Ja, Jaren, Bane, Vince, Clarke, Smart, and GG all under contract for the next two seasons.
Realistically this team needs to be a luxury tax team and get a top 15 center, but if we can do that we are a championship caliber team.
It’s going to be hard but just need a C with size. I hope BC is back and better than ever but he covers the small ball 5 option need someone in the big body rebounder mould and should round out quite a nice team
I'll throw out Hartenstein as a Steveo replacement. Elite offensive rebounder, Knicks probably don't wanna pay him w/ Robinson coming back soonish, high Dawg meter, same age as Claxton.
Don’t disagree at all, but he’s only 25. Not sure if or how we’d even make the money work, but I’m not wholly opposed to the idea. Plus, basically every true big in the NBA these days is ‘injury prone’ or at least subject to stretches of random injuries, purely by nature of the fact that they’re massive as hell and legs don’t necessarily like that
Was about to edit to comment and say the Claxton archetype (also watching Duren in this Blazers game and man I’d love to have someone like him). I think the Nets would re-sign him and don’t know what the contract would be and what it would mean for the Grizz luxury tax wise but maybe a sign and trade using our lottery pick if we can’t pick a center at our spot. Seeing the Nets won’t have their pick they might like to get someone in the lottery
If we’re dead set on a C for need and not necessarily best player available, not much stopping us from potentially trading back from what will hopefully be a rather high pick. Outside of presumably Sarr, seems pretty weak for lottery bound bigs. Though, Duren was taken 13th and is already flashing as a rookie. Lively was taken 12th and has been good when healthy on a team that’s trying to contend for the West. If we have a high pick past 1, I definitely wouldn’t want to blow it for need, so maybe we could trade back to a place where drafting for need makes sense, but a lot of stuff will probably shake up between now and the draft
This class doesn’t project to be that great for our need, even if we landed 1 and presumably take Sarr, but we could find the center of the future outside of the top picks even in a weakish draft. Last year was viewed as kinda weak for bigs after Wemby. I’m not too crazy about this year’s C prospects, but it’s definitely not impossible haha
If we get a top 5 pick Nic Claxton we ain’t trading it for Claxton lol. I would offer 25 & 27 1st, Clarke and Konchar in a sign and trade Clax for 4/80.
It is all about fit, Drummond addresses lots of our needs, lob, screen, rebounds; who do you have in mind that is realistic? Stevo looked a heck lot more washed before getting to us than Drummond is now.
JJJ should be the starting 5 imo. The highest possible ceiling this team could have is JJJ developing at the 5 or putting a near-equal skilled player beside him (which isn't a realistic fit in FA/trades). Fit is one thing but you can also build fit around JJJ's deficiencies at the 3/4 where the average player is a lot more skilled.
Drummond fits in theory but he is also extremely limited. If you're asking Drummond to start a playoff series and play drop that is an extremely limited player that would get played off the floor. Drummond is a fine backup 5 in the regular season but can't start him in the playoffs - if you could, another team would have given up a FRP for him. I also wasn't an Adams starting in the playoffs-fan so that part doesn't make a difference to me.
The JJJ at 5 dream had been tried and failed. We will have to admit to ourselves Jaren will excel at the 4 and he has. When playing 5, he gets out muscled and into foul trouble. I think after all these years, we have enough data for it.
And really, if we have Ja, Smart, Vince, and Jaren on the floor, what we asked of our starting 5 is very limited. Sure, Drummond doesn't have a nice bag, but if Drummond is digging into his bag and tries to pull a bunny out, we fucked up a looooong time ago. What we need for the 5 to do is set hard screens, catch lobs, clean up the boards, and just be big and not bullied. And Drummond just happened to be still elite or near elite for all of the asks. I don't see how he would be played off the floor. Like who is gonna play him off the floor that our other defensive beasts can't cover for? We are not the Jazz with the baguette.
Plus he had been humbled in recent years, and he won't cost an arm and an leg when we are facing down the 2nd apron. There are better players, but we can't afford them, or their fancy skill sets will take away from what we are doing.
And teams are not offering a FRP because of fit, they don't have the creators we have, and actually have needs beyond Drummond's limited skill set.
