Beal traded for bag of balls

[RJ87]

Phoenix should keep Ayton. Fill out their roster with cheap bench help. They need Ayton in the paint to do all that dirty work to balance out their offensive stars.

He doesn’t do the dirty work though lol find somebody much much cheaper to do that.

Exactly, lol. That's the problem with Ayton.

If PHO trade Ayton, I expect a lot of folks will see the hole he leaves in that team and that Ayton was doing much more work to help PHO than he got credit for.

One of the more underappreciated players in the league.

I think they wouldn't miss a beat if they swapped Ayton for Timelore and he's a third of the cost. Even a Clint Capela or Jonas Valenciunas can do what he does at half the cost.

[RJ87]

Does anyone here think Ayton is worth Brog + Al, or Brog + timelord?
I feel like we are loosing that trade.

I feel we need to keep Horford because Timelord and Ayton cannot play together. Not enough spacing.

The trade I would do is Brogdon + Gallo + filler. I do feel that is an upgrade for Boston. It would give us a three headed monster up front with Ayton, Horford and Timelord.

I agree, I am not sure it is worth giving up two players in terms of Brogdon and Timelord in order to get Ayton. It wouldn't even be a discussion if Timelord could be relied to stay healthy given how much of a bargain he is relative to how highly paid Ayton is ... but Timelord cannot be relied on to stay healthy. Still, Brogdon + Timelord. That is high price. I am not sold on that being worthwhile.

To be fair, Ayton isn't a lock to get you near a full season of play either.

[Who]

It seems to me WAS were far more interested in financial flexability than taking back contracts and receiving a small number of marginal 1st round picks.

I don't think anyone is giving up a huge haul of 1sts. They were maybe (I am guessing) only being offered 1 or 2. Not the 3-4 firsts and a couple of swaps that Gobert and Dejounte Murray got last summer.

And faced with the choice between 1/2 late firsts and stuck with contacts clogging their cap space or getting more cap flexibility with CP3's deal, they chose the cap flexability.

[gouki88]

It seems to me WAS were far more interested in financial flexability than taking back contracts and receiving a small number of marginal 1st round picks.

I don't think anyone is giving up a huge haul of 1sts. They were maybe (I am guessing) only being offered 1 or 2. Not the 3-4 firsts and a couple of swaps that Gobert and Dejounte Murray got last summer.

And faced with the choice between 1/2 late firsts and stuck with contacts clogging their cap space or getting more cap flexibility with CP3's deal, they chose the cap flexability.

I wonder if this has any consequences for Lillard’s value. Obviously he’s the better player, but could it make a Miami offer centred around Herro viable?

I sure hope not.

[Who]

Phoenix should keep Ayton. Fill out their roster with cheap bench help. They need Ayton in the paint to do all that dirty work to balance out their offensive stars.

He doesn’t do the dirty work though lol find somebody much much cheaper to do that.

Exactly, lol. That's the problem with Ayton.

If PHO trade Ayton, I expect a lot of folks will see the hole he leaves in that team and that Ayton was doing much more work to help PHO than he got credit for.

One of the more underappreciated players in the league.

I think they wouldn't miss a beat if they swapped Ayton for Timelore and he's a third of the cost. Even a Clint Capela or Jonas Valenciunas can do what he does at half the cost.

I don't think Jonas could.

I agree that they could replace Ayton with Capela without a drop-off. Timelord is hard to say because of how injury prone he is. When he is healthy, there is a good argument that Timelord is better than Ayton.

I say no to Jonas because I do not like his defense. Capela and Timelord (when healthy) can replace Ayton's defense if not improve on it. Jonas cannot. Too slow.


This is part of the problem with trading Ayton and bringing in a replacement center and some help elsewhere on their bench. Nobody with a good center on a lower contract is going to be interested in giving them up for a highly paid Ayton. That is part of why he would be so difficult to replace if they did trade him.

[Ed Monix]

Bradley Beal weighed recruiting pitches from Phoenix and Miami and decided to only waive his no-trade clause for Phoenix, per Joshua B Robbins

[RJ87]

It seems to me WAS were far more interested in financial flexability than taking back contracts and receiving a small number of marginal 1st round picks.

I don't think anyone is giving up a huge haul of 1sts. They were maybe (I am guessing) only being offered 1 or 2. Not the 3-4 firsts and a couple of swaps that Gobert and Dejounte Murray got last summer.

