Shams: Durant Traded To The Houston Rockets

[Who]

So what is the Suns team now?

G: B Beal
G: Jalen Green, Grayson Allen
F: Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn
F: Dillon Brooks, Royce O'Neale
C: Nick Richards

It sounds like they are taking offers on Cody Martin and will trade him this off-season. So I put Ryan Dunn ahead of him at backup SF.

So they are starting 3 SGs on the perimeter plus have another talented (role player wise) shooting guard off the bench in Grayson Allen. They may try to keep Tyus Jones as a backup PG.

They have two SFs who they are playing at PF in D Brooks and R O'Neale. 6 foot 6 and 6 foot 5.

They have no quality at center. Nick Richards is a 3rd stringer. So no defensive presence / physical presence in the middle to control the paint and help provide a counter weight to the undersized PFs. Or the undersized SF in D Booker. They are going to get hammered defensively and on the boards.

That offense looks like the worst case of "your turn, my turn" imagineable. Jalen Green has no basketball IQ. Now you got 3 guys who all want to make the play off the dribble.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

So what is the Suns team now?

G: B Beal
G: Jalen Green, Grayson Allen
F: Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn
F: Dillon Brooks, Royce O'Neale
C: Nick Richards

It sounds like they are taking offers on Cody Martin and will trade him this off-season. So I put Ryan Dunn ahead of him at backup SF.

So they are starting 3 SGs on the perimeter plus have another talented (role player wise) shooting guard off the bench in Grayson Allen. They may try to keep Tyus Jones as a backup PG.

They have two SFs who they are playing at PF in D Brooks and R O'Neale. 6 foot 6 and 6 foot 5.

They have no quality at center. Nick Richards is a 3rd stringer. So no defensive presence / physical presence in the middle to control the paint and help provide a counter weight to the undersized PFs. Or the undersized SF in D Booker. They are going to get hammered defensively and on the boards.

That offense looks like the worst case of "your turn, my turn" imagineable. Jalen Green has no basketball IQ. Now you got 3 guys who all want to make the play off the dribble.

I agree on the "your turn, my turn" thing. Could be ugly.

There is absolutely no reason to give some time, but I think we should judge this team during pre-season. Feels like they have more trades to make.

Also, like I mentioned on the first page, this trade is not a legal trade. A third team has to get involved in order to take at least 12.1m in salary from the Suns without giving any back.

[Who]

And the Rockets would be

G: F VanVleet, A Holiday
G: Amen Thompson, R Sheppard
F: K Durant, Cam Whitmore
F: Jabari Smith Jr, Tari Eason
C: A Sengun, S Adams

Jabari Smith Jr is athletic enough to defend either forward slot so they can give Durant the easier cover each night. Amen Thompson looks the best option for the 5th starter role. They have no shooter there as an alternative.

The bench perimeter trio are questionable. Aaron Holiday is a below average backup PG. Reed Sheppard coming off a dismal season. Cam Whitmore an exciting talent but yet to show he can contribute to winning. All 3 spots are potential weak links.

All 3 spots also fail to provide any competition to Amen Thompson. Amen is very talented but he can't shoot. A lesser talented player who can shoot could beat him out at SG. Amen was competing more with Jabari Smith Jr at big forward. That way they could put another shooter / ball-handler out there next to him. Jabari does some of that but not as much as you would like.

So now you have a center who can't shoot past 15 feet in Sengun. A SG who can't shoot. A PF who is an average shooter. A PG who at best is an average shooter but is generally worse than that. Durant is the only plus shooter in their starting lineup.

The bench doesn't have much shooting either. Sheppard has yet to show he can make shots at an NBA level. Cam Whitmore is streaky. Tari Eason is a slasher not a shooter. S Adams can't shoot. A Holiday can shoot but isn't trusted by Udoka.

This is a messy team. Needs more moves.

[Goldstar88]

Booker is going to be 29 years old in October. They aren?t winning anything with what they have. Should trade Booker and go full rebuild. Jalen Green turned 23 earlier this year, so you have one piece already.

[Who]

If you make this trade before the season flips, it works cap wise

Brown for Sheppard, Thompson, Smith, Landale, Eason, Holiday, future 1st's

All in trade for Rockets. They will need depth but VanVleet, Brown, Durant, and Sengun is a really good top 4 (plus Adams and Whitmore).

Celtics get 3 young talented players and future 1st's to add flexibility and start a 1-year tank.

I would think Houston needs to keep one of Amen or Jabari Smith Jr to complete their starting lineup. Maybe you could convince them Tari Eason could be their starting forward and get both Amen & Jabari. Not sure. But I definitely do not think all 3 can be in the deal.  My guess is one of Amen or Jabari has to stay and Boston gets additional future 1sts as a result.

VanVleet
Jaylen Brown
Durant
Sengun

As a big four that doesn't impress me that much. Especially with limited depth behind it given you had to trade all your quality depth to get Jaylen Brown. I don't think that is a Championship team and it only has a small window with Durant & VanVleet.

Now you keep an Amen or Jabari Smith Jr to add to that Big Four and that team starts to get interesting.

[Phantom255x]

Miami basically weren't willing to give up ANY of Highsmith, Jovic, Ware, Jacquez and their 1st rounder this year according to some reports. Okay then, did they expect Rozier + picks to get it done? Lol...

