CelticsStrong
Around the League => Transaction Ideas and Rumors => Topic started by: Phantom255x on July 25, 2017, 10:30:34 AM
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So I was thinking about this the past few days as we heard all the Irving rumors, but you can tell Cleveland's reign is about to end, and it's likely after 2018, BOTH Lebron and Irving are gone from Cleveland. And while Rose is still a great player when healthy, Irving to me is better than him and I don't see how Rose really upgrades Cleveland ESPECIALLY if Irving is traded as a result.
So the East may be a dogfight between Boston, Washington, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto for years to come I assume (especially if MIL and PHI take huge strides next few seasons and PHI are actually healthy).
But something that came to mind and I've seen over the past few weeks in threads... people talking about how the Wiz can get Cousins next summer through a sign and trade :o
If Pelicans duo of Cousins-AD doesn't work as expected, they'll keep AD but probably let Cousins (and others) go.
Washington may be willing to do a sign and trade with NOP for Cousins (to fit him in their cap space since right now they may be paying a luxury tax as it is).
Maybe something like Porter (max guy), picks and small assets for Cousins?
Does that work, and could a sign and trade be worked out between WAS-NO for Cousins, or is there no way that's possible and I just posted all this for no reason?
Anyways, if it is possible and it does happen, yeah Cousins could be a cancer BUT that Wizards team becomes a lot more talented and idk if the team can handle a trio of Wall-Beal-Cousins lol. ALTHOUGH I'd assume our bench would still be a lot better than Washington's, but as we've seen in recent years, talent wins in this league.
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DMC/Morris/?/Beal/Wall is a pretty frightening lineup for us I have to say.
Assuming the starting 3 is somebody like Oubre I wouldn't be too scared because Hayward has a massive advantage over him, but that is a big team I wouldn't like to face. Dunno about how legit this potential move is cap wise, but the prospect isn't a nice one.
Milwaukee is the one that scares me a lot if Jabari can keep healthy and Thon can mature as he should. That is insanely lengthy and athletic, with very impressive and different skills at every position. Not sure about their coaching however.
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Cousins is a cancer player - and mark my words, he won't be on a good team. Because he will be on the team. His personality will invade the locker room and destroy the chemistry necessary to establish a winning culture.
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I do think Washington is the biggest threat for Cousins in free agency, he and Wall are still really tight and supposedly he and Wall had talked about teaming up together before.
I could also see them doing a S&T because will want pieces back instead of losing him outright and Porter would make a lot of sense for them with Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday presumably still being there.
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Washington has to avoid the tax to be able to acquire a sign and trade player, which makes it tricky for them. A far more likely scenario would be a trade at the deadline. Something like Porter and Gortat for Cousins, Hill, and Asik. Though Porter has a no trade clause until July 8, 2018 so he would have to agree to that trade. I think that would be a pretty reasonable trade for both teams (Pelicans get out of the tax this year, dump future salary, and of course get a solid young wing and decent center back, while the Wizards get the best player in the trade and some depth).
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It will be very, very difficult for the Wizards to sign-and-trade for Cousins, because you cannot make a sign-and-trade and go over the hard cap. The hard cap is forecast to be $129 million next year, and the Wizards currently have $128.5 million allocated to 12 players next summer.
It's not impossible, but it would mean they'd fill out even more of their roster with minimum salary dreck next year than they have this year and last year. The roster would probably look like this:
Wall
Beal
Cousins
Morris
Gortat
Mahinmi
9 players making the minimum
Maybe they could ship out yet another 1st rounder to move away Gortat, assuming they didn't send that pick along with Porter for Cousins, but depth does matter in he NBA, even in the playoffs, and we would not be screwed. Wall and Cousins don't have the magnetism to lure top minimum salary talent to make up for it.
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So I was thinking about this the past few days as we heard all the Irving rumors, but you can tell Cleveland's reign is about to end, and it's likely after 2018, BOTH Lebron and Irving are gone from Cleveland. And while Rose is still a great player when healthy, Irving to me is better than him and I don't see how Rose really upgrades Cleveland ESPECIALLY if Irving is traded as a result.
