The spurs gave up 4 first round picks (one, as mentioned, is fake, one figures to be late lottery this year, one likely poor two years from now, and one 4 years from now, which - who knows), Tre Jones, and Zack Collins.
Perhaps a cleaner view of this:
Spurs get De’Aaron Fox. They give up Tre Jones (one of the best back up PG’s), Zack Collins (garbage), and the 4 picks mentioned above.
Kings get Zach Lavine, 3 of the picks listed above. They give up De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter (a very inconsistent rotation wing), and Jordan McLaughlin (doesn’t play)
Bulls get Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, Zack Collins, and 1 first round pick (their own they had traded for De’Aaron Fox 4 years ago, likely a low-lottery pick this year). They give up Zach Lavine.
My take is that De’Aaron Fox is like the 9th or 10th best PG in the league, and the Spurs with all their cap space may have been able to get a better player with no asset outlay. This seems over-eager.
(before people come at me: Shea, Doncic, Curry, Halliburton, Brunson, Garland, Morant, Cade, in some order)
I can’t believe the Spurs didn’t give up anyone significant. They kept Castle, Vassell, and any of the Hawks unprotected picks they own. Did they give up too much for Fox? Probably, but they have their PG going forward post CP3. It’ll be interesting to see how CP3 and Fox will co-exist, but Fox clearly wanted to go to SA to play with Wemby so we’ll see.
I think the Spurs were able to take advantage of 2 poor front offices with, in my mind, mis-aligned priorites. Most conceptions of this trade that were discussed didn’t involve a third team, so it has the Spurs giving at least of the only non-Wembanyana items of any value they have (Vassell or Castle) to the Kings. By involving a third team, the Spurs got THAT team to give the chief item of value (I think the 2031 TWolves pick COULD be valuable?) it meant the Spurs didn’t need to. Because the Kings prize the ability to launch a quixotic charge on the playoff windmill this year (stupid!) it worked. Further - the Spurs found the one team that saw the Bulls’ lottery protected (top 8 protected forever) pick as extremely valuable - the Bulls! Now the Bulls don’t have to hear everyone whine at them for not tanking out of the playoffs because they get to keep the pick anyway! They’re a bad front office!
People fall in love with PG’s because lots of PG’s post really big numbers! The 15th best PG in the league has numbers that could make you go “huh, All-Star?”. Fox isn’t THAT good? (he’s good, he’s not an All-Star). I don’t think 3 firsts (1 ok, 1 bad, 1 a mystery) is that low a price?
I also am not sure Vassell and Castle have massive value? Vassell kind of is what he is. If he’s your 4th best guy that’s fine. Castle has such hard-wired limitations (a Killian-Hayes-esque shooting efficiency) that all the stuff he does well (defense, pushing pace) comes at a big cost. He’s basically the guy lots of Pistons fans thought Killian Hayes was.
Agree. They gave up a lot in draft capital, but they also had a lot. If you’re just going to sit on draft picks when you have a top 10 player (21 years old with unlimited potential!), I would question the organization’s priorities. In return, you get a proven top 25ish player in his prime without giving up existing player assets (debatable about this also, but Vassell has been good, and Castle has done a solid job as a rook).
Obviously, if Dallas had shopped Luka, I would’ve gone all in there, but the decision to keep quiet and speak with one team is maybe the most egregious GM decision I’ve ever seen. Fear of Luka demanding a trade wouldn’t have cratered his value.
I kind of get what you’re saying about Fox but he has been an all-star and did make the All-NBA 3rd team once, so you may be undervaluing him a bit. That said, Mike Brown probably agrees with you. Something (leadership) may be missing. Chris Paul may be able to help him some.
And even in Killian Hayes’ second season, he never had a month as promising as Castle’s January so you may be selling the rookie short there, as well. Plus Hayes was nothing close to the finisher that Castle is. After 45 games, Castle is only 2 dunks behind Killian’s career-total, and more than 50% of his shots are coming inside of 10-feet compared to 34% for Hayes.
I think Castle is better than Hayes because he’s actually good at defense and can dribble with both hands. That why I said he’s what people insisted Hayes was (but was not).
I have to think that at some point, things start to click again for Orlando. Regardless of what they and Philly do, Detroit should be able to finish no worse than 9th so long as Cade stays healthy.
I hear you, but “west coast roadtrip to three teams who are competing” plus the Wemby and Fox Spurs doesn’t scream “get right time” to me. 6 or 7 for Detroit seems like the most likely outcomes.
Getting Suggs back should help. It’ll move Cole back to the 2nd team (he throws up 1-2 shots a game, where you just shake your head and think WTF) where he can be more effective.
Getting Paolo out of his slump will help even more.
Going to be interesting to see what Langdon is gonna do this week.
There’s a rumored deal with the Pelicans so it’ll be interesting to see if it materialize. Also, I’m keeping an eye out for the Bulls to trade away their G. It’s a crowded field there and Zo looks like the most likely candidate to be moved. Sounds like it’ll take a 2nd to get Zo. If so, Langdon should jump on it I would be fine with giving up Toronto’s 2nd round pick for Zo.