OT: NBA Trade Deadline Discussion Thread
For those who follow the NBA, the tread deadline is 3:00 today. So far, there have been a few interesting moves:
Most significantly, the Pistons traded Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks to the Knicks for Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Evan Fournier, Ryan Arcidiacono and 2 2nd round picks. I think that this is the rare trade that benefits both teams for their respective needs. The Knicks unloaded 3 players who were not real contributors plus Grimes (who is young, but was "just a guy" coming off the bench for NY), along with 2 picks that they didn't need, for an instant upgrade in Bojan (who will come off the bench at the 3 and 4) and a solid backup guard. The Pistons unloaded older players for some youth and assets (Fournier has an expiring contract, and may actually be able to contribute if he can find his old shooting form on a new team).
Figured that on a slow Michigan sports day, why not talk some NBA hoops.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:46 PM ^
Pistons just released Killian Hayes. Finally got rid of that disaster of a pick.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:47 PM ^
Whats the story on him? Is he that bad? I hear it a lot but never looked into it much.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:49 PM ^
He can't shoot at any range and isn't a good playmaker. He's an alright defender but not good enough to be on an NBA roster.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:53 PM ^
Yeah, the shooting is what killed him. He's a career 27% from 3 and 38% from 2, and he's not much of a finisher. I know they're different players but that's what scares me about Thompson as well - you can be a really good defender and a plus rebounder but if you can't shoot you'll be run off the court.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:09 PM ^
Yeah he can't shoot, and thst sucks, but at least he wasn't the turnover machine Cade is. Just last night he had 9 assists to 1 turnover.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:12 PM ^
I’m really concerned about Cade. So hard to win with a player like that. He may eventually get it years down the road but probably not in the Pistons.
February 8th, 2024 at 11:34 PM ^
Cade is not him
February 8th, 2024 at 1:48 PM ^
Yeah, it was the type of logical trade that helps everyone. The Knicks have some more scoring and veterans off the bench while the Pistons get some value for older guys they took a shot with. I still think Weaver has no real plan for this team, and while I like the trade for Fontecchio as another shooter-ish player he's 28 already and I'm not sure is a long-term future. And it cost them, along with the Morris trade, some 2nd-round picks that might be valuable. It's still a team with limited floor spacing and an HC who apparently just wants to collect checks and piss off his younger players.
But overall this trade deadline seems like most teams are trading logically, and I suspect there won't be any huge trades given how a lot of teams are sort of jumbled in the middle and the play-in games. There isn't really a star trapped on a terrible team that isn't going anywhere who you'd trade for.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:49 PM ^
There's an NBA team in Detroit?
February 8th, 2024 at 1:52 PM ^
Yes and they blew out the Kings on the road last night. Michigan and the Pistons winning took a bite out of my draftkings account.
February 8th, 2024 at 3:11 PM ^
The Detroit Generals
February 8th, 2024 at 1:51 PM ^
HUGE Day For The Grizzlies So Far!
Grizzlies trading a top-59 protected pick for Luka Doncic
Grizzlies trading Santi Aldana and cash considerations for Nikola Jokic
February 8th, 2024 at 1:58 PM ^
And Sherrone Moore will announce the hiring of Bill Belichick as DC.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:55 PM ^
Troy Weaver playing fantasy basketball. Still.
February 8th, 2024 at 1:58 PM ^
The Pistons' roster now includes:
Gallinari
Muscala
Fontecchio
Arcidiancono
February 8th, 2024 at 2:00 PM ^
Still trying to trade for fettuccine and Alfredo.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:22 PM ^
I also heard Pinocchio is in play, but someone might be lying about that one.
February 8th, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
when the trade deadline
hits your eye,
like a big
pizza pie,
thats amore!
February 8th, 2024 at 3:20 PM ^
they're really going all in to try to get a Stellantis sponsorship
February 8th, 2024 at 1:59 PM ^
NBA? Surprised no one has mentioned... Jordan Poole.
I live in DC area and happened to be channel flipping between 3 NBA games on at the same time, and caught the portion late in the Wizards game where the home crowd was booing him. Not "Pooooole" but "BOOOOO!?" (The fact I live in DC is why I paused on the Cavs-Wizards game; otherwise why on Earth would I watch it over whatever NBA TV had on. Warriors were annihilating the Sixers at the time on The Mouse.)
JP has fallen off a cliff. Scored 0 last night, fouled out. He's not injured, and he's starting. The previous 3 games he had single-digit points too; was like 2-14 from 3 a few games ago and 0-fer the past 3 games.
