In any case, going out and getting expensive 32 year old role players is short-term thinking in my opinion and I don't like it. With Fox, Monk, Ellis, Carter, Murray, DeRozan, Sabonis, and I. Jones we already have a solid rotation which is affordable and has room to grow. Keon Ellis, Colby Jones, and Isaac Jones are our DFS and Larry Nance Jr. role-players of the future and they're younger and a lot less expensive. I'd prefer that Monte continue looking for hidden value in players in their mid 20s that are potentially good fits and should thrive if given the opportunity.
I wouldn’t consider them expensive but to each their own. I walked through how the money works out without getting into apron issues. If you think what I laid out is wrong, feel free to point to where I’m off.
As for Ellis, he has a clear role in my scenario and is not being squeezed out.
As for Colby Jones, he is squeezed out regardless if we make this trade or not. We have Fox, Monk, Ellis, Huerter, and (soon to be) Carter ahead of him. So I don’t see how this is related to the proposal.
As for Isaac Jones, he is the one that will be most impacted minutes wise but why is that a bad thing? We’re trying to make the playoffs. Relying on an undrafted rookie is not ideal, and as I pointed out before, he will still have opportunities to play when injuries arise. And who knows? Maybe 2-3 years down the road, we’ll have a more well rounded player who is able to take the mantle from DFS/Nance.
I know you mentioned going out and getting 31 year old (not 32 year old) players is short term thinking and you don’t like it, so were you also against us going out and getting a 35 year old player in DeRozan? If anything, I think that move for DeRozan showed that the FO is willing to go out and get some of these older players to prioritize competing and winning right now.
And similar to DeRozan, my trade proposal doesn’t actually send out any additional 1sts (we technically sent out a swap for DeRozan so we’ll still have at least a 1st that year) which still gives us the ability to make a (big) move in the future. So again, this trade…
- Solves our bigggest glaring weakness (a long, athletic PF who can defend and space the floor)
- Upgrades our backup C who would have a great 2 man game with Monk since he’s such a great lob threat
- Helps clear out our log jam at guard and open up minutes for our lottery pick
- Projects to keep us under the 2nd apron in the coming years
- Maintains our flexibility and assets to make a big move down the road if we so choose
There’s a lot of different reasons as to why this trade makes good sense for us.