Trade & FA 2023-24: Booker Likes NYK? Vogel Out? Suns Imploding?

[SleepingHero]

LeBron James (@KingJames)
OMG KYRIE!!!!!!!! That’s was INSANE

Mr. James speaks his thoughts!

[Chicagojk]

I can tell my points are being ignored, but I will say it again - we do NOT want Brogdon.

There are several significant reasons, and each of them alone would be a disqualifier.

The 1st is that he is NOT the quality of player you think he is. He's not two-way, not anymore. He doesn't (perhaps he can't, because of injuries?) play good defense anymore. Just the opposite- he's really bad. Over the last 4-5 years, he has been about the WORST defender on his team, per B-R def ratings. He is now a BAD defender. 

Whereas, the #1 first-priority criteria for a player to play alongside Luka-Kyrie is that they defend at a good-to-excellent level, to make up for the deficiencies of Luka-Kyrie. For role players, the Mavs need defenders, who they can hopefully find some offense from, rather than offense-only guys who make getting stops impossible.

The 2nd is that he is NOT someone you can rely on, because his knees are broken. Typically he plays half a season (or less). It's the KP thing, where you don't know when he will be injured each season, but you know it's gonna happen. It's very likely that he would never play a playoff game, because he can't make it to those games 83-and-beyond healthy.

The 3rd is that he gets paid way more money than you should ever pay to a one-way, no-defense, ever-injured player. He's about double the MLE. The cost in assets, just to make the trade and match salary (you have to send more than 22.5M in outgoing salary), will be far more than he's worth, and you only get a half-the-games, no-defense guy with broken knees.

Hard pass.

I have just always liked the player.   I assume I will have different directions I will prefer and I don't think I would be willing to give us the asking price for Brogdan.   So it is probably moot.    I think he would work here though.  Injury history is real though.

[SwisherPrice]

Defensively, I think the last 2 months have shown what kind of players the Mavs need. You have to be tall and long and that will allow you to be good defensively against every team and matchup. DJJ and PJ can guard 4 positions, especially SG/Forwards. I know people are obsessed with finding a POA defender like a Caruso or Alvarado to guard quick PGs but those smaller defenders don't have the versatility to guard bigger scorers. And just as important - having size and length allows them to be good help defenders and recover.

Paul George has the ball and tries to shoot but DJJ's length won't make it an easy shot. So then PG tries to drive and is met in the lane by any combination of PJ/Luka/Lively/Gafford/Kleber. Those are all players with a lot of length and will make it difficult to get a shot off.