re: Roster construction next year - way too early look

Keep in mind the last guy before JV was Steven Adams before saying “the opposite of JV”.


Jesus. People can’t be critical of JV anymore on here. And I’m not even being that critical. JV is a much better player for us and overall than Adams. But that doesn’t mean he’s a championship piece for us.

Still a good player but not necessarily a guy that’s going to help us win games in the playoffs with his defense and rebounding, which is what we need as evidenced last year against the Suns

Didn’t say he was a championship piece. My point was that he is an improvement over what we have had since God knows how long.

The guy we traded for him didn’t even see the floor for Memphis during the first round last season.


JV isn’t the answer but he isn’t Adams, Asik, Ajinca, or other crappy big men we have had in the recent era.

Guys like Embiid and Jokic don’t grow on trees. Pretty much every traditional big struggled in the playoffs. Hell, even Gobert was a liability in the playoffs.

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Guys like Embiid and Jokic don’t grow on trees. Pretty much every traditional big struggled in the playoffs. Hell, even Gobert was a liability in the playoffs.

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Which is why we dont need a traditional big. The 4 starting centers in the conference finals were:
BOS: Rob williams
MIA: Bam
GSW: Looney
Mav: Maxi Kleber

All under 7ft

These days you need a switchable, rim protecting 5. Thats what we need to be looking for to eventually replace JV

The only player that is untouchable is CJ because of his age and contract. No team will trade for McCollum.

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Which is why we dont need a traditional big. The 4 starting centers in the conference finals were:
BOS: Rob williams
MIA: Bam
GSW: Looney
Mav: Maxi Kleber

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I agree you need that 5 on your team, but you also need someone who is capable of guarding Jokic and Embiid, b/c those guys teams are going to be final contenders as long as their teams are healthy, which they haven't been.

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Who are players that will be available next year or could be available via trade eventually that we could target?

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Im really high on onyeka okongwu from ATL. Young rim protecting big thats very switchable. He's been stuck behind capela but looks great when he plays. Idk if he's available but id try to make a move for him if possible.

In the draft id look at a guy like derrick lively at duke. he's on the taller side at 7'1 but he's a great rim protector and athlete. I'll have to watch him at duke this year to see how he is switching.

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Brandon Clarke 1.21 same year as hayes, is probably available at trade deadline for not much, after Jj jr back in lineup. only 6 8. hops and d. enjoys playing D. no long game. shoots 3s in 20s. he's expiring. would be for the playoff run since hayes is out for quite a while and may not be ready.
probably get him for a "pick swap 24 or else a 24 2nd arrangement. and an immediate money balance move"
currently he's behind to sub for Jj jr after Santiago aldama. long way to trade deadline. one or two teams will give up by then. Clarke may be starting if someone else big goes down.
anyone really good is going cost. probably can have Green of gsw and unprotected 23 gsw #1 for herb or just green for tm3.
greens's expiring. d but meh offense.

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I highly doubt Memphis lets him go for pennies. He's extremely valuable for that team

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Why is everyone so low on Kira? Their ONLY reason is because we haven’t seen him in 2 years. None of y’all are talking about Zion like that. Obviously they are different players but the hypocrisy is real.

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Maybe because when one of them has been on the floor he's played at an All-NBA level, and when the other has been on the floor he's looked like a replacement level player?

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Why is everyone so low on Kira?

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probably b/c he's not that good and his potential really isn't anything better than a backup PG, and i say that nicely but truthfully.


people keep bringing up that he started off year 2 really well, yet why did he start the season playing 16mpg in the first 16 games, then play only 11mpg over the next 8 games before getting hurt? Did you all forget that in the 24 games he did play, he shot 22% from 3?


I'm definitely not going to say he can't get better and have a nice career in the NBA, b/c he can, but at his size and skills, he's really limited in who he can become. If you're going to be that small, the only way you are starting is if you are outstanding offensively, and Kira simply isn't. He hasn't shown he can shoot, or how to break defenses down with penetration using his speed. He came in as a PG yet both coaches he has had has used him more off the ball than on. That's pretty telling. We've seen Jose probe the lane and throw alley oops many times. You ever recall Kira doing that? Do you know the two players that Kira played the most minutes with his rookie year? Jaxson and Zion.


and more so than anything, we are really tight on how our salaries work going forward. If you aren't in the main group of 10 guys, then you should be a minimum contract guy b/c that's pretty much what your production to the team is worth.