Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[mvossman]

Thank you sir.

For many of the same reasons, I think J. Allen works here.  And, the numbers are interesting.  The deal would be Holmes/Green (much as I hate to say it).  Dallas would be $274k under the tax once McGee is S/W'd.  We'd be at 14 players again with the 2-for-1 (which is why Morris was necessary) and the depth chart works similarly to the way you envisioned it.  

Allen-Lively-Powell
GWill-Maxi- Morris
THJ-  DJJ-   OMP
Luka- Hardy-Curry
Irving-Exum

Cleveland only has 13 players on their roster right now (only 12 with full guarantees), so it appears they are holding a spot for something (like a 2-for-1 incoming deal?).  Allen isn't the PnR roller that Powell or Holmes are, but he makes up for it in rebounding and defense.  Starting THJ probably isn't ideal from a defensive standpoint, but in the post trade era, Irving/Doncic/THJ lineups were +13.3 (124.6/111.3).  Only Bullock (+0.2) and Powell (+7.5) were used in Kyrie/Luka lineups more.  Irving/Doncic/Green lineups were +2.6.  Irving/Doncic/Maxi lineups were +1.0.

If you look at the roster without Green, a lot of the stuff at the end of the bench makes great sense.  Powell is there in case Lively isn't ready by the playoffs.  Morris is there as Maxi insurance.  DJJ and Curry play the same veteran role as Powell with OMP and Hardy.  If the kids are ready, great.  If they aren't, Curry, DJJ and Powell all played real NBA minutes last season.

So, why isn't this done already....the trade restriction on Holmes, which runs out next week.  I really would hate to give up Green, but even I have to admit this is a better roster.  The one hole in the starting lineup is on-ball D, but Exum and DJJ will provide that as they sub in for THJ/Irving and Luka.  Similar to the GWill addition, Allen isn't old by any means...25 or about a year older than Luka.  The youngish core is Allen/Lively/GWill/OMP/Hardy/Luka.  Now, we just need a player like Green who can hit 3's and play on-ball defense and we are set

A few comments:

I think the cost of Allen would be Holmes, Green and the unprotected 27.  Holmes is a negative asset and I don't think Green has near the value of Allen.

I feel like this team has done some of its best work with 5 out lineups, especially in the playoffs, and I was looking forward to seeing the small ball lineups we could put out there with some combination of Maxi/Williams/DJJ, but there is not much room for that on this roster.

I realize that the Luka/Timmy/Kyrie combo had some good numbers in a fairly short sample, but call me skeptical we can get away with starting that backcourt and have a good defense, regardless of how good the frontcourt defense is.  In fact, every potentially plus defender on that roster is effectively a frontcourt player except for a guy who was playing in Europe last year.  And based on my first point, we wont have the assets to address that until next offseason.

I keep coming back to a trade for Allen or Claxton would have made a ton of sense prior to the draft.  But to do it now would be spending all of our assets on two young centers who can't play on the court together.  That just seems like a major misallocation of resources for an organization that does not have a lot of resources to begin with.