So the East may be a dogfight between Boston, Washington, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto for years to come I assume (especially if MIL and PHI take huge strides next few seasons and PHI are actually healthy).
But something that came to mind and I've seen over the past few weeks in threads... people talking about how the Wiz can get Cousins next summer through a sign and trade :o
If Pelicans duo of Cousins-AD doesn't work as expected, they'll keep AD but probably let Cousins (and others) go.
Washington may be willing to do a sign and trade with NOP for Cousins (to fit him in their cap space since right now they may be paying a luxury tax as it is).
Maybe something like Porter (max guy), picks and small assets for Cousins?
Does that work, and could a sign and trade be worked out between WAS-NO for Cousins, or is there no way that's possible and I just posted all this for no reason?
Anyways, if it is possible and it does happen, yeah Cousins could be a cancer BUT that Wizards team becomes a lot more talented and idk if the team can handle a trio of Wall-Beal-Cousins lol. ALTHOUGH I'd assume our bench would still be a lot better than Washington's, but as we've seen in recent years, talent wins in this league.
You lost me when you said Rose is still a great player when healthy. Did you watch any Knick games last year?
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Depends on the prognosis for 'Boogie' meningioma.
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Very unlikely. Morris and Wall have 2 years left on their deals. Meaning Wall will want the max and Morris will want a huge raise. Washington wouldn't be able to hold that team together financially. NBA revenue has leveled out now, and a team like Washington would wind up with more payroll than they have in revenue.
What we're going to see is very few teams are going to carry more than 3 big contracts, and many won't carry more than 2. Washington would likely unload Morris along with Porter if they made a deal for Cousins. They're already over the cap, and they'd be way into luxury tax if they kept all those guys.
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Very unlikely. Morris and Wall have 2 years left on their deals. Meaning Wall will want the max and Morris will want a huge raise. Washington wouldn't be able to hold that team together financially. NBA revenue has leveled out now, and a team like Washington would wind up with more payroll than they have in revenue.
What we're going to see is very few teams are going to carry more than 3 big contracts, and many won't carry more than 2. Washington would likely unload Morris along with Porter if they made a deal for Cousins. They're already over the cap, and they'd be way into luxury tax if they kept all those guys.
Wall signed (or at least agreed to) the supermax extension -- he'll be getting Harden money beginning in 2019-2020. $37.8 million that year. I think the bigger obstacle is the sign-and-trade, since there are rules that could prevent it from occurring at all. They're already exploring their financial limits even if they just keep Porter's salary, but yes, Boogie will increase that pain at a time when they'll likely be eligible for the repeater tax.
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I think washington is done in regards to high profile moves unless one of Beal or Porter are traded. That's a lot of money to pay for a team that still wouldn't win a championship. The C's are showing how to have a good team with 3 superstars and close to tax payer levels. You need to fill out your last 7 spots with young rookie contracts. The next phase of the C's rebuild is to find some young draft and stash players that can come over when Horford and IT are coming off the books in 3 years.
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It will be very, very difficult for the Wizards to sign-and-trade for Cousins, because you cannot make a sign-and-trade and go over the hard cap. The hard cap is forecast to be $129 million next year, and the Wizards currently have $128.5 million allocated to 12 players next summer.
It's not impossible, but it would mean they'd fill out even more of their roster with minimum salary dreck next year than they have this year and last year. The roster would probably look like this:
Wall
Beal
Cousins
Morris
Gortat
Mahinmi
9 players making the minimum
Maybe they could ship out yet another 1st rounder to move away Gortat, assuming they didn't send that pick along with Porter for Cousins, but depth does matter in he NBA, even in the playoffs, and we would not be screwed. Wall and Cousins don't have the magnetism to lure top minimum salary talent to make up for it.
