2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I just don’t want to let Hachimura walk away while waiting for LeBron to sign his deal.

 

I hear you. Rui would have to go back to being Lebrons back up for a year though, and that's fine. So we would be looking at only about 20 minutes a night of them both playing together. I could live with that. If Lebron walks, then we have a lower usage stretch 4 starter in Rui. Maybe you proactively extend him.

 

If we could offer Grimes a starting spot he might go for that over being the 3rd guard with the Sixers behind Maxey and Edgecombe. They probably need to choose between Grimes and Oubre because bringing back both pushes them into the tax on a team not realistically contending. But I'm not sure we would offer/promise Grimes that. I think of Luka more as a 3 so Reaves/Grimes/Luka/LeBron/Center works positionally, but I don't know that Grimes is a good enough defender to fill that slot in the starting/closing group. And the FO seems to want more of a wing in that spot.

 

Where does it say they want more of a wing? I keep hearing talking heads saying that. I think a lot of folks don't do what you did and slot Luka properly as a 3, they slot him as a 1- tunnel vision or something idk what's with some of these folks. So with them thinking Luka is a 1 on defense, like they do t watch basketball of course they are going to think we need a wing. I know wings are a commodity, but the position we are talking about needs to.be able to defend POA/quick 1s, Grimes could do that. Him and player like DJJ played with him before even with a small Kyrie. Wings who could chase around speedy point guards for 36 minutes a night are super rare.

 

He's a 1 on offense and a 3/4 on defense. If we start Austin, LeBron, and a C, then the other starter should be a 2/3 on offense and a 1/2 on defense.

 

I think Grimes will stay with Philly unless someone comes to him with a much higher bag - 20m or so. They traded McCain to basically have a 3 guard rotation of Maxey, Edgecomb and Grimes, he'll be getting 30+ mins a night and be a 6th man candidate there in a clear role. Here he would be competing with Smart for backup minutes.

Robinson is a fan favorite, and NY just made the finals. Dolan is spending to keep that team together and Robinson is a huge part of that. They probably match anything up to 20m.

We can probably get Robert Williams, but do we want to pay him MLE money for 40 games a year? If he is injured in the playoffs, you're back to playing Hayes and as a consequence probably small ball.

All the RFA's are going back to their teams. I can't see any one of them letting a restricted FA go.

Then most of the FA's with bird rights are going back to their team. Minnesota doesn't let Ayo walk unless it's an overpay.

So I just don't see any good FA's that I want to hone in on. The rest of the good FA's are ours...

Now when it comes to trades, I think there is a lot of potential.

 

We want someone who can guard 1-3 as the wing starter. So a Herb Jones, Spencer Jones or Thybulle profile makes most sense here. Watson can guard 1-4.

Offensively, we want someone that can hit 3's and catch lobs. Once again, Watson is the best of the bunch.

I do think Spencer Jones could be a really nice pickup from Denver. I think he could be one of the better defenders in the league at the POA and a better defender than Watson. His comp is a bigger Caruso.

If we could bring Smart back with a raise and a promise to pay him more next year. I would split the MLE between Spencer Jones and Thybulle. One of them gets out starting spot at the 3 and the other is the backup.

We just need someone like a Ware from Miami to round out the team. Elite lob threat, can space the floor with his shooting and can defend the rim.

Luka / Kennard / Bronny
Reaves / Smart
Spencer / Thybulle / Jake
Lebron / Rui / Adou
Ware / Hayes / Kleber

I think that team is a contender personally. It doesn't look flashy, but we've solved the big Center problem while adding two POA defenders that can shoot from the 3.

 

That's just what I glean from the trade rumor stuff, which yeah comes from the content creators. I agree that it's not ultimately necessary and we'd be fine with someone like Grimes or Ayo in that spot.

Side note, the positions thing is also a pet peeve of mine. I hate when guys are positionally grouped by their offensive role, rather than their defensive role/general size. I think the latter just makes more sense, while the former leads to all kinds of issues. Luka's not a point guard - he's a small forward (because he's small-forward sized and typically defends other forwards) who happens to have traditional point guard playmaking skills and traditional shooting guard scoring skills. Same as LeBron. People kind of galaxy brain the positions thing.

 

Yeah, it's annoying. Especially if you get paid to do that stuff. A lot of young fans watching and it confuses them lol.

 

I know Reddick don't really like rookies, but this Onyenso kid has the skillset that we are looking for. Elite lob threat and rim protector. Just draft this kid at #25, and you have a rotation piece right there for cheap. Good bang for buck.

 

It's even more nuanced than that. Luka guards the weakest guy 1-4, his defensive value comes from playing the passing lanes and using his IQ to generate turnovers. At the 3 & 4, he can use his body to get in front of people with his anticipation and generally shield them away from the basket.

Reaves is a decent defender as the chaser role, but you want him guarding the slowest guard out of 1-2. Reaves has also shown an improvement in using his body as a shield to stop penetration in the half court. Once you get a head of steam on him, you can generally take him by speed. So we want him on the slowest guard that creates the least.

Lebron today is no longer the primary creator. So you want him on the strongest forward and/or a big that isn't 260+. I think Lebron is actually a highly positive defender now.

So your other starters have to be a mix of a great POA defender 1-3 that can take on the biggest threat to slot Reaves & Luka better.

The center either needs to be an elite rim protector (Ware, Robinson, Timelord) or switchable (Claxton).

Defensively;

Jones - POA 1-3
Reaves - Chaser 1-3
Luka - Help 2-4
Lebron - Wing & Small Big (3-5)
Center - Big 4-5

 

Yeah it's kind of the inverse of people saying we needed a point guard, because KCP wasn't a true point guard. In reality, he was just guarding the point guards on defense, while Lebron was playing point guard on offense. Apparently maybe Rob was lurking and listening to these guys and traded KCP and others for Westbrook. Go figure.