Extreme Philly Sports Forum

They could flatten the lottery odds more and maybe have more selections that might help the extreme tanking.  If there were 6 picks instead of 4 and the odds difference between 1 and 10th worst team than there isn’t a huge reason to tank if your not a good team. But even when you tweak stuff like that there are other consequences.  More fringe playoff teams could tank to get in lottery, it would be harder for really bad teams to get better all these trade already occurred  with current protections those picks would have completely different values which isn’t really fair -  it gets complicated quick

He really needs time to get back playing and get healthier -  I don’t know if it’s about getting healthier or trusting the knee more.  Even with that the bigger problem is he doesn’t have a great place in this lineup -  with all that said you don’t give up on a guy who showed what he did with 2.5 yrs left on a rookie contract that is cheap unless it heavily improves your team and that trade might not be out there.

The only one I see that could make sense on both sides is Tari Eason for McCain because Houston might not want to pay him it works well straight up cap wise and Houston needs guards but do we want to pay him too with the injury risks.  I think it just needs to play out and he needs time to find his way which could be difficult on a team trying to win.

I was playing around with ideas in my head for pelicans (because they will probably make trades) weeks ago - the only thing I can come up with that makes sense is a 3 team trade where pg goes to another team that could want him.  Where my mind went was Atlanta because they supposedly wanted PG last year and seem to want to move off expiring porzingus so where my head went was porzingus risacher and kennard for pg and maybe some draft comp then moving risacher and kennard to NOP (a young guy and expiring) to NOP for Trey Murphy. Probably need small cap filler like Drummond in deal too but would work the problem would be how much draft comp would NOP want and would Atlanta rather go after someone like Giannis who is available. I mean we could put up the LAC pick but you know NOP would want try to get there pick back I thought maybe we give clip pick to Atlanta and they give NOP their pick back but if they are giving that up wouldn’t they want Giannis or Trey instead of Pg even if they still get high level pick back.

To make it work you’d have to give up a lot and probably be 3 team trade and I like Trey Murphy but right now on the court I don’t know if he gives you much more than pg when he actually plays  - pg is frustrating as heck but is still a good 2 way player - his defense is still very good and he can still shoot the ball he just never seems to want to play or be here.  But if you could end up with an expiring porzingus and Trey Murphy you could save plenty of cap next year to resign grimes and add a full mle while having a young core locked up for a long time I just think cost might be too much.

A part of me wonders if a similar trade like this for Embiid could be out there b it very unlikely - with our guards you’d have  Trey Murphy and Paul George both good shooters who can do a little of everything but you’d have a hole at center I guess porzingus could fill that even though he plays as much as Embiid -  it feels like a trade could be there just hard to get to something that actually works

There are only a couple teams out there where you might have a small chance of getting out of PG neutral or with some small value -  it’s not the Jazz with Lauri who are back on the Lauri should net a massive package train starting out well averaging 28. With that said for anything to happen you would need PG on the court probably for at least a month and looking really good to have a chance

These are the teams I could see justify trading something for PG.

Hawks -  there was interest last year at the deadline from Hawks reportedly,  I could see something like porzingus and rissacher and a pick for PG being something they could.  Porzingus is expiring and I really don’t like Rissacher on is inflated rookie contract but maybe he could be flipped with the pick and something else for a piece we want.  The real get here would be if you could pry away the pelicans pick and trade that back to NOP for Trey Murphy so they could tank but you’d have to probably give clippers pick back to hawks in that case. Hawks also might trade Trae young and if they get something back probably more unlikely.

Lakers - could they go for a last run with LeBron -  you could get mostly expirings - kleber, Vincent, hachimura with Vanderbilt and knecht would get them there with room to sign free agents we can through Broome in for a cheap salary (they are hardcapped) and maybe pry 1st at best case which would be 2031 or 2032-  they would have a starting lineup of doncic reeves pg LeBron ayton which is pretty good if healthy.  We could flip expirings and hopefully Vanderbilt for something better

Long shot but GSW -  they wanted PG before but cap wise it’s much harder to work now - it would have to be like draymond and kuminga and moody or hield .  I don’t think I’d want those pieces tbh and don’t know if they’d trade draymond but everyone is old so pg fits their last shot for Steph timeline.

Besides that I don’t see a scenario where someone would take pg for neutral or positive value - sure places will take him as a dump like Utah and Nets with the hope to also rebuild value and get value later but that only makes any sense if we have the perfect pieces coming back otherwise the flexibility if things go wrong to tank in 28 if needed to keep top 8 protected pick (that turns into 2nds) and have a top 5 pick and another probable top 10 pick (lac) before paying Vj/mccain and with having pg come off books.

