RealGM

Hello, Nets world. I'm still banished from creating trades on the T&T board, so I need feedback directly from y'all.

(TBH, I find it wild that the mods there said I was too homer-ish and overvaluing Nets players, and spamming the board with various Harden trades. They said Allen, Prince, Levert and Dinwiddie will never get you the Beard, even with 4-5 1sts as I had mentioned. Bitter, who's bitter? But I digress...)

I still think a Damian Lillard trade makes sense for Brooklyn. We don't have to sell the farm to be the highest bidder, either. We've been waiting for Miami to top their offer, and it seems they won't budge on Herro/Robinson/Jovic/1st. I believe we can do better, and still hold onto premium assets for the future like the 2029 PHX 1st. We could really use an elite shot creator like Dame; the rest of our lineup would work beautifully around a superstar, but as currently constructed... we're incomplete.

Here's how I see it shaking out:

https://basketball.realgm.com/tradechecker/saved_trade/7860362

BRK trades Dinwiddie/Finney-Smith/O'neale/27PHI1st/27PHX1st/29DAL1st for Lillard
Brooklyn pushes in the chips for a superstar, who has name-dropped us, and who fits our needs to a T. I've included a couple of FA signings, not necessary but I feel they would fill out the roster well.
Lillard, Bridges, Johnson, Simmons, Claxton
Smith, Thomas, Oubre, Wood, Sharpe


PHX trades Ayton for Nurkic/Finney-Smith/27PHX1st
Phoenix gets solid defensive roleplayers to surround their Big 3, and recoup one of their picks for future flexibility.
Booker, Beal, Finney-Smith, Durant, Nurkic
Gordon, Okogie, Lee, Watanabe, Eubanks


POR trades Lillard/Nurkic for Ayton/Dinwiddie/O'neale/27PHI1st/29DAL1st
Portland resets with a franchise bigman, picks and productive (read: flippable) veterans on expiring contracts.
Henderson, Simons, Thybulle, Grant, Ayton
Dinwiddie, Sharpe, O'neale, Little, Winslow

Lillard's contract is what concerns me. Add too that how much will he really move the needle? But hey, it's Joe Tsai's money, if he really wants go for it all, as he has said in the past I won't deny we would be a lot more entertaining to watch.

Dame does not make us a championship favorite, kills 2025 FA, and has a scary contract on the back end. I would rather be patient, sign a big FA with cap space first & then spend the picks on bringing in another star.

id definitely still do a reasonable dame trade that basically upgrades dinwiddie --> dame for the price of 3 or 4 frps. they'd still have more picks left to make another move. who knows if clowney or whitehead can step up to being assets too.

would they be championship favorites? no. but it would be like when Miami got Jimmy 3 years ago. nets open a definite 3-4 year playoff window, probably top 5 in east, and if everything clicks (or they make a big follow-up move) they can go to game 7's with anyone in the east.

i think it's fair to consider bridges on bam's level,
heat probably dont have any 3rd player on the level of claxton,
cam j on the level of herro.

and if simmons is back to being simmons who knows what the ceiling is even before a follow-up trade.

I do not think the Nets will give up all of those picks unprotected in any deal without the names Luka, Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, SGA, Wemby, Tatum, etc. involved in it. Dame is not at that level of value now due to his decline in play after this incoming season and massive tax burden coming when his contract hits MOASS level shortly.

The Nets might have a chance here. But, you would have to consider the following if the teams of choice are only the Heat and the Nets.

1) We only have to beat the Heat's offer
2) The Heat's best player in the offer is Herro
3) The Heat do not have great draft picks to offer

The Nets combination of Dinwiddie and DFS would be above Herro. If we included one young player with it (they likely want that) and 2 1sts and 2 swaps we already beat the Heat's offer. Why offer more? No need.

The Blazers wants the following great picks, expiring contracts, and one or two young players.

We give them that here with Spencer (expiring), DFS (expiring in 1-2 seasons after), Clowney OR Whitehead, plus PHI pick, one of the PHX picks, and two 1st round swaps, and add in a 2nd as the cherry on top.

That would get the deal done IF Dame says make BK happen. But, that is a HUGE IF.

If that happens the Nets have an Eastern Conference Champion Level roster. But, they need another player to make us title contenders or favorites UNLESS key players have a huge improvement going into this season.

I don’t think he’d be unhappy here, but this still isn’t his ideal scenario.

Pair that with his age and contract, along with asset cost to acquire him and it’s a hard pass for me.

