sturt

When you write for a living, there sometimes is a desire to fill out a story with more word count if only for appearances sake, and justified by the thought that even though the information has already been widely reported, there could be some who just aren't aware. To the point here... this paragraph appears far down the column. And most importantly to us, the story says "in recent days." Not weeks or months, but days. Wait. That's what it said, right? Need to go back and double-check that... Oh.

Here's a Zach Lowe prediction that's worth savoring... I think this kind of talk by national writers is incredibly helpful, not that they intend it that way, of course...

I'm in the minority, I figure, but I love the idea. Empty Stats Harden for Medusa Simmons? Yes, please. PHI almost certainly depletes their roster to get it done, and/but BRK's roster is so depleted as-is, can't see them going anywhere for 21-22 regardless.

Ahhh... maybe this has something to do with OKC opening their doors for business... https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2022/02/thunder-now-operating-under-the-salary-cap.html I'll take a Moose burger and a Kenny-a-dry (I know... baaad... ) to-go please.

Here's the conundrum. Imagine us winning the big trophy. Imagine Gallo having played a similar role in that achievement to how he performed last post season. Remember Ressler has said we obviously cannot expect to pay everyone, but that if we're a great team, he expects to pay tax, and the "best" players will be kept. That changes the equation? Would you want Ressler to bring back Gallo someway somehow... no?

That... and... his contract makes him almost untradeable... in the good way.

Well, then again... after we start our 2020s dynasty this season, that would seem to be the next worthy goal, no???

This would have worked, no?

Yep. My mistake. Should have been more precise in my words... hehe.

Give him great credit for the Lou/Rondo trade. But of course, peeling back that onion... - Rondo clearly didn't contribute what he was imagined to contribute, or at least not in terms of winning games - Dunn the same - By virtue of his words, we pretty much knew he intended to spend big on at least one, if not two FA acquisitions, and by definition, whoever you spend big money on is likely someone that other teams also have assessed as being something better than replacement value... both Gallo and BogBog have been that, but the question is, did any of that testify to our GM being more discerning than a "replacement value" GM? No, not really. Our GM just had money to spend that most others didn't, and even better, our GM had the gift of a colossal MIL overstep in their pursuit of one of those... one could say our GM got a bit lucky on that one... though, also, perhaps he served as a whistleblowing element in that himself. Me, I'd suggest that the most recent trade that characterizes our GM's pro-talent evaluation is the Snell / Dedmon trade, as long as one forgets that DET released him, and just pretends that Dedmon was traded to MIA. Did we get something beneficial out of it? Sure. Was it clearly a superior benefit? Not so sure. There are significant arguments on both sides.

Sarcasm, for sure.

Careful. I tend to do the same. But not like I do with the draft. Our GM has not been proven nearly as infallible when it comes to pro-level talent acquisition as college-level talent acquisition... for whatever reason.

People talk past each other every day in my profession because of a failure to be precise enough in their words to each other to identify the actual point of disagreement... and thus, they spin their wheels thinking they agree, or spin their wheels thinking they disagree about something they don't actually disagree about. So, nah, I don't think that's a fair assessment, me... just spent some time this last hour or so (above) illuminating where the actual point(s) of disagreement may lie between us.

Gallo sounds convinced... Occurs to me... probably no one is more desperate to see this team be successful than the guy nearing the horizon of his best playing days, nearing the end of a contract structure that makes it natural to assume he could be playing somewhere else next season for a team with who-knows what kind of chances they will have at a trophy, and who-knows what kind of playing time he'll get. "Driven to succeed" probably is an understatement.

(*sigh* Some fallacies refuse to die.) And, of course, Wright is better than Dunn already because he's been healthy and playing... and definitely has been a defensive asset as has always been his reputation. Evaluate every one of them on the basis of which one is enough of a two-way player that he would, day one, become the 2nd unit's SF behind Hunter... someone that McM would otherwise utilize much as he liked to utilize Solo. Then, decide how you could make a deal for that guy w/o messing with what we've got and potentially ending up with a net negative effect. (Fwiw, I see one that stands out, me.)

It does. It really does. And have to say, maybe it's just something I've made up in my head, but it feels like our two Euros really like being on the court together and that the two of them have some exceptional chemistry.

There. We agree now, yes? (I so despise these Macy's parade balloons we have for emoticons, but maybe that's just me.)

Allow me to give it a shot? 1. "Make you better"... when? Make you better for this season? Or a future season? I'm only interested at this juncture in the full throttle assault on results likely to yield a championship in the very near term--this season, or at worst, next. A few people wrote off our playoff run last season as more luck than evidence that this team matured into a true contender. They naturally, then, see it differently than those of us who believe we're near the top of the hill... and thus, to retrench to any degree is to waste precious time in a venture that, to have ultimate success, you can't dilly-dally because of how player contracts and the salary cap work. Strike while the iron is hot, I say. Aside: For the first months of the season, have to add, it felt lonely around here holding true to that premise. Good to see some if not many coming back to a premise they never should have abandoned, knowing as we all did what a mish-mash of a rotation covid and other injuries left McM to utilize. In my best Denny Green voice (again)... 2. "Make you better" is sometimes a conclusion that practically anyone would agree immediately after learning about the trade has been accomplished. That doesn't happen every time. In fact, I'd argue that more often than not, there is a legitimate argument after any given trade whether Team A or Team B got the better of the deal. And that's almost exclusively the case if the deal happens to be made between two "normal" teams that intend to be competitive in the near term. Trades happen, of course, only when both sides out of their own self-interests are convinced the deal "makes them better." Inherently then there is some question which side will turn out to be correct. 3. The "better" part of "make you better" ordinarily is much easier to assess if you're playing a video game. Not so much in real life. Real life, there are personalities. Real life, there is on-court chemistry. Thus, any time you tinker with the rotation players, whether by virtue of addition or subtraction, you're accepting risk that the tinkering might make more sense on paper than it does in real life. Easy example... on paper, subtracting Cam should not have, by many if not most accounts, have stabilized our second unit... by doing that, a significant talent was removed from the talent inventory. But. Evidence is, that's exactly what happened.

Nate, if you happen to be home from the game, and still wired so much that you're dialed into HS and reading this... I won't complain if you decide to get Delon into the game next time it appears we're having some turnover trouble in the waning minute or two of a game. Promise, I won't.

I trust you. But this is completely news to me. I can't say I've read from any media outlet these things. I just googled to see if there was something obvious that I've missed... no luck. Again, I trust your assertions on their face. I'd just like to read for myself one or more of these media outlets' stories.

Who? Honest question.

Fixed. Since the streak began, I'm of the persuasion that every JC rumor you've read has been refurbished from the weeks before, and as one of the most useful levers for keeping the clicks coming... so very many NBA fans lust for JC on their team, it's a no-brainer for all the rumor bloggers.

You can't share specifics, of course, but glass half-full, what could you share... maybe that there is new business being discussed?... or old?... that there are new teams in the conversation?... or old?... that, if the green light were to be given, it would represent a significant change to the first team?... or 2nd?... or 3rd?... or all of the above? We're practically a week out from the deadline, of course... no harm in some very broad though still interesting grist for the mill being served up, right? You're just providing some entertainment for the troops, Bob Hope, by trotting out some eye candy.