Under this scenario, I would rather use those assets to trade for Noel. He actually loves D'Antoni, loves his system and plays like a madman on the court. And unlike Ibaka, Noel is not a declining player. His rim protection, rebounding, steals, etc. are on the upswing.
Nene did us a solid by accepting min. You trade him and you go further down the list on being a destination free agents want to go. They will feel they are just a number.
Okay for all the delusional, how we would we even begin to acquire Ibaka or Millsap for that matter? So many people do not even include Capela, whose probably our best "asset" and think KJ, the rights to players who will not be in the NBA, some other youngster and Brewer will get it done...insanity. Also, unfortunately, we would have to part with a starter for any player of that caliber and no way Morey messes with chemistry now.
Well Ibaka is a free agent with unknown future desires ... other than getting paid $20+ million a year. So the list of suitors won't be enormous. Though your point is valid. The Magic on face alone won't trade him for crap.
We have a 2nd round pick swap option with the Magic in the 2019 draft. They control whether or not it's swapped. It could be a pot sweetener that might not cost us all that much seeing we could be forced to potentially trade down in the 2nd round anyway.
Orlando should cut Ibaka and let us sign him off waivers. It's the right thing to do for all parties. Especially for the street party thrown after the playoff concludes.
I would rather get him too, but Noel is restricted, Ibaka is unrestricted with a promise to re-sign. Almost opposite situations. Any team that acquires Noel can keep him, so the market will give up better assets. In my theoretical situation, Ibaka makes us the only team that can sign him. The same package won't get Noel imo.
OMG... Ennis is so young. They'll love that. And Brown is young in NBA years. Wiltjer? Tell them we have Gary Payton.. he's a legend but young at the same time. Rockets=vibrant youth
Only trade for him if we can get an extension, would be pretty interesting if we don't need to give up too much to get him. Having both Ibaka and Harden.. We're in a bit of a funk though, hopefully this team can pull it together and get through it relatively soon. Typically we tend to hit our stride post All-Star break, which can help set up a long post season run.
OKC really screwed up when they elected to keep Ibaka over Harden. Orlando screwed up by trading Oladipo for Ibaka. Let's just hope Houston doesn't add themselves to the list of teams that screwed up.
Terrible fit for that roster. Plus they fixed all of OKC's roster issues with the stroke of a pen. You should make people pay for packages that are this good.
