Shams just reported the Hornets are discussing a Lamelo trade with multiple teams

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow. Holy shit.

I mean, I'll hand Tim Connelly this: he does keep things interesting as a fan!

Some thoughts:

1. We need to invent a time machine.
2. I will miss Naz.
3. His ability to stretch the floor as a big is really valuable.
4. Naz's own attitude was part of the problem.
5. Lamelo is a clown.
6. Lamelo is also a really fun, good basketball player.
7. A HUGE priority is getting Lamelo on a program to strengthen and stabilize his lower body.
8. We need a legit 4/5 who can space the floor and is good enough to start.
9. Jaden at the 4 is a bad idea b/c we need him defending the ballhandler.
10. If Jaden's the 4 and defending the ballhandler, who guards opposing 4s?
11. See #8.
12. Lamelo is probably the perfect PG for Rudy.
13. Rudy might be the perfect C for Lamelo.
14. Rudy and Lamelo are basically opposites that somehow match.
15. I want to keep Rudy now, ideally for just one more year.
16. Beringer should also really benefit from Lemelo's passing and should play more.
17. Beringer is not ready to be an NBA starter on a contender.
18. Like Rudy, Beringer can't shoot outside 6-8 feet.
19. Beringer, like Rudy, can only really play alongside a legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
20. In my dreams, Rocco might be that legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
21. Rocco almost certainly isn't.
22. See #8.
23. We 100% needed someone who could orchestrate the offense, and that guy wasn't on the roster.
24. He is now.
25. Finch is going to love Lamelo.
26. Finch is going to hate Lamelo.
27. See #5.
28. We got less whiny.
29. We got less mature and less serious.
30. We just drafted a guy who wore 4 million dollars worth of diamonds to draft night.
31. We need to add more maturity and seriousness.
32. A player's personality affects the team in proportion to their ability to play and produce on the court.
33. Evans is not a great character fit in retrospect, but nobody we drafted in the 2nd round would change our culture.
34. The legit 4/5 who can space the floor that we add needs to be a no-nonsense, seriously driven motherfucker.
35. We should have somehow gotten Bobby Portis or Isaiah Stewart.
36. See #1.

[AussieWolf3]

Wow. Holy shit.

I mean, I'll hand Tim Connelly this: he does keep things interesting as a fan!

Some thoughts:

1. We need to invent a time machine.
2. I will miss Naz.
3. His ability to stretch the floor as a big is really valuable.
4. Naz's own attitude was part of the problem.
5. Lamelo is a clown.
6. Lamelo is also a really fun, good basketball player.
7. A HUGE priority is getting Lamelo on a program to strengthen and stabilize his lower body.
8. We need a legit 4/5 who can space the floor and is good enough to start.
9. Jaden at the 4 is a bad idea b/c we need him defending the ballhandler.
10. If Jaden's the 4 and defending the ballhandler, who guards opposing 4s?
11. See #8.
12. Lamelo is probably the perfect PG for Rudy.
13. Rudy might be the perfect C for Lamelo.
14. Rudy and Lamelo are basically opposites that somehow match.
15. I want to keep Rudy now, ideally for just one more year.
16. Beringer should also really benefit from Lemelo's passing and should play more.
17. Beringer is not ready to be an NBA starter on a contender.
18. Like Rudy, Beringer can't shoot outside 6-8 feet.
19. Beringer, like Rudy, can only really play alongside a legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
20. In my dreams, Rocco might be that legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
21. Rocco almost certainly isn't.
22. See #8.
23. We 100% needed someone who could orchestrate the offense, and that guy wasn't on the roster.
24. He is now.
25. Finch is going to love Lamelo.
26. Finch is going to hate Lamelo.
27. See #5.
28. We got less whiny.
29. We got less mature and less serious.
30. We just drafted a guy who wore 4 million dollars worth of diamonds to draft night.
31. We need to add more maturity and seriousness.
32. A player's personality affects the team in proportion to their ability to play and produce on the court.
33. Evans is not a great character fit in retrospect, but nobody we drafted in the 2nd round would change our culture.
34. The legit 4/5 who can space the floor that we add needs to be a no-nonsense, seriously driven motherfucker.
35. We should have somehow gotten Bobby Portis or Isaiah Stewart.
36. See #1.

brilliant

[BeenLurkin]

Wow. Holy shit.

I mean, I'll hand Tim Connelly this: he does keep things interesting as a fan!

Some thoughts:

