re: Woj on Pels trade activity...

I agree with what you are saying.
Look at Toronto's recent picks in the 20's
OG, looks really good as a rookie.
Siakam, giving them 20 minutes a night in his 2nd year.
Delon Wright, also giving them a solid 20 minutes a night in his 3rd year.
Lucas Nogueira, giving them solid minutes off the bench the last 2 years.

They also found Fred Van Vleet, undrafted, to give them minutes and Norman Powell, 46th pick, is giving them really good minutes.

Their team this year is made up of only 3 guys they didnt' draft or obtain rights to, Lowry, Ibaka, and CJ Miles.
Must be nice.

That being said, i don't believe we can make the right pick, or that we can develop that pick b/c we are too busy trying to win now. We've seen our players leave and go elsewhere to develop b/c we weren't waiting around for it to happen.
We've also seen Dell find bench guys at the guard positions outside of the draft that have rounded out our roster.
I'm on board with trading the pick for a starter, or even a good role player like Carroll.

Smart drafting is the hallmark of every successful team. Demps and Monty Williams coming from the Spurs and not appreciating that stills shocks me. Being a small market team, it should have been something we embraced completely. But that's water under the bridge. Its not too late to change our habits..

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Demps and Monty Williams coming from the Spurs and not appreciating that stills shocks me.

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Monty was with the Spurs for one season as an intern. If you look at who he chose and considered as his assistants, it was all former coaches and players from his time in Philly. His roots trace back to Larry Brown more than Pop. Although Pop is technically from the Larry Brown tree so there is some overlap there.

Demps, like Monty, seems to have a real aversion to risk. Most of the big moves he's made can be looked at as trading uncertainty for certainty. Even when he used the pick they went after proven over potential.

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I thought Monty had a larger experience with the Spurs

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So do most people. He was there as a player too and IIRC it was when he was a player that Pop might have suggested coaching one day to him, so there are definitely some Pop connections. However, his top 2 assistants were Larry Brown assistants from when he played for Larry Brown in Philly, and one of the other coaching candidates that was rumored under consideration was Eric Snow, a teammate from that Philly team. His steady vet that he brought in, Willie Green, played on that Philly team too.

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They think they could give Demarre away next year to avoid the tax, if it came to that. Harder to do with Asik/Ajinca

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They think they could give away Demarre and take back no salary to avoid the tax, but shedding essetnially expiring Asik/Anjiica with a 1st is more difficult to do? That sounds like a questionable thought process especially considering they do not know yet whether they will even need to shed salary.

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They think they could give away Demarre and take back no salary to avoid the tax,

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No salary, no. Less salary, sure.

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I don't see it being easier to move though.

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You'd have to find some sort of 3 way where Team B is willing to send an expiring and a 2nd to Team C with cap space who the Pels also send a 2nd to. Something like Carroll to Philly, Bayless and 2nds to Atlanta. And Philly doesn't really need Carroll unless they just want a veteran upgrade. It really would be hard to swing a 3 team deal, especially if you already used your 1st to turn Asik/Ajinca into Carroll.