Portland trading Kent Bazemore to the Kings

Like the trade. Ariza had his moments but Walton relied on him way too much and he played even when he was having bad moments. Bazemore has always been a good defender. He and Tolliver both are shooting in the mid thirties overall and low 30s from 3. Its conceivable Bazemore benefits from a change in scenery. Tolliver is obviously a great locker room guy though he probably wont play as Bjelica is the stretch four. I like those two seconds especially if there are no protections on them. Portland isn't great this year and Lillard isnt going to play forever so maybe those become early second round picks which would make this trade even more of a win. Time will tell on those. The Kings also saved the partial guarantee next year on Arizas deal so that opened up some small cap space.
Also it will be interesting to see how Walton adapts. Ariza was "his guy." He doesnt have "his guy" anymore. This is big as he cant stick him out there for 30 plus min when he is off.
 
Groovygreg said:
I’m very pleased that the Kings are hanging on to J.J.
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Everytime he plays his defense stands out and in college he was known for his offense. His shot is inconsistent but if he figures that out hes a very solid 3 and D player. Hes so athletic and he has a high basketball IQ. He might be Vlades best second round pick ever. He also might become Vlades best draft pick ever. Fox was a no brainer. JJ was a hidden gem.
 
There is quite literally nothing bad about this trade:

Out:

Ariza - Decent defender but old and not part of the future, so who cares.

Caleb - Absolute dead weight.

Gabriel - Two-way cannon fodder.

In:

Two 2nd round picks

*Bazemore - Having a bad year but decent defender with ridiculously long wingspan.

*Tolliver - Spot up 3pt shooter. Bench material but known for being a great vet.

*Both expiring contracts and opens up roster spot

I can't find a single issue with this trade. We're not losing -anything- and we've gained draft capital and cap space next year. This isn't about who we received, they'll be gone after the year. It's simply dumping non-assets for assets.

Honestly I'm not sure what Portland is getting out of this, unless they think Ariza is better than Bazemore? It's a marginal improvement at best. I guess it helps with their luxury tax. Still a little strange.
 
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This is a huge win for us. Getting 2 2nds for Ariza in itself is great, but you also dont have Ariza's dead cap hit on for next summer for a little more flexibility. Bazemore is bad, but he fits in an uptempo system better than Ariza ever could so maybe he'll help with pace on the 2nd unit. Also Tolliver could help with the locker room, everyone loves him everywhere he goes.

Sucks to lose Gabriel, but not the biggest deal since he hasn't been able to make it with the big club in any capacity in 3 years. Curious what the 2nds are.
 
I really don't think this is about this year at all. Baze is very similar player to Ariza and Tolliver is an ok stretch big. Pretty sure Vlade and the FO know this is a lost season. Even if we were to make the playoffs, we're not serious contenders.

Both are expiring + draft capital = Looking toward the future...I hope.
 
TaxMan said:
I would agree. I personally have already written off the season but we are only 4.5 games out of the eighth spot so wouldn’t be surprised if we do something stupid to jeopardize the future.
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LOL well ... i definitely don’t see that happening. Only thing that could jeopardize our future would be to trade Fox/Bagley IMO

Everyone else is up for grabs depending on the deal, if it were up to me.
 
Kingster said:
What would surprise me is if this is the only deal we see before the trade deadline. There are probably other dominoes to fall.
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the good thing about a lot of the KenCat-built contracts is that they’re incredibly moveable thanks to the partial guarantees. Contenders can trade for a Dedmon for a run this season (*looks at Boston expectantly*) knowing that they can cut him for a minimal loss if it doesn’t work out. Hell, even Buddy’s incentive-laden contract is easier to move than most big contracts if, god-forbid,that’s the direction we end up going.
 
Always been a fan of Baze and was hoping they'd look at him this upcoming summer before things started to head downhill. But honestly, they just traded the one player that allowed them to play the one unit that had any hope from game to game of performing at a decent clip. This shows that Luke still has some pull though. I think this is obviously a move to appease him. Although Ariza was his boy too right?
 
Kings_of_California said:
I really don't think this is about this year at all. Baze is very similar player to Ariza and Tolliver is an ok stretch big. Pretty sure Vlade and the FO know this is a lost season. Even if we were to make the playoffs, we're not serious contenders.

Both are expiring + draft capital = Looking toward the future...I hope.
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I'm not sure about that. Bazemore knows how Walton wants to play. The problem is, again, this team looks best playing small. Bazemore in theory could teach a lot to Buddy about how Walton wants to run his offense since what they ran in Atlanta is similar.
 
I'm thinking this is a precursor to another trade. I'm a fan of Baze though, even though his shooting has been pretty bad this year. Tolliver is a good bench/locker room guy so I'm expecting the bench cheering to step up a notch. Two seconds to sweeten future trade deals is always good.
 
Kings_of_California said:
I really don't think this is about this year at all. Baze is very similar player to Ariza and Tolliver is an ok stretch big. Pretty sure Vlade and the FO know this is a lost season. Even if we were to make the playoffs, we're not serious contenders.

Both are expiring + draft capital = Looking toward the future...I hope.
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TaxMan said:
I would agree. I personally have already written off the season but we are only 4.5 games out of the eighth spot so wouldn’t be surprised if we do something stupid to jeopardize the future.
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Yeah, but Vlade fired Dave Joerger because he made a barb that wounded his ego. His GM career is on life support, so he might go all in on a stupid trade to save his job.
 
Solid move but can't get excited Bazemore has been crap the last 2-3 seasons and his basketball IQ is really low. Could have been worse tbh. He will give his all on defense at the least and give us a explosive athlete but we should have never been in this position with Ariza making 12mil per in the first place.
 
SacTownKid said:
Always been a fan of Baze and was hoping they'd look at him this upcoming summer before things started to head downhill. But honestly, they just traded the one player that allowed them to play the one unit that had any hope from game to game of performing at a decent clip. This shows that Luke still has some pull though. I think this is obviously a move to appease him. Although Ariza was his boy too right?
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I mean not really. Just shift Barnes down to the 4, then Baze/Bogi at the 3.
 
SacTownKid said:
I'm not sure about that. Bazemore knows how Walton wants to play. The problem is, again, this team looks best playing small. Bazemore in theory could teach a lot to Buddy about how Walton wants to run his offense since what they ran in Atlanta is similar.
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The thing is that Bazemore is long enough that he can probably play some three next to Barnes at 4. Also probably going to see a lot of Bogi/Buddy/Fox lineups.
 
I'm gonna be honest, we can talk about the players we received but really it's just putting lipstick on a pig. So we might win a few more games? Maybe? This season is lost and I don't care much about wanting it to get better. This team ain't it.
 
Tetsujin said:
No one’s forcing you to be here
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Nowhere did I say I don't care about the Kings. I just don't care for the current roster. I posted earlier in the thread about how I like this trade for the future. I like seeing our youngsters develop but that's about it for this year. Kingsfans.com is for discussion of the current team AND the future. Not one or the other. I'm still here to talk the general merits of the trade. Stop making stuff up.
 
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