[Who]

Miami basically weren't willing to give up Highsmith, Jovic, Ware, Jacquez and their 1st rounder this year according to some reports. Okay then, did they expect Rozier + picks to get it done? Lol...

I don't blame them for holding back Ware. They are hoping he can be their starting center for the next 10-12 years. A double double threat. A developing jump-shot. Interesting young player. Not a guy you want to give up on a short term rental of Durant for the next 3yrs.

I do not understand reluctance on any of the other players though.


Edit: If I was trading Ware, I would want to get a long term piece back. Not a short term rental. I am fine trading him for a long term piece. 

[Who]

The West is brutal.

(1) Utah is the only true bad team. Actually, Phoenix are pretty horrible now. Okay 2 bad teams.

(2) Next worst teams are New Orleans and Sacramento. Then Portland. Those are probably the other 3 out of 5 teams that miss the playoffs / play-in next year.

(3) The bottom of the West playoff picture is San Antonio and the LA Lakers. San Antonio with D Fox & Wemby with the #2 pick and last year's RoY and some quality role players. LAL with Luka, LeBron and A Reaves and some quality role players.

Edit: I forgot Memphis. I have them 10th behind San An and LAL. They look the furthest away of all the playoff teams. They should have enough to stay ahead of Portland who appear to be their strongest competition for the final play-in spot. Although with Morant's injury history maybe that isn't as locked on as I think it should be. I don't think they will handle his injuries as well in the future without D Bane there.

(4) Then there is a clutter of similar level teams. Denver, LA Clippers, Golden State, now Houston are added to this mix, Minnesota, Dallas. 6 teams. All near contender level but not quite there.

(5) OKC top of the pile with some separation.

Dallas may be the closest to them talent wise but they have some question marks with Kyrie's injury and developing chemistry together.

[liam]

This trade doesn't get the Rockets past OKC...

[hwangjini_1]

Terrible trade for Phoenix.

I don't know why they committed to trading Durant. They should have just kept him.

Jalen Green is not a high end talent. It is not clear he is even an above average talent. I think he is an average player with otherworldy athleticism. Plus, he plays the same position as your two best players Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. None of these 3 players are capable of playing a 2nd position. All 1 position players.

They could have at least agreed a 3 team deal that sent Jalen Green elsewhere and brought back someone who actually played a position of a need ... which is any position other than SG. A PG, a SF, a PF, a C. Anything other than a SG.

That #10 pick isn't that valuable. There is little difference between that and a pick in the #16-#20 range.

It is a crap deal. They destroyed their team for no good reason. Just to show they were doing something. Activity over achievement. No plan for how they are moving forward. No hope for the short to medium term. Awful.

yes, i too am glad they made this trade. 

[Ilikesports17]

So what is the Suns team now?

G: B Beal
G: Jalen Green, Grayson Allen
F: Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn
F: Dillon Brooks, Royce O'Neale
C: Nick Richards

It sounds like they are taking offers on Cody Martin and will trade him this off-season. So I put Ryan Dunn ahead of him at backup SF.

So they are starting 3 SGs on the perimeter plus have another talented (role player wise) shooting guard off the bench in Grayson Allen. They may try to keep Tyus Jones as a backup PG.

They have two SFs who they are playing at PF in D Brooks and R O'Neale. 6 foot 6 and 6 foot 5.

They have no quality at center. Nick Richards is a 3rd stringer. So no defensive presence / physical presence in the middle to control the paint and help provide a counter weight to the undersized PFs. Or the undersized SF in D Booker. They are going to get hammered defensively and on the boards.

That offense looks like the worst case of "your turn, my turn" imagineable. Jalen Green has no basketball IQ. Now you got 3 guys who all want to make the play off the dribble.

I agree on the "your turn, my turn" thing. Could be ugly.

There is absolutely no reason to give some time, but I think we should judge this team during pre-season. Feels like they have more trades to make.

Also, like I mentioned on the first page, this trade is not a legal trade. A third team has to get involved in order to take at least 12.1m in salary from the Suns without giving any back.

If Phoenix declines Micic's team option and then renounces a bunch of cap holds, it's legal.

They'll probably look for another trade before processing this but they don't strictly have to

[Moranis]

If you make this trade before the season flips, it works cap wise

Brown for Sheppard, Thompson, Smith, Landale, Eason, Holiday, future 1st's

All in trade for Rockets. They will need depth but VanVleet, Brown, Durant, and Sengun is a really good top 4 (plus Adams and Whitmore).

Celtics get 3 young talented players and future 1st's to add flexibility and start a 1-year tank.

I would think Houston needs to keep one of Amen or Jabari Smith Jr to complete their starting lineup. Maybe you could convince them Tari Eason could be their starting forward and get both Amen & Jabari. Not sure. But I definitely do not think all 3 can be in the deal.  My guess is one of Amen or Jabari has to stay and Boston gets additional future 1sts as a result.

VanVleet
Jaylen Brown
Durant
Sengun

As a big four that doesn't impress me that much. Especially with limited depth behind it given you had to trade all your quality depth to get Jaylen Brown. I don't think that is a Championship team and it only has a small window with Durant & VanVleet.

Now you keep an Amen or Jabari Smith Jr to add to that Big Four and that team starts to get interesting.

They dont have the salaries to make it work without all those guys included.