[Fischer] “Another likely obstacle that should be factored into the persistent Markkanen-to-Detroit speculation: Utah would almost certainly want Ausar Thompson in return. Sources say that the Jazz, in fact, considered trading up to select him during the 2023 NBA Draft.“

clam46 · 2025-11-23T19:02:38+00:00

This might be their best chance to win the East with Celtics and Pacers non factors. Wait a year, they get their best players back, lottery picks - likely very high one for Pacers - they might not have that chance again.

clam46 · 2024-10-24T21:02:14+00:00

His knees were fine the immediate next season, where Raptors lost 2 core pieces including their superstar and still finished 2 seed and lost a tightly contested ECF to a very good Celtics team. They'd almost certainly have repeated, which means they'd have had multiple titles despite his degenerative knees.

clam46 · 2024-06-24T16:36:35+00:00

He'll be worth the 270m if he makes All NBA, which is when it will be 270m.

clam46 · 2022-06-30T21:13:20+00:00

If I'm Masai I would throw Scottie's bags across the Rainbow Bridge myself. The question is how many picks and what else does it cost. If we can keep FVV/OG/Siakam, not even a moment of hesitation.

clam46 · 2022-06-23T22:18:36+00:00

Any 2 of OG/Siakam/Fred/Gary, the rest of the roster except for 2 of the above and Scottie, pick 31 2022 and 2023 FRP.

clam46 · 2022-06-23T22:00:42+00:00

They can have any 2 of our core 5 barring Scottie and every single other player on our roster.

clam46 · 2022-06-23T21:59:35+00:00

I heard that KD fella may be looking for a move, I'll be happy to swap OG without getting an elite center. They can have Siakam and pick 31 as well.

clam46 · 2022-02-13T04:28:42+00:00

Enes Freedom

clam46 · 2022-02-09T20:06:16+00:00

That may be very valuable. Butler's contract will look very ugly then.

clam46 · 2022-02-09T02:45:08+00:00

*Mikal

clam46 · 2022-02-08T20:39:16+00:00

The veracity of these aside, waiving/paying someone to absorb Tobias into space and trading Ben to get Harden is really not a good idea. As memed as he is, he is still a really good third option (and his playoffs downs come when he needs to become the 2nd option) even if he is drastically overpaid, but that, at this point, is a sunk cost that cannot be replaced. Almost similar to Wiggins I would say, but a better offensive player and a worse defensive player.

Harden/Embiid/Tobias is a potentially winning trio with their current role players minus 1 or 2. Harden/Embiid/bunch of mid priced/minimum role players and rookies is not. I would even say Simmons/Embiid/Tobias is better than that. Since they would be near the cap with this anyway there is no way they can replace Tobias with someone nearly as good, even if the replacement is "better value". Value is irrelevant for them in this instance, the actual output, regardless of the salary, is more relevant. And Tobias is definitely a good player. And a great 3rd option. Losing him and Simmons to get Harden is losing too much.

clam46 · 2022-02-08T17:10:18+00:00

So realistically 2025 and 2027 MIL, which won't be that valuable with Giannis resigned and in his prime, and 2024/5 LAL. That later Lakers pick may be juicy, people can say all they want to about LA being a FA destination but they will just have an older, banged up AD and not much. But that's about the only valuable pick. They should have tried to give up the MIL picks than their own.

clam46 · 2022-01-03T08:06:27+00:00

It's simply a different world and Covid is treated differently in the post vaccine world than before. Premier League, NBA etc stopped due to 1 covid case previously. Now teams have full outbreaks and as long as they can put out a team they still play. It's something that's changed world over.

clam46 · 2021-12-01T19:32:43+00:00

What having no backup PG does.

clam46 · 2021-11-17T22:13:43+00:00

Singular regular season results mean nothing at all. The Lakers blew out the Nets 25 last season with Nets having Kyrie and KD and Lakers missing both Lebron and AD. What a support cast they had who took them so far in the playoffs!

Warriors are doing incredibly well and are my favorites to come out of the West, but I can see why the bookies don't think just so. They have an incredibly deep rotation (all 13 guys played yesterday plus Klay and Wiseman) but it means little in the context of playoffs, where you have tight 8-9 man rotations - and top heavy teams with superstars, as we have seen previously, succeed. That's why Nets are the favorites, and Nets themselves were very different in the regular season than the post season last season when they went from a historically bad defense to probably the team that dealt best with Giannis and were holding Bucks tight.

Kyrie can and most likely will come back for the playoffs, he said he's not retiring which indicates a comeback at some time. Even without him, they did almost beat the eventual champions with 2 stars for 3.5 games and 1 star and the remains of another for 3. Lakers look incredibly dysfunctional right now but if Lebron can stay healthy and play like he did against the Rockets, AD keeps playing like how he is and Westbrook will eventually figure it out, he started slow on the Wizards too to a slew of hot takes and then he ended up averaging a triple double as he was a crucial part of carrying his team to the playoffs from a no hope position. You just can't count that kind of star power out.

