Trade Wiggins and Irving?

 The NBA has taken the stance of having everyone involved in the NBA with the exception of the players having to be vaccinated against Covid 19.  The players do not have to be vaccinated due the fact this particular kind of ruling would have to be collectively bargained with the Players Association. However, the league has stated that  teams have to follow the Covid guidelines as laid out in the particular state or city in which the team plays in. This is crucial specifically for the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets because both San Francisco and New York City have required individuals who attend or participate in large indoor events to be vaccinated.

Andrew Wiggins of the Golden State Warriors, who is not vaccinated,  and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, who is believed to not be vaccinated, under the current mandates in their respective cities would not be able to participate in any home games. This means assuming these mandates lasted the entire season both players would miss over 41 games . Kyrie would miss 44 due to playing the Knicks, who  also play in New York City.  The question becomes what do you do if you are the Nets or the Warriors.

It is not ideal to have a main contributor to your team not being able to play in half of the team’s games. I would possibly explore trading these individuals if I can get my hands on Ben Simmons for either Kyrie Irving or a package of players and  picks that included Andrew Wiggins. I would do that. It is worth noting that the NBA denied Andrew Wiggins’ request to be exempt from needing the vaccine due to religious reasons on Friday.  

It makes sense from a basketball stand point to trade for Ben Simmons if you are either the Nets or the Warriors you get better defensively for either team and also it adds another facilitator and rebounder which will be beneficial to either the Warriors or Nets. It will be interesting to see how things will now play out for Wiggins and Irving who are potentially in danger of not being able to play any home games.    

   

  

John Walls Best Destination

 Earlier this week it was reported that John Wall and the Houston Rockets have agreed to have the team help him to find a trade to another team. The plan is that he will practice with the team but he will not play in the games. This arrangement comes as little surprise considering the Rockets are looking to move into full rebuild mode following the James Harden trade last season.  This includes their  young talent which includes the 2nd pick overall in this year’s draft Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. Both of which can play Wall’s position of Point Guard.

Wall will be looking to be traded to a contender where he has an opportunity to compete for a championship. The biggest issue for him is his salary. He is scheduled to make $91 million dollars over the next 2 years. The breakdown being $44 million this year and a player option for $47 million in the last year.  Wall has battle injuries throughout his career including missing the entire 2019-2020 season. Last season he played just 40 games.

The one trade that would make sense for both Wall and the Rockets would be trading him for Ben Simmons in Philadelphia. This would pair Wall with Joel Embiid and it would make a pretty good pick and roll combination. Last year Wall averaged 7 assists and that will only go up with Embiid. It also helps the Sixers because even though Wall’s not as fast  as he was when he was younger, he still has the aggressiveness to put pressure on the opposing  defense by driving downhill.  

The trade would also give Simmons a fresh start and he can play the Forward position from the elbow down and they can run the offense through him. This can even use him similar to how NIkola Jokic is used in Denver. Simmons possesses great passing ability and does most of his damage in the point which can benefit the guards who are slashers and like to operate on the perimeter. With Simmons not bringing the ball up you also can have him on the court in the 4th quarter. I say this because I believe psychologically he won’t feel the pressure of being the only ball handler on the floor and will begin to make his free throws at a respectable rate.  In addition he can give the Rockets that in-between option where he is only 25 but has some experience so he can help bring the team along and maybe even help speedup the development process. This would be great for the Rockets as well so the team can develop into teams such as the Grizzlies and Hawks and become competitive within the next 2 to 3 years.  It would be interesting because Philly likely asks for a second round draft pick to get back some draft compensation. 

This will be an interesting story going into this season which starts in just 28 days!!!

I expect a trade partner will be found just before the All Star Break.

Simmons wants out of Philadelphia!!!

 It was reported earlier this week that All Star Forward Ben Simmons informed the Philadelphia 76ers that he no longer wants to be on the 76ers. This comes as no surprise as after the 76ers lost to the Atlanta hawks in the playoffs many fans called for Simmions to be traded after playing poorly in the series. When it comes to SImmons he likely made his decision after hearing Head Coach , Doc Rivers and Star Player Joel Embiid essentially throw him under the bus during post game comments after game 7.

Simmons has even threatened to not show up to training camp if he is not traded prior to the NBA Season. This is a very bold claim to make because it comes as a very expensive deterrent based upon the Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA). If Simmons sits out of training camp he stands to lose up to over $200,000 for every day of Training camp that he misses. Saying you're going to sit out is one thing but doing so are two different things. We will see how bad Simmons wants out of Philadelphia . 

 

I predict Ben Simmons will eventually get traded to the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors will put together a trade package of players and picks centered around Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga in exchange for Simmons. The Warriors will realize they have to maximize their championship contending opportunities. Once this is done Simmons gets his wish of playing for a California team; it also helps the Sixers by providing Green who has a similar skill set to Simmons. 

Nerlens Noel Sues Super Agent Rich Paul

 New York Knicks' Forward Nerlens Noel is reportedly suing his former agent Rich Paul for breach of contract and breach duty claiming he lost $58 Million in potential salary. This is coming after Rich Paul filed a grievance with the National Basketball Players Association over unpaid commission of $200K, from Noel’s previous one year deal with the Knicks' last season. 