He was so fun to watch with the Warriors. Then... he got the bag, Dray went Dray on his face, the trade... it's so sad. I hope he can recover from this, but holy crapamoli, he is in such a funk.
(Dare I say... he is so bad he might not even be able to elevate the current UM team, if he were on it....)
February 8th, 2024 at 2:07 PM ^
Poole is a prime example of a player that would have benefited from another year or two in college which would have been the norm 20 years ago. The NBA is littered with guys with "potential" from being in college 1 or 2 years. It's not good basketball a lot of the time.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:28 PM ^
Oh come on. Poole was the 3rd best player on a team that won the finals 2 years ago. What would be different now if he had a 3rd year in college 5 years ago?
February 8th, 2024 at 3:08 PM ^
Get drafted by a worse team, not win an NBA championship, not sign as big a 2nd contract?
February 8th, 2024 at 3:12 PM ^
What the hell are you doing here? I thought you only came out for the hockey threads.
JK
You really do the Lord's work in those Mr Bleed. I can honestly say I enjoy reading your live commentary almost as much as actually watching the game.
February 8th, 2024 at 3:16 PM ^
I dabble. :D
February 8th, 2024 at 2:33 PM ^
I think the idea that players somehow get better coaching and more opportunities to play basketball doing it part-time with college coaches vs full time with NBA coaches is funny to me. Poole's last year with the Warriors he averaged just over 20 points/game having improved his scoring every year since he turned pro.
Not sure what happened to him THIS year (probably depressed at playing for the Wizards) but he definitely made himself more than "just a guy" during his four years at Golden State.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:56 PM ^
Such a dumb comment. Poole was a 1st round pick, was a big contributor on a title team as a 22 year old, and played well enough to get a $128 mil contract. He's having a rough year but that has nothing to do with not spending another year at UM
February 8th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
NBA basketball is terrible and for me, unwatchable. The defensive intensity is on about the level of an All Star game from 20 years ago. The players, while more athletic than ever, aren’t as skilled, which probably has a lot to do with the lack of college experience. The 3 pointer has ruined the flow of the game, partly because players are shooting it better than ever. I don’t find watching teams jacking up 3s back and forth to be particularly entertaining. I used to be a Warriors fan and watched every game, but I haven’t watched more than a few minutes at a time in years.
February 8th, 2024 at 3:58 PM ^
I would argue that players are more skilled now than they've ever been. Similar to football, the professionalism of the sport and the rise of youth leagues, AAU, camps, and dedicated development from younger and younger ages has made each crop of young players more ready than ever. I mean, we now see a wealth of big guys with handles, passing ability, and deep shooting range. In the past, you'd be a unicorn if you were a big guy who had one of those things.
I would agree that the prevalence and reliance on the three points shot, however, has fundamentally changed the game in significant ways.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:00 PM ^
My advice is to NOT look at the moves made by the Pistons thus far.
I mean, what is Troy Weaver doing?
February 8th, 2024 at 2:03 PM ^
Trying to keep track of 2nd round picks?
February 8th, 2024 at 3:27 PM ^
Putting a more cohesive roster together while clearing out quality role players who aren't good enough to pull the Pistons out of the basement, collecting second round picks to package later, and opening up literal mountains of cap space.
Team is real bad, and all the guys moved are good bench/third or fourth options on a playoff team. Pistons ain't anywhere near a playoff team, so those dudes are just taking up development space. Weaver made a mess, but at least these moves are setting them up to get out of it and build around a core of guys 23 or younger. I don't think there is a universe where the Pistons could make better moves right now.
February 8th, 2024 at 7:02 PM ^
They'll have to package Cade, Thompson, and their top-5 draft pick this year for a legitimate NBA star. Cap space won't do them much good, because a premier UFA isn't signing in Detroit. Maybe a couple retreads they overpay though.
Or they can draft bronny and convince his dad to sign with them. That would at least make them watchable for once.
February 8th, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^
Who said they need to trade for a legitimate NBA star? I think acquiring an established star at this point is pie in the sky thinking. Short of doing that (which won't happen), you have to hit in the draft. The NBA is the hardest league to build a contender in because you need some star power, and for 80% of the league, the only way to do that is through the draft.
Once you have a star and start improving the team, if you have the flexible contracts and space, then you can catch a star looking for an out elsewhere. If you start to get into the upper echelon of the conference, then anything is on the table. Getting a disgruntled star for cheap in a trade, attracting a star who wants to win in free agency, etc.
