Locke's Tone: Tank on The Horizon?

[YoungJefe]

I say no on Tobias
Should not take on another massive contract
Too risky

If we traded Gay, Bojan, and Juancho for Tobias I wouldn't hate it. Would basically be a 1/1 swap of Bojan for Tobias since we are likely waiving Juancho and Gay literally wasn't even in our rotation when it mattered. But having Tobias/Rudy/Don on the books in 2023 would make it essentially impossible for us to add any other pieces around them.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

He's also a lot better rebounder than Bogey and probably a better defender too.

He is a better rebounder and can be a better defender at times. I think the biggest issue is that finances will play a bigger part in our offseason than some would like to admit and putting that much salary into those three really limits how you can cut in other places and makes our roster increasingly pricey.

I think there is a scenario where we find nothing super great and we trade Royce into someones space for a first or second rounder and we drop below the tax. The narrative becomes "we couldn't find anything overwhelming so we made the wise and prudent move to get out of the tax... which likely saved the franchise from having to move because small market teams can't pay the tax like we did." They will also say we will be aggressive during the season to find deals to round out the roster... just kick the can a bit and get through the AS break and see what is there at the deadline.

 

[YoungJefe]

For the record, I don't see Smith tanking and in fact I will be surprised if he does so. What he might do, which he has not done so far, is work to get out of the luxury tax. The biggest benefit of his ownership to date has been his willingness to be in the tax. They have made decisions to save money but never made getting out of the tax a priority.

We traded our 2024 1st to dump Favors and our 2021 1st to save money.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

It's worth pointing out that Ryan Smith is hardly poor, but his company's stock was worth north of $50 back when he purchased the Jazz and that same stock has retreated 75% and is below $15. He holds a very small share now, but he's still lost tens of millions through the retreat.

If you were going to blow up the team, I think you would have done it prior to the draft unless you're that hellbent on doing it now for 2023 and beyond picks and tanking this year for a shot at Wemby.

I wonder how much crypto he holds... he seems like a crypto bro for sure.

 

[YoungJefe]

He is a better rebounder and can be a better defender at times. I think the biggest issue is that finances will play a bigger part in our offseason than some would like to admit and putting that much salary into those three really limits how you can cut in other places and makes our roster increasingly pricey.

In the scenario that we traded Bojan/Gay/Juancho to Philly for Tobias we'd have $110M invested into Rudy/Don/Tobias in 23-24.

 

[KqWIN]

My preference is still to go with both Rudy and Don until we can't. The tanking process can be exciting, and the (diehard) fans of tanking teams are probably much happier than teams who are trying to compete, but tanking is permanently available as an option whereas having 2 star players in their primes is not always available and certainly not guaranteed by the tanking process. Rudy and Don are not perfect, on or off the court, but the failures of this team do not center on them and instead fall on the team building and coaching around them. You may not have confidence in this new FO to make the right moves around, as they have failed miserably in recent history, but that lack of confidence is also present in a tanking process. I'm extremely skeptical of our ability to build from the ground up with the FO and decision making process set up the way it is. Once Ryan gets over his Donovan crush, he's going to Vivek the draft.

 

[LoPo]

In the scenario that we traded Bojan/Gay/Juancho to Philly for Tobias we'd have $110M invested into Rudy/Don/Tobias in 23-24.

If we traded for Tobias Harris, I think Conley should be in the deal.

Mike, Rudy Gay and Juancho for Tobias is almost exactly the same money this year. Next year, Philly saves around $10 million.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

I don't think so because I can't really remember a good team that was making a playoff push decide to blow it up and sell guys off at the deadline.

Right, it's unrealistic. I was just playing through scenarios in my head where scenario A is trading players now, getting worse value for them, but having a worse record netting us a better pick. Would that be better than scenario B, where you let guys increase their trade value and get better value from more desperate teams at the deadline. In the end your own pick is worse off.

The play in games gives more teams hope, which increases demand and decreases supply at the trade deadline. Specifically the type of players we have will be more in demand as win now pieces at the deadline. Like you said though, if we get off to a good start it makes it less likely we are going to want to be sellers at the deadline.

 

[Jingled]

In the scenario that we traded Bojan/Gay/Juancho to Philly for Tobias we'd have $110M invested into Rudy/Don/Tobias in 23-24.

Obviously Tobias would replace Bogey and honestly, we could probably find a couple of minimum guys that would give us close to as much on court value as Gay and Juancho do.

 

[homeytennis]

If we're tanking hire JLIII as the coach. He has expertise in this area.

 

[YoungJefe]

If we traded for Tobias Harris, I think Conley should be in the deal.

Mike, Rudy Gay and Juancho for Tobias is almost exactly the same money this year. Next year, Philly saves around $10 million.

Philly is still looking to be a contender though, Mike Conley doesn't fit with Maxey/Harden there.

 

[YoungJefe]

Obviously Tobias would replace Bogey and honestly, we could probably find a couple of minimum guys that would give us close to as much on court value as Gay and Juancho do.

We'd be at $163M with those 3 plus Clarkson, Royce, and Conley