Garbageman's GM Scouting Report: Trade Deadline Edition
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 3:51 pm
GM TRADE SCOUTING REPORT
With trade deadline quickly approaching, it's everyone's last stand to make plays for the postseason before we get to the point in PBSL where everyone (except the few teams with a legitimate championship shot) just wants to do the offseason again. And with that comes a last minute article so I can try to capitalize on some more points to throw into player training. Nothing beats an article where I break things down team by team in terms of maximizing my word count and having every GM be able to take interest in at least 1/25th of the article. So this season, I'm taking a look at each GM in the league and their trade tendencies to offer a scouting report on what to expect when you're trading with the GM of each team.
I should offer the caveat that these are my views, they come from mostly personal experience or reaction to trades that have happened, and many are at least partially facetious. Most GMs probably have easier talks with some GMs than others. Some are more cautious to trade with more shrewd or successful GMs. Some are more cautious to trade with GMs in their division.
DALLAS MAVERICKS - letsplayhorse
Letsplayhorse is a GM who is a mystery to most people. In real life, he knows me, false9, and greepleairport, and his PBSL strategy is at times a mystery to us, but as a GM who's eschewed the more social aspects of the game, most GMs can only access him via PM. Due to that, plus things like false9 reaming him of his picks in that Trae Young trade (which ended up being all for naught since the Mavs didn't retain Trae in free agency), letsplayhorse is pretty conservative with trading. He doesn't really seek it out, and he is hesitant to pull the trigger on many offers, consequential or not. Chances are, he might not know whose team you're handling, so the best approach is to overexplain in a PM to him and not offer him a garbage offer since he'll likely ask me or Andy for our take if he's seriously considering something. His last trade (this part of the article was written before he traded with the 76ers after sim 7) was with me (Sterner for Frederick), and I think that was more because I know how to get a hold of him outside sim league and he trusts me since I haven't put him on the bad end of a deal. Before that, though, it's been 5 seasons since he did a deal (when he sent Deuce Fortre to the Nets in hopes that Joseph Kight would be enough to give his team an extra edge...it didn't).
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - LHamilton
LHamilton is very similar to letsplayhorse in that he isn't very present in the extracurricular aspects of PBSL. He hasn't been super active on the trade market in a while, though he has responded to some PMs (I think in the last few I've sent him, the most I got back was a single "No thank you"). I can't remember a season where he didn't have his draft pick, and the only time I really remember trading with him was about 10 or so seasons ago when I dealt prime DSJ for a young Nathaniel Anderson. Most of what I remember about this was that it all took place while I was at Kohl's. The Cavs last trade was a while back (July 2019), and ironically, it was dumping an aging DSJ for a Nuggets 1st. That had to be 4 or 5 seasons ago. I do remember before then an offseason where LHamilton went all in and assembled a really nice looking team, but with a trade drought that long, the fish don't bite much in Cleveland, so unless you're willing to cast your best bait on a line without a hook, good luck.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS - MexicanMamba
As one of the newer GMs, Mamba has been incredibly active on the trade market trying to put together his first seriously contending team. He's done a great job building the team and making deals to do whatever it takes to win now. In doing so, he's been extremely aggressive and willing to offload future picks (both his and his own) and points (though now that he's dang near run out of those and his tax bill looms, he can't spend as big here). He's learning through trial by fire that even non-max contracts on blue potential guys like Abney or Cameron Payne can be things that aren't of value to anyone (even him) as much as salary, so while he's hesitant to treat them that way at first, trade deadline would be the best time to hit him up to get something going of decent value here. In any case, with that tax bill lurking, Boban aging out, and several contracts ending, it'll be interesting to see how Mamba adapts to rebuilding mode with so many large contracts to move. Now might not be the best time to get value from Mamba, but if you're interested in spending $50mm on an aging Boban, you should have his number in your rolodex.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS - BowToTheBill23
BowToTheBill is back, and for those of you who are new, he's not just some even newer GM. His championship seasons as the old Warriors GM prove that he knows what he's doing. Just head to the human coaches page for confirmation of his record. In any case, now's a great time to trade with BttB since he inherited a stewarded team with a lot of short contracts and rookie contracts. He's already dealt out a bit, but the closer he gets to solidifying a long term plan for the Blazers, the narrower the set of offers he'll be willing to entertain. The league is also a little bit different since Bow was last at the helm, so it's possible he's still calculating value not adjusted for the league's current state. That being said, I don't recall ever pulling off a successful trade with Ben, but the trades I remember from his Warriors tenure always looked fair enough to me.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER - AngryBanana
AngryBanana has now been around long enough where I'd consider him a veteran GM and that shows in his trade activity. He hasn't done anything I can really criticize in a while, and he seems to be pretty patient and conservative in his trades. The only big splash I've seen from him in recent memory is his deal to get Josh Jackson, which I thought was a pretty favorable trade for him. The Thunder and Clippers seem to be very much on the same wave this year, however, they have a little bit of an easier out in terms of future contracts. I'm not sure I see them re-rolling after this season, but I'd keep an eye on a guy like Pistol Pete next offseason. If AB decides to tear it down next season, I don't think Pistol in OKC makes sense next season. The teardown process from this build will be the true test of Banana's trade mettle.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS - xist2inspire
Pretty much every article ever written that breaks things down into teams mentions that xist is the nicest guy in the league. After pantsing the Knicks this season and taking Douglas Harris and Kevin Stephan in one fell swoop without sacrificing too much, I hereby declare a moratorium on that. It's always a pleasure to have trade talks with xist, for me personally...but also for me personally, I think our compasses on what a good trade would be are calibrated pretty differently, so the talks are more just shooting the breeze than getting anything productive done (however, when we do get something done, it's quick and painless, like the Marshall Starr deal). The aforementioned move for Harris, though, also turns my analysis on its head. I'm so used to xist always wanting to be competitive that it's odd seeing an o/b on his team. When he does get the itch to compete, expect his 1st rounders to fly. He also--contrary to him FINALLY letting go of Marshall Starr--has the tendency to go big, playing guys like Starr, Chad Marsh, and Russ Caraballo in heavy minutes at SF. If you've got an interesting guy who's tall and quick, it's time to do some capital knocking. (https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2af056e8-a ... dc0c4bb0d4)
DETROIT PISTONS - Wombataholic
I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Wombataholic. After he pretty much gave away the league's newest purple potential player, Jonathan Lewis to the Spurs, I don't think Wombat's made a move. The salAD days are over, and in a post-OP-Davis Detroit, the Pistons never really got back on track. Still, the cost of sending a PM isn't high, so if there's someone on his team you like, go ahead and ask. If you get a reply, the odds are pretty good you'll be able to strike a favorable deal. That's a big if, though.
