Mock Trade Deadline

[tazzmaniac]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

Yes it is a crappy, difficult situation for NOP.  I don't see how any of the players acquired make a difference.  I see adding Clarkson as a negative.  However even if you see it as a slight positive for NOP, it is a major positive for Lakers.  They acquired a star player while dumping a player that they wanted to get rid of and it only cost them a solid bench player and a late 1st rookie.  The Lakers gained a lot of optionality. 

[saltlover]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

In a sense that’s true (although he’s actually playing very well this year).  At worst he should probably be getting paid the mid-level, instead of $2-3 million more than that.  But for the Pelicans, they’re around $1 million below the hard cap prior to this trade — they’re not getting anyone of Jordan Clarkson’s ability for the minimum.  And they couldn’t afford the full mid-level next summer, so they weren’t getting anyone of that ability then either.  So yes, maybe Clarkson is a little overpaid (although I question that), but for the Pelicans, he makes their team better for the cost of someone who is out the rest of this year and had a very uncertain future beyond.

We’re not building teams from scratch, but rather operating within the very real constraints that already exist, and between the hard cap and the amount of injuries (4 year-ending injuries taking up $36.7 million in salary), the Pelicans are very, very constrained.  With this trade, they’re a better team this year, very likely team next year, and have more flexibility.  They have lost some of their ceiling, but that ceiling required Boogie to resign and to have a better comeback than most players who’ve suffered this injury.

[gouki88]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

Basically he's and inneffecient Chucker who plays no defense and gets a lot of his stats because he plays on a bad team that needs offense. His advanced numbers are terrible. How terrible? 538's CACRMELO projection system has his 5 years value as NEGATIVE 3.3 million. He has 2 years 26 million left after this season.

His EFG% is .504 this season and .492 for his career - that doesn't seem too bad. But to each their own.

I wouldn't put too much value in the CARMELO thing though. It says Smart will be a future All-Star, Kyrie is a borderline All-Star, Horford is merely a 'good starter', and DeMar Derozan is an 'average starter'.

It also says that Lonzo's projected 5 year value is only $2m less than Kyrie. Hard to value such a thing

[saltlover]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

Basically he's and inneffecient Chucker who plays no defense and gets a lot of his stats because he plays on a bad team that needs offense. His advanced numbers are terrible. How terrible? 538's CACRMELO projection system has his 5 years value as NEGATIVE 3.3 million. He has 2 years 26 million left after this season.

I’m quite sure his CARMELO projection will be positive next year.  17.6 PER, 2.1 Win Shares, and 0.4. VORP through half the season all point to a positive player.  His TS% has risen to a career high, while his assist percentage has nearly doubled as his turnovers have decreased (in other words, he’s not chucking this year).  He’s 25, so he’s more likely than not to have a couple more seasons like this one in him.  He’s not a franchise player, but his contract is perfectly reasonable for a bench sparkplug.

Contracts also have a funny value curve.  Take Courtney Lee — a season and a half into his deal, the Celtics has to pay a pick to get rid of him.  2 years later, Memphis got two more second round picks because another team wanted him.  When Boston traded him, Lee, who was known as a 3&D player, was shooting a career best 44% from 3, so it’s not like he was stinking the place up.  I would not be remotely surprised if New Orleans in our fake situation, or some other team in the real world, were able to get positive value for Clarkson as an expiring deal in two seasons.

[tazzmaniac]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

In a sense that’s true (although he’s actually playing very well this year).  At worst he should probably be getting paid the mid-level, instead of $2-3 million more than that.  But for the Pelicans, they’re around $1 million below the hard cap prior to this trade — they’re not getting anyone of Jordan Clarkson’s ability for the minimum.  And they couldn’t afford the full mid-level next summer, so they weren’t getting anyone of that ability then either.  So yes, maybe Clarkson is a little overpaid (although I question that), but for the Pelicans, he makes their team better for the cost of someone who is out the rest of this year and had a very uncertain future beyond.

We’re not building teams from scratch, but rather operating within the very real constraints that already exist, and between the hard cap and the amount of injuries (4 year-ending injuries taking up $36.7 million in salary), the Pelicans are very, very constrained.  With this trade, they’re a better team this year, very likely team next year, and have more flexibility.  They have lost some of their ceiling, but that ceiling required Boogie to resign and to have a better comeback than most players who’ve suffered this injury.