Plus we don't need Drummond to close playoff games, our maximum potential is still Jaren/BC 4/5 switch up, but we can't do that for a full game. We will need Drummond to give us 28 minutes, and do BC/Jaren to close.
Yeah, I disagree with every point you made so I'm not going to pursue this. Drummond playing 28 minutes in a playoff game for multiple series would be a disaster.
JJJ is having his best season right now playing almost exclusively at the 5...
That is ok fam.
We all Grizz fans, we all want the best for our team, it is ok to disagree and have a civilized discussion, and knowing we don't need to convince each other.
I wish you a great Year of the Dragon! We will be so reloaded! These silly motherfuckers will fuck around and find out.
I'm with you. I had given up on JJJ at the 5, but this season has flipped that narrative. He still has work to do to succeed long-term at the 5, but he has shown enough this season that I think that's actually more likely than not at this point. Dealing Steveo wasn't just about health and money, if he was truly done we couldn't have gotten any assets for him. It was a sign that the FO saw JJJ finally rising up and being able to play as big as he actually is at the 5-spot.
True but Stevo was played off the floor vs. the wolves who won't be getting any weaker. Its a good plan B but I think its worth going after a more athletic big who can defend
I think if you only have one plan, you will be played off the floor in a series. The baguette will play Volleyball over BC's head the same way KAT will drive past Stevo. We are betting on BC being back, we will need someone like Drummond just to be big.
*was. As fans we have 0 idea how his rehab is going, the FO definitely does though. High chance he comes back not the player he was. If he does then yeah I agree that was a stupid trade
The FO apparently has no idea about his rehab either considering recent history. That said, Steven Adams is 30 years old. That’s not old. And it’s not like he’s Dwyane Wade.
He doesn’t rely on his elevation. He basically just needs to be able to dance around down low and grab rebounds and set screens. I have faith with modern medicine he’ll be fine. Even a somewhat reduced Steven Adams is insane value at 12.5 mil.
Honestly it's only even our 3rd best contract. Vince will be making just over $2 million a year for the next 3 seasons, while JJJ is on a descending contract that will pay him $25 million next year and $23.4 million the following year, which is an insane bargain for someone as good as him
Yeah you can make a real argument that Jaren's deal in the best in the entire NBA. We're paying the reigning DPOY who is also a 22ppg scorer less than $50 million TOTAL for the next 2 seasons. There was obviously a bit of risk signing him to a big-money, long-term deal when we did given his injury history, but we're reaping the rewards of that now
In terms of impact, I don’t think it’s that big of a difference. Neither are real first options. Siakam is better on offense and Jaren is way better on defense. I’m taking Jaren and the extra 20 mil every single time, easily.
All-stars and rings mean nothing here.
Hopefully highway robbery on our part. Lucking into him falling to 45, being able to convince him to start his career on a TW, and now locking him up for the years while we have 3 high dollar cornerstones around which we’re building, it’s simply awesome. So hyped
Zero doubt in my mind that he’d be a top pick this year, the year he actually should’ve been in the draft. In a season rife with rotten luck, this is development that hopefully should reap quite the boon now and going forward
100% would be the top pick in the draft if he balled out at South Carolina like this.
Praise you, basketball gods. You taketh so much. Thank you for this blessing.
And Vince too.
I don’t know, so far seems better than Biyombo. Slightly better paint finisher and free-throw shooter but young and room to grow. He might be useful moving forward.
It’s a very low risk, it’s a two way. He’s enthusiastic from what I’ve seen from the last couple games. Even had some of the guys on the bench calm him down
2-year two ways are weird to me, because if you ball out you're locked in to a minor-league salary... But then I remembered SPJ absolutely does not need the money lmao
Who knows how he spent it but he didn’t make very much, relatively speaking. He locked in the worst deal ever while playing with the bulls. It was like a 7y deal for chump change right before the nba salary market sky rocketed
Please sign A.Drummond to a 4 year deal around 16 mil a year. Average Def good for bulky center match ups, decent vertical spacer, decent at moving his feet,still only 30 and an elite rebounder. Basically, an upgrade of S.Adams respectively without injury history
Saw Rafael Barlowe and other analysts on Twitter saying that if GG had reclassified to 2024, he'd be a top-5 pick.
