MM had an interesting idea of us being sellers instead of buyers at the deadline. The more I think about it, that may be the best course of action for our future. As well as tanking this season out, especially if AD requires surgery on his hand. Which could be a blessing in disguise.
First let's look at the reason Lebron left Cleveland both times. They were cap strapped with no picks. The team could not improve any time in the near future, they were what they were. Lebron claimed he couldn't recruit anyone to Cleveland but the truth is they never had space to pay anyone to come, outside of the Larry Hughes signing. So it was wise for Lebron to bolt.
We actually have a chance to have a different narrative, IF we act now. We're two games away from the 6th pick. We have a much better chance of getting that, than jumping the teams ahead of us and avoiding the 8th seed. And even if we made the playoffs, you would have to be delusional to believe this is a championship team as constructed.
A realistic view of this team is while Jrue is great for us, he is not a 2nd option. Payton is a decent starting PG. Niko and Randle are good, but it would hurt us long term to give either them a $16-18MM/yr contract. Moore is solid but is small and unathletic. Miller is a good shooter, but a terrible defender. Frank Jackson is a raw undersized SG, who lacks PG skills and feel, has a solid future but does nothing for us this season. Jah is decent, good for his salary. And nothing else is really to write home about. In short this team is built like both Cleveland teams that Lebron left, except we have the tough course of playing in the West.
So let's say we become sellers in order to get picks and wipe the slate clean to rebuild this summer. Show AD a promising future in an effort to keep him. Because honestly if you look at what other teams are willing to give up for AD, that's the guy you want to keep at all costs, that's not the guy you trade.
1. We trade Niko to Philly for Muscala+Patton+1st rd pick. Philly does this to bolster their roster for the playoffs.
2. We trade Randle to Brooklyn for Dudley+top 12 protected 1st. Brooklyn does this to bolster their roster for playoffs as well.
3. We trade Solo+Moore+Philly 1st for Lin+Anderson
We tank out the rest of the season and we get the 6th pick. With the new changes to the lottery, that gives us a 9.5% chance of getting the 1st pick, while the worse 3 teams all have a 14% chance.
We go into the summer with just Jrue, AD, Frank and Jah on the books. That leaves us with about $53M in potential cap space, a top 6 pick, another 1st rd pick right outside the lottery, and a high 2nd rd pick.
In a deep free agency we could go out and get our 2nd star. I actually would put us as favorites to bringing back Boogie Cousins. If we sign him at around $25M the first season, we would have about $20-22MM after signing our draft picks + the $4MM room exception to fill out the rest of the roster.
Fire Gentry, Bring in Rondo as your head coach. Get a full time VP of Operations. And that's a future you can market to AD.
P.S. I would do anything to ensure we draft Ja Morant in this draft. Even if we got the #1 pick, I would trade down to the 2nd pick just to draft Morant. He is the PG that this team has always needed.
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Originally Posted by 6warddude
