Trade Deadline Thread

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Put a better team around Fox and they win. Ja has a better team around him and they win. One guy can not make that kind of difference unless they are Lebron, KD, etc. Hali is proving it as well right? If he’s so much better, then where are the wins. It should be that easy according to you. These are good players who need to be surrounded by a quality team AND a quality coach/system.
It would also help if Fox could jump into fringe MVP level player instead of maybe fringe All/Star. It’s a two way street.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
At this point I think a Sabonis deal would require first flipping Barnes in a deal that includes a FRP that could then be sent to Indiana, likely with this year's Kings pick. Maybe with top 4 protection? If they really don't have much interest in Fox it might also require shipping him to a third team for assets that could be sent back to Indiana. I mean, maybe a deal where Fox goes to the Pelicans and Barnes to a third team with two FRPs and assets being sent to the Pacers?

That might be best only because it could potentially preserve this year's Kings pick. But I still think it's more likely that the Kings deal for Jerami Grant and/or Myles Turner. Don't like that strategy at all, but probably much more realistic for Monte to pull off, even if it keeps the Kings stuck in mediocrity.

I'm bracing for there to be no actual trades from the Kings or some underwhelming minor deal that doesn't change things. But I'm hoping McNair actually pulls off something to substantially change the roster.
 
Sure, I think it's only natural that with a bigger contract come bigger expectations. That said, I don't believe any of us thought Fox was going to turn things around by himself. The hope was that he'd build on last season and continue to improve his game/numbers and that hopefully others would also step up and the team might squeak into the playoffs.

Even if the team were still losing but De'Aaron took another step forward with his game I don't think he'd be getting anywhere near the same level of criticism. I know I wouldn't blame him. He's the best player on a bad, small market team and those guys tend to get overpaid relative to their actual production/impact. That's just the unfortunate reality. But having Fox regress this year has just made everything much worse.
Getting promoted beyond someone's competence is common. The higher the salary, the higher the profile, the greater the accountability. That's fair.

I mean, dude is in year 5, one of the longest tenured Kings, and is the highest paid player. The heat should be on him. Regressing this year is basically the same thing as someone getting promoted and is floundering. 24 year olds, in their 5th year, should not regress.
 
Dame is shooting FG 40.2% and 3P 32.4%. Has he regressed and has poor value now?

Steph is shooting FG 42.2% and 3P 38.1% and couldn't buy a bucket for more than a month. Has he regressed and has poor value now?

Even great players go through slumps and it has happened to Fox, who has always improved every year. I'm not dumping Fox because he had a small blip in his production. He averaged 28.5/6.6/3.9/1.9 at FG 49.1% 3P 29.3% after the All-Star break last year. Heck, he had the same TS% last year as Ja Morant has this year.

I think recency bias is clouding people from the fact that he is an ascending player over the years (despite his poor three point shooting). His best is yet to come.

The fit between Fox and Haliburton maybe a different issue but saying Fox is chopped liver, who has regressed and will never return to his original level or improve is utter nonsense.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
This. Other teams had him projected for the second round. Vlade did this constantly. Justin James was another example.
I liked the Justin James pick because the entire panel was very obviously baffled and the only thing they had to say about him was “It says he likes to dance?” Before moving on as quickly as possible.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
I get it for New Orleans even though McCollum is 9 years older than Zion. It's not a long-term pairing, but I think they're just hoping to make the playoffs for the next few seasons and retool around Williamson and BI down the road.

But a strange deal for Portland if they're really trying to build a winner around Dame. It makes me wonder if they are considering a Ben Simmons and other pieces deal to totally rebuild.
 
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dude12

Hall of Famer
It would also help if Fox could jump into fringe MVP level player instead of maybe fringe All/Star. It’s a two way street.
I don’t think that ever happens but don’t you think he needs a better team around him? Same goes for Hali if we trade Fox. These guys are good players but not the elite, “carry the team to playoffs by themselves” guys. You can think what you want but people on here did the same thing with Cousins. Can’t win, empty stats, any other made up fact. The guy was putting up elite numbers. Like, can we find a way or coach to build around these players so that we can put a winning product on the floor? Or one can just attack a player, our highest paid player usually, because the organization fails these guys.

Trust that once or if Fox is traded and we still don’t win, Halliburton will be the next guy to get the brunt of the criticism if the organization doesn’t get its coaching hire right and bring in players that can put together a winning season. It keeps happening.
 
