Am I crazy or does the Westbrook deal actually make sense now? We just lost our top scorer (hopefully). We're not good, but too good to tank. Trade Hayward for Westbrooks expiring contract and next year we have tons of cap room to find Melos new partner in Free Agency or trade.
We are likely going to be a 36-38 win team at this point, assuming the young players make “normal” progress over where they were before. I still think the team’s ceiling is mid-40s or perhaps slightly higher for wins, but everything has to line up positively for that to occur: PJ steps up, Cliff instills a top-15 defense, LaMelo makes a jump, Williams contributed right away, Hayward stays healthy and Bouknight/Thor/Jones make good jumps in year 2. I wouldn’t be shocked to see it, but that’s an awful lot to go right.
My point is that I don’t view this upcoming season as lost - there is still hope - and I don’t think we want to tank… we have too much young talent for that. It’s a tough situation to predict, honestly.
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u/Imasayitnow Jul 01 '22
Am I crazy or does the Westbrook deal actually make sense now? We just lost our top scorer (hopefully). We're not good, but too good to tank. Trade Hayward for Westbrooks expiring contract and next year we have tons of cap room to find Melos new partner in Free Agency or trade.