PHOENIX SUNS - MESSI_2.0
...or perhaps the Pistons are employing the strategy the Suns have been working with. The long con. Trusting the process. The Suns were already considered lucky during the Kevin Love era, grabbing a guy like Love who you could build a championship team around without ever needing to go over the cap. With Love, MESSI_2.0 won championships with teams with y/y starting PGs. That's how good Love was. After a period of setting and forgetting and some offseason check-ins to do the necessary things to keep his young guys from dying, the Suns have cultivated a team with 3 Love-sized players. And with an untouched point bank, there's probably little reason the Suns will need to trade at all over the next 5 seasons. Still, the Suns did make a huge trade for De'Aaron Fox, which just goes to show that if a deal has blockbuster potential, just eschew the forum and stalk M2 relentlessly until he agrees to a deal.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES - JNR
After calling me slimy earlier in the year, I'd recommend the JNR trade away his HOLIER-THAN-THOU trading judgments, but if I can say one thing, it's that JNR hasn't done anything slimy...at least that I've seen. Trading with Nate is always reasonable and easy, and he's not going to nickel and dime you. While he's made some trades that didn't work out in practice the way they looked like they would on paper, he's not going to take a deal that's bad, though he might be more willing to take a risk on a deal depending on how his interest level is in sim league. If it's low, he might be down for a shakeup. So the closer to the middle of the pack the Timberwolves are in, the better a time it is to try to come at JNR with a tide-changing deal. If he's bottoming out or stomping the yard, that's another story. After trading Luka and Morant this season, however, the Wolves are at the beginning of a new cycle, so it might be a while before you see JNR swing his roster again.
DENVER NUGGETS - TheSyndicate
During the pre-season presser, I asked TheSyndicate why he thought he hadn't had success trading Jerry West, and he did a pretty good job answering this one for me. The reasons specific to him? Number one: he's an elite GM and people are afraid he'll make them look like fools. And two...some GMs just plain don't like him. Whether or not the two are connected stands to be proven, but I know, especially lately, I've found that we have an easy time figuring out if there's a deal to be had or not. I think as long as he knows you're not going to let yourself be fleeced, Syndicate will get a mutually beneficial deal done with you if there's one to be had. As one of the savvier GMs, whose been around a while, had his share of success, and has a deep understanding of what a good move and a bad move is, I'd say trade, but if you haven't worked out a lot of deals with him in the past, start conservative with your talks and come up. If you offer too much at first, he'll take it.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS - greepleairport
The Lakers' GM is also fairly new, and he's coming off his first bout of success after cashing in some (but not all) of his young pieces for win-now impact players. That got him to the Finals last year, and it's not out of the question that he could make a repeat trip, given the young guys he kept (Delmar Lopez, Scot Butler, and David Leiker) got a lot better with Silva and Acuna still good enough to garner All Star Game apperances (even though Wanderlei didn't win out the starting C spot to Colin F'n Smallwood). This first experience with cashing in probably taught greeple a good thing about willingness to cash in young players for ready players when your team's in the right spot. Since that offseason, the Lake Show hasn't done much to tinker with their formula, so your best bet might be in the offseason, especially if they don't retain Silva...which, given Lopez's impending max contract, might happen because of a tax issue. If that's the case, look for Acuna on the cheap, and hope that not being burned by a trade yet is enough to loosen the caution greeple had in trading before his finals run.
NEW YORK KNICKS - drkavarga
While digiskunk has long been known as the Wildcard of PBSL, drkavarga isn't too far off. He's a chaotic evil to skunk's chaotic good. Usually happy to just go recommended at everything and just resign any player who was ever on his roster to the biggest contract he could, but when his tax bill raised to astronomical levels of around 29-907, it became clear that he was going to have to start selling like Dr. Oz if he wanted to ever be able to sign a contract higher than a vet min again. His inexperience really digging in shows here, and I think given his brash, trash-talking personality, other GMs are keen on tornadoing through his fire sale. Instead of splitting his assets into as many separate, points based deals as he could, he packaged them together. While he still has some value on his roster, it's a good time to cough up those points, because much like the girls in the Palazzo, he'll do just about anything for 10 points. I hear he's even taken a shining to 2nd round picks.
INDIANA PACERS - PaulyP
Pauly is another guy who never outright tanks and will try to make the Pacers as competitive as possible. This means that Pacers picks are probably more readily available than other draft picks of the same projected value. He's also never dipped into the tax in the twentysomething seasons I've been here, so to pull off a successful trade with Pauly, your best bet is to help the Pacers tack a few more wins on their record without giving them a tax bill. If he likes the player you're offering, you'll probably get something done, but it might take some good, mid-range contracts to do it. Those contracts exemplify the build of a Pacers team, and you'll probably have an easier time getting something to work if the salaries a reasonable. However, a good enough max contract might be appealing if it's enough of an upgrade over two of his existing pieces, and it's not a long tail contract that'll bite him financially down the road.
