John Collins and The Clippers

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I was listening to the Bill Simmons pod today where him and his guest went over media day storylines. One that stuck out to me is how ****ed the Clippers are.

Simmons had them as a play-in team and his guest had them missing the play in. They are going to be desperate to make the playoffs, especially next year because the Thunder have swap rights with them.

They seem like the exact team who could talk themselves into buying low on Collins. They have a lot of contract flexibility with different prices contracts. I believe they would have to add 15 million to Tucker's expiring deal to get Collins, which wouldn't be too difficult.

If I had to bet on a team to get Collins, it would currently be the Clippers.

 

[Elizah Huge]

Tucker + DJJ would work as DJJ is trade eligible in 5 days (Oct 7th)

Tucker + Zubac works

Tucker + Powell works

I’d do any of those, maybe get a 3rd team involved to flip Zubac/Powell/DJJ to potentially.

 

[KqWIN]

Eh, can't see it happening. It is difficult for them to get the matching salary. They would have to wait until DJJ is trade eligible and throw him into the deal. Powell is more valuable than Collins, he won't be the salary match. Zubac signed an extension and cannot be traded.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

There’s been some chatter that Kawhi might basically be done after this last knee surgery. He’s months away from returning, in any case. Clips are at a real crossroads.

Edit: Well Kawhi is now claiming he’s day-to-day. So I guess we’ll see.

 

[JimLes]

Edit: Well Kawhi is now claiming he’s day-to-day. So I guess we’ll see.

He's been day-to-day the last 7 years.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

There’s been some chatter that Kawhi might basically be done after this last knee surgery. He’s months away from returning, in any case. Clips are at a real crossroads.

Edit: Well Kawhi is now claiming he’s day-to-day. So I guess we’ll see.

He's been day to day for 4 years

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Eh, can't see it happening. It is difficult for them to get the matching salary. They would have to wait until DJJ is trade eligible and throw him into the deal. Powell is more valuable than Collins, he won't be the salary match. Zubac signed an extension and cannot be traded.

Bones, Amir Coffey, Bamba, Batum, DJJ. it's pretty easy. Collins might have a great year and DJJ might be awful after a good season. Who knows

 

[KqWIN]

Bones, Amir Coffey, Bamba, Batum, DJJ. it's pretty easy. Collins might have a great year and DJJ might be awful after a good season. Who knows

I think having to list out a ton of players just for the salary match, many of who can’t even be traded until Dec 15, shows the difficulty in matching salary. The Clippers would probably prefer some of those players over Collins anyways. Additionally, the Clippers are close to the tax, so you don’t need to just match the salary per trade rules you need to get the salaries close enough that they’re still under the tax. Nobody is missing out on this year’s juicy tax allocation for John Collins.

On top of that, if the Clippers are at a place where they don’t want DJJ….it means that contract is bad and we probably won’t want it either. Collins is more money but expires quicker which is probably better for the Jazz anyways.

The only realistic scenario I see happening is if Powell is out for the season or something. But even then, John Collins doesn’t make too much sense as a target for them. Ty Lue is definitely not a two bigs kind of coach…and they’ve already committed long term money to Zubac.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I think having to list out a ton of players just for the salary match, many of who can’t even be traded until Dec 15, shows the difficulty in matching salary. The Clippers would probably prefer some of those players over Collins anyways. Additionally, the Clippers are close to the tax, so you don’t need to just match the salary per trade rules you need to get the salaries close enough that they’re still under the tax. Nobody is missing out on this year’s juicy tax allocation for John Collins.

On top of that, if the Clippers are at a place where they don’t want DJJ….it means that contract is bad and we probably won’t want it either. Collins is more money but expires quicker which is probably better for the Jazz anyways.

The only realistic scenario I see happening is if Powell is out for the season or something. But even then, John Collins doesn’t make too much sense as a target for them. Ty Lue is definitely not a two bigs kind of coach…and they’ve already committed long term money to Zubac.

Clippers don't care about the tax. Their owner is richer than all the owners combined.

 

[KqWIN]

Clippers don't care about the tax. Their owner is richer than all the owners combined.

Like I said, nobody is missing out on the allocation for John Collins. Doesn’t matter if the owner is rich/poor. John Collins at maximum is a backup C for them. Ty Lue won’t start or play two bigs. The Clippers themselves let Paul George walk because of money. If they weren’t willing to pay up for PG they aren’t going to be willing to break the bank for John Collins.

Even if you completely forget about money, a trade is difficult to see happening.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

And I;m not saying this is likely, but they are a team at the crossroads of desperation and having unlimited pockets. I think if a Collins trade happens at the deadline, it would be to the Clippers. No need to hyper-analyze it, we all know it's a longshot, but it's the closest shot I see.

 

[KqWIN]

SAC is a much more realistic situation.

LAC doesn’t fit roster wise or money wise. I don’t think desperation and unlimited pockets screams “John Collins” when they just let Paul George leave.