So trading a guy that shot the same from 3 his second year at the age of 20 for a guy that against shot the same from 3 at the age of 21 will improve the shooting? A player on a max contract that has averaged 32 missed games per season for the last 5 seasons. No thanks I’ll pass. Jabari will right in during the playoffs with teams that need the balls in their hand while he doesn’t and plays better defense.
As you say, KAT can't defend as a 4 because he is an uncoordinated rhinoceros on the perimeter. He needs to play C, but is too soft, and we don't want him to play there. Minny can cover him defensively with a scheme involving funnelling to Rudy. We wouldn't have that luxury. I agree, not a good move for us, See what other options exist!
I sometimes wonder if it would've been best to just keep Paul and trade Harden a year earlier. We may have ended up with AntMan in the draft as a bonus.
If you trade for Towns it's with Sengun going out, and the expectation that Brooks/Smith/Thompson/Eason can make up for him defensively. Towns would be as good of a C as you could pair with Amen, so if we see Amen as our main future building block it makes sense.
The only way It would make sense to me personally to ever trade Sengun is if it was for a player like Wemby/Chet/Sarr/Mobley the first 2 with a 3 point shot the last two with a chance at developing one. Towns has the shot but is a negative again the C position.
I would try for Durant. Specifically because he's old, experienced and seems to be aware he's no longer a 1A. His game would fit so well with this team. I love that he's a totally different age than our team, giving some contrast from the young guys. We could definitely use 1 guy like that. Suns have to do something but their hands are tied. They won't trade their best (Booker) and no one will want injury-prone Beal at $50m with a no trade clause. They have to stick with Booker and Beal whether they like it or not. If they keep Durant too, they can not add anything significant to improve. I can't think of a team that needs a Dillon Brooks more than Phoenix. They need his attitude, defense and can totally live with his limited offensive game (average corner 3pt shooter). In fact they can totally use the depth from Jeff Green, Jasean Tate and Jock Landale too. Not only do they get depth, but 3 of those guys are team options that can be turned down to reduce their salary and unlock trade/MLE possibilities. Brooks, Tate, Landale, Green and a protect FRP for Durant. I would do it. Would not give them a great pick or two decent first round picks. Maybe a decent FRP and a crap FRP. The pick(s) help them upgrade the rest of their roster. I'm typically against trading a pick for a short term player, but we're talking about two years of Kevin Durant. Assuming his shooting and average defense hold up, he's a perfect fit at PF while Jabari develops behind him. Would dovetail perfectly with Sengun, Green and Amen slowly stepping up to take the mantle away from him. By the time Durant's contract is up we won't need him anymore but will have made deep playoff runs and I'd argue a shot at the title. Sengun/Adams Durant/Jabari Tari/Amen/Jabari Green/Whitmore FVV/Amen Udoka can make this team a top 10 defense. I'm certain they can be a top 10 offense. That's a legit title contender. I'd do it if we can get it done at that price. I hope they lose this game and things fall apart.
If we can get durant for one crappy pick and our trash I would do that in a heartbeat. Sadly we live in reality
Unfortunately it's impossible to take your valuation of this trade seriously given what you've said about Brooks on this board. To say you're conflicted is an understatement. There are no people on the planet who have such irrational hatred for Brooks. There are no worse opinions of him than yours. So when you say we live in reality Mr "I wouldn't sign Brooks for the minimum", maybe your reality is not the one we live in. Also, it's not trash to Phoenix to get 3 players with team options that can either provide bench depth or cap flexibility. Those were their 2 biggest problems this season. Classic case of "one man's trash is another man's..." They can start Brooks, have Landale come off the bench and trade Green+Tate+pick(s) for another rotation player. Doubt anyone is giving them a starter and 2 good picks for Durant at his age and injury history. His minutes need to come down and the team receiving him should be ok with him declining every year.