1. We need to invent a time machine.
2. I will miss Naz.
3. His ability to stretch the floor as a big is really valuable.
4. Naz's own attitude was part of the problem.
5. Lamelo is a clown.
6. Lamelo is also a really fun, good basketball player.
7. A HUGE priority is getting Lamelo on a program to strengthen and stabilize his lower body.
8. We need a legit 4/5 who can space the floor and is good enough to start.
9. Jaden at the 4 is a bad idea b/c we need him defending the ballhandler.
10. If Jaden's the 4 and defending the ballhandler, who guards opposing 4s?
11. See #8.
12. Lamelo is probably the perfect PG for Rudy.
13. Rudy might be the perfect C for Lamelo.
14. Rudy and Lamelo are basically opposites that somehow match.
15. I want to keep Rudy now, ideally for just one more year.
16. Beringer should also really benefit from Lemelo's passing and should play more.
17. Beringer is not ready to be an NBA starter on a contender.
18. Like Rudy, Beringer can't shoot outside 6-8 feet.
19. Beringer, like Rudy, can only really play alongside a legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
20. In my dreams, Rocco might be that legit 4/5 who can space the floor.
21. Rocco almost certainly isn't.
22. See #8.
23. We 100% needed someone who could orchestrate the offense, and that guy wasn't on the roster.
24. He is now.
25. Finch is going to love Lamelo.
26. Finch is going to hate Lamelo.
27. See #5.
28. We got less whiny.
29. We got less mature and less serious.
30. We just drafted a guy who wore 4 million dollars worth of diamonds to draft night.
31. We need to add more maturity and seriousness.
32. A player's personality affects the team in proportion to their ability to play and produce on the court.
33. Evans is not a great character fit in retrospect, but nobody we drafted in the 2nd round would change our culture.
34. The legit 4/5 who can space the floor that we add needs to be a no-nonsense, seriously driven motherfucker.
35. We should have somehow gotten Bobby Portis or Isaiah Stewart.
36. See #1.

8,9,10) Jaden is a legit DEFENDER. He would excel as a paint help off Rudy.
Ayo defends on ball.
If Rudy and Jaden are the backstop Ayo does not have to be elite.

The real issue there is that neither Ant or Ball are gonna pay enough attention to stop the cutters and it will all blow up anyways.

The parts of Ant and Julius looking at eachother when their man blows by on an easy cut will now be played by Ant and Ball.

[BeenLurkin]

Also Jaden has stated he would prefer to play off ball post defense and increase his offense load. That has to be part of the equation for this to work.

[Coolbreeze44]

Also Jaden has stated he would prefer to play off ball post defense and increase his offense load. That has to be part of the equation for this to work.

At this time we have no one else to guard the other teams best player. I agree we want him off ball, running into screens all night is going to shorten his career. But he is all we have in the starting lineup.

[BeenLurkin]

Also Jaden has stated he would prefer to play off ball post defense and increase his offense load. That has to be part of the equation for this to work.

At this time we have no one else to guard the other teams best player. I agree we want him off ball, running into screens all night is going to shorten his career. But he is all we have in the starting lineup.

The statement above this one was my stance, Ayo is fine on ball, with Rudy and Jaden as the best backstop defense in the league

[D-Loser25]

Actually, no. This is a terrible trade. Looking at all the assets we gave up, this is just completely irresponsible on TC’s part. Trading Naz is the only part I like. There goes your friend again, maxing out all his credit cards again and heading for bankruptcy, just to impress some girl. I don’t even mind Lamelo, I like him in a vacuum, but this is really a fireable offense. It could have absolutely been worse though… that idiot could have done this same trade for Morant, fox or Durant. At least we’ll have a fun team next year, but I’m just so tired of this guy massively overpaying for known commodities. Any idiot can do that. A good GM (presti), finds gems, develops them, and continues to accumulate assets. This guy we have is a freaking clown.

[TheGrey08]

Alright soo my knee-jerk emotional reaction aside (NAZ REID )... lol

Lets get Cons out of the way first:
Lose the fan favorite, good value player & slot
MUST replace Naz's size, floor spacing, team defense willingness/ability (media peeps view both as positives for CHA)
Essentially emptying out future draft asset trade cupboard
Scales UP Randles salary slot
Ball injury history (Wolves have a legit team and nobody in the league has a better process than Ant)
Maturity history (Ball comes in knowing expectation just went way up for him and his new team)

Pros of making this move:
Badly needed playmaker & ball-handler (best in Ant's career, better looks for everyone)
Takes ball pressure off Ant, more energy for him on defense, off-ball, rebounding, etc
PG that can hit the 3 at a high rate and volume
PG rebounding
Dual threat back court of double team killers (double either of them and the other one kills you)
Lobs threats (Rudy, etc)
Ant & LaMelo are friends who are no doubt excited to ball together.

Overall thoughts. MAN I'm sad to see Naz go. We could point to the Rudy trade thinking, if they had pulled that off while keeping another pick or 2, maybe they find a way to pull this off while keeping Naz and running Rudy, Naz, Jaden, Ant, Ball.

That part of it aside, I am excited about the fit in a vacuum and what it should unlock for Ant and others. If TC fills this rotation with the right big(s) we could have quite an exciting rotation.

[FNG]

I'm in the "nice move" camp, but I understand the concerns of those that aren't. I've stated my concerns about Ant's lack of gravitas and maturity and how that could be a hindrance to winning a chip, and Ball makes Ant look like a choir boy. One thing for sure...post game pressers when they are both on the podium are going to be "must watch"...they are two of the funniest guys in the Association. I do think that despite the carefree attitude both exhibit, they both truly want to win. I hope I am right about that.

Another concern is who gets the last shot. Ball has had the reputation of being an effective clutch player, and after years of struggling in this area, Ant blew away the rest of the league last season with his clutch shooting percentage. The best solution is for Ball to recognize he is a great clutch player both with scoring and facilitating, while Ant is almost exclusively a scorer. I hope Ball embraces the idea of getting Ant open looks at crunch time.

[thedoper]

I think its a good deal. Better than what I would have expected to happen with our assets. I am wary to have to cheer for Lamelo but man we are going to be fun when healthy.