u/DreadIcarus

This is gonna be quite the yap, but I was thinking a lot lately about where the Hornets are at, and although I didn't understand the Lamelo trade at the time, they're in an amazing position to build a great team in 3-4 years.

The roster to me is a few specific categories

The Core: Coby White, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel

Coby can be the pg after Lamelo is gone, Miller extension is the top priority this offseason

Valuable Role Players for future trade: Naz Reid, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale

Especially the Suns two. Obviously not stars, but friendly contracts and great for filling in positional gaps. I bet a lot of people want them to keep Reid. He's clearly good, but I don't think he's quite as special as the memes and nba community make him out to be. It's not like they'll never be able to get someone as good as him. I'd use his trade value sooner rather than later

Interesting Contracts: Grant Williams, Dorian Finney-Smith

Williams is useful as an expiring. He's a playable player, and could be leveraged as an expiring at the deadline. Obviously DFS was taken as a contract dump and not to compete with, but it's worth acknowledging that he was pretty good for BKN, DAL and LAL. I could see him bouncing back and getting traded as a positive asset. Though most likely, he can just sit there as a bad contract while the Hornets aren't competing anyway.

Younger Guys: Tre Mann, Tidjane Salaun

I think we've seen enough from these guys that they probably won't develop into strong starters, epecially Salaun, that pick was really bad. But they're worth keeping around as bench guys, hoping for a possible breakout. And if a team wants to overpay for Mann, I'd be all for trading him

The Young Guys: Hannes Steinbach, Christian Anderson, Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Liam McNeeley

Obviously the Core guys are young, but we know they're gonna be good. These guys are where the most development is to be expected. Kalkbrenner already looks good, the others all have potential, and we haven't seen the rookies yet

Who I'd get rid of: Mo Gueye, Pat Connaughton, Moussa Diabate

They have to drop 3 contracts and this is who I'd choose. Waive the first two. Moussa is where I'm gonna get a ton of hate. I know fans, especially Hornets fans are gonna hate that idea, but for a couple reasons I think he should be traded. Not at a lower price, at his fair market price or get rid of somebody else, but a lot of teams are in need of a center, he's young and valuable. He's also expiring so he's not gonna be as cheap next year, and they have two other young centers that they're trying to develop, so too many cooks in the kitchen. Lastly, he's clearly good, but he's not gonna be an all star or anything. For when this team is ready to compete, they should be starting a star center

And all of this is with the most draft pick in the league, including the Heat, Mavs and their own first next year. This offseason shouldn't be much else for them, cutting 3 contracts, extending Miller, and I'd see if any team is interested in their role players, like the Thunder and O'neale. But the second a star under the age of 30 wants out, they can outbid pretty much everyone. I'd look at Duren, Booker, and maybe Luka in a few years if this all-in Lakers team doesn't work out.

I'm 17 and I've been hiking my entire life. I've been fascinated by mountaineering my whole life but never had the chance to get started. My hiking experience is a ton of hikes in the White Mountains, Half Dome, and a winter camping trip with my dad last winter. It wasn't quite mountaineering, but it was steep, all on snow, with microspikes, and some weight in my pack. I had the idea today of booking a last-minute solo trip to Washington and doing a guided summit of Rainier. I know it's a super long shot, but I've never tried to do something spontaneous like that. I'd have to fly, probably from Hartford, get transport to and from the park, and get a guide for the peak. Does anyone have advice on how to do this, and not make it cost a fortune? I know it's gonna be expensive, but I'm seeing guides for $3000. I really want to do this. This would let me chase my dreams, maybe impress this girl I'm really into, and give me an experience that really feels like it's mine. I've struggled off and on with my mental health in the last year and I really want to just make a decision to leave my hometown and follow my dreams. All thoughts are appreciated

