Jennings In Trade Rumors

[ZMonkey11]

Payne has far surpassed DJ as the Thunder's backup PG, and especially with Westbrook playing heavy minutes, DJ is a complete non factor there, so saving $$ (approx 2 mil I think?) is a no brainer for them. And as a bonus, Blake will concede to being the 3rd PG and is already more of a coach type figure than player at this stage, so he would be able to be an effective mentor for Payne.

Makes a lot of sense on both sides, this should get done

Don't know the salary figures, but if this is the case, I'd get er done. Augustine was amazing for that stretch last year.

[Detroit]

Don't know the salary figures, but if this is the case, I'd get er done. Augustine was amazing for that stretch last year.

We traded DJ and Singler for RJ and now there are talks of us trading Blake for DJ?

LMAO how great is SVG/Bower!!

[Nastradamus]

DJ's shooting at the backup PG spot would be much welcomed.

[dd24]

Looks like we just got Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton. We gave up our first round pick and Joel Anthony.

[dd24]

Motiejunas is a free agent at the end of this year I think so he could just walk and we lose that pick for nothing. Of course maybe that is part of their plan. Maybe they just want the cheaper 2nd round guys for the end of the bench. The draft is super weak this year after all. I think they could have possibly found a decent backup PG at the end of the 1st round though.

[Nastradamus]

He's a restricted free agent so I'm sure we plan to match.

This gives us a lot of options and a lot of shooting. Montejiunas means we can still have a pretty good player(compared to Baynes, who I do like to a degree) on the floor if Drummond is on the bench in the 4th quarter.

Thornon is basically Meeks, healthy, so he fits well behind KCP for now, and possibly even next year.

[dd24]

Yeah, they can match. And they might. He is an upgrade at backup C. I'm not a big fan of Baynes. Thornton can ball. But I don't want him to take minutes from Johnson. Let's not forget SVG has used him at SG too. I feel like Meeks or Thornton eventually gets moved for a backup PG. Blake being the backup scares me... a lot. We're really weak at that position. We kind of have a log jam at the wing. The Thunder traded Foye for Augustin. I wish we would have tried to move one of those guys for him (without looking to see if the salaries match).

[Nastradamus]

We didnt' have a Foye to offer them

[dd24]

Thornton or Meeks. Of course Meeks would need to be healthy. I think it would be very interesting if we could have tried for Trey Burke. That probably would have been a better use of our 1st round pick. I'm not sure what we could offer for him now.

[dd24]

I also think SVG envisions having Motiejunas on the court as the same time as Drummond. Donatas can be a stretch 4. He was pretty decent last season. This season he's been hurt all year but he says he's 100% healthy now. I just wonder if those two are on the court who is going to get the shaft with the minutes. Is it Morris or Johnson? I'm certain Morris will see less playing time now. That's not a bad thing. He's been playing too much anyhow and has times when he really slumps. I kind of wonder if SVG looks at him as a one or two year rental. He has a nice contract so he would be attractive to other teams. He could get moved for a really nice backup PG. Then you'd have Johnson, Harris, and Motiejunas getting plenty of PT. (If the resign Motiejunas of course). I think they must be letting Thornton walk. It's just too crowded on the wing right now.

[Aussie Dunker]

I kind of love this trade, I really like D-Mo, his footwork and post moves are insane - looks so comfortable with his back to the basket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOsp5ULymc

Not too concerned about losing our first rounder which would project (in my opinion after these trades) to be in the 16-20 range.

I like Baynes, but there is a time and place for him, D-Mo gives us a whole different look, and he can slide to PF quite easily if we want to go large.