All true. I hate to be overly pessimistic but George has played in 3 of the teams 17 games this season. After this year, he'll still be owed  $110,000,000 over two more years and he turns 36 in May. He'll need to play in a majority of the remaining games and at a near all-star level for there to be even the slightest chance of moving him before his contract expires. Better chance that he'll just retire.

That is the problem with PG - when he is healthy and playing he is okay, but PG seems to not care about playing at all and constantly getting injuries and taking forever to come back even with the knee the surgery could have been done earlier but he is in no rush to play.

I don't want to waste Maxey and teams time with guys who can't get on the floor but we can't just give away assets just to dump if it doesn't give us the pieces we need to take the next level.  If you could parlay PGs contract and a bunch of assets into say Trey murphy and an expiring porzingus in a 3-team trade (or something similar) than I would be done but if it is just a dump for an average overpaid player that doesn't really work the best strategy might be to burn the 2 years as hard as it sounds and ride it out. If this iteration doesn't work PG will expire in 28 which would be before vj or mccain extensions and if you tank that year (pick owed to nets is top 8 protected and converts to 2 2nds if doesnt convey) than you can guarantee yourself a top 5 pick owing nets only 2nds and probably another top 10 pick from the clippers and have cap space from PGs contract to go with still having maxey, vj, mccain.

Giving up that optionality to for someone mid doesn't make sense but if we could get a true foundational young piece under long-term contract to pair with our guards and cap space for other additions it might make sense but in my mind we really have 2-3 long term starter holes we need to fill at the 3-5.  PG and Embiid were supposed to be those pieces are never at the court which moves all the other pieces up where they shouldn't be (Oubre should be good 6-8 man not starter Drummond Barlow  watford  end of rotation or just off but they are starting too -if we can replace with foundational pieces that are young are play sign me up but if not unfortunately waiting might be best..

We were one pick away from drafting Kalkbrenner, who would have been the perfect back up to Embiid and potential long term replacement.

I don't normally fault a GM for missing a pick he never had a chance to make, but couldn't we have mortgaged a future 2nd or 2 to move up to get him?

I liked Kalkbrenner and was hoping he’d last but I don’t think hornets were ever trading those picks and the first 2 picks in the 2nd round went for a ransom.  The first 2 picks were traded for like 3-4 2nds not just 1 additional one and I think when they liked who was on the board hornets were never going to make a trade so you can’t blame that one - you weren’t giving up a future 1st and with the price being 3-4 2nds I can see why it didn’t happen.

I don’t think Eason will get what he wants but you never know - could be an extra year at minimum like Grimes.  If you trade McCain it means you are trying to work something out with grimes long-term no way they let both go. Just an interesting thought exercise.  McCain an Maxey together isn’t a great pairing due to size but if you go 3 guards it’s even worse with size - you can’t trade Maxey not the way he is playing you’ll never get equal value - if bucks are trading Giannis I’d consider Maxey and both clippers picks which would actually be good for bucks that would trend older with young guards but that could be a sick team McCain-VJ -PG-Giannis-Embiid with grimes as 6th man.  Doubt it would happen.


I’m not sure grimes leaves either because we have bird rights but it depends on the market and how McCain integrates -  unless it’s a good value I think he might stick around this year because he might have more value as S&T next year with the bird rights but all depends on the market.

Eason- McCain is just an interesting trade idea because I always thought grimes to Houston for smith or Eason made sense but with grimes on QO it doesn’t work but McCain for Eason as salaries fits easily and Eason could fit a good role here but then Eason and grimes if they get what they want would be costly. 

I just think McCain has star potential not that he will definitely get there but he could I see just great role player with Eason - for me to consider it would take 2 of those prime picks but I think that’s unlikely -  if it’s just 1 pick even if it’s good and Eason doesn’t stay long term are you going to draft someone better than McCain probably not.

Our guys feed off of each other so well, it's scary to think what they'll look like as a duo by season's end.

They take turns dominating the game, and when Grimes comes in that synergy doesn't disappear.

They do - it will be interesting to see how they integrate Mccain when he comes back too. Mccain's offensive game and shot for a rookie was crazy good. VJ's defense is like a super connector though -  Maxey's defense has been better and Mccains was picking up in his last couple games last year but having a defensive stud like VJ with either of them out there really helps on that side of the ball.  I'm guessing McCain i Maxey's primary - if Maxey is out Mccain is is in and maybe gets another 10 mins to share the court which is kinda a waste.  I don't think you can go 3 guard for 48 mins maybe 24 max which leaves 120 to split between the 4 Maxey and VJ 36 each grimes and McCain 24 each maybe and adjust based on matchups.