Rob Pelinka Discussion: BBall Ops Pres + GM (AKA: Lucky Rob)

Do you have any specific players in mind? Like who? I don't think Luka is down, with some 3-4 year plan either. Luka wants to compete right now, and we'd be wise to keep that, at the forefront of our decision making process.

 

i really think we only need two starting caliber players, tbh. one guard and one more wing. both guys need to be able to defend, first and foremost. but both must also be able to shoot/function on offense.

ayton/hayes (this is fine--we could upgrade and that would be great, but this isn't our limiting factor right now)
lebron (also fine. when he leaves, we'll need someone here)
luka (outstanding)
reaves (excellent)
smart (oh good lord what are we doing? i like smart, but he's a bench player)

smart and laravia are both playoff-caliber bench players, imo. as is rui.

so if we could keep all those guys and magically add say, herb jones and keon ellis, i think we have a shot against anyone. but getting jones and ellis at the deadline is not possible (never was, now definitely isn't).


bigger picture and going into post-lebron, we need our aaron gordon and kcp. those were the two pickups that leaped denver from second-tier to first, imo. the gordon one was harder and happened first, and i wonder if that's what rob is hoping to do, now or this summer. denver bought low on a guy who was miscast as a #1 or #2 and had been playing on a bad team. they got him for an already rapidly declining gary harris, a protected first, and a rookie who was out of the league shortly thereafter. who's that guy right now?

one buy-low candidate i like is immanuel quickley. not sure if toronto is really wanting to give him up, but i thought i read somewhere that he's viewed as a distressed asset. i disagree and think he's just slightly overpaid. but yeah, the market isn't flush with gordon type pickups right now, so you do what you can.

i still think that signing quentin grimes and ellis outright this summer and bringing lebron back at 20 per would make us really good next year, even if it's not quite my dream.

it's just really hard to navigate the end of a superstar career.

 

So in essence punt on this season? f*** that. I don't know what we are going to do, but standing pat as is, is not the move.

 

people keep saying punt on the season as if there are obviously better alternatives. for the 10th time in the past 24 hours, the only deal we've passed on is downgrading from rui to hunter and adding salary for next year. nobody has traded junk and a 1st for a starting caliber player yet. if you can do it, go for it. if you can't, don't do something you'll regret to lose in 6 games instead of 5 in round 1.

 

We don't really know who is available at what price, all we have is some media speculation on some stuff. Nobody predicted Harden looking for a move.. in example, so I expect us to be exploring multiple avenues. We could be posturing about not taking long-term money, it depends on the players involved. I don't believe that to be, some kind of ironclad directive. We just didn't prefer to do it, for the guys mentioned. I think Grant or Wiggins, would immediately become our primary perimeter defender. That has value, both guys would be upgrades over Gabe and Rui defensively, in the roles we are asking of them IMO. There are other options that could work too.

 

we are 100% posturing about not taking on long-term salary.

we clearly considered it for wiggins before the season, and we clearly weighed it for hunter (we just wanted compensation for doing it, which makes sense).

i would love to trade gabe/kleber/knecht/1st for a long-term fit making 25 per. if that's out there, i'm sure we'll do it. but you can't...make it be out there.