Ranking the Trade Partners for Love

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Taj Gibson gets really underrated on this board. He's an elite defender. That's his calling card and there's no doubt about it. Team defense, rim protection, individual defense. Gibson, I thought, was snubbed of making an All-NBA Defensive team this year. He'll never be a priority on offense, but he's definitely capable on that end.

Per 100 possesions
Gibson: 24.2 PPG, 12.6 RPG
D.Lee: 27.4 PPG, 14 RPG

Per 36 numbers
Gibson: 16.4 PPG, 8.5 RPG
D.Lee: 19.8 PPG, 10.1 RPG

Win shares
Gibson: 5.7
D.Lee: 7.6

Yes, I compared Gibson to Lee. Reasons for that are: He's the other "win now" PF that we could acquire in a Love trade. The other reason is because for some reason Lee is looked at as a better player.

I'd rather have Gibson over Lee. He's younger (by several years), far better on defense and slightly under the level of Lee on offense. Not to mention his contract is around $6-7M cheaper per year ($8.5M compared to $15M).

Question, I have not watch enough of the Bulls to know this, does Gibson need other players to set up his offense to be successful or can you give him the ball on the block and can he score at a consistent bases like Lee can. For the record I am not arguing with you point Cam, I literally do not know about Gibson offensive game (I know he is an elite defender, also how much is that attributed to the bulls system)

I'd say he's about as good in the post as Lee is. I don't have stats to back that up, but by the eyeball test they're close. Gibson's more likely to catch the ball on the block, face up and take his man off the dribble (much like Dwight Howard does) instead of a traditional post game like Love or Aldridge. He's much quicker than most bigs and has underrated athleticism/explosion. Like Lee, he can finish with both hands. What sets Gibson aside from Lee are his above the rim plays. Lee has a better jumper and more consistent hook, though.

I know Chicago's offense was stagnant last year without Rose, but their best offense down the stretch in a lot of games was throwing the ball to Taj on the block. Again, doesn't mean he's All-NBA 1st team or anything, but he's capable.

I do think he would greatly benefit from playing with Rubio, though, as most players do.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I think Cleveland is 1 if as long as the number 1 pick is on the table. It's hard to pick between the Bulls and Kings at 2 for me because in theory Gibson to the Kings for 8 seems feasible for what they are looking for in a veteran. Those deals come down to having 8 and McLemore or 8, Butler and their other firsts. I would personally rather have McLemore and 8 because McLemore is going to be able to stretch the floor and while Butler is a great defender, he doesn't have much of an offensive game and we need shooters around Ricky. Hopefully Vonleh falls to 8 or we can use 8 and 13 to make sure you get him as McLemore would pick up the shooting SG we are looking at anyway. To make the salaries match, I think you trade Love and Bud for 8, Landry, McLemore and the Terry/Outlaw expirings. Trade Pek for 10 and Wroten as he makes a lot of sense in a big rotation with Noel and Thad Young. Trade Martin to the Bulls for 16, 19 and cap matching filler as they need some perimeter offense from someone other than D Rose and Martin fills that role like he did on the Thunder. Make sure you get Vonleh and roll with:

Ricky/Wroten
Stauskas (10)/McLemore
Brewer/Bazz/McDaniels (16)
Vonleh (8+13)/Landry
Dieng/Ronny/Nurkic Euro-stash (19)

I think Flip is really not working for the best interests of the franchise if he is trying to win now. Love is clearly gone, so the rebuild needs to happen and he's going to kill the franchise if he tries to win games immediately after trading the only star on the team. I think at this point he seems like he is going to keep Love, try to convince him to stay and it is going to blow up in our faces and suffer for years because he wants to win instead of build it right from almost scratch (we still have Ricky and Dieng at a minimum as guys you can build around). I think the plan above fills the team with young talent and will be bad enough to get a shot at a top pick next year to try to get a new star for the franchise to go along with Vonleh's star potential and hopefully Ricky's as well.

[bleedspeed]

Honestly I am happy with any trade that lands us Marcus Smart. I would love to see LeBron back in Cleveland. So part of me would want to see us trade with Cleveland. I think having Love and Irving would be enough to make him serious about it.

[Lipoli390]

Honestly I am happy with any trade that lands us Marcus Smart. I would love to see LeBron back in Cleveland. So part of me would want to see us trade with Cleveland. I think having Love and Irving would be enough to make him serious about it.

Bleed, I agree with you on Smart. I have him as the second best player in the draft right now after Parker.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Honestly I am happy with any trade that lands us Marcus Smart. I would love to see LeBron back in Cleveland. So part of me would want to see us trade with Cleveland. I think having Love and Irving would be enough to make him serious about it.

Bleed, I agree with you on Smart. I have him as the second best player in the draft right now after Parker.

2nd best? I dunno. He can't really shoot

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Honestly I am happy with any trade that lands us Marcus Smart. I would love to see LeBron back in Cleveland. So part of me would want to see us trade with Cleveland. I think having Love and Irving would be enough to make him serious about it.

Bleed, I agree with you on Smart. I have him as the second best player in the draft right now after Parker.

I like where your head's at, Lip. Parker and Smart are the two guys that I'm most sure. Both will be stars.

[Phenom]

Sounds like Payne had an excellent work out for the Wolves as did Kyle Anderson. I think if Flip values these guys and knows he can get them in the middle of the first round, as well as get some vets that these kids can grow behind, he will pull the trigger. A Bulls trade could potentially land guys like Payne, Anderson and a 2 guard between the 3 picks, while getting Gibson who can start now. A Suns trade can also accomplish this is you like Plumlee enough. Trades like these can really bolster the depth of the team and would be worth it if Payne becomes a star.

[MikeAz [enjin:6636981]]

I like Payne. Even if Love were to stay, the Wolves could use some depth behind him given the uncertain status of Dante Cunningham.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

You don't trade pull the trigger on a Love trade because of what you can get in the middle of the first round. You make the deal if there's a way to get a top-10 pick while receiving a starting player as well (since Flip wants to keep moving in the winning direction).

That's probably not even what you meant, but I'm just clarifying. Two mid-firsts don't blow me away, but they are nice to get in a deal if there's higher pieces involved (Gibson, Butler, Mirotic). It's like icing on the cake.

I also don't see any way that the Wolves have three rookies on the team next year. If we did have three picks, I would bet that one would be used on a Euro stash or unfortunately sold for lower picks plus money. That's how Glen Taylor operates.

I don't see anything about Payne that says star. Starting big or really good big off the bench. That's my take.

[worldK]

With the execption of getting the first pick from cle. Its very difficult to get equal value in return for love in a straight one on one trade.

Of the scenarios and possible players involved, outside of the first pick, klay thompson is the one that interest me the most. Im not sure i like lee though( a must to be included in a deal with gs). How about we ship lee and barnes to detroit in a sign and trade for monroe? This would have to happen after draft day. Rubio/monroe/klay core. We trade pek and shved/jj to boston for green and bass.

Green / brew
Monroe/ bass
Dieng / turiaf
Rubio / jj
Klay /martin or bud (whoever we dont include in the love trade)

We have bazz still as well as who we draft with the 13 th pick and would like to sign another big or trade jj and sign a new backup pg.