[Opinion] With Luka - Gabe and Rui are more valuable to the roster than AR15. Maxi, Knecht and AR15 are our best pieces to try and fill out the roster. Ideally we only trade Maxi and find some cheap talent within the 10-11m range.
I love AR15 and he's a homegrown talent but he simply becomes redundant with Luka. JJ will most likely keep one of Bron or Luka on the court at all times and the offense will primarily flow through Luka for 36-38 mph. In the 12 minutes or so per game Luka sits, you know Bron is going to want the ball and lead the offense so I feel as if AR gets nerfed. As AD was not ball dominant, AR was getting big time stretches to lead the offense which Luka takes away from him.
With Bron and Luka, We need catch and shoot players who play D. Gabe has finally found his stroke and plays good man and team defense. Rui is over 40% from 3 and has the ability to drive and score as well as create his own shot. He's also a much bigger body and can help down low occasionally with rebounding and protecting the paint unlike AR.
Simply put - I think the only way this team can improve without gutting our depth is trading AR, Knecht and Maxi who obviously cannot be aggregated.
Ideal trade:
- Rob finds some young players like Day'Ron Sharpe who can be fit within Maxi's 11m and we attach a PROTECTED 1st round pick or offer Brooklyn a swap.
If we can do this, I think we are good and don't need anything else, let's roll with it.
Scenario 2:
We pair Knecht, AR15 and go for a high impact player such as Myles Turner but even then I think we are selling low on AR but I think the trade makes this a much better team.
With Vando and DFS and Gabe, you have some quality defenders and turner can protect the paint and shoot.
Let's see what RP does but I'm really hoping he can find someone in Maxi's 11m range so we can keep this roster in tact.