12-04-2023, 09:17 PM
(12-04-2023, 07:28 PM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Question #1: Anyone who obviously pushes GWill to the bench. Siakam would be the best I could imagine, but we won't have the capital to do that until summer. Maybe the Collins and Grant and PJ types could be had at the TDL?
Question #2: I'm about done with Maxi. If I'm trading for a center this season (if), it is to set us up with greater certainty for the playoffs. Just like you can't give away playoff games because your center gets in foul trouble (a known issue), you can't give them away because Maxi gets dinged again (another known issue) If one doesn't care about the playoffs this year, then stand pat and it is a developmental year. I'm just not sold we have the patience for that (nor am I sold that we should have the patience for that).
The quality of center and what else we send out determines where I am on sending 2027 and what the protections look like. I think part of acquiring a 2028 second is that it can serve as the consolation prize if 2027 doesn't convey because of the protections. I've never been sold on Hardy being untouchable. I think you can find undersized gunners with questionable handles any time you want. So, he could be included also. Something to be mindful of is some of the teams that come up in rumors already have their version of Hardy. For instance, does Hardy to Utah make any sense when they already have Sexton and Clarkson?
The problem is all three of those guys are a downgrade defensively from DJJ, and Collins (at 26 mil a year) is the only one bringing more rebounding (Grant is actually worse). Seems like we would be spending to upgrade the offense without really addressing the defensive issues. I'm struggling to come up with a true DJJ upgrade that we could afford at the TDL.
It sounds like you are willing to send out the 27 for another center if its the right deal. To me, Lively looks like he will be ready to play 30 minutes a game by next season and you can probably get a decent backup with the tax MLE. I can see an argument for a small deal to beef up the center rotation, but I would hate to give up our last real asset for a backup center.
On another note regarding protecting the pick, I wonder if there is an argument to made that we would be better off trading the pick as unprotected in order to get maximum value. We have very little firsts to trade, and protecting them in a trade would be reducing an already small asset pool for the sake of risk aversion. Protected picks can also hamper access to future firsts to trade.