Better question, honestly, is why would they trade Kennard + four 2nd rd picks for #19, and then take on the Ariza contract in order to pick at #16, if the plan all along was to then pay Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee $28M a year while having to eat $4M in dead cap the next five years in order to do it? Scholars will be asking themselves that question for centuries.
Looking back they’re awful trades now. Stewart was a reach at #16 and will be in the G league this year. Bey won’t get any minutes either.
Bey is going to get minutes because, at some point, they're going to need someone on the floor who can make a jumper and/or guard someone.
What a whirlwind, just a few days from thinking they were making some nice moves to same ol dumpster fire.
Maybe I’m crazy, but even after everything we did, we aren’t sniffing the 8 seed unless Blake is god for 70 games.
We traded Christin Wood and a pick, for Trevor Ariza, and a pick that ended up being our 3rd string center?
So we are back to where we have been for the last 10 years. Not sucking enough to get top 5 pick, and will pick somewhere between 7 and 10.
The dumbest part about that is I'm pretty sure they wouldn't need to have more than $1M in dead money (McGruder) if they just kept Dedmon for one year instead of giving Mason fucking Plumlee 3/$25M. At least it would have been close.
The Grant deal has to be up there with Gordon, Villeneuva, Lauer, Smith among the worst in franchise history. Watching CBS Sports HQ and they are just eviscerating the deal. Avery Johnson said this is why teams like Pistons are always stuck in mediocrity year after year
If the plan was always to waive/stretch Dedmon and McGruder to give us enough space to sign a deal like Grant's, who the hell were we going to try to sign if Grant turned us down?
Likely starting line-up: Rose Svi Grant Griffin Plumlee Likely 2nd unit: Hayes (should start, but I bet he doesn't) Jackson Bey Doumboya Okafor/Stewart/Bradley Scrubs: Musa Ariza (God help me if he plays over Bey or Sekou) Lee
The more I get my head around this I’m thinking Gores is pulling the strings and wants the playoffs again. I wouldn’t be shocked if Weaver was gone in 2 years from disagreements with Gores or contempt with not being able to put up with his bullshit
This is the exact same argument a bunch of Michigan fans make about Gattis/Harbaugh whenever the offense sucks. "The offense is fine but then Harbaugh gets in the way and makes them..."
I don't think Gores is making Weaver do any of this. I think it's fair to wonder what the FO structure is like in terms of how much input Stefanski and Tellem have and how that impacts the decisions that are made, but I kind of doubt that played a role here. We signed Grant because Weaver has liked Grant for years. He's a Syracuse guy (Weaver is very connected there) and played for OKC for several years. The other moves are a case of his inexperience in the role making him too jumpy to make things happen in FA instead of being patient, IMO.
He's got an awful lot of competition just to be the worst (or even second-worst) owner in his market.
I actually like that trade for us, even though Wright has 2 years left and Ariza has 1. Wright is a combo guard who Casey had success with in Toronto. He also makes $3.8M less than Ariza this year, so not sure if those savings change anything about having to stretch McGruder.
Weaver kept seeing talk of Dedmon retiring Sunday, so he thought to himself, suckers. But it turns out he mistook Deadmon for the Deadman, the Undertaker, who is retiring tomorrow.
Also, Rod Beard’s gif from the Usual Suspects summarizing Weaver’s moves can now be construed as Kevin Spacey turning into a sexual predator before our very eyes, not Kaiser Soze.
I think I've calmed down a bit. I'm still annoyed. Little less mad, I think. Also, Edwards thinks Hayes starts, which I hope is true.
Maybe Weaver is putting together a tank team with some bad contracts we can trade for assets or sign and trades when they're expiring. 5 dimension chess!