I understand Boston not wanting to trade this year's pick with where Brooklyn is likely to end up. I get it. There's a chance you'd get only a year and a half of boogie when, on the flip side, you've got a good shot at getting Ball or Fultz for, at minimum, 7 years.
But there's also a chance Ball or Fultz or whoever else bust. But I understand, NBA rookie contracts are the best bargain in sports, and when you've got what is now almost a guaranteed lock for a top 4 pick in a loaded draft, you trade that only for an absolute surefire stud with years left on his deal. Look back at players who have been dealt, that's the type of pick you save for a guy like prime Chris Paul or prime Shaq.
Boogie is good, but hasn't been good enough to get a team to a .500 record, and he's a hot head, and most importantly, he's got a year left and is telling teams he's not gonna extend this summer.
That said, couldn't Boston have just offered up Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, and next year's Brooklyn pick and gotten him? Isn't that still better than what Sacramento just got. Like, I understand they wanted a pick from this draft, but this New Orleans pick is probably gonna be a mid-teens pick. Or, worse yet, if all goes horribly wrong for New Orleans and it doesn't work, it goes even more wrong for Sacramento because the pick is top 3 protected.
And this is the real amazing part to me. The Magic got almost just as much from Toronto for half a season of Serge Ibaka as the Kings are getting from New Orleans for season and a half of Cousins. Yea, the Pelicans pick is better (although, again, the odds that it's a lottery pick aren't great, and if it is a lottery pick it's likely to be a low one, or, worse, a top 3 pick and thus stays with New Orleans...so, a lot of outs here for New Orleans), but Ross is unquestionably a better player right now, and projects to be a better player going forward than does Hield. Just incredible.
Then you compare that to what the Thunder got for Ibaka from Orlando...they got MORE than what Sacramento just got. Oladipo projects the best out of all three (Hield and Ross), and he's still on his rookie deal like Hield, AND they got the number 11 pick from the 2016 draft. While I'll admit the New Orleans is probably still better...it's only slightly, and has a decent chance at being worse, even considering the nature of this draft. But while I'm not Oladipo's biggest fan, you'd have to be a flipping idiot to think BUddy Hield is on a path towards being better than Oladipo.
I'm rambling, but this whole thing is just insane. Oklahoma City legitimately got more for Serge Ibaka ON THE LAST YEAR OF HIS DEAL than the Kings just got for a year and a half of DeMarcus Cousins. Boggles the mind.
On the flip side, how were there not better offers? Like, where is Oklahoma City? Why aren't they offering up Oladipo, Sabonis, and their own 2017 first? LIke..what the hell? Am I missing something? Is that not better than the New Orleans offer and still an incredibly small amount to give up?