Don't see how adding nearly 15M in salary next season gives them more flexibility.  I think the better play is to keep Boogie to see how his recovery looks in 5 months.  Considering his baggage, this major injury and overall lack of cap space, I think it is unlikely Cousins will get a 4 year max contract without significant injury protection.  They should be able to move Ajinca and possibly Asik this offseason without giving up too much. 

Edit:  They also will have the option to stretch Asik over 5 years at approximately 3M per year. 

[saltlover]

Anyway, enough about Clarkson.  I think you guys really are underselling Nance.  It’s not an accident he has the best Offensive AND Defensive ratings on the Lakers (and PER, VORP, Win Shares, BPM, and RPM.)  Ainge offered Bradley for him this summer and was rejected.  The trade wasn’t about Clarkson.  He was salary filler who I think is useful, and Hart was partly the makeup for Clarkson’s value relative to salary.  Nance was the player who made this deal happen.  A role player yes, but he’s quickly becoming an elite one.

[saltlover]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

In a sense that’s true (although he’s actually playing very well this year).  At worst he should probably be getting paid the mid-level, instead of $2-3 million more than that.  But for the Pelicans, they’re around $1 million below the hard cap prior to this trade — they’re not getting anyone of Jordan Clarkson’s ability for the minimum.  And they couldn’t afford the full mid-level next summer, so they weren’t getting anyone of that ability then either.  So yes, maybe Clarkson is a little overpaid (although I question that), but for the Pelicans, he makes their team better for the cost of someone who is out the rest of this year and had a very uncertain future beyond.

We’re not building teams from scratch, but rather operating within the very real constraints that already exist, and between the hard cap and the amount of injuries (4 year-ending injuries taking up $36.7 million in salary), the Pelicans are very, very constrained.  With this trade, they’re a better team this year, very likely team next year, and have more flexibility.  They have lost some of their ceiling, but that ceiling required Boogie to resign and to have a better comeback than most players who’ve suffered this injury.

Don't see how adding nearly 15M in salary next season gives them more flexibility.  I think the better play is to keep Boogie to see how his recovery looks in 5 months.  Considering his baggage, this major injury and overall lack of cap space, I think it is unlikely Cousins will get a 4 year max contract without significant injury protection.  They should be able to move Ajinca and possibly Asik this offseason without giving up too much. 

Edit:  They also will have the option to stretch Asik over 5 years at approximately 3M per year.

One of the nice things is that we can see how this plays out in 5 months.  Cap space is limited, but All-Stars on the market are also limited.  I think Boogie gets the max from New Orleans for 4-5 years.  And I’ll say right now that this would be a mistake for them.

[tazzmaniac]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

In a sense that’s true (although he’s actually playing very well this year).  At worst he should probably be getting paid the mid-level, instead of $2-3 million more than that.  But for the Pelicans, they’re around $1 million below the hard cap prior to this trade — they’re not getting anyone of Jordan Clarkson’s ability for the minimum.  And they couldn’t afford the full mid-level next summer, so they weren’t getting anyone of that ability then either.  So yes, maybe Clarkson is a little overpaid (although I question that), but for the Pelicans, he makes their team better for the cost of someone who is out the rest of this year and had a very uncertain future beyond.

We’re not building teams from scratch, but rather operating within the very real constraints that already exist, and between the hard cap and the amount of injuries (4 year-ending injuries taking up $36.7 million in salary), the Pelicans are very, very constrained.  With this trade, they’re a better team this year, very likely team next year, and have more flexibility.  They have lost some of their ceiling, but that ceiling required Boogie to resign and to have a better comeback than most players who’ve suffered this injury.

Don't see how adding nearly 15M in salary next season gives them more flexibility.  I think the better play is to keep Boogie to see how his recovery looks in 5 months.  Considering his baggage, this major injury and overall lack of cap space, I think it is unlikely Cousins will get a 4 year max contract without significant injury protection.  They should be able to move Ajinca and possibly Asik this offseason without giving up too much. 

Edit:  They also will have the option to stretch Asik over 5 years at approximately 3M per year.

One of the nice things is that we can see how this plays out in 5 months.  Cap space is limited, but All-Stars on the market are also limited.  I think Boogie gets the max from New Orleans for 4-5 years.  And I’ll say right now that this would be a mistake for them.

I'll say he gets a 4 year max deal with NOP with the 4th year being a team option.  Whether its a mistake depends on how well he comes back from the injury. 