UTAH JAZZ - digiskunk
The league's true wildcard. digiskunk lives an amazingly interesting life, so sometimes he's around, and sometimes he's not. When he isn't around, I have my best bet contacting him of Facebook messenger over Skype or PM. However, as mentioned earlier, digiskunk is a true wildcard. He might trade just because he has the itch, and he might not trade if he doesn't like a player's name. Generally, it's probably best to avoid trading with the Jazz if you don't want HOLIER-THAN-THOU GMs to call you slimy, but if you want a GM who will take a high risk, there's nobody who would cut the breaks and jump out of the back of a moving van better than the OG Wildcard himself. While he has been involved in a lot of headscratching trades (from trading Bogut back and forth about 5 times in 3 seasons to getting frustrated with Silky and dishing him--my dirty, but now I see where he's coming from getting frustrated with the player hater--and beyond), he has been to the Finals twice, proving that if he sticks to his guns on a rebuild, he knows how to cultivate a good team if he wants to go down that road again. Has a tendency to trade his picks to false9 that he needs to overcome.
CHICAGO BULLS - garbageman
I'm a perfectly reasonable trade partner who sends out good offers that get rejected and bad offers that get accepted.
ORLANDO MAGIC - false9
If you look at false9's record, there should be no doubt that he's a shrewd trader. You can't have the kind of success he's had without doing that. However, as shrewd as he is, when f9 commits to an F5 hard refresh of his team, he's not going to overvalue his declining win now players out of sentimentality like other GMs tend to do. After 3 Finals appearances in a row with his Boban build, false9 dropped Boban and JJ (both still with plenty of juice left) for fairly cheap prices rather than waiting to see if the market got better. With young guys, it's a little different...the Magic have a lot of points saved up, and they've trained their players well over the years, so expect any young guys on their roster to be a lot more valuable to him than the win-now vets you might try to send him for them. Normally, the Magic are happy to include their 1st rounders as the illusion of an asset, but as we see with this season, sometimes even the best GMs can accidentally trade away a lotto pick once in a while (in this case, he traded it as part of the Boban deal, banking on the 2035 Clippers 1st being more valuable...the Magic pick has changed hands a couple more times, so nobody saw that coming...happy birthday, logpmess).
MILWAUKEE BUCKS - IamQuailman
And finally the team order randomizer I use to write these articles brings us to the Slime King himself. There's a reason that Quail has found himself on a record number of no-trade-lists over the years. In fact, there are several reasons. Your best bet is to add him to your own no-trade-list, but if you're one of those idiots who's all like "THE FLU KILLS MORE PEOPLE SO THE GOV'T CAN'T TELL ME NOT TO GO OUTSIDE," feel free to roll the dice and catch whatever disease Quail's going to give you. Quail likes to trade, and he likes to make big trades, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it done. We once had a member of PBSL who went into the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a brutal crime, and Quailman tracked him down to commit the even more brutal crime of traping him. If you send Quail a good deal on someone who he doesn't have on his block, expect him to hire skywriters to advertise that he's looking for a better offer. Thus, I'd recommend never asking about a player that Quail has not already solicited every offer he can for. If you still aren't persuaded to not trade with Slimelord, here are some more guidelines: 1. Don't ask him to send you points. He will use this as a way to misunderstand the trade and back out. It should be very clear that the things you are offering can't be confused with things he is offering to give him an out. 2. Make the trade big. If it's a big enough trade to get the league talking, he doesn't mind giving up an RJ Barrett. 3. Take a very thorough shower afterwards.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS - Eazy P
Quail is an easy act to follow, and that might be good for Eazy P. P's a very shrewd GM, and most of the time I see Spurs on the Finalized Trade board, I open up the thread and think the Spurs have the advantage in the trade (except for when they traded BDJ for Ronald Jordan and Dan Yandell instead of Gary Loredo and Jame Hector). You can get a good, mutually beneficial deal from the Spurs, but you'll want to be aware of the directioin that Eazy's going before making an offer. I haven't seen any Spurs picks move in a while, but Spurs picks don't seem to be on the move much if Eazy knows they're going to be good picks, and he has a pretty good idea on that. As far as points go, he's more willing to let go of those for the right reason as long as his points bank allows that. They still have a couple pieces that they're likely to want to build on, so if you want yourself some Robert Bonnet or Ronald Jordan, now's probably an opportune time to try to grab one of those players.
MIAMI HEAT - logpmess
It's good to see logpmess back in the helm of the Heat after he kind of let them lapse for a few seasons. Like BowToTheBill (but maybe not as successful), logpmess is going to have to acclimate himself to the evolving value of players as the league moves deeper into the fake draft file era and training costs evolve. The Heat are set up for the future with Miguel Thomas, Michael Morley, and 2 picks that should be solid lotto picks for next season. The only win-now player they have is Frederic Hughes, who can't be traded. It doesn't make too much sense to send a win-now player to Miami, but keep an eye out for any sign that the Heat might want to cash in. They'll have a load of cap space and the youth to throw their hat in the ring. That won't happen until at least next offseason at the earliest, and with only Frederic Hughes ready to compete, they might need to pick up another reason or two to compete before trying to send some offers. However, it seems like they're not too high on players they inherited (basically Michael Morley). He might be the first to move, and once he does, it might be easier to justify offers going after some of his other players.
