Good thread.
Look, what I'm reacting to is this asinine idea that we need to wait yet another couple of summers to start winning games - that, to me, is unacceptable. We are not at the beginning of a rebuild, we've been in it for a couple of years and are in pretty good shape. In two drafts without the lowest draft picks we came out with two unicorns in Frankie and Porgingis. The chances of striking that kind of gold yet again is asking a bit much.
Furthermore, the Melo trade was not the bust many of us feared. As a result we have a feast of redundancy with Noah's contract being the only heartburn and, quite frankly, who cares? If we can unload him - fine, if not - fine.
The important thing I think is to stop making excuses for not winning - I'm totally in HofstraBall's camp on this one. This team needs to simply start moving forward and this trading deadline is an ideal, and dare I say, NECESSARY time to make that happen. WE don't have to hold out for a star either. We need to bring the summer of 2019 here now.
Lots of young, emerging players around the league can be had with our existing assets.
And we shouldn't shy away from veteran upgrades.
IMO, Jarret Jack deserves our thanks but... get me Rubio. Rubio would seamlessly take over the starter's role, take some heat off Frankie [and provide a year or two of breathing room] AND, most importantly upgrade that position enough to give us a shot at a playoff run.
Secondly, and this is obvious but so what, locate an available young SF and get them on board - doesn't have to be a starter but has to be menace when on the floor.
Third, locate as many unused young assets as we can find who can make up for the loss of the veterans and pick we may have to sacrifice for what we need. Add two or three bodies who can move.
I really think a multi-player Orlando deal fulfills items two and three. I don't see Biyombo's contract as being a bad one - its an opportunity to settle on a center we don't already have. We can keep two of O'Quinn, Kanter, or Willie. Still leaves us strong.
Sure take back a contract Orlando wants to dump. We have to take risk and expect to give to get.
Who knows, if we make the playoffs maybe Noah will star there.