Morris has been balling for us this year, so much better than I thought he would be, has really bought in to our system. Long term I would LOVE for him to be the leader of our second unit - but not sure he has the maturity or mentality to take on that role, as I think he sees himself as a starter, in a perfect world, our lineup next year would look like:

Dre / Baynes / D-Mo
Harris / D-Mo / Morris
Stanley / Morris
KCP / Meeks
Reggie

Would just need a backup PG, which would be our offseason focus,

Most of those players, especially those key pieces, are all 25 and under, we don't need anymore high draft picks - we just need to develop this young core, there is enough potential here, and SVG to continue adding pieces to the puzzle through free agency and trade.

Bottom line I loved our moves we made

[dd24]

Most of those players, especially those key pieces, are all 25 and under, we don't need anymore high draft picks - we just need to develop this young core, there is enough potential here, and SVG to continue adding pieces to the puzzle through free agency and trade.

We're not going to be up for anymore high draft picks. Part of our teams problem is we were never able to draft high enough. So there's for sure a chance Detroit is going to be stuck in mediocrity. This years draft pick doesn't matter much because it's just a weak draft. It could have been used to get a backup PG. We'll see how those guys turn out. We now need to hope the young guys we have really develop. KCP finally took some big steps this year. That's promising. He looked like a bust the past couple of seasons. Luckily the SG position is so weak in the NBA he has a chance to be a decent player at that position. When you think about really good SG's there's only Harden, Thompson, DeRozen, and Butler. There's a 2nd tier of guys like Beal but that list is short. And by the way Butler plays SF a lot too. So KCP does have a chance to break into that 2nd tier of guys next season. I really think he's an X-factor. The other one is Johnson. If he turns into something special that helps too. I think we know what we're going to get for the most part with the other guys. Hopefully they still get a bit better. I just really want this team to not get stuck in the middle of things. I've been so worried about that over the years. If they get stuck there it's a much longer rebuild. The cap goes up 20 million this season and 20 million next season so that helps things a bit.

[ZMonkey11]

We're not going to be up for anymore high draft picks. Part of our teams problem is we were never able to draft high enough. So there's for sure a chance Detroit is going to be stuck in mediocrity. This years draft pick doesn't matter much because it's just a weak draft. It could have been used to get a backup PG. We'll see how those guys turn out. We now need to hope the young guys we have really develop. KCP finally took some big steps this year. That's promising. He looked like a bust the past couple of seasons. Luckily the SG position is so weak in the NBA he has a chance to be a decent player at that position. When you think about really good SG's there's only Harden, Thompson, DeRozen, and Butler. There's a 2nd tier of guys like Beal but that list is short. And by the way Butler plays SF a lot too. So KCP does have a chance to break into that 2nd tier of guys next season. I really think he's an X-factor. The other one is Johnson. If he turns into something special that helps too. I think we know what we're going to get for the most part with the other guys. Hopefully they still get a bit better. I just really want this team to not get stuck in the middle of things. I've been so worried about that over the years. If they get stuck there it's a much longer rebuild. The cap goes up 20 million this season and 20 million next season so that helps things a bit.

I don't think we will get stuck in mediocrity at this point. The Bulls are on their way down. The Bucks aren't much of a threat at all. Who knows what is happening to Atlanta. Indiana will go as far as PG13 will take them, but they aren't the juggernaut they were 3 years ago.

The only team on the rise in the Central is us. Super young core. They like each other. They like their coach. SVG is pulling rabbits out of hats at this point. We are about to turn the corner.

LESSSS GO!!!

EDIT: I also think Toronto is at their peak power. I don't see them getting any better than where they are at. And Demar has the opportunity to leave next season and get PAAAIIIDDD. He is not going to accept his player option.

[dd24]

It sucked letting Monroe walk, but looking at the Bucks now they're going to have a very tough time with him. Chicago I'm 50/50 on. It depends on if they can retain Noah and Gasol. Their team needs to also stay healthy. I like Indiana. They need a PG, but they have for the last 4 years. I'm so glad we didn't offer Lance Stephenson all that money years ago like everyone wanted to. I knew he couldn't play.

[dd24]

I could really see Derozen going to the Lakers.