BROOKLYN NETS - RPF
I've had a lot of fruitful trades with RPF, but despite pulling the trades off, I feel like he's one of those GMs who has a completely different system of valuation from me. The last two deals I made with the Nets were deals I felt were obviously favorable to the Nets, but RPF still was very miserly about sending points (and I thought I was supposed to be the Jew...well, either me or TheSyndicate). However, that experience could be limited to me (consensus seems that being the most likeable Jew in PBSL is basically a participation trophy), and I've seen the Nets pull off some good trades--especially grabbing Luka Doncic from the Timberwolves. If the RealPelicansFan can follow that Doncic trade up by moving Hector or Wesson for another win now piece, that could put them in pretty good shape, so put aside your hesitation to grab a 4th year guy before RFA and see if you can grab one of those players for a good deal if either of them will fit your team.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS - NickMalone77
In the last 20 seasons, the Pelicans have only had 10 of their picks going into draft day (I didn't count--or even look at--any trades on draft day). In the next three seasons, they have 2 more picks already traded. In the past, 3/10 of those picks they've traded ended up Lotto. Most of the picks that weren't were 16 or better. In short, you can get a pick from Nick, and there's a chance that it'll be lotto good. If not, it'll likely be a solid mid first round pick. Nick is all about the trade. Chances are, he's already come to you with an offer that makes no sense for you to take, even just to get a trade talk started. If you put a player on the block during the offseason, Nick will come knocking, even if he has 0 players or tradeable picks on his roster. If you haven't made a trade with the Pelicans in the last five seasons, you're probably on cruise control. If the Pelicans have something that you want, go get it. I've found, however, that they tend to have a lot more on the block that doesn't make much sense for most teams to go after. For the Pels, a trade that turns out bad for them is worse than staying put with a team that's not the best in the league. Go into trade talks with that in mind.
SACRAMENTO KINGS - NOLa.
It still sticks in my craw that NOLa. was a pain in the ass about accepting certain amounts of points just because he didn't like the number 5 or some crap, which makes trading just a dumb headache, even if he's just kind of dicking around. About a season or two ahead of BowtotheBill and logpmess in terms of a celebrated GM returning to activity, NOLa's moves last season to bring in BDJ and put together a win now team were all very well played, and while injuries derailed his attempt to cash in last season, they're paying off now. He's kind of all maxed out right now in terms of having cashed in all his assets. However, next season the Kings are pretty locked up with Udoka, BDJ, and Paugh. Depending on how far they make it this season, they might have to pay up to retain their current team, so while I can see them rolling again if they lose due to something unfortunate (an ill-timed injury comes to mind), I'd imagine that they'll want to shake things up during the offseason so that they're not stuck running with a slightly older version of the same team. Upon his return, he was willing to ditch a-few-years-younger Erik Haynes pretty quickly, so if you've got cap space in the offseason before having to re-up some expiring contracts, all three of NOLa's big contracts on the book next season might be worth casting a line.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS - KeepIt100
The newest GM in the league, it's pretty apparent that KeepIt100 has more desire to be active in the game than a lot of the league. He's been very active on the trade block, and has pretty much got the basics down. Anything he still needs experience on--he's learning fast. I was a little surprised to see him go all in on some Knicks players, but he didn't have to give up too much for them. I do think Irvine and Barton were overpaid by the Knicks, and not sure they'll make as much of an impact, but the trade didn't cost much for at least the learning experience of what having some players like this on the team will do. If K100 is fast on the learning curve, he might be shopping some of his young guys who aren't ready to contribute in the offseason. Otherwise, a team with players like Toppin and Cassius alongside players like Barton and Irvine will never truly be competitive as it'll be hard to keep the latter by the time the former are reaching their peaks. That being said, espeically with K100's propensity for trading, means that next offseason might be a great time to make a move towards the 76ers' inbox.
HOUSTON ROCKETS - 78#
Like the Wiz, Pacers, and Pelicans, the Rockets are a team that rarely, if ever, tries to rebuild. They're always looking to be competitive, and they always end up with a record that looks like they got the most out of the teams they put together. These teams, much like the Pacers, never really have that one superstar quality guy, and I also can't really remember the last homegrown prospect the Rockets drafted. I definitely don't remember them having (or trying to acquire in a trade) a y/b rookie contract guy. Thus, the Rockets know where their bread is buttered, are willing to trade their likely mid-round 1sts for win-now improvement, and don't seem to stray too far from the formula that's gotten them plenty of playoff appearances. In the last few offseasons, they seem to offer contracts that guys will take...guys like the 7 or so g/b bigs making 10-20m a season on a multi-year. I'm surprised that the 4 teams mentioned in the first sentence aren't trading with each other all the time to fix imbalances on their rosters...though the Wiz and Pelicans did pull off that Langford for Brooks swap that seemed to benefit both teams.
TORONTO RAPTORS - Soundwave
Last, but not least, we have the defending champs. I haven't traded with them in a decent amount of time, and the champs aren't one of those teams that is making moves left and right, but when the Raptors do get on the trade block, they do some dinosaur sized trades. One of the first big trades I remember was the Raptors and Timberwolves pulling off a big deal where the Raps got prime-Bosh and Lowry. More recently, they acquired a young RJ Barrett from the Bucks and kind of stuck with their guns on Barrett and Ironside for what seems like 20 seasons of the duo still being under 30. It's about to be tax time for the Raptors, and without Trae Young, they don't look like the strongest candidate to repeat (they're still in the conversation, but they're being overshadowed by teams like the Clippers and Thunder). I'd expect that next offseason will be active for the Raps on the trade block, but expect to break out the checkbook if you want to relieve them of that RJ Barrett contract.