I get it for New Orleans even though McCollum is 9 years older than Zion. It's not a long-term pairing, but I think they're just hoping to make the playoffs and retool around Williamson and BI down the road.

But a strange deal for Portland if they're really trying to build a winner around Dame. It makes me wonder if they are considering a Ben Simmons and other pieces deal to totally rebuild.
My Portland friend said they have sensed Anfernee Simons will be CJ's long term investment. Simons's progress this season and the result made them decide to cash in CJ.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Will be interesting to see what picks they get since they got NAW in the deal along with Hart. NAW's still fairly young and can have his moments.

Hart, NAW, and Keon Johnson are all around the same size though so it looks like they turned their ball-handling scoring guard logjam and turned it into a small wing logjam.
 
I don’t think that ever happens but don’t you think he needs a better team around him? Same goes for Hali if we trade Fox. These guys are good players but not the elite, “carry the team to playoffs by themselves” guys. You can think what you want but people on here did the same thing with Cousins. Can’t win, empty stats, any other made up fact. The guy was putting up elite numbers. Like, can we find a way or coach to build around these players so that we can put a winning product on the floor? Or one can just attack a player, our highest paid player usually, because the organization fails these guys.

Trust that once or if Fox is traded and we still don’t win, Halliburton will be the next guy to get the brunt of the criticism if the organization doesn’t get its coaching hire right and bring in players that can put together a winning season. It keeps happening.
If there's one thing that I think you'd find everybody agrees on, it's that the organisation is bad. I've literally never seen anybody dispute that. But individual accountability matters too, and Fox shares in that every bit as much as the next guy, if not more since he's the supposed franchise player.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
My Portland friend said they have sensed Anfernee Simons will be CJ's long term investment. Simons's progress this season and the result made them decide to cash in CJ.
Yeah, Simons made a jump this season for sure. We'll see how does with increased playing time/a bigger role but this season his per minute numbers are almost identical to McCollum. Well, other that FT% where Simons is shooting almost 20% better from the line.

But this was also part of the justification for the Powell/Covington deal - that the Blazers were opening up more minutes for him. But that doesn't make the Blazers a better team right now and Lillard turns 32 this offseason. Maybe we just chalk these two deals up to an interim GM doing a poor job and getting less than market value for his assets.

Because the only two ways that these trades make sense to me are if (a) they plan to trade Lillard and rebuild fully or (b) they are stockpiling assets and caproom for win now moves this summer. You shut Dame down and tank, and then deal that pick and the draft capital from New Orleans for a piece and try to sign another impact player.

But that doesn't make sense for a number of reasons. Similar to the Kings, the Blazers rarely make big FA signings, this draft is not one loaded with talent that you can likely get impact veterans in trade for unless maybe you land a top 2 pick and teams really want one of the top kids, and it doesn't seem like you'd start a rebuild process with an interim GM.

So all I can think is that they are going for a full rebuild (Dame to the Sixers for Simmons and either Maxey or Thybulle?) or they just don't know what they are doing at all.
 
Put a better team around Fox and they win. Ja has a better team around him and they win. One guy can not make that kind of difference unless they are Lebron, KD, etc. Hali is proving it as well right? If he’s so much better, then where are the wins. It should be that easy according to you. These are good players who need to be surrounded by a quality team AND a quality coach/system.
This. Maybe model the team around the teams that have a player that is so much better than fox. Like ja and Donovan Mitchell. They have defensive minded shot blocking bigs like Steven adams and JJJ or gobert. Or even the suns having ayton. Then a 3 and d wing. Create a team similar to those guys and then we’re comparing apples to apples. That’s why I like the Turner rumor. I keep seeing fox can never be as good as them and it’s his fault why we are losing. News flash, fox has been out and we are still losing. The plan is simple, assemble a better team, if we lose with fox and win when he’s out, he might just be the problem and trade him in the off season or next season.

Defensive shot blocking big
Stretch big that isn’t a sieve on defense
3 and D sf (preferably not undersized)
Ty
Fox

gobert
O’neal
Bogdonivich
Mitchell
Conley

Adams
JJJ
Bane
Brooks
Ja

ayton
Crowder
Bridges
Booker
Cp3

allen
Mobley
Markkanen/Okoro
Garland
Rubio

these are just some examples of teams at the top of the league that don’t have Giannis curry lebron etc. maybe see what they’re doing and follow them.