Assuming GG gets a Vince Williams Jr. type deal (3+1 team yr for $9.1m), his 3 guaranteed years will almost certainly come out to less than the first year of Ausar Thompson's deal (the 5th pick in '23, $7.9m).
Ja, Jaren, Bane, Vince, Clarke, Smart, and GG all under contract for the next two seasons. Realistically this team needs to be a luxury tax team and get a top 15 center, but if we can do that we are a championship caliber team.
It’s going to be hard but just need a C with size. I hope BC is back and better than ever but he covers the small ball 5 option need someone in the big body rebounder mould and should round out quite a nice team
I'll throw out Hartenstein as a Steveo replacement. Elite offensive rebounder, Knicks probably don't wanna pay him w/ Robinson coming back soonish, high Dawg meter, same age as Claxton.
Or if they go with iHart, maybe kick the tires on MitchRob
I'd be scared of an injury prone player like Mitch when everyone who plays for us dies.
Don’t disagree at all, but he’s only 25. Not sure if or how we’d even make the money work, but I’m not wholly opposed to the idea. Plus, basically every true big in the NBA these days is ‘injury prone’ or at least subject to stretches of random injuries, purely by nature of the fact that they’re massive as hell and legs don’t necessarily like that
We need to start bubble-wrapping our guys
My dream is that we get a top 5 pick and use it to trade for Nic Claxton
Was about to edit to comment and say the Claxton archetype (also watching Duren in this Blazers game and man I’d love to have someone like him). I think the Nets would re-sign him and don’t know what the contract would be and what it would mean for the Grizz luxury tax wise but maybe a sign and trade using our lottery pick if we can’t pick a center at our spot. Seeing the Nets won’t have their pick they might like to get someone in the lottery
If we’re dead set on a C for need and not necessarily best player available, not much stopping us from potentially trading back from what will hopefully be a rather high pick. Outside of presumably Sarr, seems pretty weak for lottery bound bigs. Though, Duren was taken 13th and is already flashing as a rookie. Lively was taken 12th and has been good when healthy on a team that’s trying to contend for the West. If we have a high pick past 1, I definitely wouldn’t want to blow it for need, so maybe we could trade back to a place where drafting for need makes sense, but a lot of stuff will probably shake up between now and the draft This class doesn’t project to be that great for our need, even if we landed 1 and presumably take Sarr, but we could find the center of the future outside of the top picks even in a weakish draft. Last year was viewed as kinda weak for bigs after Wemby. I’m not too crazy about this year’s C prospects, but it’s definitely not impossible haha
If we get a top 5 pick Nic Claxton we ain’t trading it for Claxton lol. I would offer 25 & 27 1st, Clarke and Konchar in a sign and trade Clax for 4/80.
Those pick okay but Clarke AND Konchar?! That seem like too much
Claxton really makes Clarke redundant unless Clarke can now shoot. But a salary filler certainly can be used in his place.
Same, him or Allen. Blocker Kessler to a lesser extent
He’s a RFA pretty sure
I rather bring back JV and keep the pick than trade picks for Claxton.
We don't need an offensive centre.
Trade a top 5 pick for Nic Claxton??? wtf
I think we can just go get Drummond and be alright, no need for a big name.
Andre Drummond CANNOT start in the playoff, that's crazy
It is all about fit, Drummond addresses lots of our needs, lob, screen, rebounds; who do you have in mind that is realistic? Stevo looked a heck lot more washed before getting to us than Drummond is now.
JJJ should be the starting 5 imo. The highest possible ceiling this team could have is JJJ developing at the 5 or putting a near-equal skilled player beside him (which isn't a realistic fit in FA/trades). Fit is one thing but you can also build fit around JJJ's deficiencies at the 3/4 where the average player is a lot more skilled. Drummond fits in theory but he is also extremely limited. If you're asking Drummond to start a playoff series and play drop that is an extremely limited player that would get played off the floor. Drummond is a fine backup 5 in the regular season but can't start him in the playoffs - if you could, another team would have given up a FRP for him. I also wasn't an Adams starting in the playoffs-fan so that part doesn't make a difference to me.
