2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Maluach has bust written all over him (same with Knueppel). Don't know what it is but mu gut is right from time to time and these guys are not IT.

 

not loving that gs is after a center this summer, probably fishing in the exact same pond as us, but using kuminga S&T as the bait.

 

Not looking for the same profile though . Kerr only will play a strech 5 thus the B. Lopez rumor

 

Cherry picking some recent option discussed on Buha's pod, but primarily the Irwin/Pete pod the other day for this construction option.

Outgoing to Nets: Rui, DK, Shake, 1st
Outgoing to Magic: Gabe & Kleber

Incoming from Nets: Claxton
Incoming from Magic: KCP and Joseph (needed for salary purposes)

That leaves you with...
Claxton/Jemison
Bron/Vando
DFS/AR
KCP/Goodwin/Bronny
Luka/Joseph

Then you go into free agency to shore up backup C, get another wing, and the best minimum PG you can.

First I check that Adams can't be had for the TPMLE, if that's a no then you pivot to a minimum center and spend your MLE on the wing.

Center options under this construction: Looney, Paul Reed, Plumlee

Wing TPMLE: see if the market shrinks the value of Bruce Brown, Buha likened it to a possible situation Trent found himself in last summer. If not, his other option intrigues me for this current model and that's Amir Coffey.

PG targets: CP3 (i know), Dinwiddie, Ty Jones, Morris, Elfrid Payton

Looking at it, I could use one more big...ok, found one.

If you enter next year with:

Claxton/Looney/Jemison
Bron/Vando/Lyles
DFS/Coffey/Goodwin
KCP/AR/Bronny
Luka/Jones/Joseph

I like the balance and strength of that team A LOT.

You surround Bron and Luka with defense and add defensive switch ability at C, AR goes to the Manu role for a year being the first sub off the bench for DFS, KCP and Luka.

You have a serviceable backup C, improve our wing athleticism with Coffey, and have some stability at the backup PG with both Jones and Joseph...neither great, but steady.

ORL gets out from under KCP's deal and then can flip those two expirings at the deadline for something they need going into the playoffs. KCP's extra year isn't a problem for us, because he will have expiring value for us the following year. KCP's down year gives us a buy low option to address 3&D next to Luka during the Bron era, we maintain the flexibility to upgrade that post Bron. Pete and Irwin largely attribute a lot of his drop off with Orlando to the lack of playmaking and roster build there, i largely agree.

Claxton gives us our center for now and for the future with Luka.

Final addition: Lyles is someone who's vastly overpaid at $8m but at the minimum (which is now his value)...if I'm looking for another tall guy who can shoot a bit, do a little of this and that, he'd fit nicely as another end of the rotation option. Better than say...Kief.

 

Yeah, exactly! Something along those lines. I mean, if we simply trade Gabe, Kleber, DK, and a 2031 1st for Claxton, and sign a center like Capela in free agency, we would in theory upgrade our defense that way. Claxton perimeter defense and rim protection in theory takes pressure off others, so maybe we could get away with playing Luka, AR, Rui together? Probably not though. The tricky thing is trading Rui for a poa defender, while at the same time not having to significant a drop off in shooting. Swapping Rui for KCP addresses that. This is a great trade. Adresses all needs to fill out our starting 5.

 

Isaiah 55:8-9

—Rob ( probably)

 

Teams going to struggle to score - you lose Rui whose your only non big 3 reliable scorer and replace with no other guy who can get 20 in a game
KCP has really gone downhill this past year

hard pass for me

 

The difference between Rui and Claxton average is one made 3 per game. That's with him having bums getting him the ball in Brooklyn, I think you can expect that average to increase 2-3 buckets a game.

KCP has basically given you a double digit average every year of his career but last year and his rookie year. So again, the difference on average is one made 3.

Coffey is also a double digit scorer when he gets between 20-30 minutes.

Austin is getting 30+ MPG while being put in more advantageous situations defensively. Like not having to kill his legs against these high scoring guards.

You might not have a microwave scorer, instead three guys who give you 9-13 points in DFS, KCP, and Coffey but you're balanced and not bleeding points on the other side.

 

i could hear the argument that kcp's downturn is largely due to playing without elite passers, so i'd like to get him. but i almost want compensation from orlando to do so.

i don't love moving rui for a center who's not a clear star. i get that we all think claxton is a good fit--and he is! but take a look at his numbers over time. i'm just not sure he's as good as billed right now. i will admit that some of that is definitely a similar situation to kcp--bkn didn't have any playmakers (no, schroder does NOT count, guys), so his offense suffered in ways it wouldn't here. still, rui AND knecht AND a 1st seems like an overpay to me. again, i'd sooner just try to get capela at the tpmle and keep my powder dry in case something bigger/better comes along.

 

It'd not like Rui is some hot commodity. I don't think Orlando needs to compensate us. Also, sure Claxton is a flawed player, but if he was a perfect player we wouldn't even be able to afford him. So what is it that you suggest we do?

