do. Can you guys help me come up with a reason as to why this team is trying to put out a winning depth-chart? Are we doing participation trophies for 8th seed now? If we are - fuck, I want mine for the last two years. If you are managing a team that is actually worthy of competing, hit up eMac. This man should be having a fire-sale. Light his ass up.
Someone
Utah Jazz
They should probably keep Rui, but outside of that... might be time for a reset. Their win/loss this year is skewed by improper depth chart inputting (notail definitely prefers Carey over Garuba as a starter), but even if Vernon was starting I don't think this current Jazz roster can hang. On paper - shit - even in your head this team should be solid. Picture this: Gobert clogging the paint, Carey spreading the floor AND clogging the paint, Rui doing a bunch of weird Japanese basketball moves (stunting on everyone), all while Ja Morant just flings the ball around until they find an open look. I bet this team would be fun to watch in real life. SG Admiral Schofield isn't doing half bad himself at being the 3-D guy of this roster - but he's definitely not your ideal 3-D player. The Jazz should push to acquire a 3-D PG/SG. Ja Morant is... something. I don't really know what to think of him. He's clearly got a turnover issue, but man, can he create.
PG Ja Morant
16ppg, 10apg (say 2 pts per assist) = 36ppg
2spg
5.5topg
PG Tyrese Maxey
25ppg, 9apg= 43ppg
3spg
3topg
Is he good? Uh, probably not. But he's 'only' losing 3.5 possessions per 36 points generated. The league definitely has its fair share of point guards who don't match that ratio. Still, even if this argument is valid, 5.5topg is a lot! The Jazz should experiment with Ja at the 2, but they don't really have a 1. Use Jamal Murray as a cutback + Dickinson + pick(s) for a point guard who doesn't turn it over 5.5 times per game, if possible. He is in somewhat of a bind though as Vernon Carey is set to expire. Another route notail could go would be to ship off Vernon for a PG/SG of similar value. All I know is Rui should be this teams #1 offensive guy going forward. Gobert the #1 defensive guy. Carey and Morant are solid- but they aren't working. Therefore "someone" has gotta go, man.