TP. Ah okay, that makes sense now. Thanks again @saltlover ;D
That's good too because lets be honest, Gortat killed the C's for much of the series. I could only imagine what Cousins could do.
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CousinsW/L..9-8 with NO
This year 26-39 (?) with Sac
2015/16---33-49
2014/15---29-53
2013/14---28-54
He has lead the league in technicals (2016/17) and I assume has, from this achievement, lead the league in ejections.
Quote from Sac GM at time of trade to NO...(can you hear the sighs or relief in the background?)
"It was time for a change and I decided this was the best direction for the organization", Divac said in a press release. "Winning begins with culture and character matters. With the upcoming draft class set to be one of the strongest in a decade, this trade will allow us to build the depth needed for a talented and developing roster moving forward..."(From SBNATION)
I would like to translate the above statement by GM Dirac: "We do nothing but lose and apologize for Cousins. He's helped us go through six different head coaches trying to fix him. We are attempting to build a winning team through character and team play and Cousins stands in the way. I want to thank him for piling up more technical fouls and ejections than any other player in King's history and am sure that his future goal of setting NBA records in those two categories are within his grasp as he gets traded from one desperate franchise to the next. Our clubhouse is stable again...thank God."
Opponents, if they think they need to, can just assign a player to tweak Cousins enough to get him T'd up and then ejected. Marcus Smart doesn't know anything about this strategy.
It's a team sport, play with your mates and help them win...or be a one dimensional stat machine like Cousins...speaking of stats, his +/- last year? -26...it's kind of a dumb stat so it really fits the player. He gets triple doubles and double doubles and he leads the league in losses and getting thrown out of games.
Is Cousins a potential threat to the Celtics next year? I have to say he is more likely a threat to whatever team has him starting for them.
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No.
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No. The wizards are not scary. They have a lot of money into non-modern centers and Otto freaking porter, and they slightly overpaid for wall.
The pelicans are not trading cousins.
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Definitely not screwed.
Any scenario where Cousins leaves NOP increases the likelihood of AD becoming available on the trade market for us. Yeah the Wizards would be a pretty big foe. But I'd honestly be happy to see more competition in the eastern conference.
I don't see Otto Porter keeping Anthony Davis in New Orleans past his current deal.
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So I was thinking about this the past few days as we heard all the Irving rumors, but you can tell Cleveland's reign is about to end, and it's likely after 2018, BOTH Lebron and Irving are gone from Cleveland. And while Rose is still a great player when healthy, Irving to me is better than him and I don't see how Rose really upgrades Cleveland ESPECIALLY if Irving is traded as a result.
So the East may be a dogfight between Boston, Washington, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Toronto for years to come I assume (especially if MIL and PHI take huge strides next few seasons and PHI are actually healthy).
But something that came to mind and I've seen over the past few weeks in threads... people talking about how the Wiz can get Cousins next summer through a sign and trade :o
If Pelicans duo of Cousins-AD doesn't work as expected, they'll keep AD but probably let Cousins (and others) go.
Washington may be willing to do a sign and trade with NOP for Cousins (to fit him in their cap space since right now they may be paying a luxury tax as it is).
Maybe something like Porter (max guy), picks and small assets for Cousins?
Does that work, and could a sign and trade be worked out between WAS-NO for Cousins, or is there no way that's possible and I just posted all this for no reason?
Anyways, if it is possible and it does happen, yeah Cousins could be a cancer BUT that Wizards team becomes a lot more talented and idk if the team can handle a trio of Wall-Beal-Cousins lol. ALTHOUGH I'd assume our bench would still be a lot better than Washington's, but as we've seen in recent years, talent wins in this league.
Are we screwed if a Velociraptor shows up at training camp and demolishes everyone/everything in sight?
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Definitely not screwed.
Any scenario where Cousins leaves NOP increases the likelihood of AD becoming available on the trade market for us. Yeah the Wizards would be a pretty big foe. But I'd honestly be happy to see more competition in the eastern conference.
