Hoopshype

Buha: From what I’ve been told by my sources around the organization, they wanted to run this situation (current roster) back. It’s looked good so far. They’ve won a lot of games. They’ve done a lot of winning without LeBron James. That’s something that’s kind of been under-discussed. The non-LeBron minutes were always an issue for the Lakers going back to his first year in LA and the championship season… This is my third season on the beat, and this is the best chemistry and vibes I’ve seen around the team.
From what I’ve been told, they’re not going to be pursuing Kyrie Irving this offseason… To my knowledge and to what I’ve been told, the Kyrie ship, I think, has sailed. You never want to say never. That could easily change, but as of right now, their plan is to run this (team) back.
Scotto: That’s the sense I’ve gotten. You touched on some of the Brooklyn stuff. I’ll add to that very briefly. You touched on those other tradable assets the Lakers had that the Nets wanted. Austin Reaves was one of those guys that came up. I heard among the people who wanted to keep Austin in LA was Jeanie Buss. That’s a good advocate to have on your side if you’re a Laker.

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There were rumblings the Knicks talked to the Raptors about Evan Fournier, and I think it was three first-round picks for OG Anunoby, but talks didn’t go far, I was told… I’d assume there were protections of some kind. There was also uncertainty if Anunoby would want to stay with the Knicks in the summer of 2024 when he’s expected to opt out of his deal and become an unrestricted free agent. He’s (Anunoby) on a good contract now, but some executives think he’s going to cost too much once he hits the open market.

Source - https://hoopshype.com/lists/knicks-rumors-josh-hart-rj-barrett-derrick-rose-immanuel-quickley-tom-thibodeau/

Background: I’ve been on the Dillon brooks experience roller coaster this year. I get all the arguments for. He’s an extremely impactful defender and people who try to take that away from him don’t know ball.
But I’ve seen some say that brooks would be vital in any potential deep playoff / championship run.
If that’s the case, why did we desperately try to upgrade the SF position at the deadline?
We tried to trade all our picks for Kevin Durant
We tried to trade 4 first round picks for Mikal Bridges
We tried to trade 3 first round picks for OG Anunoby
You would have to think there were other trade negotiations that went unreported, but that’s not a guaranteed of course
You can argue KD is an all time great. He is. You can argue that Mikal is a clear upgrade that would fit our team and timeline in the short and long term perfectly. He is and would. But 3 firsts for OG Anunoby?
In my mind they’re a similar degree of player. OG is more efficient offensively - but offering to trading that level of draft capital for a somewhat marginal upgrade and a guy that can barely play 60 games in a season seems like a glaring indirect admission by the FO that we need to upgrade the starting SF position for real contention.
You may say he’s the “heart and soul” of the team, but did we not just see the FO try several different ways to try to get a heart transplant?
TL;DR: we tried to trade for several upgrades at the SF position with large packages of draft capital. What are your thoughts on this for those of you who are very positive on Dillon brooks right now / in general?

There were rumblings the Knicks talked to the Raptors about Evan Fournier, and I think it was three first-round picks for OG Anunoby, but talks didn’t go far, I was told… I’d assume there were protections of some kind. There was also uncertainty if Anunoby would want to stay with the Knicks in the summer of 2024 when he’s expected to opt out of his deal and become an unrestricted free agent. He’s (Anunoby) on a good contract now, but some executives think he’s going to cost too much once he hits the open market.

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Scotto: In terms of this pairing, how has this pair been, and can you shed any light behind the scenes on how the two co-exist as the stars of this team?
Williams: I think that they’re still learning from each other. It’s surprising it’s taking this long for them to learn from each other, especially considering the reports that Trae wanted Dejounte to come to Atlanta… Trae is a nice guy, but sometimes he has some trouble endearing himself to his teammates off the court. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. By all accounts, they like playing with him, but sometimes when I look at the groups and who’s close with who, I often see Dejounte, John Collins, Onyeka Okongwu, and De’Andre Hunter. That’s the crew. It’s like almost everybody else is trickling in and out, so to speak. Again, this is just speculation. They know what goes on in their locker room way more than I do, but you’d think with Trae wanting Dejounte there that they would be a little bit closer than they are.

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The Hawks, Rockets, and Suns had exploratory discussions on a three-team trade. In that scenario, John Collins would’ve landed with the Rockets, Eric Gordon and KJ Martin with the Suns, and Crowder and Landry Shamet with the Hawks, but nothing of substance materialized, league sources told HoopsHype. Atlanta also tried to acquire Crowder in three-team trade talks with Utah and Phoenix centered around Collins going to Utah, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley going to Phoenix, and Crowder and Shamet going to Atlanta. Among the reasons this scenario didn’t materialize was a disagreement in draft pick compensation that would’ve gone to Utah in the talks.

