2021 nba offseason draft free agency etc

what have they needed

btw im stoked for marcus smart full time point guard hes a good facilitator and hes got such good size and physicality defending other point guards, where hes a lil on the small side playing the two

in spite of all the rumors and speculation flying around concerning dame, my money is on his being a blazer next season. if the blazers don't improve to another trip to the WCF and do respectably there, then I think dame will be seriously mulling his next move. he'll calculate it down to the last degree, but if there's no way to jump to a stronger contender with his current contract, he'll sit tight. the moment his player option year comes up, he's gone, no matter if it means taking the vet minimum to get his shot in the Finals.

That’s generally what happens, a trade should obviously occur and we have to have a year of purgatory. I don’t like this!

PG for Dame

no one wins

#tbt did we ever talk about the video the mavs made for dwight howard in 2013?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptT9Le6N9xI

GTA: Dallas thankfully never got off the ground

This Luka guy. Pretty good

would fire a degenerate gambler that needs to hire someone else's math ability to keep that guy happy

the trade everyone was waiting for

BREAKING: Memphis is finalizing a trade to send Jonas Valanciunas and 2021 Nos. 17 and 51 picks to New Orleans for Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, 2021 picks Nos. 10 and 40 and a protected 2022 first-round pick via the Lakers, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 26, 2021

like this for nola. that lakers pick is probably bottom 5 next year, and theres not much of a talent drop off from 10 to 17 this year. they dump two large salaries, get back a better fit at C, and still have a quality 1RP.

altho theyre apparently pursuing lowry so lol idk

yeah i’m not sure i get this from memphis’ perspective. taking on adams and bledsoe and losing jonas to move up 7 spots and get a lakers first seems like a lot. the best version of their team prob has JJJ at 5 and bledsoe isn’t bad depth but he’s also not on the floor for you at the end of important games. they must really like a few guys who they think will be there at 10, or they’re angling to do something with the higher pick and extra first. that last scenario would seem most sensible to me tho not sure who is out there exactly. grizz don’t feel like a team that needs another super young player

This trade has been swirling for a few days in different iterations as we reported yesterday. Many around the NBA believe Memphis will look to target Josh Giddey at No. 10, if he's available. That's one of the reasons we put him in that slot yesterday: https://t.co/VEdy8p5uV6 https://t.co/iVuJhUwwEb

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) July 26, 2021

it’s good for the pelicans to get off adams but they don’t really seem like they have much of a plan. having to dump picks to move a guy you extended less than a year ago not really a ringing endorsement for your front office

yeah theyre in panic mode to keep zion happy. it might work, though!

it’s really bizarre to watch them repeat all the mistakes they made with anthony davis so soon after having to trade anthony davis. the omer asik era was not that long ago!

i understand they feel pressure from zion but i also don’t think you can win a playoff series with him until he figures out how to play defense as a big man & that doesn’t seem on the horizon so i feel like the entire concept of putting a “contending” team around him is pretty foolish

Adams was just a terrible terrible fit next to Zion. Val can pop out to 15 feet and that’s gonna help a lot.

Val is nice (I think he should play 35 mpg a game after all) but the Grizzlies’ best players are super young and getting more draft capital here is worth it. Honestly I think this is a nice trade for both teams.

if they dont get giddey they can grab moody on the wing. theyll get someone who can play right away.

Would be surprised if giddey doesn’t last to 10 but I also am very low on him

shooting? or D? both?

i think his court vision alone makes him worth watching

He’s a cool player but this draft is fucking stacked and you don’t need to take a glue guy at 10. I just don’t see him ever being an all star. I would be happy to be wrong tho.

But yeah what makes him good is basically that he’s a giant point guard but I don’t see scoring there and it’s not like he ever takes over games from what I’ve seen

i think theres some scoring potential once he fixes his jumper. hes not fast, but luka is showing that creatvity and size are Good things. he feels lamelo ish in terms of creativity. hes also p young, he was 18 playing in a grownups league.

whats yr big board looking like this year?

if they dont get giddey they can grab moody on the wing. theyll get someone who can play right away.

also if they’re targeting a guy who needs the ball in his hands a lot to be effective when they already have ja and dillon brooks godspeed to them

i didnt say start right away!

no 10 picks dating back to 2010… 3/11 good players. vast majority of these guys were actively harmful when playing right away

jalen smith
cam reddish
mikal bridges
zach collins
thon maker
justise winslow
elfrid payton
cj mccollum
austin rivers
jimmer fridette
paul george

anecdotally speaking i feel like outside of the top 5 but inside the lottery is a real minefield. feels like you have as good a chance of getting a good to great player at 17 as you at 10 these days. maybe you get the donovan mitchell or the bam but i’m suspicious of a team who is very confident they’re getting that player and not zach collins or, like, romeo langford

i want to be clear that im setting the bar at "someone who can crack the rotation this year" which i think is reasonable for a deep draft imo!

basically any top 10 pick will crack the rotation if they can walk (except for last year’s no 10 pick, lol) but the large majority of them especially outside the top 3 or 5 are not gonna be good right away. maybe the grizz get a great longterm piece and this is all gravy but i’d prob rather have just stayed at 17 and tried to get this year’s version of saadiq bey than take on a bunch of stuff bcuz i think i know who is gonna be a star at no. 10 (an 18 year old australian)

lol fair enough!

i guess i can’t figure out what they think their timeline is… i could get with the idea that they should step back a bit and keep building given the hierarchy in the west right now but i bet that’s not what they’re thinking

giddey in particular feels like a bizarre fit for them i don’t get that at all, they need athletic shooters not a crafty ball dominant point forward. if you could guarantee me that they get the equivalent of mikal bridges with this pick i’d be on board with what they’re doing here

moses moody fits that bill

i guess the argument from memphis’ side would be that the gap between jonas and adams isn’t enormous, they have no cap issues given how young their team is, so why not eat adams and bledsoe’s contracts for 2 years in order to move up in the first and second rounds and get an extra lakers first. the logic isn’t unsound i just think you have to assume the player you pick at 10 is gonna be worse than you think but i guess most GMs don’t think that way

they're reportedly also looking at franz wagner, who is probably not ready to contribute as a scorer but his defense and facilitating should translate pretty quickly

I think they truly just think giddey is a great player and maybe they’re right. In general I respect a team that just goes and gets their guy.

yeah in that spot i would be looking for "anyone who can shoot" but the grizz have always done their own thing.

on the other side it's pretty hard to find a silver lining in giving up a bunch of draft position to undo the mistakes you did a year ago but i guess it's not the most painful way to get off of two bad contracts i've ever seen.

do people really think cade will be a point guard in the nba? like he’ll probably be a fine player, but i feel like people are trying to make it happen by repeating it or something

no reason to think he wont be in a league where lebron, luka, and ben simmons are all lead ballhandlers.

he feels like a middleton or tatum type player where you’d want to have a nominal PG in the line up but on important possessions he’s gonna have the ball in his hands a lot

otm

i think the fit with killian hayes works in theory for that reason (assuming killian hayes is an actual nba basketball player)

I think I just hate the phrase “lead ball handler”. But yeah, I feel more comfortable projecting him as a big wing who can shoot and make some sick plays than as a full time playmaker that you don’t need a nominal point to pair with. It’ll be interesting to see how he fits or doesn’t fit with Killian.

important offseason awards It's the 4th Annual I Love Hoops NBA Role Player Hollafame - Class of 2021 Inductees