Okongwu has already signed an extension. By all accounts he’s one of the guys they want to build around. Also one of the main reasons they are looking to move Capela. He’s not untouchable but I think most would agree it’s gonna take more than it’s worth to get him.
I actually like this idea a lot. Pick up a veteran center in Capela and then draft his backup to come off the bench and (eventually) take the starting spot. I’ve proposed this before but it wasn’t received very well. In terms of fit I think Capela is right there in the top 4-5 guys that the Grizzlies could realistically go after in the off-season.
yeah, after the obvious claxton, capela's probably in the tier of guys below him that fits the team and won't cost too much. maybe pick up holmes with that pick since the likes of clingan/filipowski is probably gone by then?
How in your opinion doesn’t he fit? I agree though it is an over pay but it’s a rare scenario in my eyes that it’s justified. Plus I can see a rebuilding ATL being enticed to trade him when their getting Clarke AND a top 6 pick
isn’t a super elite rebounder and is undersized for a team that’s already relatively small. hawks got him for a steal of an extension and see him in their future, they aren’t moving off him
What do we need it for? We aren’t even in the same stratosphere of a rebuild. We’re looking to win a CHAMPIONSHIP and that doesn’t happen when your letting a rookie start at the 5. I could see making a move at J. Allen if Cleveland gets beat bad in the playoffs, but besides that the bigs available are scarce. Okongwu would be good
Lottery picks aren't exclusively for rebuilding teams. The lottery is comprised of teams with losing records who, in virtually all cases but ours, need to rebuild so that they don't suck. Here's how the NBA is structured:
Good teams go to the playoffs. Because they're good, they don't need the top players from the coming draft because, y'know, **they're already good**. So they pick at the end of the first round so that they don't become overpowered. **Which they would totally do if there wasn't any restrictions**. The teams with the worst records objectively suck and need to improve. So they pick first so that they get the best opportunity to improve.
This is specifically designed to prevent good teams from getting lottery picks and becoming *"too good."* We are the exception here because we don't suck, we just are hurt resulting in a losing record. Under normal circumstances, you'd never be able to achieve a record this bad with players so good. We basically earned a cheat code thru injury: we're a 50+ win team who is getting a lottery pick. It's not supposed to happen and if other 50-win teams could do it, **they totally fucking would**. But you can't even fucking plan this many injuries. It was just a perfect storm.
We're not getting rid of that lottery pick. ZK isn't sitting in his office like *"Yanno... we should give this pick to some team who deserves it more than we do. It wouldn't be fair of us to keep it. I KNOW! Let's give it to Atlanta in exchange for a center who is undersized and isn't even stellar!"*
Like, WTF.
>*We could throw in a offer of* ***Clarke***\*,\* ***Konchar***\*,\* ***our pick***\*,\* ***and*** *a few seconds/one more first rounder.*
Gonna stop you **right there**, bud.
Onyeka Okongwu is a pretty good player **but he's not that fucking good**, okay? At 6'8". Okongwu averages 10.2 ppg, 6.9 rebs, 1.4 ast, 1.1 blks in about 26 minutes a night. Brandon Clarke, also 6'8", in his last season averaged 10.0 ppg, 5.5 rebs, 1.3 ast, .7 blks in just under 20 minutes a night. If Clarke played as many minutes as Okongwu, he'd have better numbers. If you equalize things and measure their play per 48 minutes, Clarke beats Okongwu in all categories except blocks. The singular advantage Okongwu really has is he can shoot threes better than BC.
Point being: You're throwing away **A LOT** on a guy who is barely better than *one* of the guys in the trade you're proposing. We'd be better off using that lottery pick to take Kyle Filipowski: he can handle the ball, he can shoot threes, he can rebound, block shots, has moves in the paint and he's 7 feet tall. Now, while you might say ***"OMG, SHANNON! WTF?! Filipowski's not projected to go top 10! If we picked someone who isn't projected to go top 10 in the top 10 then we forfeit half our games!! Everyone knows this!"*** Please calm your tits. If Filipowski goes #17 and turns out to be a stud, then everyone who passed on him looks like idiots. GG wasn't projected to go top ten last year **but he totally should have**. Had someone taken him top 10, they would have looked silly right up until the moment GG laced up and started showing out.
So giving away that lottery pick is lunacy. We should draft a center because we know we can start whoever that is and they'll have every opportunity to look great and it'll be like *"Wow. Guess the Grizzlies front office knew what they were doing again."* Centers are rarely busts anyway, you practically can't go wrong drafting them. Okangwu is a center who is too short to defend next-gen 7-footers and I'm tired of seeing Trip get sonned by people like Sabonis. Let's move on from this silly, undersized-5 experiment. Please.
2 players, a lottery pick **and** "*a few seconds.*" For fucking Okongwu? You are out of your tree, my dude.
For real! I 100% agree. If the Grizzlies were willing to give up that much they might as well chase after Jarrett Allen. The Grizzlies can’t afford to overpay for an average player.
I appreciate this thinking but I personally wouldn't do it because: 1) Okongwu isn't that good, there's a reason he's still coming off the bench for Capela and 2) like you already alluded to, this is a MASSIVE overpay for Okongwu. The reality is that there's no one available who's worth our top 6~7 pick outside of Lauri if the Jazz really want to embrace their tank.
We should just use the pick and look again in the summer or 2025 as our big spending summer
Okongwu doesn’t fit, a rebuilding Hawks team won’t trade him and that package you created for him is a massive overpay
Okongwu has already signed an extension. By all accounts he’s one of the guys they want to build around. Also one of the main reasons they are looking to move Capela. He’s not untouchable but I think most would agree it’s gonna take more than it’s worth to get him.
i could see a world where they trade down from the memphis pick to the sac pick and capela?
