Everything Trade Chatter

[lewro]

Lots of folks would like Paul Milsap if he were to become available... Its hard to say if he helps as much we hope he would against the Lebrons... The firm of Horford and Milsap even when they won 60 went into Cleveland and came out 2nd best .. this too when they had Carroll at his best....AND this was when Love was still figuring out his role and Frye wasn't there yet..

Might be if we can't figure out a way to defend the Cavs and Lebron then the Raps simply try to outgun them.

There is no easy answer right now... and that applies to the other 29 teams equally.

Or you trade Lowry for high picks to get younger talent and hope lebron slows down and/or cavs somehow break up. Masai will not do this tho.
Millsap is dead to me until I hear an actual rumour of movement. More interested to hear a variety of ideas. This isn't really directed at you DS, I like your posts

[slaw]

I think thats a function of matchups on D right now.
We have no answer for them right now when they go "small".. JV just can't chase either of Love or Frye out to the perimeter. He just can't. Its putting him in a position to fail miserably. Its not fair to him to make him try do something he isn't equipped to do. He has to come out.
Bebe is the more mobile 5 and if we stick with him, Ppat at the 4 and DD and Kyle and one of Ross/Powell/Cojo or Carroll at the other wing/guard spot all the focus is going to be on Ppat slowing Lebron as best he can and Bebe hedging like a madman on Frye or Love when Lebron pushes the pass out of the paint to one of those two standing at the arc. One of the wings is going to have to become a monster on the glass if Bebe commits to the close out and can't get back in time.
Its a real problem to solve and so far the Raps have come up a couple of puzzle pieces short each time this year.

yeah.. lebron fucking james is a helluva problem to solve.

We have no answer when they go small because Lebron James is facilitating the offense. This is the same problem that 28 other teams have and why the Lebrons won the title last season. There isn't a team in the NBA that can stop the Lebrons when he is determined and his supporting cast is making shots. When Lebron and Irving are on and the other guys are knocking down jumpers they are unbeatable. Full stop. Not even the vaunted Warriors are beating a determined Cavs team if the shots are falling. Lebron is just that good.

[lewro]

Last season, in 4 games against the Raptors, Noel averaged 6.7 points on 44% FG%, 7.7 rebounds in 28 MPG, 3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.7 blocks, and a -13, second worst on the team in those games.

Probably more useful to look at the 3 games in his rookie yr when he got to play his position - center.
13.7pts .607fg% 9.7 rebs 34.8 mins 2.3 stls 1.7 asts .66 blks -5. Ortg 118 drtg 106. He held his own in plus minus. Worst loss was by 16. The game he missed they lost by 32.

[octothorp]

We have no answer when they go small because Lebron James is facilitating the offense. This is the same problem that 28 other teams have and why the Lebrons won the title last season. There isn't a team in the NBA that can stop the Lebrons when he is determined and his supporting cast is making shots. When Lebron and Irving are on and the other guys are knocking down jumpers they are unbeatable. Full stop. Not even the vaunted Warriors are beating a determined Cavs team if the shots are falling. Lebron is just that good.

I think this is mostly true. I think what you want to do when looking at beating Cleveland is say: okay, so they're reliant on their 3-point shooting, and like any team, there can be some inconsistency there. And maybe you never beat them when they're shooting well. But how can you position yourself to beat them when they're shooting only mediocre? That previous game against Cleveland where Love shot 1-7 from 3, and they had to go with the much more flawed Frye down the stretch... those are the sorts of games that you absolutely cannot let get away against Cleveland in a playoff series if you want to beat them. You've got to have a formula for capitalizing when a key shooter has an off night. Figure out how you're going to punish Frye more when he's on the court and make two twos inside for every 3 he makes. In general, we've got to learn to punish their bench units more. The bench being unable to get over the hump in the second half last night. We've got better depth on paper, but we need that depth to find a way to make an impact on the score.

[Lupe]

Probably more useful to look at the 3 games in his rookie yr when he got to play his position - center.
13.7pts .607fg% 9.7 rebs 34.8 mins 2.3 stls 1.7 asts .66 blks -5. Ortg 118 drtg 106. He held his own in plus minus. Worst loss was by 16. The game he missed they lost by 32.

This we would not be acquiring Noel to play PF. It would be to play his best position, center. Similar to how people dismissed Aaron Gordon but he has not actually played PF that much (especially not this year) and when he has he's been very good.

[golden]

We have no answer when they go small because Lebron James is facilitating the offense. This is the same problem that 28 other teams have and why the Lebrons won the title last season. There isn't a team in the NBA that can stop the Lebrons when he is determined and his supporting cast is making shots. When Lebron and Irving are on and the other guys are knocking down jumpers they are unbeatable. Full stop. Not even the vaunted Warriors are beating a determined Cavs team if the shots are falling. Lebron is just that good.

But you could say about any top team, i.e., "Boy... when they're firing on all cylinders they're really hard to beat!" Yet that rarely happens - which is why you have to actually play the games. I'd take the Warriors knocking down their jumpers over the Lebrons hitting theirs 10 times out of 10.

