Miggs
Well-Known Member
I went through every single team and their free agents for this upcoming summer. Obviously, we could look at all players but based on the scrub(s) we'd be trading and the low salary at which they stand, I think it's much more likely we pull off a trade for someone who's expiring and not in his current teams' long-term plans who's on a low salary. Additionally, many teams I don't even consider. We're not pulling off a trade with the Clips or Lakers or Heat and so forth imo. At least not with the "assets" we have. We have to get the notion that such teams are worried about the tax out of our minds. We don't know that's the case and shouldn't expect such given their markets, and/or deep pockets, and/or likely deep playoff runs which increases revenue. Moreover, I'm not considering projects (see Labissiere, Skai) who are two years away from being two years away. We need someone who's logged more meaningful NBA minutes and has a better resumé and can contribute now.
Knowing all this and how I feel our biggest need, perhaps by far, is at the 4, and how we need someone there who can rebound, defend and hit the 3 and I've come up with one and only one player: Noah Vonleh. Why?
1) Age/experience: He's 24 years old and played nearly 6,000 NBA minutes. The guy is in just about the perfect age/experience range to bring something to the table now and for years going forward.
2) Motivation/chemistry: He's always been on terrible teams. I believe players often times are who their teams are. It's tough for solid players to be fully motivated on teams when they're surrounded by knuckleheads and constantly lose. Teams with no direction. That's primarily been Vonleh's experience to this point. Like Clarkson and Mudiay to a lesser extent, I could see Vonleh being thrilled to be here and bust his *** and play to his fullest potential.
3) Acquisition likelihood: He's played just 28 games this year and at only 12 minutes per game and is a UFA at year end. I don't think Minny gives two ***** if they lose him.
4) On-court production: For his career, he averages 11.0 rebounds per 36 and has 16.5%/24.4%/8.8% rebounding rates. This blows away anything we have at the 4. Also, given his size, body and webz research, I find he's a decent/solid defender, something Niang isn't. Now, he's not going to be the shooter Niang is, quite obviously, but he's at 30.7% for his career and has had three seasons at 33.6% or greater. In that sense, he might be a much better rebounding version of Jae Crowder. He's not a great passer but he's improved based on his 2.7 assists per 36 and 11.1% assist rate over the last two seasons. This is also superior to Niang.
Given what we have to trade, we're not going to get the perfect player back. But Vonleh would bring something we don't have right now. A big 4 who can rebound his *** off, defend some, and hit the 3 some. Offering NWG and/or Oni and a 2nd would be a steal imo. He's a legit NBA player with some fairly big upside still imo. Yes, he's a UFA, but if he hits, he could be a relatively cheap re-up at like 2/6. If he doesn't, we're out a 2nd and some scrubs.
