Stupid "You Be The GM" Thread (AD stays and we trade Zion)

This is a "not gonna happen but it will be weeks until we hear any fresh credible news so let's have fun" thread.

Let's say you are Griffin and you are meeting AD soon. You have heard from his people that he wants to stay if we make the right moves to compete this season but he doesn't want to wait for Zion to develop. Your task is to bring some ideas in front of him of players we could use our #1 pick to get. If he likes your plan, he signs the super max.

What do you have?

And if this is really what AD wants, yes, I tell him bye and draft Zion. That's the smart play. Again, this is just to pass time.

Honestly your best pitch is to say the worst GM in maybe NBA history is finally out the door. It’s gonna be hard to make up for the past ten years of Demp’s stupidity and incompetence in one meeting but you have to convince AD it’s a new organization.

It will be a very difficult situation if he stays. That’s all I can really say. We won’t have much cap room to make moves so we’d have to bet on all the savvy vets giving us discount deals (which I don’t expect to happen). If he leaves, you can build a core going forward and move pieces if need be. Build through the draft and bring in your last star/superstar once you have the core put together. Either through trade or FA

Thing is...if AD stays, far as I'm concerned, AD is second fiddle to Jrue and Zion. And long term, the team is Zion's until further notice.

The whole point of convincing AD to stay is it is the easiest of the current options. We know AD can play. He knows the players around him. AD and Jrue with a competent squad can get to the playoffs. With the X factor of Zion's impact both culturally, and just in team energy, we can maybe even get to where the Blazers are right now.

What if thread.....lol.....play along!!!!

Who are you trading for?

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

What if thread.....lol.....play along!!!!

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I suggest we liquidate the club right after we trade away the number one pick.

Zion for Trae and their 2nd 1st?

If AD says to me ''I'm willing to stay, but you've got to trade away Zion in order to get other players to keep me happy'', my response is ''Okay, would you rather be traded to Boston or NY?''

Cause for me, I've taken Griffin at his word. He said in his presser that you're either 100% in, or 100% out. For me, that's how it's got to be. AD staying has to be him realising that we have a real future on this team, and buying in. Any addenda he wishes to add, any ''yes, but...'' statement he has, gets him moved. I'm not trading a potentially transcendent player on a rookie deal for jack.

I can see why the forum deteriorates into massive arguments over semantics in most threads. You can't even play a simple hypothetical and unrealistic "what if" game without breaking down the boundaries and making your own rules.

Stop kirking all over my kobayashi maru.

Thank you, smonty.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

Stop kirking all over my kobayashi maru.

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I don't believe in the no-win scenario.

But fine. If someone had a gun to my head and said that I had to either trade Zion or get my brains blown out, here's what I'd do.

1) Call up the Bucks and offer Zion for Giannis. It would never happen, but I would have to at least try.

2) Wait until after the draft so that it becomes valid, then call up Memphis, offer them Zion for Jaren Jackson Jr, Ja Morant, and their 2020 FRP.

3) Call up Atlanta, offer Zion for John Collins, Taurean Prince, both of their top 10 picks this year, their 2021 first rounder.


If I thought about it longer, I could probably come up with some other options that I might even prefer to those (at least to #3) but even contemplating it for this long makes me feel a little unpleasant.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I don't believe in the no-win scenario.

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Haha. Well played.

This thread makes me feel sick

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Originally Posted by AusPel

This thread makes me feel sick

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I do find it kinda sad that it takes less than a week from getting the #1 pick for people to be like

... hmmm... what could we get if we ...

trade zion?

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

I do find it kinda sad that it takes less than a week from getting the #1 pick for people to be like

... hmmm... what could we get if we ...

trade zion?

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You can understsnd why though with the history with Baron, CP3, AD, David West

Sigh.

It's all hypothetical. Something that isn't going to happen but is more if a thought exercise. Like old school "what if" comics. The rigidity in thinking is concerning. Like. Personality disorder level. But like I said, explains a lot of the arguments this board has endured.

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Originally Posted by msusousaphone

Sigh.

It's all hypothetical. Something that isn't going to happen but is more if a thought exercise. Like old school "what if" comics. The rigidity in thinking is concerning. Like. Personality disorder level. But like I said, explains a lot of the arguments this board has endured.

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I don't think you can blame anyone for finding this thought tiring. This franchise has had very little other than trading first round picks for years and years. We finally get some luck that gives us a way to acquire an elite player through the draft again, and like I said, takes less than a week for ''hey, let's trade the pick'' thoughts to pop up. At this point, it's almost like a franchise reflex: give us an asset and we'll look for the quickest way to get rid of it.

Play along or move along. It's pretty simple.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

But fine. If someone had a gun to my head and said that I had to either trade Zion or get my brains blown out, here's what I'd do.

1) Call up the Bucks and offer Zion for Giannis. It would never happen, but I would have to at least try.

2) Wait until after the draft so that it becomes valid, then call up Memphis, offer them Zion for Jaren Jackson Jr, Ja Morant, and their 2020 FRP.

3) Call up Atlanta, offer Zion for John Collins, Taurean Prince, both of their top 10 picks this year, their 2021 first rounder.