With trade deadline quickly approaching, it's everyone's last stand to make plays for the postseason before we get to the point in PBSL where everyone (except the few teams with a legitimate championship shot) just wants to do the offseason again. And with that comes a last minute article so I can try to capitalize on some more points to throw into player training. Nothing beats an article where I break things down team by team in terms of maximizing my word count and having every GM be able to take interest in at least 1/25th of the article. So this season, I'm taking a look at each GM in the league and their trade tendencies to offer a scouting report on what to expect when you're trading with the GM of each team.
I should offer the caveat that these are my views, they come from mostly personal experience or reaction to trades that have happened, and many are at least partially facetious. Most GMs probably have easier talks with some GMs than others. Some are more cautious to trade with more shrewd or successful GMs. Some are more cautious to trade with GMs in their division.
DALLAS MAVERICKS - letsplayhorse
Letsplayhorse is a GM who is a mystery to most people. In real life, he knows me, false9, and greepleairport, and his PBSL strategy is at times a mystery to us, but as a GM who's eschewed the more social aspects of the game, most GMs can only access him via PM. Due to that, plus things like false9 reaming him of his picks in that Trae Young trade (which ended up being all for naught since the Mavs didn't retain Trae in free agency), letsplayhorse is pretty conservative with trading. He doesn't really seek it out, and he is hesitant to pull the trigger on many offers, consequential or not. Chances are, he might not know whose team you're handling, so the best approach is to overexplain in a PM to him and not offer him a garbage offer since he'll likely ask me or Andy for our take if he's seriously considering something. His last trade (this part of the article was written before he traded with the 76ers after sim 7) was with me (Sterner for Frederick), and I think that was more because I know how to get a hold of him outside sim league and he trusts me since I haven't put him on the bad end of a deal. Before that, though, it's been 5 seasons since he did a deal (when he sent Deuce Fortre to the Nets in hopes that Joseph Kight would be enough to give his team an extra edge...it didn't).
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS - LHamilton
LHamilton is very similar to letsplayhorse in that he isn't very present in the extracurricular aspects of PBSL. He hasn't been super active on the trade market in a while, though he has responded to some PMs (I think in the last few I've sent him, the most I got back was a single "No thank you"). I can't remember a season where he didn't have his draft pick, and the only time I really remember trading with him was about 10 or so seasons ago when I dealt prime DSJ for a young Nathaniel Anderson. Most of what I remember about this was that it all took place while I was at Kohl's. The Cavs last trade was a while back (July 2019), and ironically, it was dumping an aging DSJ for a Nuggets 1st. That had to be 4 or 5 seasons ago. I do remember before then an offseason where LHamilton went all in and assembled a really nice looking team, but with a trade drought that long, the fish don't bite much in Cleveland, so unless you're willing to cast your best bait on a line without a hook, good luck.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS - MexicanMamba
As one of the newer GMs, Mamba has been incredibly active on the trade market trying to put together his first seriously contending team. He's done a great job building the team and making deals to do whatever it takes to win now. In doing so, he's been extremely aggressive and willing to offload future picks (both his and his own) and points (though now that he's dang near run out of those and his tax bill looms, he can't spend as big here). He's learning through trial by fire that even non-max contracts on blue potential guys like Abney or Cameron Payne can be things that aren't of value to anyone (even him) as much as salary, so while he's hesitant to treat them that way at first, trade deadline would be the best time to hit him up to get something going of decent value here. In any case, with that tax bill lurking, Boban aging out, and several contracts ending, it'll be interesting to see how Mamba adapts to rebuilding mode with so many large contracts to move. Now might not be the best time to get value from Mamba, but if you're interested in spending $50mm on an aging Boban, you should have his number in your rolodex.
PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS - BowToTheBill23
BowToTheBill is back, and for those of you who are new, he's not just some even newer GM. His championship seasons as the old Warriors GM prove that he knows what he's doing. Just head to the human coaches page for confirmation of his record. In any case, now's a great time to trade with BttB since he inherited a stewarded team with a lot of short contracts and rookie contracts. He's already dealt out a bit, but the closer he gets to solidifying a long term plan for the Blazers, the narrower the set of offers he'll be willing to entertain. The league is also a little bit different since Bow was last at the helm, so it's possible he's still calculating value not adjusted for the league's current state. That being said, I don't recall ever pulling off a successful trade with Ben, but the trades I remember from his Warriors tenure always looked fair enough to me.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER - AngryBanana
AngryBanana has now been around long enough where I'd consider him a veteran GM and that shows in his trade activity. He hasn't done anything I can really criticize in a while, and he seems to be pretty patient and conservative in his trades. The only big splash I've seen from him in recent memory is his deal to get Josh Jackson, which I thought was a pretty favorable trade for him. The Thunder and Clippers seem to be very much on the same wave this year, however, they have a little bit of an easier out in terms of future contracts. I'm not sure I see them re-rolling after this season, but I'd keep an eye on a guy like Pistol Pete next offseason. If AB decides to tear it down next season, I don't think Pistol in OKC makes sense next season. The teardown process from this build will be the true test of Banana's trade mettle.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS - xist2inspire
Pretty much every article ever written that breaks things down into teams mentions that xist is the nicest guy in the league. After pantsing the Knicks this season and taking Douglas Harris and Kevin Stephan in one fell swoop without sacrificing too much, I hereby declare a moratorium on that. It's always a pleasure to have trade talks with xist, for me personally...but also for me personally, I think our compasses on what a good trade would be are calibrated pretty differently, so the talks are more just shooting the breeze than getting anything productive done (however, when we do get something done, it's quick and painless, like the Marshall Starr deal). The aforementioned move for Harris, though, also turns my analysis on its head. I'm so used to xist always wanting to be competitive that it's odd seeing an o/b on his team. When he does get the itch to compete, expect his 1st rounders to fly. He also--contrary to him FINALLY letting go of Marshall Starr--has the tendency to go big, playing guys like Starr, Chad Marsh, and Russ Caraballo in heavy minutes at SF. If you've got an interesting guy who's tall and quick, it's time to do some capital knocking. (https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2af056e8-a ... dc0c4bb0d4)
DETROIT PISTONS - Wombataholic
I hope I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure we've seen the last of Wombataholic. After he pretty much gave away the league's newest purple potential player, Jonathan Lewis to the Spurs, I don't think Wombat's made a move. The salAD days are over, and in a post-OP-Davis Detroit, the Pistons never really got back on track. Still, the cost of sending a PM isn't high, so if there's someone on his team you like, go ahead and ask. If you get a reply, the odds are pretty good you'll be able to strike a favorable deal. That's a big if, though.
