TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[mvossman]

How about we use the pick package and go after Brunson? Allstar PG who is a known quantity here on a cheap contract, the risk would be significantly lower than guys like Anunoby. We already know Brunson works alongside Luka, can OG do the same? I’d also much rather use all our picks for Brunson over someone like Siakam (often injured, almost 30, not an elite outside shooter)

I know how bad this would look but rationally I think it’s extre hard to get a better player than him for our picks.

Reasons why that would not make sense:

Brunson is more effective as the primary ball handler.  He was most effective for us when Luka was off the court and he is more effective for NY because he is always the primary ball handler.  It does not make sense for either team to make that trade given that fact.

There have been a lot of complaints regarding Dinwiddie, primarily his terrible defense, but also his ball stopping on offense.  Brunson has actually been worse on defense than Din this year, and he can also be a bit of a ball stopper.  I would also argue that Din does a better job pulling the trigger on catch and shoot 3s than Brunson did.

I'm not saying Brunson was a bad fit with Luka, but what this team really needs and what we need to pair with Luka is somebody who is really good at defense and can do more offensively than stand in a corner and shoot 3s.  Somebody like Anunoby makes so much sense next to Luka where he can compliment offensively while covering on the defensive end.  

New York went through a lot of trouble to land Brunson, from clearing a ton of cap to hiring his daddy to tampering.  On top of that, Brunson clearly would rather be there running the offense than playing second fiddle to Luka here.  I doubt there is interest with any of the three parties to make such a deal.