NBA: ***Official 2019 NBA Playoffs Thread***
- Thread starter Dandy
- Start date
Player power. Paul George wanted out and let them know. What else could they do? I'm sure Presti didn't want to but the truth is they were closer to having to rebuild than they were to contending anyway. They were capped out and already trying to shed some salary by shipping Steven Adams. For dealing a player that he didn't want to, Sam Presti set the organization up pretty nicely in the long run. It might be several years before they're competitive again but at least he has multiple assets to work with.
Players have a ton of power in the NBA, once a star has made up his mind that he wants a trade there's not a lot of cases of a team talking him back into being a contributing member of the team. OKC also is paying a ton of luxury tax for a team that can't get out of the first round. If they are weren't really a title contender, and I don't think they were, and had very few resources to improve their roster, then this was about best case scenario for having leverage. The Clippers had to get this done to avoid losing Kawhi, they had the picks to make this happen and also an extremely high ceiling guy like Gilgeous-Alexander to make it more palatable to OKC.
Miami for Dragic, Winslow and some combination of Ryan Anderson, James Johnson, Waiters and Olynyk makes sense. OKC dumps that contract and gets a good young player in Winslow back. Miami has a core of Butler, Westbrook, Herro, Adebayo and the path toward getting close to another max spot open for next offseason or 2021.
Miami, maybe? Dump the Dragic and Waiters contracts on OKC to make the salaries match. The Heat then have a not-bad core of Butler, Russ, and Winslow. The Russ/Butler combo is a volatile pair but it would at least make Miami relevant again in the East.
I don't think Miami will part with Winslow or Adebayo. Maybe an unprotected first rounder and/or future pick swap for OKC to work with instead? The Dragic contract comes off the books after the 19-20 season adn the Waiters contract the season after that, so OKC could go into 2021 free agency with cap space and a war chest that would make Danny Ainge envious.
If I'm OKC, I'm not doing that trade as just a salary dump. I need one of those guys back, Winslow and SGA give me the potential for a young, huge backcourt to sell fans on. I don't think OKC is going to be pulling in a lot of free agents so having only cap space doesn't do a whole lot for me.
If the Heat absolutely had to part with either Winslow or Adebayo in order to make it happen then they'd rather ship out Adebayo. Winslow is a future All Star IMO.
I like Winslow a lot but if you're getting Westbrook back, along with Butler, you're really taking the ball out of his hands a lot and putting him in more of a spot up role. He's been at his best playing almost a point guard role, not necessarily a true point guard but along with another combo guard. Westbrook, Butler, Herro (who I like a lot), Olynyk and Adebayo probably gets you to the second round in the East next year. Adebayo also costs $8M less than Winslow, and if Miami is trying to get close to a max spot carved out next summer with Butler and Russ, they need every dollar they can get.
Fantastic move by the Nuggets. Shows that management isn't being cheap. Hopefully they can use their cap space next offseason to sign Grant, Monte, and Beasley to extensions.
OKC will miss George, but might really like Gallinari. He's actually a pretty good defender, and recovered some of his athleticism last year after dealing with injuries.
There's some downside for Denver in that Grant could decline his option and become a free agent this off season (I assume unrestricted). I gotta think they have a good chance of retaining him because Millsap should be gone, which gives him a lot of PT.
Yeah, what's really the point of Winslow, because he really didn't start to flourish until he was playing PG. Good trade bait, though.
That is a good point, because his game is so dependent on his athleticism. It's hard to envision him having a Kidd like transition where he can be effective into his late 30's with his passing and improved shot. Westbrook has been so good because he's faster and stronger than pretty much anyone who guards him.
Their model does not love the Kawhi-George team-up in Los Angeles that much.
Still pretty bullish on the Curry-DAR-Draymond-Looney Dubs, too, especially if Klay comes back and is somewhat effective for them as a #6 or #7 seed in the playoffs.
Seems they love the Sixers, though.
That's interesting, I would take the under on 54 wins for the Lakers in a second if that's what Vegas actually offers it at.
