What Does This Team Need Most?

[The_Jamal]

Apparently the coaches who voted him an all star a wrong too huh

Correct. He was voted because HOU was the 2 seed and they didn't want to leave a 2 seed player off the roster. Domas was clearly better up to the all star break and still put a better season up, despite him essentially being hurt the rest of the year

 

[iowamcnabb]

With his contract, trading for Jrue Holiday is going to kill our salary cap for the next 3 years. At that point we're either somehow a playoff team or we're rebuilding. So he'd better be the final piece of the puzzle unless you're shedding huge chunks of salary elsewhere (ie unloading LaVine and/or Sabonis) as part of an overall roster churn.

I highly doubt Boston is trading Jrue Holiday for Malik Monk and also throwing in a pick unless it's a useless late second rounder. Boston already has too many guards and Al Horford is reaching retirement age soon so I expect their preference would be to target a frontcourt player.

I believe I already referenced your points 2 and 3 in my post. I agree with these points. If we can find a trade that Boston likes, I'd be happy to have Holiday on board as the tone setter and veteran voice in the locker room. Probably we'd be the ones sending out pick(s) though.

Naji Marshall is a shade under 6'7" and you've got him starting at PF next to Sabonis who is 6'10. I don't think that makes our size problem any better.

As to Holiday being an excellent fit next to LaVine... again this is just 180 degrees from how I see our current situation. I don't think we're trying to build a team around LaVine. Maybe Monte was but he just got fired. And even if we were, you don't bring in a guy who's got 4 or 5 years left in his NBA career and call that a backcourt. Holiday only makes sense as a stop-gap and culture builder while we look for a new PG.

And lastly, who is trading us a star player to get their hands on an overpaid perennial loser with an expiring contract? I guess Monte did that, but there were extenuating circumstances. If we throw in a massive haul of future picks and LaVine's negative value is just there to match salaries you might make a deal but then you're going all-in on a team with a 36 year old PG and a 30 year old undersized center (in 2026) as your foundation? This is how franchises stay bad for decades. We shouldn't fall into the same trap of selling out our future to chase after aging talent with name recognition that sinks multiple franchises every year. Just build a team of young players who fit together and play defense.

I’m not sure it’s fair to call Lavine a losing player. He has played for the Wolves, Bulls and Kings, three of the worst franchises when it comes to winning (outside of the Jordan era and post-Ant) a 23 points a game guy with 50/40/80+ shooting splits with elite athleticism is a very useful player even with the below average defense. Hes only a negative asset if he is on a long term 40 plus a year type of deal. If things work out over the next two years he’s prob going to get like a 3 for 100 type deal with someone. Maybe a bit more given guys like Booker will be getting 70.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I’m not sure it’s fair to call Lavine a losing player. He has played for the Wolves, Bulls and Kings, three of the worst franchises when it comes to winning (outside of the Jordan era and pre-Ant) a 23 points a game guy with 50/40/80+ shooting splits with elite athleticism is a very useful player even with the below average defense. Hes only a negative asset if he is on a long term 40 plus a year type of deal. If things work out over the next two years he’s prob going to get like a 3 for 100 type deal with someone. Maybe a bit more given guys like Booker will be getting 70.

Yeah, I'm pretty convinced his next contract is going to revert downwards - given his production overall the last two years (though injury is involved) maybe even $30M a year is a bit high. But he's got two years to establish what the next free agent version of Zach is, because I can't see him declining the player option he's got next summer. That kind of money won't be available for him if he turns it down.

 

[Kingster]

TALENT. It needs a superstar. Secondarily, it needs players whose games are synchronous.