As the trading deadline draws closer, there are more and more rumors of trading in the league.
Today, the Pacers officially announced that Miles Turner will not appear on the field in the next two weeks, and the reason given is that the left foot has a stress reaction.
But apparently, Turner was already on the shelves and was clearly priced for two first-round picks or a first-round pick plus a promising young player. This time the truce is more like a guarantee of transaction value for the Pacers.
And yesterday, a three-way deal arose. The Nuggets, Spurs and Celtics struck a three-way deal. The Nuggets got Forbes, the Celtics won Pol Ball and Dozil, and the Spurs won Hernan Gomez and a Nuggets' 2028 second-round pick. Although the trading players are not their own core figures, they are also desirable.
From the purpose point of view, the Nuggets got a temporary power, the Spurs belong to the middleman to earn the difference, and the core Celtics traded, accepting two players who were reimbursed for the season, the direct purpose is to save money. Behind the savings, it is probably the prelude to Stephens' demolition.
For the Nuggets, the whole league knows that they want to send Pol pol away, and they have announced that they have traded Pol to the Pistons 10 days ago, and the Pistons chose to return the goods on the grounds that they did not pass the team's physical examination. So Pol underwent foot surgery on Tuesday local time, which was basically a season reimbursement.
As a result, Ball became the fifth Nuggets player of the season to be unable to play due to injury problems. Even MVP Jokic, in the absence of fire support, is difficult for a woman to cook without rice.
So simply trade Pol and Dozil, who was also reimbursed for the season, in exchange for Spurs' Forbes. Since it is necessary to exchange for immediate combat strength, it naturally requires some costs, so it took out a second round of signing in 2028.
Forbes won the championship with the Bucks last season and is back to the Spurs this year, but he's definitely one of the league's best-quality outside batteries. Forbes' three-point shooting percentage over the past four seasons ranks third among players who have made more than 1,000 three-point shots, behind Joe Harris and Seth Curry.
Interestingly, before the trade, the Nuggets gave an interview after losing to the Jazz: "The whole league knows that we can't shoot goals. ”（The whole league knows that we can't make shots.）
After Forbes came to dig for gold, Teacher Joe probably wanted to open his mouth and say, "Quick! Freshly out of the pan cake, give me a fierce bite to eat! ”
For the Spurs, it can only be considered a middleman in this deal, and they won hernan gomez and a Nuggets' 2028 second-round pick.
Hernangomez may not be important compared to draft picks, after all, he has not been able to enter the rotation all season in the Green Army and has only played 96 minutes this season.
For the Celtics, the purpose of the deal is also obvious, just to save money.
According to ESPN salary expert Bobby Max, after trading hernan gomez, who earns $6.9 million a year, the Green Army's total salary is still above the luxury tax, but it is only $2.8 million higher. It also includes Jaylen Brown's $1.9 million bonus terms.
Under the contract, Brown must play 65 games and be named an All-Star to receive the prize money, and the number of appearances alone is a big test for Brown, and he must be absent from less than 3 games for the rest of the schedule. By this logic, the real luxury tax for the Celts would probably be only 900,000.
On the surface, the deal is just Stevens's money-saving trick, but it is likely to be a prelude to his team breakup.
With 23 wins and 22 losses in the first 45 games of the season, only tenth in the East, this record is obviously not enough for the Celtics, who shout every year to attack the championship. And whether it is Bol or Dozil, this season belongs to the season reimbursement.
Saving money is obviously not what Stevens, who was general manager in his first year, wants to do the most, and the follow-up operation that is interlocked with this transaction is the key.
According to The Athletic, stevens got a lot of suggestions for a big deal and lineup reform at the top of the team, but he vetoed them all and replaced them with a relatively conservative trading strategy.
What is this conservative trading strategy? It is to take a 2021 16-pick pick, exchange the old subordinate Horford from the Thunder, renew Smart, and sign Richardson, Schroeder and other players.
These operations are basically based on the original team to try to go further. Half a season later, this conservative approach proved to be completely ineffective.
As a result, rumors spread about the Celtic trade. According to The Athletic, sources revealed that the Celtics have explored the possibility of trading Horford in the market.
So far this season, Horford has averaged 10.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, shooting 28.5 percent from three-point range, the lowest he's ever made since he started shooting three-pointers.
Next season, Horford's book salary is $26.5 million, only $14.5 million is a guaranteed salary, which is not bad in terms of transaction value, and in order to achieve tax cuts and reinforcements, the Green Army is willing to take another Richardson. In addition, Schroeder, who has just joined this season, has also been put on the shelves.
According to the Celtics, the team can trade with anyone but Twins and Robert Williams, and this is where they have the biggest headache, the trade that the core players do not give up, and the rotation player trade may not work.
Both Tatum and Brown look so tempting, but both men can never give the team a win. In terms of personal strength, Tatum is the leader of the team, but in terms of leadership temperament, he does not seem to be as big as Smart, but Smart's performance on the court is very bad.
It is said that Jaylen Brown and Gwe are the most outspoken players on the team this season, but Brown's defense is unstable and Gwee is not enough, so the vocal effect of the two is not obvious. And Tatum's personality makes him the quieter one in the locker room.
Therefore, many sources revealed that whenever the team suffers a defeat, some players question the lack of urgency and despair in the team.
That's the status quo for the Green Army, whose players seem to be good, but not good enough. Tasteless and discarded, the Celtics are like the original pioneers.
Lillard's ultra-far three-pointer in 2019 broke up the Thunder when he said, "It's not that I broke up the Thunder, it's that some players gave up too quickly." Oh, we lost the first round and I had to change directions. The team led by the head coach was eliminated in the divisional final and he was going to be fired. Sometimes you have to stand up and you'll be rewarded. Some players always change teams, but they don't keep their hearts. ”
Lillard did have a proud capital at the time, and they reached the Western Conference Finals and were labeled "victorious though they lost". More critically, this group of players is the result of Lillard running to the general manager's office in 2018 to protect Stotts and the players.
This result is that they stopped the first round in a row and touched the floor of the Western Decisive in one breath. But when you touch the floor of the Western Finals, your instinct is to touch the finals floor again, or touch the championship trophy.
It's just the Blazers' lineup that really doesn't take them to the next level, and the same is true for the Celtics today.
Lillard and CJ, like Celtics' Tatum and Jaylen Brown, are good, but not good enough. The Blazers have always been reluctant to tear down the double gun, and the Celtics have always been reluctant to let go of trading geminis for exactly the same reason.
The NBA league is like that, when you hit the score full of praise, it seems that whatever you do, is the success code. When you get into a trough, anything you do seems worthless.
Tearing down and rebuilding is easy to say, just like people will always shout "trade Will Less" and "cut Nash", but Stevens is faced with the topic of "the deal is over and then it is".
No one will give him an answer to how to solve the problem, and the only thing he knows is that stevens is not much time left.
Past reading: Desperately three years 2.7 million, lying to win six years 124 million, he is the most sour kind of fan
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