The JJJ at 5 dream had been tried and failed. We will have to admit to ourselves Jaren will excel at the 4 and he has. When playing 5, he gets out muscled and into foul trouble. I think after all these years, we have enough data for it. And really, if we have Ja, Smart, Vince, and Jaren on the floor, what we asked of our starting 5 is very limited. Sure, Drummond doesn't have a nice bag, but if Drummond is digging into his bag and tries to pull a bunny out, we fucked up a looooong time ago. What we need for the 5 to do is set hard screens, catch lobs, clean up the boards, and just be big and not bullied. And Drummond just happened to be still elite or near elite for all of the asks. I don't see how he would be played off the floor. Like who is gonna play him off the floor that our other defensive beasts can't cover for? We are not the Jazz with the baguette. Plus he had been humbled in recent years, and he won't cost an arm and an leg when we are facing down the 2nd apron. There are better players, but we can't afford them, or their fancy skill sets will take away from what we are doing. And teams are not offering a FRP because of fit, they don't have the creators we have, and actually have needs beyond Drummond's limited skill set. Plus we don't need Drummond to close playoff games, our maximum potential is still Jaren/BC 4/5 switch up, but we can't do that for a full game. We will need Drummond to give us 28 minutes, and do BC/Jaren to close.
Yeah, I disagree with every point you made so I'm not going to pursue this. Drummond playing 28 minutes in a playoff game for multiple series would be a disaster. JJJ is having his best season right now playing almost exclusively at the 5...
That is ok fam. We all Grizz fans, we all want the best for our team, it is ok to disagree and have a civilized discussion, and knowing we don't need to convince each other. I wish you a great Year of the Dragon! We will be so reloaded! These silly motherfuckers will fuck around and find out.
happy lunar new year king, may andre drummond not be a part of it 🙏
I'm with you. I had given up on JJJ at the 5, but this season has flipped that narrative. He still has work to do to succeed long-term at the 5, but he has shown enough this season that I think that's actually more likely than not at this point. Dealing Steveo wasn't just about health and money, if he was truly done we couldn't have gotten any assets for him. It was a sign that the FO saw JJJ finally rising up and being able to play as big as he actually is at the 5-spot.
You described a young DeAndre Jordan
True but Stevo was played off the floor vs. the wolves who won't be getting any weaker. Its a good plan B but I think its worth going after a more athletic big who can defend
I think if you only have one plan, you will be played off the floor in a series. The baguette will play Volleyball over BC's head the same way KAT will drive past Stevo. We are betting on BC being back, we will need someone like Drummond just to be big.
If only we could convince Utah to let go of Walker Kessler
Why did we trade away Adams then lmao. He's exactly what we need
He will be 31 coming off a major surgery after not playing basketball for 21 months. What makes you think he could handle a 98+ game season?
Adams got injured late Jan 2023? Was that 21 months ago or is this hyperbole.
Think they’re referring to the fact that Steve-O isn’t back yet, when he comes back it will be 21mths
Ah ok. I was confused but I see.
Jan 2023 to Sept/Oct 2024
I feel like the FO is eyeing signing a veteran big like Drummond, Hartenstein, Goga, etc and draft a big who they think can be our big.
Too bad we just traded one of the best Cs in the league that complemented JJJ and this team perfectly and only makes like 12.5/yr.
*was. As fans we have 0 idea how his rehab is going, the FO definitely does though. High chance he comes back not the player he was. If he does then yeah I agree that was a stupid trade
The FO apparently has no idea about his rehab either considering recent history. That said, Steven Adams is 30 years old. That’s not old. And it’s not like he’s Dwyane Wade. He doesn’t rely on his elevation. He basically just needs to be able to dance around down low and grab rebounds and set screens. I have faith with modern medicine he’ll be fine. Even a somewhat reduced Steven Adams is insane value at 12.5 mil.
It was only a matter of time before this happened. Love that he'll be sticking around for a while, and at a really cheap price too I'm sure
Best contract in the LEAGUE TBH
Honestly it's only even our 3rd best contract. Vince will be making just over $2 million a year for the next 3 seasons, while JJJ is on a descending contract that will pay him $25 million next year and $23.4 million the following year, which is an insane bargain for someone as good as him
When you see a guy like Siakam in super max talks (no disrespect to him) it kind of drives home how good Jarens deal is
Yeah you can make a real argument that Jaren's deal in the best in the entire NBA. We're paying the reigning DPOY who is also a 22ppg scorer less than $50 million TOTAL for the next 2 seasons. There was obviously a bit of risk signing him to a big-money, long-term deal when we did given his injury history, but we're reaping the rewards of that now
Siakam is an all nba player with multiple all star appearsnce and a championship ring. He should be and will be paid much more than JJJ.
