Maybe, maybe not. He's not proven by any stretch of the imagination. He's not especially good at any NBA skill to date. Vando is elite at a bunch of stuff and Sexton is elite as an isolated scorer. RJ has tools, but he hasn't shown an ability to apply them.
"A bunch"?
Rebounding, offensive rebounding, post defense for a few. Name one skill that RJ is top 80 percentile in, and then average out by contract value.
I guess this is a question of how granular you want to get with sub-sections. I would say he's an elite rebounder and a really good defensive player.
He has OK size as a wing and is decent enough at everything that you think he could one day be good at everything. Plus he shows nice flashes.
From multiple different reports it seems like the deadline was real.
I'd say a "boatload" is more accurate.
Yeah, the Sexton thing is very interesting. There were previous reports about the Jazz being interested in him in a SnT, but for Conley+/- stuff... Since Sexton was RFA, it's very possible the Jazz had already talked to him before that final offer(in relation to previous negotiations) and Sexton had given the OK to some framework of a contract.
The problem with the Knicks is that they don't really have the assets for a second star, because every single team that is selling a star will demand the best picks/package the Knicks can offer. And if the Knicks don't offer it, then a team like the Cavs will swoop in and offer it because they don't need to save their best stuff for one more star - they already have the core of their roster set. In essence the Knicks have the assets for 1 star and a few good role players(think Convington, Jerami Grant types).
And teams will ask for more from the Jazz because the Jazz have more. So I think it's kinda important to keep in mind that these picks might be best used as picks and not so much as trade assets.
By 24 it's very possible they don't have 4 protected 1st... Also... again ... when u r offering 24 unprotected in 23-24 for a second star, this is a useless pick. This does not have anywhere close to the value Cavs 27 and 29 hold... or NYK30. In essence this offer is one great pick and 5 trash ones + Toppin and Quickley... waiting to be paid or lost.
We actually don't really have any trade-asset picks still. Still short on second rounders. I guess we could create them with protected picks. I think the mystery of an unprotected pick would have us planning to keep the pick as the kind of picks we'd need to trade for guys would be protected picks. I'd like to see us pick up some protected picks a bit into the future, just to have as trade pieces. Not in lieu of unprotected picks, of course, but a good example would be if we were able to trade Beverley for some future top-18 protected pick, it would have been a hell of a lot better than whatever it was we think we got.
Should've been a piece of the big trade.
Like a "down payment"?