Until that point, a team like Detroit has to acquire picks and flexibility so they can take as many shots in the draft as they can while maintaining the ability to tweak the roster if they hit in the draft.
February 8th, 2024 at 10:40 PM ^
Because they need complementary talent. Ivey and Duren are good pieces. Cunningham is a turnover machine and Thompson can't shoot. He's a more athletic Hayes. They don't fit with the other guys Weaver has assembled. But they could fit better elsewhere.
February 8th, 2024 at 2:36 PM ^
Love that Knicks trade 😃
February 8th, 2024 at 3:13 PM ^
clarence, what is your NY sports split, and is it aligned the way most NY'ers have it, regardless of which side of the split they are on? and to be clear, it is my understanding of NY sports fans that they split the NBA/MLB/NHL and NFL teams - so you might be a knicks/mets/islanders/giants fan, for instance. did the question make sense now?
February 8th, 2024 at 6:08 PM ^
I’m a NYer. The standard split is: Yankees/Giants/Rangers or Mets/Jets/Islanders. The Knicks kinda transcend that as I would say that 80+% of NYers are Knicks fans. I’m personally an anomaly - Yankees, Giants, Islanders (doesn’t fit), Knicks. Oddly, when I met my wife, she had the identical rare split, so I knew it was a good match!
February 8th, 2024 at 6:43 PM ^
There is definitely a NYC split. I am Bronx/Manhattan oriented, so I go Yankees/Giants/Knicks. The Giants used to play in Yankee Stadium, while the Jets played at Shea Stadium in Queens. I will not root for Brooklyn/Queens teams any more than I would root for Michigan State.
February 8th, 2024 at 7:04 PM ^
If you're from Queens or long Island, You're Jets/Mets/Isles
If you're from Manhattan or the Bronx, you're one of those front runners.
Brooklynites are 50/50.
Everybody in the tristate area is a Knicks fan though.
February 8th, 2024 at 8:03 PM ^
Front runner? Look, I'm a Bronxite, born and bred. I grew up about 2 miles from the Stadium. Why on Earth would I forsake my hometown team for some team from Queens that loses all the time? Fuck Queens. Plus, I became a Yankee fan in 1973 at the age of 6, a year the Mets won the pennant and played in the World Series. Because a older relative was a Yankee fan--he bought me my first glove (a Cesar Cedeno model) and took me to games at the Stadium. I became a Giant fan after watching the Csonka fumble--specifically because the Giants were terrible, and I reasoned that there was nowhere for that sadsack-ass organization to go but up. That they'd played at the Stadium sealed it. I became a Knick fan in '73, the last year they won it all. So that was front running, and I've paid the price.
Side note 1: Fans of the Dodgers and Giants converted to the Mets once they came into being and passed that down to their kids. So Yankee/Met fandom is close to 50/50. The Giants are more popular than the Jets--probably 65-35. .
Side note 2: The Nets were a New Jersey team from the ABA days, and I think most New Yorkers outside of Brooklyn still see them that way. Jersey gets zero respect from New Yorkers. It's the Ohio of the East Coast.
February 8th, 2024 at 8:43 PM ^
February 8th, 2024 at 3:14 PM ^
Evan Fournier got traded. Everyone should google image search Fournier right now and see some of his funniest pics.
February 8th, 2024 at 3:38 PM ^
I've been waiting a long while for the Pistons to become competitive as a playoff team but they don't look any closer to being competitive. It looks like it will be a long while until I'm interested in NBA basketball. I really miss the bad boys days and the early years of this new century.
February 8th, 2024 at 6:39 PM ^
Traded Bogdanovic a year too late. He had actual value at last years trade deadline and in the last offseason. Probably could have netted some future draft assets for Killian in the offseason as well. Pistons just dont seem like a team poised to turn it around anytime soon.
February 8th, 2024 at 11:09 PM ^
Troy Weaver's years as GM making trades has never won more than 23 games in a season.
Now , Killian Hayes, the #7 pick in the 2020 draft asked for a change of scenery.
The Pistons' response:
February 8th, 2024 at 11:31 PM ^
As a Celtics fan, it's always fun to see what Brad Stevens pulls out at the trade deadline. This year, 3 second rounders & Delano Banton (?) for young lock-down defender Jaden Springer & tough-gritty guy we all know Xavier Tillman. Just a total clinic by my GM.
February 9th, 2024 at 6:19 AM ^
the typical alaskan-celtics fan. bump into these types all the time....
February 9th, 2024 at 8:32 AM ^
I live in a mercenary sports fan state. That said, I'd give up my Celtics pride if the Sonics got a franchise.