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

knicks are done

 

I’m just stating facts.

 

Luka will be presented with a contract this off season. And Luka will sign it.


He will get the opt out so he can make more money after 3 years.

LeBrons already signed.


So figure out the other positions. Not expecting a blockbuster but just roster fillers.

maybe Durant if LeBron and Luka push for it.

 

If you really watch basketball and know basketball The Pacers is the worst matchup for the Thunder. They switch the bigs pull out their bigs.

Pascal is the last big Chet and Haberstein wants to see. He can post anywhere or shoot.


Turner can space. And they are deep. Halliburton sees the whole floor way better court vision than Edwards. He will be getting the ball all over the court. They play with Pace. They are fast.

I got Pacers in 6.

 

Portland have more pieces than people give them credit for. Sharpe, Clingan, Camara, Simons and Avdija are all interesting solid pieces. Thybulle, Williams, Grant and Ayton are all not bad and could be decent trade pieces. If they can get one all star level player, they're a playoff team. It's a shame Scoot is Fultz 2.0 otherwise they'd be in a really good spot.

Lob Threat - (unlocks Luka offensively and makes him a generational scorer)
Switchability on defence - (we're going to need this to hide two players effectively)
Rim Protection - (always useful)
Rebounding - (always useful but less so than the above)
Floor Spacing - (would of been better on a team with AD)

NAW is 6'5 with a 6'10 reach that can be a really effective POA defender and hits the 3. He is a better version of KCP and he isn't a better player than Reaves, he just fits what we need really well. He can defend 1-3 and you can put him on Curry, SGA, Murray, Antman in the west in a better way than you can defend with Reaves and/or Luka.

NAW alongside Luka and Reaves is super solid - heck you can play Luka at the 4 defensively when Lebron is gone like abeer has asked for and play:

NAW (POA)
Reaves (Weak Guard)
Wing Defender
Luka (Safety)
Switchable Big

I think with a two way POA and wing defender, as well as a switchable big, we're set with Reaves and Luka, just like Dallas was with Kyrie.

I'd love to nab those 3 spots this season if we can - POA, wing defender and switchable big - while we have Lebron, because I think that gives us a shot.

 

I don’t know. Maybe they think Nick Claxton is Dereck Lively. We’ll see.

 

We don't have 14M to pay him, and Lebron's isn't taking that kind of paycut for that guy. TBH I wasn't all that impressed with him in our series, but he's become a hot name around here. I don't think he would affect any of the high end guards in the league, in a major fashion. Kyrie Irving is an elite scorer/facilitator, he's a different animal than NAW or Reaves. Luka is 26, we shouldn't have to hide him on defense. He needs to get into better shape, but based on this series against Minnesota, Im not sure he would be better than Lebron on D at the 4 spot.

We need a big, that can board at a high clip, and score some, more than a POA defender. If we had a big that could do that, we wouldn't be talking about a POA defender IMO.

 

Nesmith and McDaniels, those two young guys impressed me this postseason defensively. However both also play with a high end defensive center. Every team in the playoffs, had a decent big exception us. We don't even have decent big prospects in the pipeline. We spend our draft capital, and MLE on perimeter players. That needs to change, I really don't believe, that adding defensive upgrades on the perimeter, is going to have as much impact, as securing decent bigs. The game will be shifting back towards the big guys soon, and we are way behind the curve, on that wave.

Yeah we had AD, but he complained about the big situation, every season after the bubble. He came here, saying that he preferred the 4.

Now... we are going to have to go through him too. With Jaxson Hayes or an equivalent? That s*** isn't going to work, I don't care what perimeter defender you dream up. Hell.. are they any better than Max?

 

^^^ .... with Flagg at the 3. They're going to be HUGE!!

 

Well we need both. We need a real center and better perimeter defenders. Those Jazz teams had Gobert but Conley/Mitchell/Bojan were getting blown by constantly. We need a real center, Luka and LeBron in the helper/low-man roles, and then better options at POA and Chaser. I think Reaves can do Chaser decently well, but he's not good enough POA. We need a guard or wing that can start and fill that role.

 

Haliburton should get his own name for his stats
32 points 15 assists, 12 rebounds and 0 turnovers . First triple -double in history of NBA playoffs with 0 turnovers

 

Tyrese, like AR, with huge motivation I’m sure to fip the middle finger to all their doubters over the years …. or in his particular case all those nameless and anonymous players and peers this year that voted HIM the most overrated player in the league.

 

For me, we need to get better defensively across the board. Our run pre and post Luka was built on the back of a really solid defence.

That means we need to upgrade defensively at the center position, as well as the wing and POA. I think we trade for a center either way - thats the number one priority with this team, we need a lob threat that provides defence.

But thats only part one of building around Luka, he has been successful with some defence on the perimeter in the form of DJJ, a younger DFS or PJ Washington. We need one of those guys - there seems to be always diamonds in the rough that you can pick up and develop a little bit. The next step is, it would be helpful to improve our POA defence, and thats where the dream of Lebron taking less so we could nab NAW for that role came from. He's just a plug and play guy, but its the third priority.

 

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the basketball facts.

Facts LeBron James is not taking a pay cut buisness decision on his part.

sometimes the most unglamorous moves are the most glamorous.

Trevor Ariza was never jumping on anybody’s radar didn’t get people to start buying Lakers Jerseys. But won us a championship.


Rick Fox wasn’t a Shaq signing but we won 3 championships.

Hachiumura wasn’t a big acquisition. But it helped this team so much.


I point to this. Ben Simmons not an exciting signing but helps tremendously.

Young Perimeter defender. Long 28 years old. Young. Facts are we need younger guys on the wing. You need to put that next to Luka.

gotta get cheap and spend what we can.

looks like everybody wants to keep the team together.


So signing Clint Capela and Paul Reed add to that. With Simmons. That’s the cheap way.

and sign a Tim Hardaway Jr.


Nick Claxton is going to cost the draft pick and Kinect.

this way you keep Kinect. Just hope Kinect makes a huge development leap year two.

 

Luka will never be Gary Payton that’s just the way it is. Those are facts. He will never be that defensive player.

you take all the offense and that’s what’s bought to the table.

 

Knecht

Dalton Knecht

 

Halliburton is wonderful to watch. It’s like watching Stephen Curry and Magic Johnson.

He has so many tools.

any of my true Baskrball hoop heads please tell me Why The Sacramento Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton for Domantes Sabones?????? How much did that set that franchise back?????

trading Him and then Fox. I’ve always loved Halliburton over Fox he reminded me of curry.

the dumbest crap. I know what Sabonis is but how could you be around basketball and not recognize that greatness of Tyrese Haliburton??????

 

mostly agree, though i'd put POA over wing defender in the needs hierarchy. mobile center/lob threat that is better than hayes is priority #1. priority #2 to me is a guy who can credibly defend 1s and 2s in isolation and just stand and hit threes on offense.

i think sabonis has been really good. the real question is why you move haliburton bc he and fox are a bad fit (they were), then go on and end up moving fox for not much (imo). that's the kangz for ya.

but sabonis was a good return on haliburton, imo. and the latter is benefitting from a great coach and a tailor-made supporting cast. sabonis never really got that in sac.

but yeah, it's harder to build around sabonis than haliburton. i'll give you that.

 

I know Sabonis is great. But Why Haliburton??? I would’ve traded Fox. We would’ve been dealing with Haliburton. You could have a bunch of guys play with him in Sac. He made that game winning shot in Phoenix to for Sac.

 

Halliburton is a leader.