2023 Offseason Thread

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Ayton is better than anyone of the players Toronto offered, taking on Trent Jr. would create another logjam at SG

Well yeah but flipping Ayton for Nurk could have happened in the Toronto trade too. It's possible Toronto didn't have a piece like Allen to send back to Phoenix that would entice that move, but none of those factors are something to blame Masai for?

I don't full agree on Trent Jr. creating a log-jam as he's the same age as their timeline. Jrue also creates the same log-jam, keeping Dame creates the same log-jam, Trent plays more "off-ball" than Simons as well as Scoot or Dame, and even if they didn't flip him/Simons elsewhere he fits better than what they ultimately accepted because Simons most likely moves to 6th man.

, and most the 'filler ' isn't worth ****.

It isn't, but if included another first it's better than what they landed on. Dick + a first is a bigger return than just a first, Dick guarantees them a lottery pick and idk what Toronto's tradeable pick stable looks like but it most likely isn't a pick 6 years away.

Any trade not involving either OG or Pascal wasn't worth even considering, especially since you can conceivably flip either for far more than Trent Jr. can fetch.

I mean I would have agreed a month ago but that seemingly wasn't the case. They landed on Jrue who they don't even want to keep which contradicts that entire thought process.

I would have offered OG, personally, but I also understand not wanting to make that trade too. I think their identity as stands with Dennis and Poeltl is better than it was so I don't really blame them for not willingly "losing" a trade for a guy who wouldn't want to be there anyways. Again, I would have done it, but I don't really feel like this is a "lol Masai" moment either.

If Dame really expanded his list to Bucks + Nets while all the Raptors are "front runners" news was breaking it's clear he didn't want to go there.

[illwill10]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

I do think Miami needs to make a move. They barely made it out of Play-in and let Vincent and Strus walk for nothing. Will still struggle to score. That's why I don't think it would make sense to go after Jrue, unless they are going all in on defense.

Also, it would be nice to know what direction Toronto wants to go. Masai obviously would rather lose a guy for nothing if they can't embarrass another team on a deal.

[cima]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Suns trade seems like **** when you consider you traded a #1 pick that's still young for essentially peanuts. The relationship must've been beyond repair which is a shame because I feel like Vogel would've unlocked Ayton's full potential on defense.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Suns trade seems like **** when you consider you traded a #1 pick that's still young for essentially peanuts. The relationship must've been beyond repair which is a shame because I feel like Vogel would've unlocked Ayton's full potential on defense.

idk I disagree. They went all in on this big 3 and grabbed a player who compliments those guys far more than Ayton does. He's bigger, stronger, sets better screens, defends better, rebounds better, passes better, doesn't need as many touches, and does far more of the little things/dirty work. That's what a team of stars needs.

Ayton has far more potential obviously, and hopefully Portland helps him reach that, but Nurk is probably a better player right now in the moment, he's a bigger body, and won't get benched for guys like Landale because Joker is pushing him around. He won't get caught standing and watching guys when games get physical like those Ayton clips, and might even risk some flagrants knocking some of those guys on their ***.

Allen is a nice addition too. Phoenix still hasn't added a real PG and seem fine with Booker and Beal handling those responsibilities.. That leaves them with a hole at the 3/4 spot, one that likely either Allen or Gordon now fills and the other moving to 6th man.. Always a case Okogie gets those starter minutes, Allen still gives them a back-up for Beal/Booker they didn't have and with such a hole at those 3/4 minutes Little could even wind up getting serious burn for them too.

[J_Posse]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

idk I disagree. They went all in on this big 3 and grabbed a player who compliments those guys far more than Ayton does. He's bigger, stronger, sets better screens, defends better, rebounds better, passes better, doesn't need as many touches, and does far more of the little things/dirty work. That's what a team of stars needs.



Ayton has far more potential obviously, and hopefully Portland helps him reach that, but Nurk is probably a better player right now in the moment, he's a bigger body, and won't get benched for guys like Landale because Joker is pushing him around. He won't get caught standing and watching guys when games get physical like those Ayton clips, and might even risk some flagrants knocking some of those guys on their ***.



Allen is a nice addition too. Phoenix still hasn't added a real PG and seem fine with Booker and Beal handling those responsibilities.. That leaves them with a hole at the 3/4 spot, one that likely either Allen or Gordon now fills and the other moving to 6th man.. Always a case Okogie gets those starter minutes, Allen still gives them a back-up for Beal/Booker they didn't have and with such a hole at those 3/4 minutes Little could even wind up getting serious burn for them too.

I could see Keita Bates-Diop becoming the starting 3/4 easily. He provides size, line flexibility and defensive versatility that those other players mentioned lack.

I really liked him on the Spurs the last few years, but a numbers crunch made him expendable.

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[King_B_Mack]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

I also wonder if Jrue sorta shot himself in the foot in all this too. He recently said he wanted to retire with the Bucks, which is great, but I think it was just last year where he said he didn’t know if he wanted to play past his current contract? Basically he let the Bucks know that despite his loyalty he was leaving them for nothing soon anyways because retirement.. best case scenario was moving him or hoping you could convince him to stay a bit longer on team friendly deals, and with him wanting to hang it up those would likely be 1+1 type of deals with him aging and the Bucks having no way of improving their roster.

Perfect storm of things happened for them here to move him. Before Dame value plummeted it looked like the only realistic Jrue trade might have been Harden, which wasn’t a win for the Bucks considering he likely doesn’t want to be there and his strengths don’t fit the team nearly as well as Dame.

Jrue actually talked about retiring with the Bucks the day before he got traded. Pretty cold on the Bucks parts lol

But I feel 1,000% confident that with the opportunity to land Dame it doesn't matter what Jrue said or did before about his future, his *** woulda been on the first thing smoking out of town regardless.

[illwill10]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10091305-inside-the-messy-divorce-between-damian-lillard-and-portland-trail-blazers

A good inside article about the trade

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Oh ok cool




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[ojandpizza]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Oh ok cool




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This never happens, players just want to sit for no reason now because they are soft. The teams/owners/coaches/doctors are never the ones pushing it.

[illwill10]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

I do wonder if the league looks at that. Yeah, it was common knowledge, but for it to be spotlighted, they could look at it.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Wouldn’t put it past them:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2023/09/mark-cuban-nba-rest-rules-betting-espn

[southernmetalhead]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Went back and looked and Portland went 1-9 in those last 10.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

Not saying it’s not true, cause we all have suspected it’s been happening, but we just running with this from the same reporters that knew nothing about Milwaukee being in the mix until Dame was traded there? And nobody had nothing on him apparently not being hurt those last games all this time until the day after Dame gets traded? Seems like a pro Dame fed report to make Portland look bad.


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[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2023 Offseason Thread

I’m pretty sure I said the same thing earlier this year even before this.

It was a convo between me and GG where I said that goes on and I believe the majority of people were pretty much saying to stop making excuses for the players, they have the power to overrule the team/medical staff but don’t want to because they’re soft and not built tough, etc while we were having the load management discussion.

Yeah, let me see if I can dig up those posts.