Even if you think brooks has neutral value, you’re still talking about getting durant for basically nothing. Landale is worth 0 (or if his option is picked up he’s worth less than 0), jeff green obviously 0. What are the suns gonna do with a few marginal rotation guys if they don’t have the stars? It’s just completely insane that they would dump Durant for what you’re suggesting
Even a negative player on the court with a team option is not worth 0 to the most capped out team in the NBA. You often seem to struggle to take context into consideration and give it a value. Your "analysis" seems to be limited to 3-4 advanced stats in an absolute sense. When you look at the rankings for those advanced stats, you often find players that are clearly WAY higher than they should be or lower than they should be (especially defensive advanced stats). Like our very own Tate being 10th in defensive rating in the entire NBA or Donovan Mitchell being 3rd in the NBA in defensive win shares - that's bullshit and we all know it. Your analysis is like those rankings. No one takes that type of analysis seriously. You can't seem to analyze the numbers, nevermind when it comes time to evaluate the intangibles. The Suns are ONLY missing a few rotation guys. They are missing wing/forward defenders that can make an open 3. They are missing bench depth. They are missing cap flexibility. That's what they're going to buy if they trade Durant. To trade Durant for yet another two-way star would be stupid. They would be repeating the experiment. They need to get their cap under control and bet on Booker/Beal both being able to average 25-32 ppg and surround them with a rim protector (already have Nurkic) and two non-guard defenders who can make an open 3. Brooks is one of those. Landale is a backup C who has previously played well for them. The only other thing they need is another forward (taller than Brooks) who can defend and make an open 3. Their identity becomes defensive which matches their coach. I know from your post history that you think offense is more important than defense - this is factually false and is probably what is leading you to analyzing the Suns poorly. If you're interested in discussing this, why don't you enter the conversation with how many picks you think Durant is worth rather than leading with these flat double-negative statements? We both clearly like the Durant fit on the Rockets, there's a path here to having a good discussion but you don't seem interested in that.
If the Suns are blowing it up, then you go all in for Booker. You trade Green, Whitmore, and all of our available draft capital for him (every single first allowed; unprotected). Durant and Beal don’t make sense for this team.
Someone proposed it in another thread, I believe, but It would probably take at least Jabari Smith and a few draft picks to get the Suns interested. Given his age, Durant plus a few more improvements could give the Rockets a chance for one championship run at most. Plus, they'd be mortaging the future for this one opportunity. But given how difficult it is to win it all even once, I could see them being tempted.
Nah, they are not blowing it up. These guys want to win a title. Most likely they re-tool around untradeable Beal and best player Booker - which if healthy is more than enough scoring to anchor a top 10 offense. Also that's way too much for Booker. Only perennial MVP candidates are worth 5 picks and Whitmore and Green. Can get a Doncic or a Jokic for that if/when they become available. Booker is a tier below that. You can get 2 great picks and 2 meh picks for him.
Why do you say it's one opportunity? He's got two years on his contract. We would still have assets to upgrade the team even after acquiring him even if we send them 3 picks. We have Nets swaps, we have young players, we have MLE and room exceptions. IMO that's two shots at a championship. We're not resetting the culture, we're just adding an elite jump shooter at the 4. If we were re-tooling the whole roster or adding a new coach/playmaker then maybe you write off the first season with chemistry issues. Durant is as plug n play as they come though.
If I've learned anything in all my years watching basketball, it's that trading bunch of assets for an aging superstar is usually a very bad idea. Sometimes even disastrous. I'm not opposed to taking a "big swing," but 28 or so it's the oldest I'd consider.
I think a reasonable offer would be something like jabari, cam, and 3 firsts with 2 being quality picks at least. He brooks part i’ll never agree on which is fine. Sucks he’s on the team but whatever
Don't you think the equivalent of 5 FRP's for the last two years of Durant's career is a bit much? He was worth that in his prime and he's not in his prime so how are you accounting for that? Only bottom feeders have that quantity of picks and they will not want him. If a good team has 5 picks they're going to get someone in their prime. Who do you think is going to set that market price?
Well about 14-15 months ago he was traded for what, 4 picks plus bridges (worth about 3), cam johnson (worth 1 or maybe 2). I would not make a reasonable durant trade offer personally. Would i take him for free like you suggested? Yes of course. Durant still has 2 years on his deal and it’s fair to assume you will get at worst fringe all nba production, so that’s worth AT LEAST 3 firsts