A well-coached Spurs team, with far lesser talent made a determined 2-time champion Lebron look silly with the Heat. Bosh called it the most beautiful basketball he's ever seen. Kyrie and Love are not the toughest guys around - physically and mentally.

Point being - Lebron can be beaten by 'lesser' talent, but it would take a total team effort, maximizing all the players and some top notch coaching strategy. Cavs already lost 5 times this year - just not to us.

[JawsGT]

I think we can score enough to beat CLE, we just can't stop them enough to beat them. Siakim has a problem with Love, but I think that's something he can be better at. And we are getting easily exploited in the James/Irving PnR with Frye. Neither JV or Bebe are optimal defenders in this scenario. I'd actually like to see Poeltl have a go at it, and if not, put Siakim at C to guard Frye and see how that goes. These types of adjustments are a little easier to make in a playoff series when you see the same team over and over again. More difficult to commit to them during the regular season. Got one game left to throw some different looks at them, or maybe save those adjustments for the playoffs might be even better. Probably won't see the big 3 in the final game of the season anyways.

[jimmie]

I think we can score enough to beat CLE, we just can't stop them enough to beat them. Siakim has a problem with Love, but I think that's something he can be better at. And we are getting easily exploited in the James/Irving PnR with Frye. Neither JV or Bebe are optimal defenders in this scenario. I'd actually like to see Poeltl have a go at it, and if not, put Siakim at C to guard Frye and see how that goes. These types of adjustments are a little easier to make in a playoff series when you see the same team over and over again. More difficult to commit to them during the regular season. Got one game left to throw some different looks at them, or maybe save those adjustments for the playoffs might be even better. Probably won't see the big 3 in the final game of the season anyways.

Defending Love seems like it shouldn't be as hard as it is. He's not great at dribble-driving or shot-faking (I don't think...) so it seems to me to be mostly a defensive discipline issue -- don't run out at/past the guy, close out under control. In which case, its kind of understandable that young guys like Siakam or Bebe had a hard time with it; discipline + energy on D is something you develop over time and with confidence. Maybe Sully would do a better job...

With Irving, he's just a really good scorer. You're going to take your lumps with him and Lebron, just like every other team has to take its lumps with Demar and Kyle. Kyrie sucks on D, though, so maybe that's a tradeoff you can accept.

Lebron is Lebron. Tough matchup no matter what.

In any case, yeah, a really good, scary rim defender back there would help immensely on PnRs.

[Lupe]

But you could say about any top team, i.e., "Boy... when they're firing on all cylinders they're really hard to beat!" Yet that rarely happens - which is why you have to actually play the games. I'd take the Warriors knocking down their jumpers over the Lebrons hitting theirs 10 times out of 10.

A well-coached Spurs team, with far lesser talent made a determined 2-time champion Lebron look silly with the Heat. Bosh called it the most beautiful basketball he's ever seen. Kyrie and Love are not the toughest guys around - physically and mentally.

Point being - Lebron can be beaten by 'lesser' talent, but it would take a total team effort, maximizing all the players and some top notch coaching strategy. Cavs already lost 5 times this year - just not to us.

They didn't make LeBron looked silly. They made Miami look silly. He was still getting his usual insane numbers.

[3inthekeon]

Lose one game and 50 posts go up on the trade thread in 20 hours. smh

[KeonClark]

Lose one game and 50 posts go up on the trade thread in 20 hours. smh

This^

[Jangles]

Lose one game and 50 posts go up on the trade thread in 20 hours. smh

Would you prefer 0 posts? Some of us need RR to get us through the day!

[golden]

They didn't make LeBron looked silly. They made Miami look silly. He was still getting his usual insane numbers.

Even better. You don't even have to stop Lebron. Just stop Love and Kyrie, and Frye, apparently. Isn't Casey supposed to be the defensive mastermind who did beat Lebron with the far less talented team? It's possible folks, with elite coaching and the whole team on the same page. In other words, you need Le Brain to beat Le Brawn.

[psrs1]

I think we can score enough to beat CLE, we just can't stop them enough to beat them. Siakim has a problem with Love, but I think that's something he can be better at. And we are getting easily exploited in the James/Irving PnR with Frye. Neither JV or Bebe are optimal defenders in this scenario. I'd actually like to see Poeltl have a go at it, and if not, put Siakim at C to guard Frye and see how that goes. These types of adjustments are a little easier to make in a playoff series when you see the same team over and over again. More difficult to commit to them during the regular season. Got one game left to throw some different looks at them, or maybe save those adjustments for the playoffs might be even better. Probably won't see the big 3 in the final game of the season anyways.

When is Jared Sullinger going to be available? He might be better equipped to provide more of a physical presence.

[psrs1]

Lose one game and 50 posts go up on the trade thread in 20 hours. smh

In part posters are concerned that history will repeat itself again this year. Losing yet again to Cavs brings backs memories of last year and may again foreshadow our fate again this year.