Based on the comments of Mitch from his presser, i think they will take the long road here before deciding on Iwundu, long read meaning until training camp.
Iād say that Mitch is probably the least likely GM to make a roster move just to appease someone. In the example, Mitch is not likely to get Gelo on the roster on the basis of kissing ass with the Ball family. Itāll be because they feel heās earned the shot.
Slim chance Gelo makes it though. Edit: I think theyāll stick with Iwundu. And thatās not a bad decision at all.
100% agree!
As for what happens at the end of the roster, between Jalen, Iwundu, and Cody; Iād bet numerically, Cody is the best overall value on court. I think that Jalenās early days last year were so riddled with sloppy turnovers that he would wreck his overall numbers. But when he did get cooking, heās the far superior value. And while I would bet big money that Cody is more valuable than Wes, I am betting we cut Cody because it makes the most financial sense (see my belief in Jalen as the superior value).
In the end, Wes might not be a bad bet because environments matter. And I think we have a good environment for someone to reframe themselves if they want. Gelo will be a good stash in GSO and if it comes a time that heās on the radar to elevate him to CLT, then that will be something interesting.
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Completely out of touch w the realities of today. I see this at work everyday w old folks and young hires. One should not be proud to be a dinosaur. Dismissing millennials wonāt āset them straightā that just causes them to go to other teams who donāt have a 90s basketball (and life) philosophy.
And another thing-people are acting like putting Gelo on the team as the 15th man with the intention of appeasing Lamelo is a negative thing.
Since when is making your star players happy a new thing or is bad? This has been a thing in sports sinceā¦forever.
Reality check: this franchise has never had a max contract type of super star who needs to be made happy. Update: itās clear that if Lamelo continues his trajectory he WILL BE a max contract player. Holy shit guys, make the dude content and welcome to reality of having players on our team that people actually give a shit about outside of Charlotte.
Even if it means cutting one of the young centers or eating the Iwundu 1.6m contract. Make Lamelo happy so that he wants to stay in Charlotte. Geez.
I agree, and Liangelo isnāt exactly Taylor Griffin. He has shown legit NBA skillset and motor to me through a couple of games. Also, team chemistry is important, and is there anyone on the market with more chemistry with Lamelo than George? No
Simply doing it only to appease LaMelo is a bad idea. He needs to carry his own weight. Iām going to be pissed if we cut Jalen McDaniels to appease LaMelo to bring in his brother w/out a hell of a lot more tape than 2 summer league games.
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I would be pissed if we cut Jalen, but if we cut Martin or Iwundu and Richards, I wouldnāt sweat it too much.
You can add Grant, Scottie and Vernon to that list too. Why even bring up Jalen when there are so many other options? Jalen earned a spot. I would love to see more vets and fewer 1st and 2nd year guys. So far Gelo has had good games compared to others. If he has a good game tomorrow then it would be hard to overlook the fact that he could be just as good Cody M.
PLUS non of you have mentioned the amount of money Gelo can bring in!!! After all the NBA is in the entertainment industry.
Grant has been released. Heās on the SL roster but heās not under contract with us anywhere else. Scottie is taking up a 2-way contract (which I do not believe can be terminated before the end of term which is minimally one year). Vernon has actual playing value on this roster, especially if we have him street clothes while Nick is trying to prove his merit; heās potentially the 2nd most tenured C on the roster.
For the record, I am not negative on Gelo. I like the idea of him getting a shot. But I donāt remotely buy into the idea that 2 SL games and weighing his Instagram cred he deserves to boot a player off the roster at the cost of eating 1.7+ million in eaten salary.
So lets discuss Richards and Iwunduā¦
Could they be released and at what cost? To me Richards has appeared to be a less athletic Biz. Which is to say I do not like what Iāve seen. I have no idea about Iwunduā¦ I havenāt seen him play and heās already 26. Looking at his stats Iām really not impressed and not sure how heād benefit the team in any way and no idea why we wanted him. (someone said we had to request him in the trade? Are you sure NO didnāt demand we take him off their hands for salary or roster reason?)
Costs 1.7M and 1.8M to cut them respectively.
I donāt either but they went through the trouble to fold him into the NOP deal (or āmaybeā NOP insisted we take him but they paid my favorite player Incomplete Roster Charge for half his salary so I wouldnāt think so). And we went through the hoops of introducing him and all that. I cannot imagine heās just here to be cut/waived for sport.
Iām definitely not sure of that. Just reading the tea leaves however, his cost doesnāt appear to be the issue, his spot might only have been IF they wanted to keep the 15th spot open for future business.
Zig, I respect your opinion a lot but thatās an incredibly short sided way to look at it. Lamelo has proven he can carry his own and heās going to be a legit super star. Of course he still has a lot to prove, but his trajectory is very clear.
This team has its first legit superstar, and your hung up on a rotation forward (mcdaniels)who could be a good 8th/9th man in the rotation?
Dude. Losing the 9th man in the rotation is worth keeping our franchiseās first legit super star happy.
Iām not saying that Gelo should absolutely make the team, but I think thereās a pretty good argument that itās be a wise idea. And Gelo can ball. Good things have happened when heās been in the floor in summer league. Kid can shoot.
I know Iām harping on it a bit (and I apologize) but considering the idea of flexibility weāve seen recently I really donāt understand the Iwundu thing at all right now. We had to have have thought we were going to make another move somewhere and it fell completely through. Where do they think they really have minutes for him behind Hayward, Miles and Oubre? Now weāre stuck with a guy who doesnāt seem to bring much of anything to the team AND little roster flexibility without it costing them almost 2mil.
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If Jalen was in danger of being cut, he most likely will be fighting for his life in Las Vegas
Too much invested in him and too much talent, heās not going anywhere
This will not be a popular opinion on here but I would trust Jalen with minutes before I would trust Kai right now
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@Icky_Thump I donāt get it either. My only guess is that maybe it was NOP that pushed vs. us pulling. That or we really saw him as Cody Martin replacement though to be honest, I think Cody is the better between the two. Maybe they are looking in the way-back machine to him as a prospect coming into the league and see the 6ā7"/7ā1" as something to build on but to me, 4 years in, thatās really unlikely. Consider me equally confused though I donāt think this is at the important end of the roster unless you are nc and powell that think we absolutely need this spot and some cushion for Gelo.
I love Kai, but I think thatās probably accurate. In fact, we all probably need to dial back expectations for the kid this season. I suspect a lot of highlights and a lot of headscratchers are forthcoming.
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Absolutely. Iām a huge fan of mcdaniels and he should absolutely be on the team this year.
I just donāt understand the Iwundu thing.
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I think the other thing you have to consider is what the rest of the squad thinks about respect from the team staff of the players. This isnāt necessarily about Gelo, but if youāre on the team and you see a legit player get cut or disrespected in favorās of the starās buddy, youāre setting your team up to be disgruntled.
There are a lot of teams with great players. Chemistry and cohesion is what wins championships though. We have a good thing building, and if Gelo is a player that helps us continue to build that culture, then great. But we canāt just sacrifice a legit prospect to appease Melo.
Ultimately, what will appease Melo is putting him in the best situation to be successful, and that means getting the best players that help the team.
Again. might be Gelo. Might not.
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Kai looks like a ton of talent and potential but I wonder this year if heās penciled in for anything more than 3rd C or 4th PF this season. I hope he gets a good number of minutes in GSO as thatās proven valuable already for others.
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