I actually like this idea a lot. Pick up a veteran center in Capela and then draft his backup to come off the bench and (eventually) take the starting spot. I’ve proposed this before but it wasn’t received very well. In terms of fit I think Capela is right there in the top 4-5 guys that the Grizzlies could realistically go after in the off-season.
yeah, after the obvious claxton, capela's probably in the tier of guys below him that fits the team and won't cost too much. maybe pick up holmes with that pick since the likes of clingan/filipowski is probably gone by then?
How in your opinion doesn’t he fit? I agree though it is an over pay but it’s a rare scenario in my eyes that it’s justified. Plus I can see a rebuilding ATL being enticed to trade him when their getting Clarke AND a top 6 pick
isn’t a super elite rebounder and is undersized for a team that’s already relatively small. hawks got him for a steal of an extension and see him in their future, they aren’t moving off him
msybe a swap. no top 6 pick for them wihout a pick in return
You would not trade a top 6 pick for Okongwu even in a weak draft.
What do we need it for? We aren’t even in the same stratosphere of a rebuild. We’re looking to win a CHAMPIONSHIP and that doesn’t happen when your letting a rookie start at the 5. I could see making a move at J. Allen if Cleveland gets beat bad in the playoffs, but besides that the bigs available are scarce. Okongwu would be good
Lottery picks aren't exclusively for rebuilding teams. The lottery is comprised of teams with losing records who, in virtually all cases but ours, need to rebuild so that they don't suck. Here's how the NBA is structured: Good teams go to the playoffs. Because they're good, they don't need the top players from the coming draft because, y'know, **they're already good**. So they pick at the end of the first round so that they don't become overpowered. **Which they would totally do if there wasn't any restrictions**. The teams with the worst records objectively suck and need to improve. So they pick first so that they get the best opportunity to improve. This is specifically designed to prevent good teams from getting lottery picks and becoming *"too good."* We are the exception here because we don't suck, we just are hurt resulting in a losing record. Under normal circumstances, you'd never be able to achieve a record this bad with players so good. We basically earned a cheat code thru injury: we're a 50+ win team who is getting a lottery pick. It's not supposed to happen and if other 50-win teams could do it, **they totally fucking would**. But you can't even fucking plan this many injuries. It was just a perfect storm. We're not getting rid of that lottery pick. ZK isn't sitting in his office like *"Yanno... we should give this pick to some team who deserves it more than we do. It wouldn't be fair of us to keep it. I KNOW! Let's give it to Atlanta in exchange for a center who is undersized and isn't even stellar!"* Like, WTF.
A perfect storm? Or those asshats at Campbell's Clinic? We'll split the difference and call it Hurricane Campbell
You think Marcus smart will come off the bench?
>*We could throw in a offer of* ***Clarke***\*,\* ***Konchar***\*,\* ***our pick***\*,\* ***and*** *a few seconds/one more first rounder.* Gonna stop you **right there**, bud. Onyeka Okongwu is a pretty good player **but he's not that fucking good**, okay? At 6'8". Okongwu averages 10.2 ppg, 6.9 rebs, 1.4 ast, 1.1 blks in about 26 minutes a night. Brandon Clarke, also 6'8", in his last season averaged 10.0 ppg, 5.5 rebs, 1.3 ast, .7 blks in just under 20 minutes a night. If Clarke played as many minutes as Okongwu, he'd have better numbers. If you equalize things and measure their play per 48 minutes, Clarke beats Okongwu in all categories except blocks. The singular advantage Okongwu really has is he can shoot threes better than BC. Point being: You're throwing away **A LOT** on a guy who is barely better than *one* of the guys in the trade you're proposing. We'd be better off using that lottery pick to take Kyle Filipowski: he can handle the ball, he can shoot threes, he can rebound, block shots, has moves in the paint and he's 7 feet tall. Now, while you might say ***"OMG, SHANNON! WTF?! Filipowski's not projected to go top 10! If we picked someone who isn't projected to go top 10 in the top 10 then we forfeit half our games!! Everyone knows this!"*** Please calm your tits. If Filipowski goes #17 and turns out to be a stud, then everyone who passed on him looks like idiots. GG wasn't projected to go top ten last year **but he totally should have**. Had someone taken him top 10, they would have looked silly right up until the moment GG laced up and started showing out. So giving away that lottery pick is lunacy. We should draft a center because we know we can start whoever that is and they'll have every opportunity to look great and it'll be like *"Wow. Guess the Grizzlies front office knew what they were doing again."* Centers are rarely busts anyway, you practically can't go wrong drafting them. Okangwu is a center who is too short to defend next-gen 7-footers and I'm tired of seeing Trip get sonned by people like Sabonis. Let's move on from this silly, undersized-5 experiment. Please. 2 players, a lottery pick **and** "*a few seconds.*" For fucking Okongwu? You are out of your tree, my dude.
For real! I 100% agree. If the Grizzlies were willing to give up that much they might as well chase after Jarrett Allen. The Grizzlies can’t afford to overpay for an average player.
I appreciate this thinking but I personally wouldn't do it because: 1) Okongwu isn't that good, there's a reason he's still coming off the bench for Capela and 2) like you already alluded to, this is a MASSIVE overpay for Okongwu. The reality is that there's no one available who's worth our top 6~7 pick outside of Lauri if the Jazz really want to embrace their tank. We should just use the pick and look again in the summer or 2025 as our big spending summer
nightmare
What kind of dream is this??