TrueLAfan wrote:I’m more and more convinced that we might be able to save a few $$ and get a young-ish player for our frontcourt. (It's largely about finding a team willing to use a good sized trade exception on Mook.) Now that we’ve resigned RoCo, I can see him playing much of his time—maybe 1500 minutes next year at PF or even C. Add in 1850 from Zu, about 1100 minutes from Batum at PF and spot minutes at C, and another 500-800 from PG or Kawhi at the 4. That’s 5000-5200 frontcourt minutes out of 7900. A 14th/15th man (*cough*BlakeGriffin!*cough*) will eat up 700-1000 more minutes. So, really, we’re looking for a 1900 minute or so player—maybe less. I think there are some low coast options that would be surprisingly good. I mentioned Keita Bates-Diop in another post; he’d be (very) cheap and adequate. There’s a better low cost, totally attainable options IMO—although I think a lot of people would hate it:
Clippers Trade:
Terance Mann
Kings Trade:
Trey Lyles
#37 Pick
Why for the Kings: He’s on a team with Richaun Holmes, Domantas Sabonis, Damian Jones and a couple of other pretty good backup guys in Chimezie Metu, and Alex Len. The Kings are stocked in the front court; overstocked, you could say. OTOH, at the 2/3 positions—and on D in general—the Kings are hurting. Mann gives them a long term answer, on a team where he’ll start and play consistent starter’s minutes, and be giving up a player that would be much lower in their rotation
I get that some people will think Mann is better than Lyles. And, maybe that’s right. But on our team, with so many 2/3s, he’s a luxury. He can get a player that help us at a position(s) we need help at. Lyles, as I’ll indicate, is a better player for our team. I’d love to keep Mann, but I’d trade him for a young-ish player that I think has some potential to be a needle mover for us at a position where we need help.
Why for us: Lyles took a little time for him to get his footing in the league—and still has room to improve. He’s a grade B Bobby Portis that could potentially develop into a very similar player—almost exactly the same size, a lot of the same pluses/minuses. Lyles is a year younger. He’s a little less of a rebounder and isn’t as consistent from deep. Still, what he did last year is pretty indicative of where he is in the league right now; 26 years old, 10.5 and 5 in around 20 minutes per game. He may be better than that; his numbers as a starter are actually better than his overall numbers (i.e. he plays well against starters). Since his rookie year, it looks like this:
93 starts, 23.7 mpg, .464 FG%, .338 3P%, .797 FT%, 8.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, .4 spg, .4 bpg, .8 TO
I’d be down with a guy that gave us 9 and 6 in 23 mpg as a backup 4-5 that could spread the court a little. And I think he’s a rare 26 year old (11 months older than Mann) that has some upside. I really think Trey Lyles could be a decent starting PF or 6th/7th man PF/C.
Mann is the new heart and soul of the team. I've given up on him averaging double digits in scoring but his defense, rebounding, and hustle is greatly appreciated. He's one of the kids that's supposed to be on the team just like SGA was. The basketball gods don't really shine to brightly on teams that continue to trade away team leaders and spark plugs.(see Lakers with Caruso). I can see Kennard and even Norman Powell(not really sold on him) traded before Mann. How do you think the locker room would feel if Mann was traded?