If I thought about it longer, I could probably come up with some other options that I might even prefer to those (at least to #3) but even contemplating it for this long makes me feel a little unpleasant.

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I like 1 but also believe it’ll never happen

I like 2 but make them take solo and Moore. Morant, JJJ, and enough money for a stud if Randle opts out.

My 3rd would offer Boston most of the same deal as AD. Tatum, Brown, Memphis pick and at least one more pick.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

But fine. If someone had a gun to my head and said that I had to either trade Zion or get my brains blown out, here's what I'd do.

1) Call up the Bucks and offer Zion for Giannis. It would never happen, but I would have to at least try.

2) Wait until after the draft so that it becomes valid, then call up Memphis, offer them Zion for Jaren Jackson Jr, Ja Morant, and their 2020 FRP.

3) Call up Atlanta, offer Zion for John Collins, Taurean Prince, both of their top 10 picks this year, their 2021 first rounder.


If I thought about it longer, I could probably come up with some other options that I might even prefer to those (at least to #3) but even contemplating it for this long makes me feel a little unpleasant.

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Giannis would be the only player in the league I would trade the rights to Zion if I had too. Unless I’m getting Steph Curry and Kevin Durant from the Warriors lol.

And just think we could of drafted Giannis instead of trading for Jrue back in that draft. Dell was supposedly high on him, but quite a few teams passed on him. I could only imagine if we had AD and Giannis the last couple of seasons. We may have a ring or 2. At least we didn’t draft Nerlens Noel or the many other bums over him.

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Originally Posted by DaPelFromHell

Giannis would be the only player in the league I would trade the rights to Zion if I had too. Unless I’m getting Steph Curry and Kevin Durant from the Warriors lol.

And just think we could of drafted Giannis instead of trading for Jrue back in that draft. Dell was supposedly high on him, but quite a few teams passed on him. I could only imagine if we had AD and Giannis the last couple of seasons. We may have a ring or 2. At least we didn’t draft Nerlens Noel or the many other bums over him.

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If it helps, I don't think Giannis would have reached these heights on our roster. He was lucky that he was drafted to a god awful Bucks team that was happy to just feed him minutes and let him develop with zero pressure. On this team, he would have been playing second-fiddle to Anthony Davis just by nature of their draft years and stages in development (AD was a star three years ago, this is really Giannis' breakout season to the top 5 player spot) and I don't think his ball handling and creation skills would have improved to the point they are now in that situation.

Gun to my head being forced to trade Zion, I would rather get shot in the head.

Not even for Giannis because he's not locked up long term and can walk.

Haha I'm actually here for the hypo as long as we're acknowledging that it's never gonna happen. Fun thought experiment when we're all just hanging around waiting for relevant news that probably won't come for another month or so.

If we're playing this game, the first thing I do is make the requisite calls about all the young stars in the league. Giannis, Luka, Jokic, KAT, Dipo (we're just going to assume he's fully healthy for this), possibly Simmons, and MAYBE Donovan Mitchell.

After that I go after the second tier young guys who look like they're on the way to stardom and make the teams attach another player and a future pick or two. So I'd call up Sac and ask for Fox, Bagley and a first. From Phoenix I'd want Booker, Bridges, and two unprotected firsts. Memphis for JJJ, the number 2 pick, Dillon Brooks, and a future first. The Hawks would be Trae, Prince, both their lottery picks this year, and next years first. Clips for SGA (who I'm insanely high on), Shamet, the picks they got from Philly for Harris, and one of their vets to ship out to a third team.

Obviously some of these are a ridiculous asking price, but Zion is a ridiculous prospect. I think all of those teams would at least call a meeting and discuss the trades. But thank God this is all hypothetical because we get to keep Zion and watch him grow for the next decade. Cannot wait.

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Originally Posted by Nola3

Haha I'm actually here for the hypo as long as we're acknowledging that it's never gonna happen. Fun thought experiment when we're all just hanging around waiting for relevant news that probably won't come for another month or so.

If we're playing this game, the first thing I do is make the requisite calls about all the young stars in the league. Giannis, Luka, Jokic, KAT, Dipo (we're just going to assume he's fully healthy for this), possibly Simmons, and MAYBE Donovan Mitchell.

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KAT and Simmons shouldn't be anyway near that list. Giannis, Luka, and Jokic are on another level to them.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

KAT and Simmons shouldn't be anyway near that list. Giannis, Luka, and Jokic are on another level to them.

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Don't sleep on KAT. Dude is a stud who keeps developing every season. Wolves just cannot manage to put a functional team around him. I'm still a Simmons believer, but he really needs the whole team to be built around him in order to maximize his really unique talent.

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Originally Posted by Nola3

Don't sleep on KAT. Dude is a stud who keeps developing every season. Wolves just cannot manage to put a functional team around him. I'm still a Simmons believer, but he really needs the whole team to be built around him in order to maximize his really unique talent.

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KAT is fools gold, to me. He puts up pretty good numbers (though certainly not elite ones, when you consider that he's generally listed alongside AD and Embiid) but he really fails to have that in-game impact that other stars put up, and he's beyond terrible at defense. If it weren't for the fact that the Wolves tend to hover around mediocre rather than just god-awful, I'd be tempted to call him one of the bottom feeders who puts up big empty stats on terrible teams.