re: The Official NBA Free Agency/Offseason Thread Update: MITCHELL TO CLE

NBA championship odds changes today per @betonline_ag:

BOS 4/1 to 5/1
BKN 14/1 to 15/2
PHX 19/2 to 10/1
MIA 14/1 to 16/1
NOP 33/1 to 35/1

Utah could give a frick about the players outside of salary matching.

They are more concerned with having a lot of draft picks to be used.


It’s Ainge here. He would trade for the entire back half of the first round if he thought he could flip those for more pieces he wanted.

Giddey is overrated af. Product of being on a terrible team that nobody gets up to play against and puts up empty stats.

I can somewhat see this if it was just points. But he is a gifted passer and dominate rebounder, for a guard. I also watched go to the Garden, without Dort or SGA, and beat the Knicks in overtime with a 28/11/12 at 19 years old. He is the perfect compliment to Holmgren. They aren't trying to trade him..

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You wouldn't trade CJ McCollum for Donovan Mitchell?

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No.
Is Donovan Mitchell a better player than CJ?
Without a doubt.
but there aren't enough shots to go around with Mitchell/BI/Zion on the court. The most they could average is about 18 shots each a game, and someone is going to likely average under 20ppg, and it won't be Zion, the most efficient scorer in the league. I mean they might be able to make it work, but i don't think any of them would be ok with taking a back seat shooting, and the fact that all 3 of them aren't good defenders doesn't help at all. At least in GSW Klay and Durant were + defenders.
91 RunDMC Warriors, 2008 Warriors with BD, Monte Ellis, Stephen Jackson, 2014 Kings with Cousins, IT, Gay, 3 Warriors teams with Durant/Curry/Klay, 2020 Celtics with Tatum/Brown/Kemba.
That's the list of teams in the last 20 years that have had 3 20+PPG scorers. Only 1 of those groups were worth a shite, and it just so happens to be the one with two elite defenders of the 3, and the next best one was the Celtics, and its b/c Tatum and Brown are good defenders.


I doubt Utah is interested in CJ, so basically we'd have to trade 4-5 firsts to upgrade CJ to Mitchell. Is that worth it, b/c i don't think it is? CJ is in a much better position to sit back and let BI and Zion run the show while he plays more off the ball and has break out games from time to time. Donovan Mitchells defense is lazy Harden level bad. The bad part about his defense is that i don't think its an effort thing, even though it is right now, its more he's an idiot on the court defensively.



I'm pretty comfortable in our core going forward. Either BI/Zion are capable of winning a championship with the right supporting cast or they are not. It's up to them more than anything else, b/c we without a doubt have the resources to give them the help they need for the next 5 years. And i want to see that play out. We need role players, not Donovan Mitchell.

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Could any of those really beat an offer built around Barrett?

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Depends how much they like Barrett i guess.
I mean i'd much rather Barrett than Zaire Williams and Jake LaRavia, but if Barrett isn't on the table, then i'd much rather Zaire Williams and LaRavia over Toppin, assuming 5 picks are going out with both offers.

Toppin has about the same value that Jaxson had, and it really isn't all that much. Zaire has more value than him right now, and has a higher ceiling as he's about to turn 21 next month after a year in the league as opposed to Toppin entering his 3rd year, still can't shoot, and is almost 4 years older than Zaire.



The problem for the Knicks is if they send Barrett out, they are relying on a core of Brunson/Mitchell/Randle/Robinson to carry them for the foreseeable future b/c they will have limited ways to upgrade their roster.
For them it goes back to what i said about CJ for Mitchell. Is it really worth upgrading Barrett to Mitchell for 3-4 firsts?
Wouldn't you rather find a way to dump Fournier and add to your team, maybe help facilitate a trade for Mitchell?
Mitchell and Rudy Gay to the Heat
Jovic, Toppin, Lowry, Fournier to the Jazz. Heat send 3 1sts, Knicks send 3.
Knicks get Herro and Jordan Clarkson.

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I doubt Utah is interested in CJ

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Danny just wants to have 30+ picks

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It doesn't work after awhile. OKC had to dump some of their picks and are shopping more, cause they are having a roster crunch. They just can't fit many more people onto the team. They let Roby walk for nothing and fans were upset. They are going to have to cut more.

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that's kind of my point in why arent' they going after Mitchell.
What good are all the picks? Start doing something with them. You have SGA, if Chet is the real deal, then give them another young star and start winning. They have like $40M in guaranteed contracts of 9 guys this year just in drafted contracts. They aren't signing anyone big in FA, so start making some trades and start competing. I could see them taking another down year and having a top 10 pick this year, but i would say at the latest, next offseason they need to make a move to trade for another star, especially if Chet is going to be good. And the positive thing for them is they will have the cap space to make an uneven trade.