And faced with the choice between 1/2 late firsts and stuck with contacts clogging their cap space or getting more cap flexibility with CP3's deal, they chose the cap flexability.

I wonder if this has any consequences for Lillard’s value. Obviously he’s the better player, but could it make a Miami offer centred around Herro viable?

I sure hope not.

I don't think so. There are going to be more teams in the mix for Lillard because he doesn't have a NTC. For one, the Nets have a lot of 1st rounders to throw at Portland.

[Who]

Well maybe Indiana. They were interested in Ayton last summer and may deal Myles Turner for him. That would be good for PHO.

[Ed Monix]

The Clippers are interested in Chris Paul, per Chris Haynes

The Washington Wizards are likely to reroute Chris Paul in a trade and the Los Angeles Clippers are expected to pursue a reunion with the future Hall of Famer, league sources tell Bleacher Report.

[RJ87]

The Clippers are interested in Chris Paul, per Chris Haynes

They have the expirings to make a deal work.

[SparzWizard]

Oooof. A Big 3 of Booker/Beal/Durant is gonna be deadly.

Instantly #2 seed in the West. Wonder how Denver will stop them now in the WCF

They don't really scare me a bunch. They're a less talented version of KD/Kyrie/Harden (and that Nets team had a legit supporting cast). The only thing is that Beal and Booker are more stable, but will they just outscore teams and not play defense at all?

Yeah, I don't know that PHO is that much better with Beal than CP3.

Beal is the better individual player but he is also more duplicative and less complementary to Booker and Durant than CP3 is. Beal will be taking touches and shots away from Durant & Booker. He is a competitor as much as an aid.

Marginal improvement is my first impression.

TP. I just don't see it as that much of an upgrade. And then there's the injury concerns - Beal is constantly injured. Kevin Durant hasn't played more than 55 games since leaving Golden State. Even Booker hasn't played more than 70 games since 2017. And they currently have no depth to get those guys rest.

It just feels like one of those on-paper superteams that never really does anything.

At least they got rid a of 39-year old PG who always get injured in the playoffs, and a bench player who was just awful and replaced them for Bradley Beal. Not a bad trade

[gouki88]

It seems to me WAS were far more interested in financial flexability than taking back contracts and receiving a small number of marginal 1st round picks.

I don't think anyone is giving up a huge haul of 1sts. They were maybe (I am guessing) only being offered 1 or 2. Not the 3-4 firsts and a couple of swaps that Gobert and Dejounte Murray got last summer.

And faced with the choice between 1/2 late firsts and stuck with contacts clogging their cap space or getting more cap flexibility with CP3's deal, they chose the cap flexability.

I wonder if this has any consequences for Lillard’s value. Obviously he’s the better player, but could it make a Miami offer centred around Herro viable?

I sure hope not.

I don't think so. There are going to be more teams in the mix for Lillard because he doesn't have a NTC. For one, the Nets have a lot of 1st rounders to throw at Portland.

Yeah, that's a good point. His deal is also better relative to his output. I think Brooklyn makes a lot of sense with Simmons + whatever picks required. Simmons gets the chance to reinvent himself away from the bright lights.

[gouki88]

The Clippers are interested in Chris Paul, per Chris Haynes

The Washington Wizards are likely to reroute Chris Paul in a trade and the Los Angeles Clippers are expected to pursue a reunion with the future Hall of Famer, league sources tell Bleacher Report.

I like the romantic aspect of it, but what are the chances of Kawhi, PG13 & CP3 all being healthy for the playoffs? 5%?

[Ed Monix]

The Clippers are interested in Chris Paul, per Chris Haynes

They have the expirings to make a deal work.

Yep, another Clippers team that looks like a title contender…in theory.

Paul
Mann
Leonard
George
Zubac

[Ed Monix]

The Clippers are interested in Chris Paul, per Chris Haynes

The Washington Wizards are likely to reroute Chris Paul in a trade and the Los Angeles Clippers are expected to pursue a reunion with the future Hall of Famer, league sources tell Bleacher Report.

I like the romantic aspect of it, but what are the chances of Kawhi, PG13 & CP3 all being healthy for the playoffs? 5%?

Heck, I hope Ballmer brings back (nba champion) DeAndre Jordan & Blake Griffin too.

Get the whole band back together again for a D List ‘Last Dance’.