01-21-2024, 11:04 AM
(01-21-2024, 10:26 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: Fair. I wasn't willing to take on the pitchforks from both the "never-Kuzma" crowd and the "never-2027" crowd, but I suspect you are correct about it taking a GSW #1 and a Dallas #1.
I would LOVE to add a Moody for Hardy swap to this. I'd be all over adding 2027 if I could to that.
Personally, I don't have a strong opinion about Kuzma. He can certainly replace THJ offensive production and is a better positional fit. But I have not seen enough of him to have an opinion if he is a long-term solution at PF, especially on defense. So, if the Mavs decide that he is and spend assets on him, I can accept it and wait to see what happens. His contract is not bad, so as long as he can continue to put up numbers, it shouldn't be difficult to move him.
Big wings really have value around the league as everyone needs them. Most of people thought Grant got way overpaid in the summer, but it seems now there are teams willing to pay assets to get him. Similar with Kuzma.
GSW will be really interesting to watch. The decline happened with their core guys Thompson, Draymond and Wiggins. On the other hand they have interesting young players (Moody, Kuminga) who can't get minutes behind those declining guys. They owe it to Curry to try to remain competitive, but they also sort of owe it to Draymond and Thompson to give them the possibility to finish their careers where they started and brought so much success. But, they simply overpaid Draymond and Thompson also didn't look ready to take a huge discount in the summer. Wasting the #2 pick on Wiseman was a huge hit for them.
If I am GSW, I would have a really tough choice for a way forward. Spend all the assets trying to put a competitive team around the "big three"? Forget all the emotions and history and sell of two thirds of "the big three" and start a rebuild? At the end, I would probably chose a middle way. Allow "the big three" three more years together so they can all retire as GSW, but not spending assets to try to build a contender. It might be impossible with those three. Rather just collect those middle of the pack rookies and try to develop them into useful players. Then try to do a quick rebuild after retiring "the big three" together in one summer.