Stupid? No. Desperate? Seems like it. Though I'm not really sure why. There are reports from other teams that they didn't even know DeMarcus was available. That's not usually how you go about getting the best offer. Even if the pick swaps don't end up hurting us they were still unnecessary and potentially harmful. I could bet my car in a game of poker and come out ahead -- that still doesn't make it a smart move. What if Embiid doesn't hurt his knee again? What if Simmons actually plays this year? We could easily be looking at a pick in the late teens. And there's a precedent already for what franchise players typically bring back in trade. People weren't calling this the worst trade of all time when it happened because they love taking digs at Vlade (well, maybe a few people were...). Unbiased observers hated the trade too because when you compare the return to what other teams got for comparable players (DeMarcus should be first or second team All NBA this year) it didn't make a lot of sense. Telling everyone who would listen that DeMarcus was not available then forcing a trade through out of nowhere didn't make a lot of sense. I'll defend our front office when they deserve it but this was not one of those cases. It was a bad trade. I still respect Vlade for his leadership ability but his deal-making acumen so far has been very poor by any objective standard.
I will say this though -- I understand why the decision was made to trade DeMarcus when they did. If Vivek was second-guessing the monetary commitment and/or no longer comfortable betting on DeMarcus improving his attitude in the future then you probably want to trade him before this summer rather than risk an ugly public negotiation period. And if you're going to trade him before the draft, the top 10 protection on the Chicago pick (exhibit A of how traded draft rights can hurt your power to negotiate for years without technically "hurting" you in any literal sense) means that trading him before the deadline and tanking to keep our pick this year was an important factor as well. The rationale makes sense. I'm mostly just unhappy that Vlade settled for what he did once the decision was made to find a deal. And the same goes for the Sixers deal. There's no precedent for a team giving up that much to clear out a couple of bad contracts. You have to try really hard to play apologist on that one. I had nothing but positive regard for Vlade when he took over as President/GM. He's had to earn any criticism he gets from me the hard way.
All reasonable enough. I just think the agenda and ambitions evolved and it kinda makes sense to me.
Philly trade was a win-now gambit that didn't pan out. I don't think it was insane. It was "win around DMC now" and so we whiffed on Matthews, got Rondo who for my money played his nuts out for us. It just didn't happen to work out. But a 2019 that by your plan would be in the mid-20's, some swaps that were very low odds... to get rid of loser players and bad contracts. Reasonable people can hate it but at the time there was a rationale. Win now with DMC.
fast forward to 2017... there are some positive flashes - wins over Boston & GSW & the Lebrons.... but isn't it possible that reality was sinking in for Vivek that a battle for #8 was the ceiling? Win now with DMC is not working out and there isn't a clear path to making it work out. Rudy is leaving.. you have no picks.. you have no FA appeal. How are you going to perform the next 5 years with a maxed out DMC (who is all the time flirting with PR trouble, technicals, etc - by his own admission a knucklehead)?
Is it sooo crazy to pull the rip cord here on the DMC era? I don't think so.
Now about the value for DMC - the interesting thing to me - a very interesting thing - is that the dreaded "national media" did not kill Vlade at all for this. No credible national media that I know of has killed Vlade for taking Buddy, a first, and an early second for DeMarcus. Yes the local fan base who had visions of sugarplums (the moon from Boston) in our heads - we were disappointed... but the national narrative is not to slam Vlade for the value in return. Perhaps the market is a more efficient one than we think. The price is the price.
Now the hype over "there was a better offer"... ok so DeMarcus' agent gave the Pels cold feet and they downgraded a 2018 first to a 2017 second. Sucks. But it is.
Now was the DMC price headed up or down?? a 1 year rental and a max contract to re-sign (and he has no $$ incentive to sign with you in particular at the end of the contract). What do people hope/imagine would be happening if we were shopping DeMarcus now? That somebody would offer Lonzo Ball and a big expiring contract or something?
Now what jacks up my own story is the possibility that Boston would be -right this minute - considering to up their offer and put the Nets pick on the table, but that is a fluke and probably still not likely.
What is an empirical fact??? the Pels sputtered with DeMarcus and may very very very well live to regret the trade. I would bet that they regret it right at the moment.
Can't wrap this up tidy - I rambled. I just happen to like Vlade and I can follow along in real time and defend all his moves including Philly trade. In my opinion - the Philly trade almost could have worked if there hadn't been the horrible Karl/DMC strive to ruin that season.