Goeiedag, enchantée and welcome to this week's episode of Eight 2 Four presents: All-NBA Team of the Week. Free Agency is winding down, even though there are still some important unrestricted free agents available, like JJ Redick, who will probably end up signing for one of the two New York teams. DeMarcus Cousins, the NBA journeyman is looking for his 6th team. And other veterans like Paul Millsap, Avery Bradley and Wesley Matthews. Australians Dante Exum, coming off an impressive Olympics run and Aron Baynes, who’ll be out for the majority of the season, are still looking for a team as well. Hopefully these guys and all the other free agents will find a place before the season starts! This week, we’ll focus on 5 players who are still under contract with their respective teams but might be moved at some stage this season. Some of them could be moved within the next month, others might be moved closer to the trade deadline and some might not even be moved at all. But all eyes are on these guys. Get ready for your All-NBA Team of the Week!
PICK #1
Our first pick of the week is Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers. Lillard’s future has been the talk of the NBA community ever since Chris Haynes from Yahoo Sports broke the news that Dame is not happy and is considering leaving Portland if they don't surround him with better players. Lillard himself has said after the Olympics that he doesn’t really want to leave Portland and it is very likely that he will go through training camp with the current roster before making a decision on his future. It is hard to imagine Dame leaving Portland, and I think he will not make a decision until the trade deadline, if he makes a decision this season at all.
The Portland front office said they heard his message loud and clear but their decisions this offseason say otherwise. They replaced Enes Kanter with Cody Zeller and added shooters Ben McLemore and Tony Snell. Not necessarily upgrades to last years’ roster but it does add a little bit of depth on the wings. The 2 most important moves were re-signing Norman Powell, $90 million for 5 years, and trading for Larry Nance Jr which will finally add some defensive strength to the roster. But so far, none of these moves have impressed anyone across the NBA and to keep Dame, the Blazers will have to make a bigger splash.
In an incredibly strong Western Conference, it will be difficult for the Blazers to repeat their 6th spot from last season with the current roster. And they were already lucky to get to that spot, fighting with Dallas and the Lakers to avoid the Play-In games. The teams above Portland have not lost any strength so catching them will be hard, but most of the teams below them have improved. The Lakers and the Warriors should be guaranteed Playoff teams, if they stay healthy, leaving the Blazers fighting for 8th spot against the Grizzlies, the Kings and the Pelicans. I can’t imagine that is something Dame will be looking forward to. Hopefully for the Portland fans, the front office still has a few moves up their sleeve, but either way, this story is far from over.
PICK #2
Our second pick of the week is Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers. By the end of this season, Ben Simmons will not be a Sixer anymore. If you can trust rumours around the league, that is a bet most people are willing to take. Personally, I would trade Embiid over Simmons, because you’ll receive a lot more value in return and can set up a championship team in Philly without having to worry each year that your big star will end up injured. But the damage between Simmons and the franchise is done and there seems no other way right now than to offload Simmons. The big question that remains is: what can you get in return?
Obviously, GM Daryl Morey wants Damian Lillard and he is willing to throw everything he has in Portland’s direction to get him. But it is not that simple, because a) Portland doesn’t want to give up Lillard and b) they are not interested in the package that Philly can offer in return. A second option would be Bradley Beal in Washington but Morey is fighting the same problem there as well. Teams with superstars are not interested in swapping their franchise player with Ben Simmons and a bunch of young role players. The only real option is to include a third team that will be interested in Simmons, and have the players on their roster that could convince Portland or Washington.
Chances are high that Simmons will have to report for Training Camp, but nobody knows if he wants to. Simmons might not be interested in waiting for Philly’s favourite destinations to accept a trade offer, and force his way out earlier. He has expressed interest in being moved to a team in one of the bigger cities in California, read LA or San Francisco. In this scenario, the only realistic move I see is trading him to the Clippers for players like Bledsoe and Kennard. I’m not sure how that would work salary wise, that’s not my strong suit. But let’s say it could, will that give Philly enough leverage to come up with a championship winning team? Only time will tell.
PICK #3
Our third pick of the week is Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards. Beal is happy in Washington, always has been. Rumours of Beal wanting to leave have always been artificially inflated by the media, to create some drama around the Wizards’ superstar. Beal was happy playing with Wall, he was happy playing with Westbrook, even though he was pretty upset at the start of last season, and he will be happy playing with Dinwiddie as well. What Beal is not happy about is the disrespect he gets when it comes to picking All-Stars, All-NBA teams, MVP voting and, apparently, 2K ratings.
