Betrayer
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Everything posted by Betrayer
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2 and 3 don't feel realistic, but sure, I'd do those as well. My opinion is skewed though, because I'd even do the Sabonis +picks trade that was rumored.
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Sure, it's all on paper until they hit the floor in October. That's why we're here, to shed light on the uncertainty of the offseason 😄 I'm not buying that they gave up "defense and toughness". Toughness, sure, but that might be a positive since we don't have to deal suspensions and flagrant fouls. Defense, not so much. Tobias and Collins are both poor, but I'd give the edge to Collins with his better shot blocking and rebounding. Stew had some amazing rim protection moments, but the facts are that Reed was better than him last year in most categories. This is a disruption defense and that's Reed specialty. He's also a better rebounder. So did they lose defense? I'm not so sure. As for spacing, it's just dooming to pretend that adding Joe and Collins won't make your spacing better than Tobias and Lavert. Did you watch the Cleveland series? Tobias shot 29% from three in the playoffs. He was actively passing up wide open threes to dribble into the crowd. And Joe is quite literally one off the best shooters in the NBA. When Duncan's not on the court you have another lights out shooter, which is something they haven't had in...ever. The Blake trade wasn't just bad because of Drummond. I wouldn't want that trade with Cade either. Smart teams don't get impatient and get taken advantage of like that. All that said, I agree that the Duren/Ausar team up isn't ideal (at their current skill levels), but I don't think it's as extreme of an issue as people make it out to be. Just having Tobias be able to hit a three would've changed the dynamic drastically in the playoffs. Of course, having a coach that understands basic offense would help too, because you don't actually have to put Ausar in the corner. I want a S&T as bad as you, but it's not happening. They aren't giving up on a 22 yr old All-Star/All-NBA, no matter how hollow we think his accolades are and moving Ausar would be insane.
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First, anyone who calls Collins a downgrade hasn't been watching Tobias clang threes or just get scared of shooting and dribble into a worse shot. Collins is a better play finisher from three and in the paint, and it's not close. He's not a creator for others, but neither was Tobias. The only thing Tobias is better at is post self creation, which is the shot every defense wants you to take. I'm quite happy with those attempts becoming Robinson/Collins/Joe three point attempts instead. I'm not going argue with the C grade much, though I'd say it was a C+ because they got better (marginally) by adding more shooting. Something everyone has been screaming for them to do for years. Replacing Tobias with Collins and LaVert with Joe. Those are clear upgrades. I'd argue that replacing Stew's minutes with Reed will be an upgrade as well (and the analytics back that up). They didn't add a #2, but I'm not sure what else you do when the players you purse say "no" and the GM's you want to trade with say "no". You acquire tradeable contracts that are marginal improvements and keep yourself flexible to try again down the road rather than mortgaging your future on a Blake Griffin trade.
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It's so nice of the NBA to all come together and help a crippled Embiid get a ring. It's like a make a wish foundation all for him.
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At 23 with an injury that basically cost him a season of development, I'm willing to bet on the best perimeter defender in the league who also happens to be a top 1% athlete with high IQ and an insane work ethic. We both know that this coaching staff has done him no favors when it comes to putting him in the right place offensively. They'd rather sit him in crunch time for Caris Lavert even though despite his offensive struggles all the numbers show that the team is better on offense when Ausar is on the court.
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I hear this a lot, but I really don't think digging deep is the issue. He feasted in the regular season when there was no opposing gameplan and scored his biggest games against weak opponents. Lobs, layups, and offensive rebound put-backs are easily negated against real teams. They simply box out and keep a body on you. You don't get those easy buckets in the playoffs. Many of us saw this coming a mile away and spoke about it all season. He's a rim runner, the easiest thing to take away. The problem is that unlike most rim runners he's not a good defender. Nor does he have the ability to shoot outside of 5 feet. So, what's his playoff skill? I hear people saying, "he's only 22, he'll improve", but what will he improve? Guys don't suddenly become elite defenders and I've seen no evidence that he'll ever space the floor with his shooting. Is he going to become the first Center to be a ballhandler who takes opposing defenders off the dribble? Not a bet I'd make. He's a regular season player - an upgraded version of Drummond. I truly wish they'd just give him what he wants and do the Sign and Trade, but you have to find another team willing to pay him the max and I doubt there are many out there.
