God I would kill to trade Lonzo for Smart.Originally Posted by PELICANSFAN
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God I would kill to trade Lonzo for Smart.
Basketball.
I was thinking about 20 million a year, but I didn't take into account the things you brought up, so yea, I guess 25 million. Just to be sure, he is a restricted free agent after this year right? So we can still sit back and make another team make that much of a monetary commitment to him, and then match it?
Imagine paying 25 mil for Lonzo Ball, simultaneously lighting on fire all of the cap flexibility that you have created in the past 2 seasons and making it near impossible to trade for another star
You don't have to sign him to any crazy deal. You give him a modest deal. Let him float the market. See if it's worth matching. If he can't find better suitor... He'll probably takes the QO and demand a trade before the season start
I feel there is little to no chance he wants to stay in NOLA at anything less than overpaid.
He's a RFA not a UFA
Last edited by Taker597; 02-08-2021 at 11:34 AM.
Let’s make an assumption that Lonzo’s last week and a half play continues over the course of this year. Would you rather resign him, or make a trade for Beal. Positive: Beal gives you another scorer that can create his own shot. So presumably at all times we can have at least two efficient scorers out on the court, so hopefully we can avoid some of the scoring lulls we get into. Negative, his defense is still pretty doo doo so we go back to having to outscore all of our opponents since we ain’t going to be stopping anyone on defense. Is Beal a complete no brainer?
I think you are taking a huge gamble by keeping him long enough to find out if it continues for the entire year. At that point you're either at cough up or lose him for nothing stages. That's too late. That's why you either have to decide whether he's worth paying now or not, because if you don't make the choice soon then Father Time will make it for you.
For all we know Beal isn’t even available.
Also we could still trade for another star even giving Lonzo the money. Adams’ and Bledsoe’s salaries alone should be enough.
Someone's gonna pay him at least $18m a year, imo. Very little doubt in my mind.
And yeah, he's an RFA but that still leaves the possibility of us losing him for nothing in the event someone offers him more than we're willing to match.
That would be the point where I join the ''Griff is a complete idiot'' party.
Not gonna happen. However, if you are frustrated with Lonzo's shot selection, how would you feel about Smart? Smart's main asset is that he appears to be a great glue guy with high energy. He also is an excellent defender. His offense may be more frustrating than Ball. His deal, signed 2 years ago, was seen as a steal for the Celtics, so that is why I am saying I would go a little bit higher.
If we give Lonzo 25 mil, that puts us right at the cap next year, without our draft picks or FAs.
Sure they have Adams and Bledsoe's money to aggregate into trades, but now in every trade situation you're working with your back against the cap. It makes it almost impossible to trade unless either the player you are trading for is making exactly 35 million (Bledsoe and Adams combined salary), or the team you are trading with has a ton of room to just take those guys into space.
If Griff does have any plans to sign Lonzo long term (I do not think he does), he'll do so only if he has sufficient flexibility to trade for a big fish. This is how he has operated since he arrived. That means he probably won't give Lonzo an offer over 17 mil per year or something along those lines.
how many draft picks would have to be attached for this to work?? (the salaries match)
Pels receive: Lauri Markanen + Denzel Valentine
Bulls receive: Lonzo Ball
Oh, I know it's not going to happen. Just saying I'd like it if it did.
I watch a lot of the Celtics, I love Smart. Ridiculous grit, incredible defender (one of the two or three best guard defenders in the NBA, up there with Jrue), underrated passer. Yeah, he sucks at scoring, but so does Lonzo: they're both inconsistent 3pt shooters, they both barely get to the rim, and they're both very mediocre career midrangers, but at least Smart can shoot FTs (career 77%, over 80% the last two seasons) and has a legitimate hardnosed mentality.
Valentine is an expiring and I don't think he breaks our rotation, so it's basically Markanen for Ball. In a vacuum it's a pretty fair swap, so picks would really depend on the outside market for both players. Seems like Lonzo has far more suitors at the moment, and Mark is hurt.
Pretty sure that's where sign and trades comes into play.
Granted... Out side of some protect 1st. We probably aren't getting a worthwhile return regardless.
Smart does not shoot many FTs either (although Lonzo avoids them). Lonzo is a much better 3 point shooter than Smart and it is not close. We cannot get Smart, but I would like to be able to sign Lonzo at a contract similar or slightly higher than Smart. I do not think he will settle for that though, so we need to look to maximize our value in a trade.
Everybody is so preoccupied on Ball and JJ; where do we stand with Hart? I believe he will be in demand.
You say Lonzo is a *much* better 3pt shooter than Smart and that it is ''not close'' but in reality there's only about 1% difference in their efficiency from deep over the last 3 years, and even if you draw it in even closer to only the last 2 years that gap only grows to about 3%. It's not like Smart is Draymond and Lonzo is Curry, here.
So my point remains: neither are particularly great 3pt shooters, largely due to inconsistency. Smart is the better FT shooter by a pretty significant mile, although neither of them take that many. Lonzo finishes at the rim at better rate, but again, neither of them actually get there very often. Neither of them have ever hit league average TS%. To that regard, I feel like it's not unfair to say they're both pretty poor scorers.
Lonzo is going to be an all star. We have to keep him and pay him. I want the next 10 games to prove he isn?t teasing us.... we need him to help us win. I think he?s getting a big contract and he will deserve it if we get to the playoffs and he plays at another level. I?m kinda shocked by his 3 point shooting. He volume and high percentage.
This is the stat I want from Zo:
18ppg, 8rpg, 7.5apg, 1.8spg, 1bpg
Focus on defense, off the ball 3 point shooting in half court, take care of ball and make those beautiful assists.
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Would doubt he gets to those numbers. His assists are down as BI and Zion are handling/playmaking more. Would like to see him in the 16/6/6 range. He will not be an all-star.
Yeah, no chance he becomes an all star... jrue holiday was a 1 time all star and that happened in the weaker eastern conference. The west is also guard heavy so it makes it even tougher to be one.
i think majority of us think lonzo can be a 3&d guard that can guard the 1-3 with good defense and that alone may get lonzo 20mil with the expectation of lonzo getting better at the extra stuff that he is not great/good at now......
he is getting 20mil from some team which may be overpaying in some people eyes but the teams may be also banking on lonzo over all game getting better and that may be a risk those teams are willing to take....question is are we in that same boat....
its all about the consistency with lonzo now...
When the conversation warrants it, so do I. Stats aren't difficult to find these days. But with this point you're making, it's not worth saturating an argument with numbers. It makes no sense. The games when Lonzo is the leading shot taker have nothing to do with him being forced into it. At all.
And please stop with this "petty agenda" stuff. Do the Pelicans also have a "petty agenda" by going out and signing Bledsoe, drafting Kira, and trying to change Lonzo into a 3&D off ball wing? Or did they see what we see?
I mean, I think we have to look at how the game is playing out. Is Ball shooting threes because the defense is leaving him wide open? In that case Lonzo probably shouldn't be passing those shots up, unless he's in one of his horrendous cold spells. Now if he's jacking up shots, because he's turned into Lonzo, "Superstar" then yes, that needs to be reigned in.
I think it is fair to say that he rarely forces 3s unless late in the shot clock. Sometimes he does go cold though.
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