In the lawsuit Noel claims during Free Agency in 2017 Paul supposedly advised Noel to take a one year $4.1 million qualifying offer instead of the 4 years $70 million dollar contract the Dallas Mavericks were offering. This with the idea bet on yourself and you can likely make even more money when he would become an unrestricted free agent the following season. The most important distinction is that Paul did not become Noel’s agent until free agency was underway. Noel fired his initial agent with hopes of the following summer Paul would be able to get him a lucrative deal.

During the 2017 season Noel broke his hand and missed half the season. Once free agency came around that summer he ended signing for the minimum and playing the Oklahoma City Thunder for the next 2 seasons making just $3.7 million combined. Noel claims in the lawsuit teams reached out and Paul would not pick up the phone and also felt as though he wasn’t made a priority during the free agent process.

I believe this was a case of just receiving bad advice and also a bit of bad luck on the part of Noel. Because with him breaking his hand the season he was scheduled to go into free agency. This likely made some teams weary because he has always  had nagging injuries which would likely mean he would never play a full season. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the skill set of Kevin Durant, or Kawhi Leonard who even though they were injured still received max deals in free agency. The one thing to take from this cautionary tale is don't leave money on the table especially when you have some history of injuries such as Noel who came into the league with a torn ACL from his only year at Kentucky.   

NBA SCHEDULE HAS ARRIVED

 The NBA released their schedule this week for their historic 75th Season. 

The league will begin the regular season on October 19th and compete in the usual 82 game season. There are many great matchups that will occur this season. I will give you my 2 most  anticipated matches in this upcoming season. On Christmas Day you have the usual 5 game lineup featuring some great match ups. This will be one of the best NBA Seasons ever.

1. Milwaukee Bucks VS Brooklyn Nets

On opening night the NBA Champions face off against the Brooklyn Nets. The Bucks beat the Nets in an excellent 7 game series. The Nets experienced some unfortunate injuries to star players Kyrie Irving during the series, and James Harden struggled as he hobbled while trying to play through a hamstring injury. This will be a great match up as both teams will be healthy. We will get a preview of how the NBA Champions will fare against the team many people pick to win the NBA Championship in the Brooklyn Nets.   

2.  Los Angeles Lakers vs Brooklyn Nets

On Christmas Day the prime time match up will be the Lakers vs the Nets.

This will be seen as a potential NBA Finals preview. This game is a must watch especially with the addition of Russell Westbrook being added to the Lakers team giving both teams a big 3. This game will be one of the highest rated games of the season. The matchup i am looking most forward to is Kyrie Irving vs Westbrook. 

The NBA season will be one for the books. It will be great seeing teams plate especially if we can avoid any major injuries this.

Schroder's New Deal!!

 On Wednesday August 10th it was reported that Dennis Schroder signed a 1 year deal with the Boston Celtics for just $5.9 million. This comes after during the season Schroder rejected the Los Angeles Lakers offer of 4 years for $84 Million. This deal would have kept Schroder under contract with the Lakers.  Schroder decided to take his chances in Free agency in hopes of getting close to a $100 million contract. Not only did he not get close to that he ended up settling for the veteran minimum.

Schroder made a huge miscalculation especially when his numbers across the board this year were all essentially his career averages. IF he had the same he had in Oklahoma City in 2019 where he posted career highs for most major categories including 3PT field goal percentage  and regular field goal percentage. Over the course of the year you can see that Schroder played as though he was hunting for his next contract instead of playing winning basketball.

If Schroder played basketball that contributed to winning he would have been able to get a multi year contract this off season in my opinion. Also when playing with LeBron James, if general managers see you playing non winning basketball  they may play against you. The Point Guard market dried up quickly once free agency began and Schroder unfortunately was forced into a minimum contract. 

With that being said, Schroder is the common story of when betting on yourself goes wrong.
This happens more often than not so when you decide to take a risk be sure that you are certain things will work out for you. Lastly, hopefully Schroder or his representation is able to accurately evaluate his market worth based on the other teams in the league and not just his own opinion. 

Men's Team USA WINS GOLD!!!

The United States (US) faced off against France in the Men’s Basketball Gold Medal game. This was a rematch in which the United States were looking to avenge their only loss during the group stage of the Olympics . The US made it to the Gold Medal game by defeating Spain and Australia. For France their road consisted of them going through Italy and Slovenia, who was led by Luka Doncic.

The  game was highly contested Kevin Durant finished with a game high 29 points. This includes 21 in the first half. The other key to the game was the US team's tenacious defense forcing 18 turnovers. In the US’s 87 to 82 Victory Durant surpassed 100 points in his 3rd straight Olympics. In addition, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton became the third pair of teammates to win both the NBA Finals and The Olympic Gold Medal in the same year. They joined Kyrie Irving, Lebron James, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen as the only other players to do so.

The biggest takeaway from this basketball tournament is that the United States does still have the best talent in the world. However, the rest of the world is catching up when you speak of some of the better countries and the talent that they produce. Also when you think about the process of the selection of the Olympic team the US is just a collection of star players put together without having any continuity created. Other countries put together the team usually have them together a year prior to Olympics usually in the FIBA World Championships which helps when they play in the Olympics. If we take a similar process where we keep the team together then we don’t have to go through growing pains when you hit the biggest stage.