PHOENIX SUNS - MESSI_2.0
...or perhaps the Pistons are employing the strategy the Suns have been working with. The long con. Trusting the process. The Suns were already considered lucky during the Kevin Love era, grabbing a guy like Love who you could build a championship team around without ever needing to go over the cap. With Love, MESSI_2.0 won championships with teams with y/y starting PGs. That's how good Love was. After a period of setting and forgetting and some offseason check-ins to do the necessary things to keep his young guys from dying, the Suns have cultivated a team with 3 Love-sized players. And with an untouched point bank, there's probably little reason the Suns will need to trade at all over the next 5 seasons. Still, the Suns did make a huge trade for De'Aaron Fox, which just goes to show that if a deal has blockbuster potential, just eschew the forum and stalk M2 relentlessly until he agrees to a deal.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES - JNR
After calling me slimy earlier in the year, I'd recommend the JNR trade away his HOLIER-THAN-THOU trading judgments, but if I can say one thing, it's that JNR hasn't done anything slimy...at least that I've seen. Trading with Nate is always reasonable and easy, and he's not going to nickel and dime you. While he's made some trades that didn't work out in practice the way they looked like they would on paper, he's not going to take a deal that's bad, though he might be more willing to take a risk on a deal depending on how his interest level is in sim league. If it's low, he might be down for a shakeup. So the closer to the middle of the pack the Timberwolves are in, the better a time it is to try to come at JNR with a tide-changing deal. If he's bottoming out or stomping the yard, that's another story. After trading Luka and Morant this season, however, the Wolves are at the beginning of a new cycle, so it might be a while before you see JNR swing his roster again.
DENVER NUGGETS - TheSyndicate
During the pre-season presser, I asked TheSyndicate why he thought he hadn't had success trading Jerry West, and he did a pretty good job answering this one for me. The reasons specific to him? Number one: he's an elite GM and people are afraid he'll make them look like fools. And two...some GMs just plain don't like him. Whether or not the two are connected stands to be proven, but I know, especially lately, I've found that we have an easy time figuring out if there's a deal to be had or not. I think as long as he knows you're not going to let yourself be fleeced, Syndicate will get a mutually beneficial deal done with you if there's one to be had. As one of the savvier GMs, whose been around a while, had his share of success, and has a deep understanding of what a good move and a bad move is, I'd say trade, but if you haven't worked out a lot of deals with him in the past, start conservative with your talks and come up. If you offer too much at first, he'll take it.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS - greepleairport
The Lakers' GM is also fairly new, and he's coming off his first bout of success after cashing in some (but not all) of his young pieces for win-now impact players. That got him to the Finals last year, and it's not out of the question that he could make a repeat trip, given the young guys he kept (Delmar Lopez, Scot Butler, and David Leiker) got a lot better with Silva and Acuna still good enough to garner All Star Game apperances (even though Wanderlei didn't win out the starting C spot to Colin F'n Smallwood). This first experience with cashing in probably taught greeple a good thing about willingness to cash in young players for ready players when your team's in the right spot. Since that offseason, the Lake Show hasn't done much to tinker with their formula, so your best bet might be in the offseason, especially if they don't retain Silva...which, given Lopez's impending max contract, might happen because of a tax issue. If that's the case, look for Acuna on the cheap, and hope that not being burned by a trade yet is enough to loosen the caution greeple had in trading before his finals run.
NEW YORK KNICKS - drkavarga
While digiskunk has long been known as the Wildcard of PBSL, drkavarga isn't too far off. He's a chaotic evil to skunk's chaotic good. Usually happy to just go recommended at everything and just resign any player who was ever on his roster to the biggest contract he could, but when his tax bill raised to astronomical levels of around 29-907, it became clear that he was going to have to start selling like Dr. Oz if he wanted to ever be able to sign a contract higher than a vet min again. His inexperience really digging in shows here, and I think given his brash, trash-talking personality, other GMs are keen on tornadoing through his fire sale. Instead of splitting his assets into as many separate, points based deals as he could, he packaged them together. While he still has some value on his roster, it's a good time to cough up those points, because much like the girls in the Palazzo, he'll do just about anything for 10 points. I hear he's even taken a shining to 2nd round picks.
INDIANA PACERS - PaulyP
Pauly is another guy who never outright tanks and will try to make the Pacers as competitive as possible. This means that Pacers picks are probably more readily available than other draft picks of the same projected value. He's also never dipped into the tax in the twentysomething seasons I've been here, so to pull off a successful trade with Pauly, your best bet is to help the Pacers tack a few more wins on their record without giving them a tax bill. If he likes the player you're offering, you'll probably get something done, but it might take some good, mid-range contracts to do it. Those contracts exemplify the build of a Pacers team, and you'll probably have an easier time getting something to work if the salaries a reasonable. However, a good enough max contract might be appealing if it's enough of an upgrade over two of his existing pieces, and it's not a long tail contract that'll bite him financially down the road.