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If the offensive system allows this to happen, then we need a new coach if we're going to win in the playoffs. But we both know that already.
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Absolutely. Zero chance Ausar gets an offer in the low 20s and zero chance he would take that. That'd be an insult. He's going to get between 27M and 32M.
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Just looking at the number of changes, it may feel like a lot, but it really isn't. Assuming Duren is back, 4 of the 5 starters return. The only guys who played meaningful minutes that aren't returning are Harris, Lavert, and Stew. In each case, the players taking their minutes will be a slight upgrade in my opinion (Collins, Joe, Reed). The changes were made on the margins to bring in more shooting. They've done that and I think it makes them a marginally better team. Not the big splash everyone wanted (including Trajan, it seems), but they haven't changed the core that got them there. They simply upgraded some of the vets around them to add more guys who can hit an open three.
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Draymond's shooting level? 🤣 He had 2 solid shooting seasons when he was 25 and 33 years old (Ausar is 23). Also, Ausar shoots better from 2 and has a higher eFG%, so he's already better in that department. I actually believe that Ausar can get to Draymond's 32% 3pt career average, if that's what you're looking for but even if he doesn't Ausar's defense has more impact on the offense. He averaged 5 stocks last year and that is a ton of easy buckets - Draymond's numbers don't touch that (3 stocks career avg). Green never had Ausar's athleticism or potential. They're both very good passers and our coaching staff should lean into that but they're set on Duren being the DHO hub which stupidly pushes Ausar behind the 3pt line where he's least effective. I wasn't suggesting that's all you need. Clearly they need another prime time player next to Cade. Steph had Klay (and KD) in addition to Draymond. The point is, of this current core, Cade and Ausar are the guys I'm investing in. They are the untouchables. The engine of the offense and the engine of the defense. As useless as it is to compare Ausar to Draymond since they play different positions, it's at least a better comparison of their impact on the court and on winning than the laughable comparison to Ron Holland. Might as well compare Cade to Jenkins while we're at it.
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I can't believe we're discussing Ausar vs Ron. It's not even close. The Pistons organization knows it. Every GM in the league knows it. And anyone who's actually watched more than a few games knows it. If you were to put Ron on the trade block right now you'd get 2 second round picks. If you put Ausar on the trade block you'd have every GM in the league blowing up your phone. Ausar bends the entire game when he's on the court. It's no coincidence that the team took off when he came back from his blood clot. He was third in DPOY voting behind two centers. He was first team all defense. The team is better on both offense and defense when he's on the court. Ron is a sparkplug defender off the bench who couldn't crack the playoff rotation. Those are facts. Let's not be silly here. Cade and Ausar are the true core of this team. One of them is the offensive engine, the other is the defensive engine. You build around that while developing Ausar's offensive skillset (or get a coach with the brains to figure out you can just put him in the Draymond DHO hub role).
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This is the offseason talk every year. Remember last offseason when Atlanta and Orlando were supposed to push us to the 5 seed? How'd that work out? This is still a top 4 regular season team barring a Cade or Ausar injury. I'd argue they got better (marginally), not worse. Who did they lose? - Tobias - can't hit an open three and usual won't take them. - Stew - couldn't stay on the court. - Caris and Ivey - that's addition by subtraction In their place they added the thing so many people whined they needed most - three point shooting. Joe is an elite NBA shooter and Collins is a much better shooter than Unc. I don't care who is taking the Caris/Ivey minutes (Joe, Huerter, Jenkins, Okorie, Green, Holland), it'll be an upgrade. This is before we even get into improvements from the 22-24 year old core.