 

But then again, I was talking about trades for Bogdmn Bogdanovoc, and we turned around and traded for Luka Doncic, lol so...

 

Mine too. It’s pretty reasonable. I’m not high on KCP, due to his inconsistent jumper, but I would be okay with bringing him back because of his defense.
Claxton is my favorite C target, but would understand if the Nets won’t play ball and we end up with Plumlee or even Capela.

 

What about Muscala? Oh wait...

 

the new dlo; he's more important to us than to other teams. in this scenario, it seems like he's being used as salary ballast.

i don't think i need to take on their salary mistake.

funny enough, i'm not sure we wouldn't get outbid anyway. gs wants a center and has kuminga to offer in s&t, which is probably more valuable than anything we have. he's long been rumored as a FA target for bkn.

my entire offseason ethos this year is that we need to add two playable playoff players (alliteration FTW).

in this scenario, we trade one of the 5 guys our coach trusted to play in the playoffs for another guy we hope he would trust. then we trade the next guy down the list of trusted players (gabe) for one we hope he would trust in kcp.

so, to me, we're coming out even instead of ahead. we're improved, but still too shallow. if we're going to drop two of our top 7, they need to both be massive upgrades, and imo, these are only solid upgrades. we also spend knecht and a 1st in the process.

my plan is still capela at tpmle and trade kleber's expiring and some draft capital for thybulle or something akin to thybulle (serious POA defender who can switch the guard spots on that end). keon ellis is my dream here, but when i saw sac sent him as their lotto representative, i kind of gave up.

don't get me wrong, i like jsm's moves; i just don't think they put us over the top, and they don't leave us a lot to work with afterward.

 

Both the Nets and Magic have more picks in this draft than they know what to do with. If we want to haggle, maybe everyone swaps their second round pick.
We get Brooklyn's 36th. They get Orlando's 46th. Orlando gets our 55th.

But who's that guy? Bam, JJJ? Even if one of the stars becomes available we don't have the assets to get them. A year from now, you can still have an (bigger) expiring to trade KCP and we should have access to another tradeable first by then, so all you're really out on for a package is DK who some like and some don't.

Let's say we are in the position to pick between the two. I'm taking Claxton because it addresses how we want to use a center, he's young and can be a building block next to Luka. I would like some continuity at some point. Claxton is also starter. In his prime. And was a top 10 in DPOY race only 2 years ago. JJ might not close with him if it's a funky matchup, but he's starting and playing close to 30 minutes. Is Capela going to keep JJ away from the small ball itch? I'm skeptical.

 

Thybulle would be fine too. He would serve the same purpose as KCP. I have been bringing up trading for Thybulle since last season. Keep in mind that Portland truly hates us, and is likely not going to giftwrap any talent to us to make us better. I'm, not saying it would be impossible to trade with them, but there may be a bit of a premium for us to pay. For example, they likely wouldn't just swap one of their expiring contracts (Thybulle) for two of our expiring contract (Vincent/Milton). They would likely want some kind of sweetener, unless they really like Gabe. We would probably have to throw in at least one pick swap. I'm thinking maybe in 2028 and 2030. This deal would be done after the Claxton deal, because center is the priority, so we need to make sure we have the necessary pieces to execute the trade. As far as Thybulle vs KCP. Thybulle just turned 28, and KCP just turned 32, so four full years younger. Thybulle has an insane career DBPM of 3.4, while KCP's is 0.5. However, KCP has a much better body of work in terms of three-point shooting, with a career 2.0/5.6 three-pointers made per 36 minutes, and 37% accuracy. Thybulle hits a career 1.5/4.3, and 34% accuracy. KCP is just the more proven shooter. Though, Thybulle has actually been slighter higher volume and accurate the past three seasons. Additionally, KC ahs been significantly more aggressive offensively for his career with 13.5 points/per 36, compared to 8.4 for Thybulle. KCP has also been far more durable than Thybulle. With that said, I think I would lean toward Thybulle, given his superb defense and upside, but it's good to brainstorm several different scenarios to fill our needs, because we don't know what will and wont be available to us in trade. Thybulle's shooting may be on an upward trajectory, and KCP likely on the decline. I would be happy with either though. We should also look into scenarios for players such as Josh Green, Abajii, Tre Mann, Terance Mann, Smart, Okogie, O'Neal, etc. People like that. I'm going to try and brainstorm only two team trades for now, but muti-team trade do help make the salaries work a lot better.

 

I have had similar thoughts about how Orlando can be a viable trade partner to address our needs. I don’t see Knect as just a give away and I think he will have value in trade, but what intrigued me about Orlando is they have a couple of decent young starting caliber centers.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if the Lakers did a trade involving a package that included either Wendell Carter or Goga Bitadze. They have very different skill sets from each other, but both have shown they can average 15 and 10 if given the minutes.