UTAH JAZZ - digiskunk
The league's true wildcard. digiskunk lives an amazingly interesting life, so sometimes he's around, and sometimes he's not. When he isn't around, I have my best bet contacting him of Facebook messenger over Skype or PM. However, as mentioned earlier, digiskunk is a true wildcard. He might trade just because he has the itch, and he might not trade if he doesn't like a player's name. Generally, it's probably best to avoid trading with the Jazz if you don't want HOLIER-THAN-THOU GMs to call you slimy, but if you want a GM who will take a high risk, there's nobody who would cut the breaks and jump out of the back of a moving van better than the OG Wildcard himself. While he has been involved in a lot of headscratching trades (from trading Bogut back and forth about 5 times in 3 seasons to getting frustrated with Silky and dishing him--my dirty, but now I see where he's coming from getting frustrated with the player hater--and beyond), he has been to the Finals twice, proving that if he sticks to his guns on a rebuild, he knows how to cultivate a good team if he wants to go down that road again. Has a tendency to trade his picks to false9 that he needs to overcome.
CHICAGO BULLS - garbageman
I'm a perfectly reasonable trade partner who sends out good offers that get rejected and bad offers that get accepted.
ORLANDO MAGIC - false9
If you look at false9's record, there should be no doubt that he's a shrewd trader. You can't have the kind of success he's had without doing that. However, as shrewd as he is, when f9 commits to an F5 hard refresh of his team, he's not going to overvalue his declining win now players out of sentimentality like other GMs tend to do. After 3 Finals appearances in a row with his Boban build, false9 dropped Boban and JJ (both still with plenty of juice left) for fairly cheap prices rather than waiting to see if the market got better. With young guys, it's a little different...the Magic have a lot of points saved up, and they've trained their players well over the years, so expect any young guys on their roster to be a lot more valuable to him than the win-now vets you might try to send him for them. Normally, the Magic are happy to include their 1st rounders as the illusion of an asset, but as we see with this season, sometimes even the best GMs can accidentally trade away a lotto pick once in a while (in this case, he traded it as part of the Boban deal, banking on the 2035 Clippers 1st being more valuable...the Magic pick has changed hands a couple more times, so nobody saw that coming...happy birthday, logpmess).
MILWAUKEE BUCKS - IamQuailman
And finally the team order randomizer I use to write these articles brings us to the Slime King himself. There's a reason that Quail has found himself on a record number of no-trade-lists over the years. In fact, there are several reasons. Your best bet is to add him to your own no-trade-list, but if you're one of those idiots who's all like "THE FLU KILLS MORE PEOPLE SO THE GOV'T CAN'T TELL ME NOT TO GO OUTSIDE," feel free to roll the dice and catch whatever disease Quail's going to give you. Quail likes to trade, and he likes to make big trades, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it done. We once had a member of PBSL who went into the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a brutal crime, and Quailman tracked him down to commit the even more brutal crime of traping him. If you send Quail a good deal on someone who he doesn't have on his block, expect him to hire skywriters to advertise that he's looking for a better offer. Thus, I'd recommend never asking about a player that Quail has not already solicited every offer he can for. If you still aren't persuaded to not trade with Slimelord, here are some more guidelines: 1. Don't ask him to send you points. He will use this as a way to misunderstand the trade and back out. It should be very clear that the things you are offering can't be confused with things he is offering to give him an out. 2. Make the trade big. If it's a big enough trade to get the league talking, he doesn't mind giving up an RJ Barrett. 3. Take a very thorough shower afterwards.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS - Eazy P
Quail is an easy act to follow, and that might be good for Eazy P. P's a very shrewd GM, and most of the time I see Spurs on the Finalized Trade board, I open up the thread and think the Spurs have the advantage in the trade (except for when they traded BDJ for Ronald Jordan and Dan Yandell instead of Gary Loredo and Jame Hector). You can get a good, mutually beneficial deal from the Spurs, but you'll want to be aware of the directioin that Eazy's going before making an offer. I haven't seen any Spurs picks move in a while, but Spurs picks don't seem to be on the move much if Eazy knows they're going to be good picks, and he has a pretty good idea on that. As far as points go, he's more willing to let go of those for the right reason as long as his points bank allows that. They still have a couple pieces that they're likely to want to build on, so if you want yourself some Robert Bonnet or Ronald Jordan, now's probably an opportune time to try to grab one of those players.
MIAMI HEAT - logpmess
It's good to see logpmess back in the helm of the Heat after he kind of let them lapse for a few seasons. Like BowToTheBill (but maybe not as successful), logpmess is going to have to acclimate himself to the evolving value of players as the league moves deeper into the fake draft file era and training costs evolve. The Heat are set up for the future with Miguel Thomas, Michael Morley, and 2 picks that should be solid lotto picks for next season. The only win-now player they have is Frederic Hughes, who can't be traded. It doesn't make too much sense to send a win-now player to Miami, but keep an eye out for any sign that the Heat might want to cash in. They'll have a load of cap space and the youth to throw their hat in the ring. That won't happen until at least next offseason at the earliest, and with only Frederic Hughes ready to compete, they might need to pick up another reason or two to compete before trying to send some offers. However, it seems like they're not too high on players they inherited (basically Michael Morley). He might be the first to move, and once he does, it might be easier to justify offers going after some of his other players.