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He also said he had been abused as a child and had turned to abusing others as an adult. He clearly does need help.
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Getting into the tax and then the repeater is definitely an issue for building a championship team as many teams are discovering. Spurs have a lot of people to pay coming up. I would have done the same thing as Victor because winning championships makes you more money in the long run (sponsorships, legacy, etc) and really, these guys are making hundreds of times a normal person's lifetime salary in just one year (not even counting sponsorships)...he'll be fine. He's making sure his team has more money to spend on good players to help him win without hitting aprons and repeater taxes in the future that make it harder to build a repeating championship winner. Smart move.
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Average lifetime salary in the US is around 1.7M. This dude makes nearly 35 times that EVERY YEAR. What an idiot. Edited to add: That's not even counting endorsement money.
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I can't be the only one watching, right? Game 1: Okorie looked solid with 20pts and good PG play even though he had nobody worthwhile to pass it to. Good handle. Nice speed. The size will definitely be an issue on defense in the real league. The team we're fielding is pretty bad, so I guess Okorie should feel at home like he's back at Stanford. Chaz Lanier is not an NBA player. Onyenso just looked like your typical big body second round pick. Struggled to move his feet and looked pretty clunky. For the Sixers Philon looked pretty good as well. I know a lot of people were interested in drafting him over Okorie. He had 18. Started strong and then fell off while jacking up a bunch of bad shots. Nice handle, but gave me Lamelo Ball vibes with his antics and overdribbling. At this point I'm still wishing we would have taken Cam Carr.
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2 years of the Locker Room Killer or 5 years of the 40M dollar Rim Runner? I hate both of those options, but I guess I'll take the 2 year sentence instead of the 5 year one.
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Pistons are trading Caris and 2 seconds to the Bucks for Prince and Gary Harris.
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It won't happen. They'll agree on 35-40M, but I'm hoping for an S&T while his value is probably the highest it will ever be, even with his recent playoff performance. The QO would be a train wreck. Losing an All-Star and All NBA player (deservingly or not) with nothing in return would be a disaster. On top of that, he's going to want playing time to showcase what he can do for some other team, but the organization has zero incentive to play him since he clearly won't want to be here. They might as well start Reed and play Onyenso behind him because there's no need to invest in and develop Duren. It would be a terrible situation for the locker room, for Duren, and for the franchise to come up empty on an All-Star. But that won't happen. This will end in a multi-year contract or a S&T. If he takes the QO he'll make about 10M and hope to get 44M/4yrs next offseason. That's a total of 186M. The Pistons are probably already offering him 35M over 5 years. That's a total of 175M. Sorry, but even Duren isn't dumb enough to risk injury over that little difference in pay.
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He's not a max player for sure. But this is the opposite extreme. No way you're getting the best perimeter defender in the league and a top 3 finalist for DPoY at 20M a year. My guess would be something more like 25-30M. I have no problem with that amount for him as the #3 guy in the core. The real problem is that Duren isn't the #2 and he's about to be paid like it. That makes Ausar's lack of shooting a bigger issue than it should be, but I'm not penalizing Ausar for that, I'm doing a S&T with Duren to solve the problem.
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You're forgetting that JB ran Javonte at PF most of the time 😞 Hopefully that's not actually the answer.
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I'd take him over Huerter, but not Joe. Sadly, the player actually has to want to take that salary to come to Detroit. Doesn't seem like anyone - even Tobias - is rushing to do that.
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They're trying to make the game move faster so youngsters with Tik-Tok Brain don't get bored and distracted by something else. A better answer would be to stop calling so many fouls when guys are just baiting and the offense is initiating the contact.
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That's a steal for Brown.
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No doubt. This is still early days when he's trying to do it without another star next to him. It won't be long before that changes.