I'm surprised not hearing any rumors and even more surprised that Mavs fans seem to be so against it. It's so clear that the Mavs aren't gonna be able to compete with the Spurs and Thunder while Kyrie is still playing at an all-star level. Right now, if the Mavs' current roster really overperforms, I see them competing in a first round series, and maybe winning and getting near swept in the next round. So why not take a dip? If falling to the low play-in means they get more assets and get younger, does that not set them up better for real contention? One problem I could see is Kyrie's trade value getting greatly affected by coming off the injury, but if so, he should definitely get traded at the deadline. If they trade Kyrie they maybe lose in the play-in with a younger team, more trade assets, a Flagg-led team, and you never know with the new lottery odds. If they get maybe the 6 seed and lose in the first round, it's a better season result, but are they in a different spot then they're in right now? Along with that, I would look at trading Naji Marshall. If they really like him they can bring him back in free agency. Also if a team really likes Gafford I would look to move him too. The Mavs are in a rare situation where they have no hopes of a champhionship this year, but already a great future promised

I'm a Celtics fan. I didn't like the JB trade and I don't think it's adequate draft compensation, but I'm not gonna pretend PG13 isn't a quality starter and didn't play a role in the 3-1 comeback. Honestly if he was making half of what he was I wouldn't have an issue with him at all. I think something else that gets slept on is the additions of Robinson and Conley, and the expected development from Hugo, Baylor, and Amari Williams. Plus Chris Cenac who was a bit of a steal. I think all of that puts the Celtics about where they were end of last year.

But I think something important is the front office using the draft picks to improve the roster right now, and not waiting to draft with them, with the exception of the Clippers pick. So who can the Celtics target? I think Hauser, Walsh, and Garza should be on the trade block. I really like the idea of sending one of those guys and 1-2 picks for a better player on a similar contract, just buying more talent. I also think offers on Derrick White should be entertained but not forced, and only for the Celtics getting the better player. Who would you target?

They’ve obviously emerged as the front runners, and I think the Heat can offer the best return for the Bucks. Makes more sense than Portland or Boston, and I can’t really see any other team doing it. So if the Bucks have to choose between those teams, the Heat is who they should choose. And it seems like the return would probably be roughly, Herro, Jovic, Ware, #13 and 2-3 firsts on top of that. If the Heat give that up, they’ve gotta go for a championship immediately, since there isn’t really a future to bank on now. Free agency is probably their only way to build out the team from there, along with their SRP. A starting 5 of Mitchell, Jaime, Wiggins, Giannis, and Bam is actually really good, I just wonder if they can build a playable bench from just free agency from there. And my bigger concern is, despite this making them probably a better team, does this put them past or even on par with the Knicks, Cavs, and a presumably improved Celtics and Pistons? This leaves them without many draft picks and no real sign of the team improving from whatever they build this year.

People didn't like the last time I made a post trying to make the Spurs even more elite this offseason, but I still think it's a rare opportunity they should take. I think moving DeAaron Fox could be a good move, to put that money into other positions now that their guards are completely fine without him.

Step 1:

SAS recieves: #8

ATL recieves: #20 + 27frp + 3-4 seconds

Maybe that's not enough to move up but the Spurs have a ton of seconds.

Step 2: Trade Fox for Forward

Idea

SAS recieves: Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick

TOR recieves: DeAaron Fox + 2-3srp

I know it's kind of a weird idea and I'm expecting people to hate it, but trading up to 8 gives them another young guard for injury insurance and depth for like 8M. Fox definitely wouldn't be needed anymore, and my one criticism of the Spurs is they seem short at true forwards. Some of that can be fixed in free agency, but they can afford to trade for a forward that is used to being a role player but can score 15-20 a game. Other guys I liked for them are Dillon Brooks and Trey Murphy, but I'm not sure how trading Fox to get them would work. The only hard thing is how much money Fox is making in the coming years, but if a team wants to bank of him playing like an All-Star again, they could take him for a reduced price

I feel like given that the Spurs are finally in contention, and have a lot of draft picks, they have a chance to build a team that can contend for at least the next 5 years.

I know these trades aren't balanced, I just don't know what draft capital needs to be given up. So do you think think the teams do these trades and what draft picks need to be given up.

T1

Spurs receive: Draymond Green, Brandin Podziempski

Warriors Recieve: Devin Vassell

T2

Spurs receive: Franz Wagner

Magic receive: DeAaron Fox

Is it just me or was the probability for part A being a decimal kind of dumb? I think I got 0.247 but I didn’t rlly know if I should use the rounded number for the subsequent steps. Also what was the interpretation for the standard deviation? I think I tried to go empirical rule and said if replicated it would be within 1 sd of the mean 68% of the time, but that felt like a bad answer