I don't see Otto Porter keeping Anthony Davis in New Orleans past his current deal.
Why, because it increases the likelihood of AD becoming frustrated? What about the scenario where Cousins goes to the Cavs for Irving?
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Wizards seem like the epitome of a team that would implode with a guy like Cousins on it.
People don't seem to understand how negative his personality is that nobody wants to touch him with that talent. There's a fine line between immaturity and psychological issues, I think he's straddling that line.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
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Wizards seem like the epitome of a team that would implode with a guy like Cousins on it.
People don't seem to understand how negative his personality is that nobody wants to touch him with that talent. There's a fine line between immaturity and psychological issues, I think he's straddling that line.
Yeah, he has torn the entire Pelicans team apart huh?
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If New Orleans made Cousins available it would mean he was a disaster. If he goes from being a disaster in Sacramento to being a disaster in N0ew Orleans, while playing alongisde one of the league's best young players, then all of the "Is it Boogie or is it Sac?" questions get answered. And I will only be afraid of Cousins if he joins the Celtics.
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If New Orleans made Cousins available it would mean he was a disaster. If he goes from being a disaster in Sacramento to being a disaster in N0ew Orleans, while playing alongisde one of the league's best young players, then all of the "Is it Boogie or is it Sac?" questions get answered. And I will only be afraid of Cousins if he joins the Celtics.
Or it could just mean that a team centered around Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins (the two best big men in the game, who both are at their best with the ball in their hands) doesn't work all that great.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
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There is very little evidence to support the theory that adding Demarcus Cousins drastically increases the win total of an NBA basketball team. Until that changes, I'll continue to not give a Edited. Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. about his lazy stat-padding output.
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There is very little evidence to support the theory that adding Demarcus Cousins drastically increases the win total of an NBA basketball team. Until that changes, I'll continue to not give a **** about his lazy stat-padding output.
I would suggest looking up stats before making those kinds of blanket statements.
Last I checked the statistics clearly indicate that the Sacramento Kings were a far worse without Cousins then they were with him.
This was reflected in everything from advanced stats (like Real Plus Minus, which Cousins has been among league leaders in for years now) all the way down to the most basic stats (like Win/Loss record with/without Cousins playing).
If I recall correctly the Kings record over the past 4 or 5 years was close to 50% in games Cousins played in, and closer to 30% in games he didn't play in. That's the difference between a fringe playoff team and a bad lottery team.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
Oh, so we are counting the fact that Wizards lost Porter, but we are ignoring the fact that Boston lost Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk (who were both instrumental to us beating Washington) along with Zeller, Jerebko and Amir Johnson.
But we are factoring in the fact that we added Hayward (a fringe star who is at best top 5 at his position) and a rookie who has yet to play an NBA game, while ignoring the fact that the Wizards would be adding Cousins who is by far the best center in the entire NBA.
I mean you could make a legit argument that the ONLY reason we got past Washington is that freak single-game outburst by Kelly Olynyk - who happens to be one of the guys we had to dump in order to get Hayward.
You could also make a legit argument that we wouldn't have gotten past Chicago without Bradley (who outplayed Jimmy Butler) who we also had to sacrifice in order to sign Gordon Hayward.
But the Wizards giving up a fringe starter who had A modest impact on the series (in Otto Porter) is somehow more significant then that.
Right...hyperbole
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
And how much depth did we give up when we dumped Olynyk, Zeller and Jerebko and replaced them with Baynes and bunch of rookies who have never played an NBA game?
How many combined seasons of NBA experience does our entire bench have right now?
* Baynes has 5
* Smart has 3
* Rozier has 2
* Brown has 1
Wait - is that it? Are there legit only three players on our entire bench who have played more then one NBA season?
Lets not kid ourselves.
The future of this Celtics team is very bright no doubt about it - but our position this season isn't as great as people seem to think it is. Getting cocky and failing to respect your opponent is not the path to victory.
