06-09-2021, 04:37 PM
(06-09-2021, 04:11 PM)mvossman Wrote: A couple of things:
It is at least encouraging to hear that Collins held his own on the perimeter in the playoffs. That makes him at least a viable option next to KP defensively. There is no question the offensive fit is perfect.
Kleber was significantly off defensively this year (just like KP) and my hope is that both were due to Injury related issues and that they will rebound next year. Kleber struggled with Covid for a long time and also struggled with the workload of being a starter in a condensed season. I think his defense will be better next year, but he is probably best suited to a versatile role player in the mid 20s minutes wise.
So from that standpoint, there is no question Collins is an upgrade over Maxi. The question is long term fit. This team needs to get significantly better defensively to have any chance of reaching contender status. Even if KP gets back to previous rim protection levels, and Collins is only small downgrade to Maxi, we still probably need upgrade in the backcourt defense. We also need a secondary play maker to relieve some of the pressure from Luka and keep our bench from getting killed. But giving Collins a max contract will require us to operate under the cap with not enough left to re-sign THJ, let alone get that 2 way SG we desperately need. From this perspective, I feel like Ball probably makes more sense as he fills more gaping holes.
I agree with all of this to be honest and would rather target Ball but it feels like there's a lot of folks in the org focused on bringing Timmy back which makes Ball much less likely.
I'm also less concerned about the fit with KP defensively to be honest because I'm of the belief that we just can't build a championship defense around KP and even if we could I don't really think we should be burning years just to find out when there could be other ways to build a better defense instead of hoping that KP comes around.
I believe that any KP move would actually be done to create more flexibility and bring in assets to then send out again which is why if he's moved I think it may end up being as simple as KP for Horford/pick. That way you would have 40 mil this season which may be cutting it close but would be enough to sign both THJ and Collins and then you can now trade picks again in order to rebuild your defense and I would think the obvious targets are the names that have been floated from Indiana in Brogdon and Turner.
KP for Horford/2023 OKC pick
Maxi/Brunson/2023 OKC pick and maybe our 2025 pick for Brogdon/Turner (this doesn't work out money wise but could be done in separate moves)
Sign Collins/THJ with space
Sign Batum with rMLE (no idea what his market will hold to be honest)
Sign TJ McConnell with the BAE (which to be honest I can't even remember if we have this year)
That's the offseason I've now settled on in my head as something that would put us in a strong position moving forward.
Luka/McConnell/Burke
Brogdon/THJ/Green
DFS/Batum
Collins/Horford
Turner/Powell