Are we fooling ourselves with the "trade BI" soft rebuild talk?

I don’t think you blow it all up, that would probably involve trading players like Herb and Trey. But you cannot pay BI the money he will demand, you just can’t. Trey should be starting over him at this point. He fits with what you need and want with Zion. BI just needs to join a team where he can average 25 a game and be the guy, while winning 30 games a year. You move him and Val to get some pieces that fit with what we need and pray to the heavens Zion stays healthy.

JV is not under contract in 2 games.

Ditch BI for a point guard

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I feel like one of the benefits of trading BI is you can almost trade him for anything. It's not one of those situations where you have to trade him for another wing that's 6'8 or 6'9. If you want to trade him for a PG, you can do that, if you want to move him for a SG, you can do that. Want to move him for a C? You can do that too.

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I agree with this.

Last year, there was an argument to keeping BI b/c we didn't know what Zion would be doing a year later. Zion has shown over and over this year he's 100% bought into the franchise. The value of BI LAST year is that BI would be a Pel for life without issue or question.

We don't need that sort of security anymore with Zion's 2023-2024 season.

And yes, our roster is constructed where we can slot in a new guy anywhere.

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are we fooling ourselves here that it will make any difference?

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Do you mean can someone like Dejounte Murray be a better 1B than BI and step up when Zion is out? Probably not. This team will go as Zion goes.

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Why would we have faith that he will ever be anything reliable for us?

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There is so much noise in the injury data from the first 4 years you can't easily project it forward. He seems like he's turned a corner in terms of commitment to being great. We won't be able to confirm that until training camp when we see what shape he shows up in, but he played 70 regular season games, and I think about half of the ones he missed were precautionary. If he can repeat that next year, I think we can say he went from injury prone to normal injury risk levels that every player has.

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Is the REAL answer that we just should really blow it all up, get as much as we can, and shoot for rock bottom in what appears to be an elite draft?

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Absolutely not.

1) Most teams would kill to have Trey and Herb on the wings. There is a lot more juice to squeeze out of this roster, the question is will it be managed properly. (The answer is probably no )
2) The flattened lottery odds make it harder to tank your way to first.
3) You aren't likely getting a better player than healthy, in shape, engaged Zion.
4) Wemby Awaits. I hate to be a downer, but he looks like a true generational talent. If you don't win the West in the next 2-3 years, you may have missed your window. So it may be time to readjust expectations to being a good playoff team that fans can enjoy.

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Zion has shown over and over this year he's 100% bought into the franchise

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I mean yeah he played 70 games finally but he also had to lose 25 pounds MID SEASON bc he was to overweight. Was this season his best yet? Absolutely yes. But can he be fully 100% trusted yet? No shot. While yeah something has to be done about the roster, to blindly just believe Zion is 100% to be trusted is pretty dumb.

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I was suggesting moving Z, BI and CJ for as many picks and young players as you can

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Why are we moving Zion now???

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And the reason is because Zion is currently where he always is when we need him: Glued to the bench and training table

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He played 70 games, matured, showed signs of being a leader, played elite basketball late in the season. In my opinion, yeah it took a while but he finally became the guy we hoped for. He has a hammy pull at the wrong time. I wouldn’t just trade a guy cause of that- we’ll regret it if we do.

I’m now firmly on the move on from CJ BI and JV train.

I think they are all fantastic and have loved having them on the team but it’s quite clear that it just isn’t going to work.
CJs salary has always pissed me off for a number 3… and BI’s clear agenda of a super max / ridiculous salary is mind numbing for his output. He isn’t an A1 player

We need to get an equal, but better fit than BI. Bridges anyone? Would that work straight up?

And move CJ and Jonas for decent rim protector / pick and roll defender. Someone who can move their feet! As much as I love Jonas, he has lead in his shoes.

Trey steps into start. We still have Jose hawk and dys on the bench. Maybe we keep Naji that way too?

I dunno. Blah.

Its crazy if we leave okc tied 1-1 and BI just plays remotely close to his averages no one is blowing anything up.

We have sucked arse but this thread is an extreme overreaction.