1 hour ago
(This post was last modified: 1 hour ago by RasheedsBigWhiteSpot.)
There are multiple reasons Kyrie needs to be traded in the next 40 days:
1. Cooper needs to be teamed up with fellow 19-24 year old players and the place to get that is in the Draft
2. The next two drafts are seen as VERY BAD. 2024 or worse levels of bad.
3a. Next off-season Kyrie will have all kinds of leverage in wanting a new contract. With that brings a level of him dictating where he goes, which can hurt negotiating.
3b. We all love the current Kyrie. But lest we forget what an unhappy version of him is like.
4. In conjunction with 3b., yes, perhaps the Mavs are selling at 80% of him physically, but they are definitely dealing him as the absolute best locker room version of him. To a team trying get out of the 1st round, that means something. If a team wants him as a culture changer, stuff like that takes time. You're not getting that with him coming over at the deadline. A team like Atlanta is going to want him hanging out with fellow Dukie Jalen Johnson in the offseason. They're going to want him throughout training camp. That's maximizing his full incoming value.
5. This one is double-edged:
a. Returning from an ACL isn't like it was in the 80's. Players come back from freakin' Achilles tears and look good as new. I'm not really viewing him as Humpty Dumpty.
b. I'm not worried about him looking bad from the ACL. I AM concerned that hanging onto him simply for bargaining position is potentially playing with fire. We'll always wonder what the return would've been on AD had he not freakishly injured his hand.
6. There's precedent on a trade of a player like this in KD last year. Houston was a team that needed a vet to add to their young nucleus. It was a top 10 pick, a young, underachieving player, plus salary ballast. Personally, I think this is similar to the KD trade (cheaper, actually):
Kyrie (KD)
for
#8 (#10), Risacher (Jalen Green), Kispert and Hield (Dylan Brooks)
Houston also traded 5 2nds
I added #23 for Gafford as it fixes Atlanta's other weakness. But the point is simply that an older KD has already laid out the blueprint for this.
Unlike Jerry Jones, I don't think Masai negotiates against himself in the media. I think him saying that he likes Kyrie on the team simply means he's not looking to push him out of the door and give him away.
1. Cooper needs to be teamed up with fellow 19-24 year old players and the place to get that is in the Draft
2. The next two drafts are seen as VERY BAD. 2024 or worse levels of bad.
3a. Next off-season Kyrie will have all kinds of leverage in wanting a new contract. With that brings a level of him dictating where he goes, which can hurt negotiating.
3b. We all love the current Kyrie. But lest we forget what an unhappy version of him is like.
4. In conjunction with 3b., yes, perhaps the Mavs are selling at 80% of him physically, but they are definitely dealing him as the absolute best locker room version of him. To a team trying get out of the 1st round, that means something. If a team wants him as a culture changer, stuff like that takes time. You're not getting that with him coming over at the deadline. A team like Atlanta is going to want him hanging out with fellow Dukie Jalen Johnson in the offseason. They're going to want him throughout training camp. That's maximizing his full incoming value.
5. This one is double-edged:
a. Returning from an ACL isn't like it was in the 80's. Players come back from freakin' Achilles tears and look good as new. I'm not really viewing him as Humpty Dumpty.
b. I'm not worried about him looking bad from the ACL. I AM concerned that hanging onto him simply for bargaining position is potentially playing with fire. We'll always wonder what the return would've been on AD had he not freakishly injured his hand.
6. There's precedent on a trade of a player like this in KD last year. Houston was a team that needed a vet to add to their young nucleus. It was a top 10 pick, a young, underachieving player, plus salary ballast. Personally, I think this is similar to the KD trade (cheaper, actually):
Kyrie (KD)
for
#8 (#10), Risacher (Jalen Green), Kispert and Hield (Dylan Brooks)
Houston also traded 5 2nds
I added #23 for Gafford as it fixes Atlanta's other weakness. But the point is simply that an older KD has already laid out the blueprint for this.
Unlike Jerry Jones, I don't think Masai negotiates against himself in the media. I think him saying that he likes Kyrie on the team simply means he's not looking to push him out of the door and give him away.