If Smart is the sticking point

[tarheelsxxiii]

Smart was a big disappointment, imo.   I thought he'd have an offensive game. 

Randle is still an unknown.  I say they have about even trade value.  Both were more valuable a year ago.

You've hated Smart from day one, so let's look at this closely. Trying to find the logic here.

Size doesn't equate to wins. That's been proven.
Defense wins championships, team play with clutch scoring wins, along with superior coaching.
Cousins has been in the league 5 years and hasn't made a difference on his team at all.

1st year - 24 wins
2nd year - 22 wins
3rd year - 28 wins
4th year - 28 wins
5th year - 29 wins.

He's had 5 years to make his team competitive or be a difference maker, he hasn't done squat in the win column. Plus, I don't know if you can build around a guy with his type of bad attitude. IMO, he's not a team player. You can wiki him if you'd like.

With Smart - 1 year he's gone from 25 to 40 wins. BTW, he's a rookie who was out several games with a VERY serious ankle injury that plagued him all year.

You want an offensive scorer. You're not getting that in the playoffs.
All offensive numbers went down in the finals except LeBron, which was a beneficiary of the Warriors game plan to let him score.

What wins in the playoffs, is individual defense (Iggy) and team defense first. You have to be able to stop players like Lebron and or Curry.

I don't know why we're so quick to get rid of a guy who's not had a chance to prove anything. And thinking that getting a tall guy is going to make a difference when you, on the other hand, get rid of a guy who could work with him. The best center in the league or most gifted couldn't get past a small team. Yeah, Houston. What difference has Dwight Howard made with regards to Championships? None

Instead of finding ways to get rid of Smart, pair him with a guy like Cousins(skill wise, not necessarily him) You put yourself in the same boat when you get rid of difference making players.and swap them out for other difference making players.  And if you can truly say he's not a difference maker with the ability to significantly improve, then you're being negative purposely.

I don't necessarily disagree with your feelings on Smart, but your assessment on Cousins is wrong, your assessment of Howard ignores the fact that he was the best player on a championship team (something Smart will never be. Full stop.), and the idea that we can just find someone skill wise who replicates what Cousins is doing is completely wrong.

I get that you and walker don't want to trade smart. I'm with you, for the most part: I think of our roster we trade smart last. But you 110% trade him  for Cousins on every day that ends in Y and twice a day on the weekends.

We aren't getting Boogie, but if we did, it would only happen if we included Smart and everything else Boston has to offer.

[D.o.s.]

I don't think we get Cousins with our assets anyway -- Sacramento wants to make the playoffs as soon as possible, which means becoming a ~50 win team, and we don't have things that can do that in a vacuum.

I do think it's possible that we act as the tertiary trade partner, or bring in another unit, so that we can use our players and assets that way.

[crimson_stallion]

You want an offensive scorer. You're not getting that in the playoffs.
All offensive numbers went down in the finals except LeBron, which was a beneficiary of the Warriors game plan to let him score.

What wins in the playoffs, is individual defense (Iggy) and team defense first. You have to be able to stop players like Lebron and or Curry.

Umm dude, you might want to check this out:

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM

Cousins statistically had almost 5x more positive defensive impact this year than Marcus Smart did (Smart is on page #3, if you're looking) and considering how impressive Smart was that says a LOT. 

So no disrespect, but if your entire argument for not doing a Smart-for-Cousins trade centers around Smart's defensive impact...then doesn't this statistic kinda invalidate that entire argument?

Oh, plus didn't Anthony Davis' scoring go through the roof in the playoffs?