The Wizards have had a pretty productive offseason so far. They selected Corey Kispert in the draft, then traded Russell Westbrook to the Lakers for Kuzma, Harrell and KCP. And they added Spencer Dinwiddie on top of that. Add in an extra year for Advija and Hachimura and the return of Thomas Bryant and all of a sudden, this thin roster of Beal and Westbrook is flipped into a deep roster with a good mix of young talent and veteran players. And more importantly, a lot of tradable contracts they could flip in the future, if they need to please Beal quickly.
The Wizards have clearly improved on last season. Take into account that they should have been better last season than what they were, all of sudden, you have a team that could fight for those top 4 spots in the Eastern Conference. Are they better than Brooklyn, the Bucks, Miami or Philly? Definitely not, but they should be able to compete with the Hawks, Boston, the Pacers and the Knicks for those last 2 spots to avoid the Play-in games. If Beal is truly happy in Washington, he won’t have an issue playing for those middle of the pack spots. But he might be wanting something more. If that is the case, Washington is not the place for him. He is 28, with 1 year left on his contract, and a player option. He might not leave this season, but I’m not sure if he will stay with the Wizards much longer after that.
PICK #4
Our fourth pick of the week is Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings. It looks like Hield doesn't have a future in Sacramento. De’Aaron Fox is clearly the main man in the back court, and Tyrese Haliburton has proven last season that he is a better fit alongside Fox than Hield is. On top of that, they drafted Davion Mitchell, another guard who will be fighting for playing time. Hield was rumoured in a trade to the Lakers before they sent their whole kit and kaboodle to Washington. And Hield has been rumoured in trades ever since. He could be the centrepiece in a Ben Simmons trade or a way for the Warriors to get rid of Wiggins. He has been rumoured in Memphis, Toronto, San Antonio, pretty much every team around the league.
There are 2 very good reasons why teams around the league are all keeping a close eye on what is happening with Buddy. First of all, he shoots over 40% from 3 for his career, making him one the best 15 shooters in the league right now. Having a guy like that on your team could be the difference between winning or losing a Playoff series. And secondly, he has an attractive contract. There are 3 years left on his contract, averaging 23.5 million/year, but it is a descending contract with less than 20 million left to be paid in its final year. Hield is 28, so he is only going into his prime, making this contract more attractive each passing year.
But even though Hield is popular in trade rumours, he doesn’t have to leave Sacramento. Yes, Fox and Haliburton are the likely backcourt. Yes, Davion Mitchell seemed ready for the NBA during Summer League. But everyone knows that Summer League can be deceiving and Haliburton is going to have to prove himself again this season. The second year for a player can be the toughest. And there is no reason why the Kings couldn’t play with 3 guards. With Tristan Thompson and Richaun Holmes, they have plenty of size under the basket and they could have 3 back court players. Especially if Buddy keeps knocking down those shots.
PICK #5
Our fifth pick of the week is Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans. Let’s make something very clear, the Pelicans are not trading Zion. They don’t have to trade Zion, they don’t want to trade Zion. But Zion can ask for a trade, like Anthony Davis, or worse, don’t sign his rookie extension and leave in 2024. The Pelicans have been in the eye of a storm since the end of the regular season when it comes to Zion. In my show on July 11th, I already warned that if the Pelicans had another bad offseason, Zion could realistically find a way to leave New Orleans. We are now 1 month into this offseason, and guess what? It looks like David Griffin is fumbling the ball again.
A quick recap, last season the Pelicans signed head coach Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy had some great success with Orlando and Dwight Howard for a few years around 2010. Since then, it has been nothing but failures, including last year, and was dismissed at the end of the season. During the season, the team traded JJ Redick who was so hurt that he started to air some of Griffin’s dirty laundry. Zion’s family is telling reporters they are not happy with the Pelican’s Front Office and Zion himself said with a big grin on his face that he can see himself play in Madison Square Garden. Finally, Zion expressed that he really enjoyed playing with Lonzo and would like to see him on the roster again next season. One of the first trades of the day on the first day of free agency was Lonzo to the Bulls.
A month later, it is hard to see the plan the Pelicans have for Zion. He is now surrounded by Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, Thomas Satoransky and Devonte’ Graham. The fit last season wasn’t great but this seems like they have taken 2 steps back. Obviously, there is still a lot of time for the Pelicans to make some more moves and turn this roster into something competitive but if nothing changes, I believe that Zion and his team mates will be competing with OKC for the number 1 lottery pick. This team will not make it to the Play-In games in the Western Conference.
This is our All-NBA team of the Week. Please share our podcast and give us 5 stars. If you have any questions, you can contact the show on eight2fouroffice@gmail.com. Thank you for listening, ballers out!
Kommentarer