That said, we’re just fans discussing things here, so even though I’d disagree with the motives for the move, I’d of course fully support him if he winds up a Net.

vincecarter4pres wrote:I don’t think he’d be unhappy here, but this still isn’t his ideal scenario.

Pair that with his age and contract, along with asset cost to acquire him and it’s a hard pass for me.

That said, we’re just fans discussing things here, so even though I’d disagree with the motives for the move, I’d of course fully support him if he winds up a Net.

the age doesn't bother me a ton because we've seen PGs who can shoot play well into their mid/late 30's. Nash, CP3 probably being the 2 best examples but even a guy like Conley is still useful at 35. Curry too even though he's had some injury issues. Lillard isn't an athleticism dependent player like John Wall or Russell Westbrook. Even Harden for all his out of shapeness and diminishing athleticism is still a very good PG.

the way the nets have played this, it feels like a pretty safe bet that if they were to get him it would be at a reasonable price because portland just wants better than whatever miami offers. i think the nets smartly showed discipline in not spurring on a bidding war. i still think miami is most likely landing spot and i think they have the assets to pull it off.

i generally think portland has miscalculated because unlike the nets last year with KD, once the season starts i dont think they are going to win a lot of games. and if lillard gets hurt like KD did, i think it will tank his value more than kds got tanked. the nets were fortunate to go through most of last year looking like a contender. imagine what that season would have been like if kyrie was traded early on and they were barely in playoff position?

Netaman wrote:

vincecarter4pres wrote:I don’t think he’d be unhappy here, but this still isn’t his ideal scenario.

Pair that with his age and contract, along with asset cost to acquire him and it’s a hard pass for me.

That said, we’re just fans discussing things here, so even though I’d disagree with the motives for the move, I’d of course fully support him if he winds up a Net.

the age doesn't bother me a ton because we've seen PGs who can shoot play well into their mid/late 30's. Nash, CP3 probably being the 2 best examples but even a guy like Conley is still useful at 35. Curry too even though he's had some injury issues. Lillard isn't an athleticism dependent player like John Wall or Russell Westbrook. Even Harden for all his out of shapeness and diminishing athleticism is still a very good PG.

the way the nets have played this, it feels like a pretty safe bet that if they were to get him it would be at a reasonable price because portland just wants better than whatever miami offers. i think the nets smartly showed discipline in not spurring on a bidding war. i still think miami is most likely landing spot and i think they have the assets to pull it off.

i generally think portland has miscalculated because unlike the nets last year with KD, once the season starts i dont think they are going to win a lot of games. and if lillard gets hurt like KD did, i think it will tank his value more than kds got tanked. the nets were fortunate to go through most of last year looking like a contender. imagine what that season would have been like if kyrie was traded early on and they were barely in playoff position?

Useful is not what we need at $60 million a year after giving up any amount of blue chip assets for the right to pay that.

Love Dame, but let's not repeat out past mistakes (again)...

The only way the Nets consider this deal is if we do not give up more than one of the PHX and DAL 1st rounders, and we can just trade mainly expirings and swaps as the other pieces with POR. If not, BK says no thank you.

There are bigger more attractive fish in the pond coming up and we would rather speak to them.

ecuhus1981 wrote:Hello, Nets world. I'm still banished from creating trades on the T&T board, so I need feedback directly from y'all.

(TBH, I find it wild that the mods there said I was too homer-ish and overvaluing Nets players, and spamming the board with various Harden trades. They said Allen, Prince, Levert and Dinwiddie will never get you the Beard, even with 4-5 1sts as I had mentioned. Bitter, who's bitter? But I digress...)

I still think a Damian Lillard trade makes sense for Brooklyn. We don't have to sell the farm to be the highest bidder, either. We've been waiting for Miami to top their offer, and it seems they won't budge on Herro/Robinson/Jovic/1st. I believe we can do better, and still hold onto premium assets for the future like the 2029 PHX 1st. We could really use an elite shot creator like Dame; the rest of our lineup would work beautifully around a superstar, but as currently constructed... we're incomplete.

Here's how I see it shaking out:

https://basketball.realgm.com/tradechecker/saved_trade/7860362

BRK trades Dinwiddie/Finney-Smith/O'neale/27PHI1st/27PHX1st/29DAL1st for Lillard
Brooklyn pushes in the chips for a superstar, who has name-dropped us, and who fits our needs to a T. I've included a couple of FA signings, not necessary but I feel they would fill out the roster well.
Lillard, Bridges, Johnson, Simmons, Claxton
Smith, Thomas, Oubre, Wood, Sharpe


PHX trades Ayton for Nurkic/Finney-Smith/27PHX1st
Phoenix gets solid defensive roleplayers to surround their Big 3, and recoup one of their picks for future flexibility.
Booker, Beal, Finney-Smith, Durant, Nurkic
Gordon, Okogie, Lee, Watanabe, Eubanks


POR trades Lillard/Nurkic for Ayton/Dinwiddie/O'neale/27PHI1st/29DAL1st
Portland resets with a franchise bigman, picks and productive (read: flippable) veterans on expiring contracts.
Henderson, Simons, Thybulle, Grant, Ayton
Dinwiddie, Sharpe, O'neale, Little, Winslow

Yuck.