[Csfan1984]

Shams: Blazers have received multiple inquiries on their starting guards. McCollum getting a majority of them. Blazers rather be buyers than seller's this deadline with the Crabb trade exception ($12.9 million) still available and their own 1st.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Anyway, enough about Clarkson.  I think you guys really are underselling Nance.  It’s not an accident he has the best Offensive AND Defensive ratings on the Lakers (and PER, VORP, Win Shares, BPM, and RPM.)  Ainge offered Bradley for him this summer and was rejected.  The trade wasn’t about Clarkson.  He was salary filler who I think is useful, and Hart was partly the makeup for Clarkson’s value relative to salary.  Nance was the player who made this deal happen.  A role player yes, but he’s quickly becoming an elite one.

Nance is great, but doesn't this make Davis unhappy? He has gone on record as not wanting to play center. Nance can play next to Davis, but can he take other team's centers without mismatches?

[shake603]

WOJ : Sources tell ESPN that the Atlanta Hawks are willing to take on long term salary for young prospects or draft picks. Have some unique expiring deals that could be useful to contenders as well in Belinelli, Dedmom, and Ilyasova.

[Phantom255x]

Ian Begley: "After making the trade for Julius Randle last night, the Knicks are now focusing their attention on consolidating future assets, and have already received a ton of interest on O'Quinn, especially from contenders who feel they could use depth in the front court for relatively cheap salary. The asking price is expected to be headlined with a late first round pick OR a young, cheap and cost-controlled player. Preferably a wing player."

[tazzmaniac]

STEIN:  The Kings are in discussions with several teams regarding George Hill.  Hill has 2 years 37M left on his contract but only 1M of the last year is guaranteed.  Hill currently stands 2nd in 3pt shooting percentage this season. 

[action781]

Sources:  Philly "very close" on a completing a blockbuster trade

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalN8A) January 28, 2018

[keevsnick]

Agree with all of what salt says.  He was dealt a crappy situation simply without much available to improve it and I think he made a slight improvement.

NOP just got 3 bench players and 6.5M in salary relief and trade exception.  AD would not be pleased with this trade.

NOP just turned 1 injured player into 3 healthy players though.  If AD's not pleased, its with the injury, not the trade.  This trade wouldn't have been made if Cousins was healthy.

As an outside observer I'm fairly confident that AD would be p---ed with this trade. You can say all you want about how you are getting healthy players back but you aren't really moving the needle much at all at this season and you are completely removing any chance of having Demarcus back next season. Jordan Clarkson is arguably a negative asset.

Quite curious to see how Clarkson is "arguably a negative asset" when he's one of the best bench scorers in the league and is on a pretty decent contract, considering some of the recent ones guys of his ilk have been getting. I don't know what's wrong with him

New Orleans' biggest problem is its depth really, and now they have addressed that in good fashion. I think that the NOP team could make playoffs assuming Davis stays healthy.

He's negative because to move him the Lakers would need to include soething in a trade for someone to take on his contract.

Basically he's and inneffecient Chucker who plays no defense and gets a lot of his stats because he plays on a bad team that needs offense. His advanced numbers are terrible. How terrible? 538's CACRMELO projection system has his 5 years value as NEGATIVE 3.3 million. He has 2 years 26 million left after this season.

I’m quite sure his CARMELO projection will be positive next year.  17.6 PER, 2.1 Win Shares, and 0.4. VORP through half the season all point to a positive player.  His TS% has risen to a career high, while his assist percentage has nearly doubled as his turnovers have decreased (in other words, he’s not chucking this year).  He’s 25, so he’s more likely than not to have a couple more seasons like this one in him.  He’s not a franchise player, but his contract is perfectly reasonable for a bench sparkplug.

Contracts also have a funny value curve.  Take Courtney Lee — a season and a half into his deal, the Celtics has to pay a pick to get rid of him.  2 years later, Memphis got two more second round picks because another team wanted him.  When Boston traded him, Lee, who was known as a 3&D player, was shooting a career best 44% from 3, so it’s not like he was stinking the place up.  I would not be remotely surprised if New Orleans in our fake situation, or some other team in the real world, were able to get positive value for Clarkson as an expiring deal in two seasons.

You may be right, his overall value may be positive next season but it still wont match his contract. That makes him a net negative asset by definition. On like 5-6 million a year he's fine, at 12 not so much. As for his improved numbers, they really aren't all that improved. His TS has risen from 52.6 to 53.4 which isn't really isn't statistically significant and even it was is still just league average. His efficiency is buoyed by improved free throw rate which goes up with usage (27%), but that wont be near where he's at on an actual competitive team since again hes not good enough to justify it. He still isn't a 3pnt shooter. His defense is still terrible, a -2.3 DBPM. A net neutral efficiency player who is bad defensively is not a strong asset.