02-11-2024, 12:37 PM
(02-11-2024, 09:49 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I know you want to make this about tanking (and it was an important factor in all of this), but it also tells a story of skill on the part of Nico and Lindsey. Nico inherited KP and the picks it took to get him. He inherited the structure of the Brunson contract. I think this goes back to splitting KP (who needed to go) into Dinwiddie (who played a sizable role in the WCF run) and Bertans. Dinwiddie with DFS and 2029 became Kyrie. I’d argue that breaking up KP into tradable pieces was the right thing to do. But, if you trace it back this far, then KP (the Boston version when healthy) plus DFS plus 2029 (and eating Bertans) is a lot to give for Kyrie. But, Kyrie is a better fit than KP and we’ve rallied well (with the help of the draft pick at #10) to back fill what we gave up.
I would call that (and the Brunson fiasco) digging out from the sins of the past. Something changed this summer in terms of creativity and aggression. As you point out, we traded down to get rid of Bertans, but did it in a way that created a TPE. We then ate a contract in Holmes to pick up OMAX. Holmes and a 28 swap got us Gafford. So, a two-spot trade down and a 28 swap (plus the tank) got us Lively, OMax and Gafford…genius.
I’m not sure GWill was our first choice this summer. His S&T came after Portland matched on Thybulle. We were apparently in on several other things (including PJ according to PJ). It is reasonable to criticize the pick swap with SA. But it got rid of Bullock’s salary and we got four seconds back (all tangible things) and used two seconds to get GWill. GWill and a lightly protected 2027 got us PJ and two more seconds. So, a 2030 swap and the 2027 pick turned Bullock into PJ and four second round picks.
I think you also have to give credit for negotiating good deals for Irving and Green and bringing in DJJ and Exum as reclamation projects…not to mention drafting Lively, Hardy and OMax. We’ve sent out KP, DFS, Bullock, 2027, 2029 and swaps in 2028 and 2030 and turned all of that into Kyrie, OMax, Gafford and PJ. I don’t include Lively as we didn’t trade anything (except maybe some pride) to get him, but we were quite clever in the way we took him at 12 instead of 10.
Give me Lively/Gafford over KP (on this team after seeing the KP-Luka fit). Give me younger and bigger PJ over DFS (Sorry Cow). This version of Kyrie is probably worth the two firsts we’ve sent out if he were to hit the market today. If you go back to KP, it is less amazing than if you start from this summer. But, going all the way back to KP means you are also cleaning up other people’s messes. As someone who throws out dozens of ideas every summer and every TDL (that I think are fairly realistic), I’ve spent years being underwhelmed by the performance of the FO. The summer of 23 and TDL of 24 have both been just incredible given what we had to work with and given our cap sheet and young assets are still in tact. I may feel differently in the summer of 27 or the summer of 29, but that story isn’t written. The story of right now has been written and it is encouraging.
The plan can be argued against but I'm just so glad they had a plan and a goal (and followed through on that plan).