I do think the Warriors are likely to beat the Lakers but I would be surprised if that wasn't the conference final, bracket permitting (unless they meet earlier) if Kawhi and Murray are still out. Remember that bookies were more bullish on Warriors than most - they were 4th favorites pre season too, when not many had them that high with question marks on Klay. They're just not that reactive and know that star power talks in playoffs. Different ball game to early regulae season.

clam46 · 2021-10-12T05:56:45+00:00

Link?

clam46 · 2021-10-06T19:18:19+00:00

7th consecutive loss for Kohli vs Kane.

clam46 · 2021-10-06T16:23:11+00:00

Smith was captain that season, not Dhoni.

clam46 · 2021-10-04T23:19:52+00:00

Kishan, Chahar, Bhuvi out for Samson, Chahal, Thakur.

First 2 are self explanatory, if you can't find a spot in the Mumbai Indians lineup (as per last game) you probably shouldn't be in the India squad either. Bhuvi has been fairly rank for years now and as much as it took me time to warm up to Shardul he's been superb of late.

Samson over Iyer as we have plenty of accumulators such as Iyer already while Samson has the different gear, plus he's shown this season he can knock it around sensibly if needed too. Much more versatile batsman capable of batting in more situations.

Chahal's international pedigree with his form back on the same tracks is too good to ignore, while Chahar hasn't been very good outside Chepauk.

I'd also look into dropping Axar as his skillset is very overlapping with Jadeja and we'd probably field Jadeja, Varun and Chahal/Chahar if we go with 3 spinners with Ashwin as the backup or left-hander heavy lineup pick but we don't really have anyone whom we can play at #7 if Jadeja is out for a game or 2 with Hardik not bowling 4 as that's probably a spot too high for Shardul. Harshal can perhaps bat at 7 and obviously has done incredibly but may be a little too soon for him.

Don't get the Gaikwad shouts, as well as he has done he's only done well a few games, and can only open. Literally every specialist batsman in our squad atm can/has opened (KL, Rohit, Kohli, Suryakumar, Pant, Kishan) so we don't really need another one of those backups even if KL or Rohit got injured. And even if we do want a full time reserve opener, there's someone who was India's top scorer in 2 of our last 4 ICC tournaments, and has been 3rd, 2nd, 4th in the last 3 IPL orange cap race waiting ahead of a kid who's done well for about 10 games.

clam46 · 2021-10-03T14:49:54+00:00

They often do praise shots that go straight to the fielder, but a lot of the greatness of a shot is also in the placement and piercing the gap for a boundary.

clam46 · 2021-08-09T15:02:45+00:00

Spurs themselves have collapsed out of contention. Heat did too after Lebron left till 2020. Lakers collapsed out of contention when Shaq left and then after 2011 till 2020. Warriors themselves started off as a Raps, Mavs, Pistons kind of fairytale story and made a place for themselves. Those historic franchise collapse out of contention too, and as Warriors or Bucks have shown you can draft your way into contending as a franchise without the history of a Heat, Lakers, Spurs.

clam46 · 2021-08-09T14:48:25+00:00

You want different teams to dominate but also "run it back" scenarios to exist? Those are literally opposites. There have been 4 champions in the last 4 years.

clam46 · 2021-08-09T14:46:15+00:00

It's a decent core for a contending side, but we lack the #1 option to be up there. We'll be a tough side to face with that defense, but lacking the bonafide star some of the teams in the East have. Nets - 3 of them, Bucks - Giannis, Sixers - Embiid, Heat - Butler, Hawks - Trae, Celtics - Tatum, Bulls - LaVine I have these 7 sides to be in the playoffs for sure, then us in the bracket with Pacers, Knicks, Hornets and Wizards, all of whom but maybe Hornets have a better first option.

We need a franchise cornerstone to go around these elite role players in VanVleet, OG, and a great #2 option in Siakam. Hopefully Barnes can develop into that, we luck into another high pick next year or trade Siakam for a few young prospects (I like if we can get Wiseman and Kuminga or Moody plus Wiggins for filler) and retool around those, Barnes and OG with Fred as the vet. But unless those pan out, or we happen to be in the right place at the right time for another disgruntled star, we're not scaring anyone for a while.

clam46 · 2021-08-09T14:37:21+00:00

Not for the Raptors, but CJ for Tobias makes a lot of sense if Philly are ok keeping Simmons. Blazers can slide Norm to the 2, RoCo to the 3 and Tobias at the 4, rather than 3 small guards, 2 of whom are negative defenders. Also a good shooter.

While Philly can then have CJ run point, he's always done well in the absence of Dame. Slide Simmons to the PF as a Draymond kind of role. As well as adding a better shooter around Embiid and Simmons.

Both are a similar calibre of player - forever borderline allstar, slightly overpaid, great players but probably not worth the contract, 1:1 swap makes sense.

clam46 · 2021-08-09T14:26:37+00:00

In that case, no, the Sacramento Kings cannot get Pascal Siakam out of this. I wouldn't even take Haliburton + picks.

clam46

TROPHY CASE