Best Potential Love Trades

[zigzag22 [enjin:6591633]]

More and more reports and "sources" (my favorite term of NBA free agency) are reporting that Melo is leaning more and more towards staying in New York. If he stays in NYC, and Lebron stays in Miami, that is honestly the biggest home run for us because every team that has cleared space for a superstar will have struck out. It could finally give us the extra leverage to acquire multiple young/quality assets from a team like Houston/Chicago/GS. Me personally, I'm starting to get more and more excited.

[Phenom]

Even better, those teams can potentially take back extra salary with Love as part of the deal. Flip knew what he was doing by waiting until July.

[Lipoli390]

Zig -- I agree. Let's keep our fingers crossed. If things go down in that way, then I agree with Phenom that Flip has played this perfectly.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/04/report-nikola-mirotic-joining-bulls-for-next-season/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

One of the reasons I have been comparatively cooler than others about the various Bulls' rumors has been the uncertainty surrounding Mirotic. His comfort in the Euroleague combined with a multi-million dollar buyout to get out of his contract just made the whole thing sound like a pipe dream. Until this morning. Mirotic is apparently arranging to exercise his buyout option so he can play in the NBA next year. The accompanying article doesn't talk about him being included in a Love deal, but it's where my mind went to. A Mirotic who is certain to play in the NBA next year is a much more attractive piece than a "possible" Mirotic. He's far from a Kevin Love, especially in strength, intensity and rebounding. But his combination of length and 3-point ability is remindful of Love, and it's not difficult to imagine him as a starting PF down the road. A very interesting, and good development, I think.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Nikola-Mirotic-5134/

Watch this draftexpress profile, and try not to get excited about this guy's potential. He is the best player currently in Europe by most accounts...a dead-eye shooter, an excellent distributor, and despite his lack of athleticism, a good team defender. When I mentioned his length in the previous post, I was not talking about length compared to the typical PF, because he is not a rim protector by any measure. I was talking more about the Love-like combination of height and ability to stretch the floor.

A Chicago deal built around 2 guys who can flat-out score (McDermott and Mirotic) is very appealing to me right now. In some ways I see McDermott as a smaller version of Mirotic. They are both average athletes, but elite shooters and ballhandlers with high basketball IQs, and a proven ability to use their craftiness to be a volume scorer. Adding both of them doesn't help our overall athleticism, but Flip took some strides in that direction with this year's draft. Combine these two guys with at least one of the other rumored pieces (Butler/Gibson) and we have the beginning of a conversation...seems to make sense for both teams.

I have moved off the GS/Houston train and have moved onto the Chicago elevated train.

Edit: I believe that Chicago needs to wait 30 days before including a player they just signed in a deal (is that right?), so it would be August before a deal involving Mirotic could be consummated. Frustrating for guys like me who need immediate gratification, but also a reason to stay optimistic as time passes with no news...they just may be waiting for the 30 days to elapse.

[zigzag22 [enjin:6591633]]

"Here's something that remains unchanged: Danny Ainge's relentless pursuit of creative ways to engage Minnesota on a Kevin Love deal."

That was a tweet from Woj this afternoon (sorry I don't know how to like properly post/cite things on this board)....but anyway that makes me excited that other GM's are out there looking at creative Love deals, not just the same GSW/HOU/CHI trades we bash our heads against on a daily basis. These next few weeks are going to get REALLY interesting once the Melo/Lebron chips fall.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Lately I've been watching a bunch of Terrence Jones on YouTube. Old Rockets games and such. How high do you all see his ceiling being? I think there's an All-Star talent there; he just needs significant minutes.

[worldK]

Lately I've been watching a bunch of Terrence Jones on YouTube. Old Rockets games and such. How high do you all see his ceiling being? I think there's an All-Star talent there; he just needs significant minutes.

I don't see all star in him but a solid player who is starter material. Can definitely start on a championship team if he is your 5th best player. Ceiling would be taj Gibson like.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Lately I've been watching a bunch of Terrence Jones on YouTube. Old Rockets games and such. How high do you all see his ceiling being? I think there's an All-Star talent there; he just needs significant minutes.

I don't see all star in him but a solid player who is starter material. Can definitely start on a championship team if he is your 5th best player. Ceiling would be taj Gibson like.

When he played 30-39 minutes last year (31 games), he averaged 16.6 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.8 BPG, shot 59.5% from the field and 35.8% from three (19-53). Also had a ridiculous ORtg/DRtg of 127/104. I know you can't make big assumptions based off a 30 game sample, but a 22-year old posting those kinds of numbers as the fourth option on offense is kind of a big deal.

I also think he'd be a terrific fit next to Pekovic, and also with Dieng creating a shot-blocking party. The reason I bring him up is because a lot of people are excited about Mirotic's potential, but Jones should be talked about with the same amount of value, if not more.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Also, I don't mean to take away anything from Nikola Mirotic. He's a very good prospect in his own right, but I think we're sleeping on one of our very own draft-and-stash guys: Bojan Dubljevic. Two-time Eurocup Rising Star award winner (2013, 2014). Two-time All-Eurocup 2nd team. Mirotic has two MVPs on him, but they're similar in almost every aspect. Stretch bigs from Montenegro with somewhat refined post games. Not much of a defensive presence, but they get buckets. Dubljevic is someone to really keep an eye on.