Last season we were the #1 seed and still every series we playoff series we played in proved more difficult then they should have been. We were blown out way too many times by teams who had no business blowing us out. Multiple 15+ point losses to the Wizards is not an acceptable result for a team that people are placing such high expectations on.
Be happy with the team we have by all means, but don't underestimate our opponents. We struggled mightily to beat the Wizards last year and managed to cling on by the hair of our teeth thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime performance from Kelly Olynyk, then got utterly embarrassed by the Cavs. Lets not get carried away with out own superiority, the Celtics have their work cut out for them.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
And how much depth did we give up when we dumped Olynyk, Zeller and Jerebko and replaced them with Baynes and bunch of rookies who have never played an NBA game?
How many combined seasons of NBA experience does our entire bench have right now?
* Baynes has 5
* Smart has 3
* Rozier has 2
* Brown has 1
Wait - is that it? Are there legit only three players on our entire bench who have played more then one NBA season?
Experience only counts for so much when you have little talent, like Zeller and Jerebko. AJ was barely being given minutes down the stretch because he was not helping our team at all. We barely gave up any depth because the only significant contributor we lost was Olynyk, and we already upgraded our bigs with adding Baynes and Morris.
Plus, it's likely that one of Morris or Crowder come off the bench, both who have been in the league for a handful of years. Just because our bench has some inexperienced players doesn't mean they won't be able to contribute.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
And how much depth did we give up when we dumped Olynyk, Zeller and Jerebko and replaced them with Baynes and bunch of rookies who have never played an NBA game?
How many combined seasons of NBA experience does our entire bench have right now?
* Baynes has 5
* Smart has 3
* Rozier has 2
* Brown has 1
Wait - is that it? Are there legit only three players on our entire bench who have played more then one NBA season?
Experience only counts for so much when you have little talent, like Zeller and Jerebko. AJ was barely being given minutes down the stretch because he was not helping our team at all. We barely gave up any depth because the only significant contributor we lost was Olynyk, and we already upgraded our bigs with adding Baynes and Morris.
Plus, it's likely that one of Morris or Crowder come off the bench, both who have been in the league for a handful of years. Just because our bench has some inexperienced players doesn't mean they won't be able to contribute.
I disagree. Experience counts for a lot when you have guys (like Zeller and Jerebko) who have been playing for this team for multiple years and who understand the system, understand their role, understands what the coach wants, and have built strong chemistry together.
I also forgot to add that we also lost Gerald Green, who was also isntrumental in a number of those playoff wins. If you took Gerald Green, Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko off our playoff team last year, I very strongly doubt we'd have made it past Washington - perhaps even Chicago.
I also disagree with you about Morris / Crowder. Based on Brad's love of small ball (and apparent complete lack of interest in rebounding) there's every chance that we end up starting Crowder at SF and Morris at PF, with Hayward replacing Bradley at the SG spot. If so then our bench will consist of Rozier, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Baynes, and 3 or 4 other guys who haven't played an NBA game in their lives. Maybe those guys impress and that bench becomes a great strength (and I'm hoping this is the case) but with so little experience it would be foolish for us to assume this is the case.
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
And how much depth did we give up when we dumped Olynyk, Zeller and Jerebko and replaced them with Baynes and bunch of rookies who have never played an NBA game?
How many combined seasons of NBA experience does our entire bench have right now?
* Baynes has 5
* Smart has 3
* Rozier has 2
* Brown has 1
Wait - is that it? Are there legit only three players on our entire bench who have played more then one NBA season?
Experience only counts for so much when you have little talent, like Zeller and Jerebko. AJ was barely being given minutes down the stretch because he was not helping our team at all. We barely gave up any depth because the only significant contributor we lost was Olynyk, and we already upgraded our bigs with adding Baynes and Morris.
Plus, it's likely that one of Morris or Crowder come off the bench, both who have been in the league for a handful of years. Just because our bench has some inexperienced players doesn't mean they won't be able to contribute.