When I’m in a ‘leak to the media’ competition and my opponent is the Atlanta Hawks FO 😳
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Was initially responding to someone saying if Dame joined Butler & Bam in Miami they'd be a superteam -- I thought they'd be just short but wanted to get a sense on whether folk broadly agree or disagree.
So thought it could be helpful for us to agree on what a Superteam is.
Not just Good, but Super. I'd say you've hit Super when you meet these criteria.

1. 1 of your starters is undisputedly top 3 in the NBA in their role.
2. At least 2 of your starters are 1st or 2nd team All-NBA (this includes the top 3 player)
3. In addition, you have at least one top-tier role player (a defensive specialist like Jrue or Smart, or 3pt killer like Kyle Korver or what Duncan Robinson used to be). This excludes the 2 players above.

E.g. Prime Warriors: Curry satisfied 1, Curry+Klay satisfied 2, and Dray met 3.
Same with Bubble Lakers: Bron & AD satisfied both 1 and 2, and Caruso used to satisfy 3.
I'd say Dame would meet criteria 1 and Bam would meet criteria 3 but Butler may not be top 3 NBA SGs in his role. Maybe top 5. So juuuuust short.
Thoughts?

Miami has been connected to several buyout veterans, including guards Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, but as noted by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Miami is prioritizing big men currently on the buyout market, and Kevin Love and Serge Ibaka have also drawn interest.
Furthermore, Miami recently brought in veteran center Cody Zeller for a workout, league sources told HoopsHype.

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https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-rumors-thunder-rookie-jalen-williams-tanking-sam-presti/

Suns average payroll rank over the last 10 seasons (excluding this season) is 25.2. A team in the 20s payroll rank has not won an NBA championship in the past 10 seasons. Suns current payroll rank is 6, after acquiring Durant.
Last season the Suns payroll was the highest in the past 10 seasons at 13. This season is the only time Suns have been in the top 10, at 6, after trading for Durant. Those are the only 2 years in the last decade that the Suns spent more than half the league on players. Teams spending more than half the league (a lower payroll rank than 15) account for 90% of championships in the past 10 seasons. No team in the 20s in payroll rank has won an NBA championship in the past 10 seasons. So for the Suns to sit at an average payroll rank of 25.2 during the past 10 years of Sarver's tenure - as an owner, he gave us basically no chance to win.
Below is a chart of Championship teams and their payroll ranks with the Suns for comparison.

Championship Team	Season	Payroll Rank	Suns Payroll Rank
TBD	2023	TBD	6
Warriors	2022	1	13
Bucks	2021	7	22
Lakers	2020	11	28
Raptors	2019	4	26
Warriors	2018	2	28
Warriors	2017	14	25
Cavaliers	2016	1	26
Warriors	2015	14	27
Spurs	2014	19	28
Heat	2013	3	29

Source: https://hoopshype.com/salaries/phoenix_suns/
The data shows that Sarver ran this team so cheaply that the Suns had almost no chance to win unless they got lucky through the draft, because the team would not pay enough for Championship talent. We saw that exact situation play out in 2021 with Booker, Bridges, Ayton, and Cam Johnson. Suns payroll rank was 22 that year with Ayton ($10m), Bridges ($4.3m), and CJ ($4.2m). Crowder and Saric were the Suns 4th and 5th highest players that year. Saric got injured and the Suns did not have a good replacement for him because of a lack of willingness to spend on players.
So even if they Suns scarified a lot of draft capital to acquire Durant, and lost Bridges and Johnson (two fantastic players and people), the difference between Ishbia's willingness to spend and Sarver's willingness is already staggering. If Ishbia is willing to continue to spend to put the Suns in the top 15, or even top 10 in salary - something Sarver almost never did - then the Suns should remain competitive despite losing some bright young players and first round draft picks. It is easy to see that as soon as the Suns payroll rank started increasing, the team became instantly competitive in the playoffs. Hopefully Ishbia will continue to spend that extra bit to continue the Suns competitive run and place them as a dangerous franchise, rather than what Sarver did and sacrifice title chances for profit year after year.

Following Jokic in the poll were Milwaukee Bucks forward Antetokounmpo (11 first-place votes, 552 total points), Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (six first-place votes, 490 total points), Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (five first-place votes, 410 total points) and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (one first-place vote, 218 total points).

https://hoopshype.com/2023/02/16/nikola-jokic-now-the-favorite-to-win-mvp/