POR wants no part of Ayton.

I am scared the Nets are the mystery Eastern Conference team. If we are I hope we do not mortgage our future post Dame for him.

JKiddy wrote:I am scared the Nets are the mystery Eastern Conference team. If we are I hope we do not mortgage our future post Dame for him.

Mystery team?

We were an actual mentioned team.

Mystery team to me would be Toronto, Boston to an extent, Philly and Orlando.

There are articles and interviews now that state it is Miami and if not it might be Boston OR another MYSTERY EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAM. I think they might be elluding to PHI or BK.

JKiddy wrote:There are articles and interviews now that state it is Miami and if not it might be Boston OR another MYSTERY EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAM. I think they might be elluding to PHI or BK.

I’m just saying we’ve been mentioned from the rip, we could be the mystery team, but it’s probably an actual mystery team, like Toronto coming with Barnes, or Orlando offering a boatload of picks.

I think we are better off waiting for Luka, Giannis, or Embiid over the next year. We will have a shot at them. Why waste most of the trade capital for Dame when we can get a player 4-9 years younger who is on the rise and can grow with our current core?

JKiddy wrote:I think we are better off waiting for Luka, Giannis, or Embiid over the next year. We will have a shot at them. Why waste most of the trade capital for Dame when we can get a player 4-9 years younger who is on the rise and can grow with our current core?

I concur!

Trading for Lillard would be the right thing to do. Mikal Bridges just turned 27. The way to maximize his value is to get better now.

Many seem to think trading for Lillard would preclude the Nets from making another move. It would not. Lillard will not cost every asset the Nets have.

But even if no other move is made and Lillard can be had for some combination of Dinwiddie, O'Neale, DFS, Thomas, and picks, a Lillard, Bridges, Johnson, Simmons (if he is really back), Claxton team would be a terrific team. I see no reason why that team can't compete with the rest of the East.

There is no guarantee Giannis, Embiid, or Luka ever become available and even if they do, there is certainly no guarantee they would want to come here.

Stars want to play with other stars. KD doesn't come here without Kyrie. Harden wanted to play with KD/Kyrie and then with Embiid. KD wanted to play with Booker. Lillard now wants to play with Butler and Adebayo. Do you honestly see a middling play-in team led by Bridges as being attractive to a tier 1 superstar?

Educator wrote:Trading for Lillard would be the right thing to do. Mikal Bridges just turned 27. The way to maximize his value is to get better now.

Many seem to think trading for Lillard would preclude the Nets from making another move. It would not. Lillard will not cost every asset the Nets have.

But even if no other move is made and Lillard can be had for some combination of Dinwiddie, O'Neale, DFS, Thomas, and picks, a Lillard, Bridges, Johnson, Simmons (if he is really back), Claxton team would be a terrific team. I see no reason why that team can't compete with the rest of the East.

There is no guarantee Giannis, Embiid, or Luka ever become available and even if they do, there is certainly no guarantee they would want to come here.

Stars want to play with other stars. KD doesn't come here without Kyrie. Harden wanted to play with KD/Kyrie and then with Embiid. KD wanted to play with Booker. Lillard now wants to play with Butler and Adebayo. Do you honestly see a middling play-in team led by Bridges as being attractive to a tier 1 superstar?

It seems like the Nets plan to either go big game hunting after this season or the following. They have to decide if they want to keep Ben and how much they want to pay Claxton.

Likely the keep one of them and build around Bridges, Cam Jo, Cam Thomas, most of the young great cheap contracts, one of Ben or Claxton (or possibly both), and add one or two stars to this team.

It will be very attractive to a team if we are on the rise, have a great culture like we did a few years ago, play in BK, and have an owner that will pay to win.

I can see Luka, Embiid, or Giannis coming and that being the final piece with a few solid role players joining.

So are you to tell me a team of:

Luka
Cam Thomas
Bridges
CamJo
Claxton

or

Simmons
Bridges
CamJo
Giannis
Claxton

would not compete for a title if we filled in the bench with solid playoff level contributors?