I disagree. Experience counts for a lot when you have guys (like Zeller and Jerebko) who have been playing for this team for multiple years and who understand the system, understand their role, understands what the coach wants, and have built strong chemistry together.
I also forgot to add that we also lost Gerald Green, who was also isntrumental in a number of those playoff wins. If you took Gerald Green, Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko off our playoff team last year, I very strongly doubt we'd have made it past Washington - perhaps even Chicago.
I also disagree with you about Morris / Crowder. Based on Brad's love of small ball (and apparent complete lack of interest in rebounding) there's every chance that we end up starting Crowder at SF and Morris at PF, with Hayward replacing Bradley at the SG spot. If so then our bench will consist of Rozier, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Baynes, and 3 or 4 other guys who haven't played an NBA game in their lives. Maybe those guys impress and that bench becomes a great strength (and I'm hoping this is the case) but with so little experience it would be foolish for us to assume this is the case.
I just think Jerebko and his 16mpg and Zeller with his 10mpg over 51 games will be quite easily replaced. I do think that building chemistry might be difficult, considering the massive amount of roster turnover we've undergone, but I also believe that after the first couple of months the team will really hit its stride.
I do agree about Green however. Losing him bummed me out, because he seemed genuinely interested in returning and he was quite valuable in the minutes that he provided.
To begin with, I could see us starting IT/Hayward/Crowder/Morris/Horford, but not for too long. Before too long I think Stevens would change the lineup and make it IT/Brown/Hayward/Morris/Horford with Rozier/Smart/Crowder/Tatum/Baynes, with the other guys like Zizic and co. getting spot minutes here and there.
Overall, I'm not too worried about our depth in the long run, because I believe that they will develop quite quickly. I have faith in Coach Stevens ;D
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The Wizards almost knocked us off last year with a starting frontline of Gortat and Morris, and we struggled to deal with that.
So essentially, yes. Give them the most dominant center (and perhaps big man) in the entire game and there's no chance we beat them in a 7 game series with Marcus Morris and Al Horford.
Right, because we beat them last year and added Hayward and Tatum but that counts for nothing. But losing Porter + what little depth WAS has for Cousins is more than enough that we would have "no chance".
I swear, the angst, self-loathing and hyperbole on this site sometimes... ::)
With the depth they will have for getting Cousins i doubt they even make the playoffs..
And how much depth did we give up when we dumped Olynyk, Zeller and Jerebko and replaced them with Baynes and bunch of rookies who have never played an NBA game?
How many combined seasons of NBA experience does our entire bench have right now?
* Baynes has 5
* Smart has 3
* Rozier has 2
* Brown has 1
Wait - is that it? Are there legit only three players on our entire bench who have played more then one NBA season?
Experience only counts for so much when you have little talent, like Zeller and Jerebko. AJ was barely being given minutes down the stretch because he was not helping our team at all. We barely gave up any depth because the only significant contributor we lost was Olynyk, and we already upgraded our bigs with adding Baynes and Morris.
Plus, it's likely that one of Morris or Crowder come off the bench, both who have been in the league for a handful of years. Just because our bench has some inexperienced players doesn't mean they won't be able to contribute.
I disagree. Experience counts for a lot when you have guys (like Zeller and Jerebko) who have been playing for this team for multiple years and who understand the system, understand their role, understands what the coach wants, and have built strong chemistry together.
I also forgot to add that we also lost Gerald Green, who was also isntrumental in a number of those playoff wins. If you took Gerald Green, Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko off our playoff team last year, I very strongly doubt we'd have made it past Washington - perhaps even Chicago.
I also disagree with you about Morris / Crowder. Based on Brad's love of small ball (and apparent complete lack of interest in rebounding) there's every chance that we end up starting Crowder at SF and Morris at PF, with Hayward replacing Bradley at the SG spot. If so then our bench will consist of Rozier, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Baynes, and 3 or 4 other guys who haven't played an NBA game in their lives. Maybe those guys impress and that bench becomes a great strength (and I'm hoping this is the case) but with so little experience it would be foolish for us to assume this is the case.