BROOKLYN NETS - RPF
I've had a lot of fruitful trades with RPF, but despite pulling the trades off, I feel like he's one of those GMs who has a completely different system of valuation from me. The last two deals I made with the Nets were deals I felt were obviously favorable to the Nets, but RPF still was very miserly about sending points (and I thought I was supposed to be the Jew...well, either me or TheSyndicate). However, that experience could be limited to me (consensus seems that being the most likeable Jew in PBSL is basically a participation trophy), and I've seen the Nets pull off some good trades--especially grabbing Luka Doncic from the Timberwolves. If the RealPelicansFan can follow that Doncic trade up by moving Hector or Wesson for another win now piece, that could put them in pretty good shape, so put aside your hesitation to grab a 4th year guy before RFA and see if you can grab one of those players for a good deal if either of them will fit your team.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS - NickMalone77
In the last 20 seasons, the Pelicans have only had 10 of their picks going into draft day (I didn't count--or even look at--any trades on draft day). In the next three seasons, they have 2 more picks already traded. In the past, 3/10 of those picks they've traded ended up Lotto. Most of the picks that weren't were 16 or better. In short, you can get a pick from Nick, and there's a chance that it'll be lotto good. If not, it'll likely be a solid mid first round pick. Nick is all about the trade. Chances are, he's already come to you with an offer that makes no sense for you to take, even just to get a trade talk started. If you put a player on the block during the offseason, Nick will come knocking, even if he has 0 players or tradeable picks on his roster. If you haven't made a trade with the Pelicans in the last five seasons, you're probably on cruise control. If the Pelicans have something that you want, go get it. I've found, however, that they tend to have a lot more on the block that doesn't make much sense for most teams to go after. For the Pels, a trade that turns out bad for them is worse than staying put with a team that's not the best in the league. Go into trade talks with that in mind.
SACRAMENTO KINGS - NOLa.
It still sticks in my craw that NOLa. was a pain in the ass about accepting certain amounts of points just because he didn't like the number 5 or some crap, which makes trading just a dumb headache, even if he's just kind of dicking around. About a season or two ahead of BowtotheBill and logpmess in terms of a celebrated GM returning to activity, NOLa's moves last season to bring in BDJ and put together a win now team were all very well played, and while injuries derailed his attempt to cash in last season, they're paying off now. He's kind of all maxed out right now in terms of having cashed in all his assets. However, next season the Kings are pretty locked up with Udoka, BDJ, and Paugh. Depending on how far they make it this season, they might have to pay up to retain their current team, so while I can see them rolling again if they lose due to something unfortunate (an ill-timed injury comes to mind), I'd imagine that they'll want to shake things up during the offseason so that they're not stuck running with a slightly older version of the same team. Upon his return, he was willing to ditch a-few-years-younger Erik Haynes pretty quickly, so if you've got cap space in the offseason before having to re-up some expiring contracts, all three of NOLa's big contracts on the book next season might be worth casting a line.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS - KeepIt100
The newest GM in the league, it's pretty apparent that KeepIt100 has more desire to be active in the game than a lot of the league. He's been very active on the trade block, and has pretty much got the basics down. Anything he still needs experience on--he's learning fast. I was a little surprised to see him go all in on some Knicks players, but he didn't have to give up too much for them. I do think Irvine and Barton were overpaid by the Knicks, and not sure they'll make as much of an impact, but the trade didn't cost much for at least the learning experience of what having some players like this on the team will do. If K100 is fast on the learning curve, he might be shopping some of his young guys who aren't ready to contribute in the offseason. Otherwise, a team with players like Toppin and Cassius alongside players like Barton and Irvine will never truly be competitive as it'll be hard to keep the latter by the time the former are reaching their peaks. That being said, espeically with K100's propensity for trading, means that next offseason might be a great time to make a move towards the 76ers' inbox.
HOUSTON ROCKETS - 78#
Like the Wiz, Pacers, and Pelicans, the Rockets are a team that rarely, if ever, tries to rebuild. They're always looking to be competitive, and they always end up with a record that looks like they got the most out of the teams they put together. These teams, much like the Pacers, never really have that one superstar quality guy, and I also can't really remember the last homegrown prospect the Rockets drafted. I definitely don't remember them having (or trying to acquire in a trade) a y/b rookie contract guy. Thus, the Rockets know where their bread is buttered, are willing to trade their likely mid-round 1sts for win-now improvement, and don't seem to stray too far from the formula that's gotten them plenty of playoff appearances. In the last few offseasons, they seem to offer contracts that guys will take...guys like the 7 or so g/b bigs making 10-20m a season on a multi-year. I'm surprised that the 4 teams mentioned in the first sentence aren't trading with each other all the time to fix imbalances on their rosters...though the Wiz and Pelicans did pull off that Langford for Brooks swap that seemed to benefit both teams.
TORONTO RAPTORS - Soundwave
Last, but not least, we have the defending champs. I haven't traded with them in a decent amount of time, and the champs aren't one of those teams that is making moves left and right, but when the Raptors do get on the trade block, they do some dinosaur sized trades. One of the first big trades I remember was the Raptors and Timberwolves pulling off a big deal where the Raps got prime-Bosh and Lowry. More recently, they acquired a young RJ Barrett from the Bucks and kind of stuck with their guns on Barrett and Ironside for what seems like 20 seasons of the duo still being under 30. It's about to be tax time for the Raptors, and without Trae Young, they don't look like the strongest candidate to repeat (they're still in the conversation, but they're being overshadowed by teams like the Clippers and Thunder). I'd expect that next offseason will be active for the Raps on the trade block, but expect to break out the checkbook if you want to relieve them of that RJ Barrett contract.