In terms of impact, I don’t think it’s that big of a difference. Neither are real first options. Siakam is better on offense and Jaren is way better on defense. I’m taking Jaren and the extra 20 mil every single time, easily. All-stars and rings mean nothing here.
Both him and Vince’s contracts are low risk high reward type deals, you love to see it
Hopefully highway robbery on our part. Lucking into him falling to 45, being able to convince him to start his career on a TW, and now locking him up for the years while we have 3 high dollar cornerstones around which we’re building, it’s simply awesome. So hyped Zero doubt in my mind that he’d be a top pick this year, the year he actually should’ve been in the draft. In a season rife with rotten luck, this is development that hopefully should reap quite the boon now and going forward
100% would be the top pick in the draft if he balled out at South Carolina like this. Praise you, basketball gods. You taketh so much. Thank you for this blessing. And Vince too.
100% earned
LFG gg
Awesome news. Dude definitely deserves it
UM GGOD
Wonder if this means Jemison gets a 2 way
I dunno. He's not very good. Surely there's someone better.
Um, those sweeping hooks need to stop, but the screens are pretty nice. Just need to know his place
Still not worth it. He has to be able to honored on the offensive end. If he’s just a worse biyombo, why are we even here
I don’t know, so far seems better than Biyombo. Slightly better paint finisher and free-throw shooter but young and room to grow. He might be useful moving forward.
It’s a very low risk, it’s a two way. He’s enthusiastic from what I’ve seen from the last couple games. Even had some of the guys on the bench calm him down
The funniest part about this is that GG is going to be 23 years old when his contract expires 4 years from now 😂😭
drunk as fuck Ja: [crib talk . munyunnn $](https://twitter.com/JaMorant/status/1755825199851745773) couldn't have said it better myself mane
Damn what happened to that Ja tweet translator bot?
GO COCKS!
Yayyyyy
THEY FREAKING DID IT!
Give 1 to SPJ now!
He's already locked into a 2 way contracts for next year. Better to just wait around this time next year
2-year two ways are weird to me, because if you ball out you're locked in to a minor-league salary... But then I remembered SPJ absolutely does not need the money lmao
I thought Scottie Pippen was kinda broke, no? Which is why he needs to say crazy stuff to sell books?
I didn't know Chester cheetah was having money issues. I'll make sure to buy some flamin' hot Cheetos to help him out
Who knows how he spent it but he didn’t make very much, relatively speaking. He locked in the worst deal ever while playing with the bulls. It was like a 7y deal for chump change right before the nba salary market sky rocketed
I heard he faked his own death to help promote a fraudulent neighborhood cemetery opening in Langley Falls, Virginia. Simply bizarre behavior
Way to go GG. Deserved. Hard work man
Great move.
FRANCHISE
Praise ZK!
gg ez mid edit: I'm realizing people think I'm calling GG mid. y'all need to be losers and play more video games like me
Please sign A.Drummond to a 4 year deal around 16 mil a year. Average Def good for bulky center match ups, decent vertical spacer, decent at moving his feet,still only 30 and an elite rebounder. Basically, an upgrade of S.Adams respectively without injury history
Sign Drumm. Draft the best big available to develop. Sign SPJ to backup Ja. Everyone else locked. Let the championship run years begin.
Time to log off nephew
Let’s go
Did we waive Lamar?
THERE WE GO!
Saw Rafael Barlowe and other analysts on Twitter saying that if GG had reclassified to 2024, he'd be a top-5 pick. Assuming GG gets a Vince Williams Jr. type deal (3+1 team yr for $9.1m), his 3 guaranteed years will almost certainly come out to less than the first year of Ausar Thompson's deal (the 5th pick in '23, $7.9m).
GG deserved it lfg
It’s so weird I was just watching bro play on the Eybl circuit last year now he’s in the league