I just think Jerebko and his 16mpg and Zeller with his 10mpg over 51 games will be quite easily replaced. I do think that building chemistry might be difficult, considering the massive amount of roster turnover we've undergone, but I also believe that after the first couple of months the team will really hit its stride.
I do agree about Green however. Losing him bummed me out, because he seemed genuinely interested in returning and he was quite valuable in the minutes that he provided.
To begin with, I could see us starting IT/Hayward/Crowder/Morris/Horford, but not for too long. Before too long I think Stevens would change the lineup and make it IT/Brown/Hayward/Morris/Horford with Rozier/Smart/Crowder/Tatum/Baynes, with the other guys like Zizic and co. getting spot minutes here and there.
Overall, I'm not too worried about our depth in the long run, because I believe that they will develop quite quickly. I have faith in Coach Stevens ;D
I don't disagree regarding Jerebko, Zeller and Amir. I mean I do really like what Amir and Jerebko gave us lets be honest while on the floor, but both guys are replaceable. And Zeller...well lets be honest, he is a non factor lol
However I do think that the losses of Kelly Olynyk, Gerald Green and (especially) Avery Bradley are huge. Really huge. Team-changing-caliber huge. Those three guys were all absolutely instrumental to us getting to the Finals, and anybody who thinks those losses will be easily made up for may be in for a rude shock.
It's yet to be seen whether the addition of Hayward, Morris and Bayes will be enough to replace the two-way playoff contributions of those guys - let alone prove to be an upgrade. Hayward is obviously the best player of that group, but I'm not entirely convinced that Morris and Baynes is an upgrade over Olynyk and Green.
We SHOULD be better once we find out chemistry, but it's not a given.
Also I'm not so much concerned about whether guys like Amir and Jerebko ARE replaceable so much as I'm worried about whether we actually DID replace them.
Amir mainly gave us rim protection and rebounding (he was probably our best rebounder tbh) and I can say we've replaced his production pretty well by adding Baynes.
Jerebko gave us length and defensive versatility, energy, rebounding and outside shooting. I feel we've more than replaced that with the combination of Morris.
What worries me is Olynyk. He's a 7 footer who can put the ball on the floor, finish at the basket, pass the ball, shoot consistently from three while also being a plus defender. I'm not 100% convinced we've picked up anybody who replaced that. Closest would be Tatum if he works out as good as promised, but having a 6'8" guy who can do these things is not the same as having a 7'0" who can do these things.
I also worry about whether we've replaced what Bradley gave us He gave us a 2nd scoring option who defenses had to respect, which took pressure off Thomas. He also gave us a consistent three point threat and elite perimeter defense that made life very difficult for a lot of opposing guards. Hayward replaces the scoring and three point shooting in spades, but does nothing to replace the difficulties Bradley presented to opposing teams on defense. I'm hoping his superior offensive game and extra scoring production makes up for that - and I think it probably will.
We have added a lot of nice talent to the team, no question about that. But we've lost a lot as well, make no mistake about that.
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If New Orleans made Cousins available it would mean he was a disaster. If he goes from being a disaster in Sacramento to being a disaster in N0ew Orleans, while playing alongisde one of the league's best young players, then all of the "Is it Boogie or is it Sac?" questions get answered. And I will only be afraid of Cousins if he joins the Celtics.
Or it could just mean that a team centered around Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins (the two best big men in the game, who both are at their best with the ball in their hands) doesn't work all that great.
I disagree with your assessment of Davis' game. He's great off the ball. Cousins also has done a fair amount of spotting up for 3's the last 2 seasons. Defensively, Davis should be able to guard quicker 4's and Cousins can bang with anyone in the league. I think their games could be good together, if they can play nice.
There is very little evidence to support the theory that adding Demarcus Cousins drastically increases the win total of an NBA basketball team. Until that changes, I'll continue to not give a **** about his lazy stat-padding output.
Also, this.