I see all you homies on this forum look at this trade in a vacuum and hence say "You can’t have it both ways, you can't expect to make a trade without having cap space". Clearly, that is the wrong perspective. You have to look at this move as a whole. Yes, under the new cba the team above the tax is extremely limited at making a transfer. That is why under the new cba rules only smart and inventive front offices (like Mavs and Pacers) prosper. Monte clearly isn't adept at playing at the margins.
I agree you cannot blame him for ditching Davion and Sasha for cap space. But you can blame him for bringing over Vezenkov, signing him to such a contract and not being able to foresee: 1. that given his playing style we didn't need him (his offense translates perfectly, but without a dominant weak side help rim protector to insulate him defensively (like Robert Williams III), he wouldn't get much time on the court and wouldn't get ahead of Lyles, who is a better or more nba ready player and hence his contract would become a negative value; 2. that in case Monk stayed, Sasha's contract would put you above the cap and limit your flexibility in trades, hence ridding it means sacrificing more assets that this team (compared not to OKC, but to a team like the Pelicans) does not have in abundance. Should anyone in front office foresee this? Abso****inlutely.
Comparison with the Denver situation is not entirely the same. Denver badly needed point guard depth behind often injured Murray and so took a risk with Jackson to secure depth in that position. We didn't have that urgency, at least not with the type of player Vezenkov is.
He already did this last year and it hurt. Because he signed Holmes to a long contract in a time when the team wasn't competitive. And again this year with Vezenkov. At this rate, it doesn't look we are becoming even a low tier playoff team. I really like how Indiana does business. When they were bad, they signed Miles Turner to a short contract and overpayed him. When they got competitive, they signed him to a long better value contract. I also really liked their business with Bruce Brown, signing him to a two year contract and overpaying him, with second year team option, and then using this contract in a transfer for salary matching purpose. That is smart.
It is a tough pill to swallow losing this year's 45 and next year's portland second rounder. If we kept this year's 45 and drafted Chomche, this draft would be a win for me. Carter is an OK pick at 13. Even if Crawford becomes a steal like Keon did, this doesn't really change the negative outcome of Monty's antics with the second rounders in this draft. The best way to raise ceiling of this team is to find steals in the draft, because teams don't really want to trade two way wing players. And we don't really have enough assets to compete for the elite wings.