The Raptors and KD. Let's discuss.

[planetmars]

I think Fischer has sources.. but he just gathers information and shares it as is. I think he knows people in front offices. I don't know if he uses agents as much as Woj or Shams do.

Fischer does strike out, but he also hits home runs. He called Barnes to the Raptors before anyone. When he's saying stuff like the Raptors are interested in XYZ.. there is likely some truth to that. I've learned to pay attention when Fisher has something to share.

[bertarapsfan]

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[The Great One]

The dream is to trade for KD without giving up Barnes and two of Siakam, OG, FVV. Can Masai pull that off? I don't know.

Barnes is a complete no no as far as i'm concerned. There's no ifs or buts, you don't trade a 20 year old future star for a 34 year old player. You just don't.

[bertarapsfan]

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I'm thinking this could be the deal and all 3 teams would see it as a win.

Nets get 3 young guys 2 potential all star. Plus a couple picks from Miami.

heat land Durant and can keep Lowry and butler who he wants to play with.

we get the center the system needs.

Bam, scottie, Pascal would be a crazy 3-5

[A.I]

One thing is for sure. If KD wins a title and is on the Raptors for 4 years, he is going to be loved like no other Raptor.

KD hasn't had that on his other teams. Things didn't work out in OKC and Brooklyn. Warriors fans probably like him because he won 2 championships but he doesn't come to close to the level of what Steph has done for that city.

[LJ2]

It really isn't high stakes between the Nets and Raptors. Neither team has urgency. Raps are moving nicely along the rebuilding path. Nets are going to blow it up. They can both walk away and shrug.

The team with urgency might be the Suns, because CP3 is on borrowed time and they have a few days to decide what to do with Ayton. Even then, Suns could just resign Ayton and revisit at the trade deadline. Darkhorse team with urgency is the Clippers, who are deep with some assets to pull it off, but would also need some maneuvering to generate picks. The Heat have urgency, with Butler and Lowry aging, but they can't trade Bam and don't have picks.

There doesn't seem to be a logical win-win deal for any team acquiring KD. The best semi-decent option I've seen so far was planetmars Jazz/Raps/Nets 3-way deal, but that would still need more assets/picks to be fair to the Nets.

Are Nets going to blow it up? From what I've read they can't afford to blow it up because all their own picks belong to other teams for the foreseeable future meaning they have no choice but to convert KD and Kyrie into players they can compete with alongside Simmons. At least that is how I interpreted their situation.

[The Great One]

[A.I]

I don't believe that.

People have been saying the Gobert trade framed the market. That was some quality to average role players and 5 picks.

You're telling me a good young C, a DPOY candidate, a solid wing and 5 picks isn't enough for a 34 year old KD?

[Rudy Bargnani]

This dude on ESPN said that Sean Marks would just hang up the phone if the offer was Siakam + OG+++ but somehow would be intrigued in a Heat deal centered around Herro lol. Wtf are these people smoking?

I just listened to the same guy. Clueless. It was Dave Mcmeninin also pitching that Brooklyn should do Kyrie for Westbrook. There are so many LA or Klutch mouth pieces that don't understand basketball or the salary cap it is embarrassing.

[Garbo]

“I am ALWAYS pro player, for the most part.” - JWill

[Primer]

I don't believe that.

People have been saying the Gobert trade framed the market. That was some quality to average role players and 5 picks.

You're telling me a good young C, a DPOY candidate, a solid wing and 5 picks isn't enough for a 34 year old KD?

I guess to depends on how you value Ayton and Bridges. Is Ayton on a max deal a desirable contract? Some would say yes and others would scream no. Is Bridges a potential all star or just a nice role player who looked good next to stars in Phoenix? There are good arguments both ways for those guys.

If I'm the Nets I'd much rather have Pascal who is real all star and all nba player who is the best on his team, not 3rd or 4th fiddle. You know you're getting an all star in Pascal who is worth what he's paid. Ayton and Bridges not so much.

Fred is also an all star and sounds like he'd be on a great value contract with the proposed extension. I'd rather have Fred at $28M than Ayton at the max.

You have to assume picks coming back are going to be late 1sts, so that hinders their value. I think the Nets need to really like the players they're getting back, not just the picks.

[LJ2]

There is definitely smoke here. If there wasn't Fred would probably already signed an extension.

My bet is our offer is

FVV, Trent, Flynn and picks.

I would do it for that. a monster lineup of

Barnes
OG
Durant
Siakam
Precious

is INSANE.

Agree on the smoke because FVV hasn't received an extension yet. I just don't love the line up with so few shooters though. We saw in that GS vs. BOS finals that it doesn't matter how good your defense is, offense trumps all.

I think you need to retain FVV for his shooting alone.

What's great is that if Raps are still considering trading for KD then you gotta trust they've already reached out to him and he's on board with playing for Toronto.

[A.I]

I guess to depends on how you value Ayton and Bridges. Is Ayton on a max deal a desirable contract? Some would say yes and others would scream no. Is Bridges a potential all star or just a nice role player who looked good next to stars in Phoenix? There are good arguments both ways for those guys.

If I'm the Nets I'd much rather have Pascal who is real all star and all nba player who is the best on his team, not 3rd or 4th fiddle. You know you're getting an all star in Pascal who is worth what he's paid. Ayton and Bridges not so much.

Fred is also an all star and sounds like he'd be on a great value contract with the proposed extension. I'd rather have Fred at $28M than Ayton at the max.

You have to assume picks coming back are going to be late 1sts, so that hinders their value. I think the Nets need to really like the players they're getting back, not just the picks.

Raptors can put together a better deal if they include Fred or Pascal, but I don't think thats a bad deal at all.

I guess if Nets are adamant on getting back an All star, then the Suns don't have any one outside of Booker, who they shouldn't trade.

[A.I]

Agree on the smoke because FVV hasn't received an extension yet. I just don't love the line up with so few shooters though. We saw in that GS vs. BOS finals that it doesn't matter how good your defense is, offense trumps all.

I think you need to retain FVV for his shooting alone.

What's great is that if Raps are still considering trading for KD then you gotta trust they've already reached out to him and he's on board with playing for Toronto.

If you trade Fred and Trent but keep OG. The shooting is still there. You lose one shooter and replace the other with KD who can shoot and then some.

Pascal shot pretty decently on catch and shoots. He'd get more opportunities playing with KD. OG can go back to being a 40% 3 and D player. You have to assume Precious and Scottie will get better. Raptors also signed Porter who is a good shooter.

[The Great One]

I feel like the Gobert trade fucked everything up. 5 unprotected picks for that guy?

I mentioned it already but the 2004 Shaq to Miami trade should be the bar. I keep hearing how we've never seen a superstar player like KD get traded before. Umm Shaq? Shaq at that time was 32. Unlike Durant, Shaq is a LEGIT top 10 player of all time. The Heat refused to give up their young star(Wade) for him. The Lakers instead got the Heat's secondary young star in Odom and a bunch of role players(Butler, Grant) and draft picks.