OKC / Steve Press Conference

[Steve Jobs]

Brian’s thread has been fun and already yielded some great answers, Paul hasn’t had time to respond yet, and I’m a little bored anyway... so if it doesn’t throw a wrench in Kong’s vision for these, I can start the first Western Conference press conference up today and answer your questions as they come.

[Jackie Kong]

My vision is for people to have fun during the quarantine so go ahead.

Will ask the 1st question and go straight to the big one I think.

Go all the way back to the 2016 off-season. Sonics just won the title and then created enough cap space to sign Kevin Durant.

So, what if Sonics stayed put and didn't go for Durant? You think he would have signed with OKC instead and in that case do you believe you would have at least one title by now?

Thanks.

[Yeezy]

Easy question: why Steve Jobs?

Who are you more excited for: Jaylen or Dejounte?

[Steve Jobs]

May 9, 2020 17:57:17 GMT -5 Yeezy said:

Easy question: why Steve Jobs?

Who are you more excited for: Jaylen or Dejounte?

1) I started out as Clay Bennett (chairman of the Thunder’s ownership group) because at the time (if I’m not mistaken, just a few days after billy made the league) there were a lot more people using owner aliases than GMs/Players/Random stuff... hence the username still being claybennett. I believe I changed it to something else before Steve, but I was never particularly happy with Clay anyway since no one really knew who he was.

Someone else changed their name to Bill Gates (or someone similar) and I jokingly switched to Steve Jobs shortly after just to mess with them. I don’t think Billy was very happy with GMs being excessive about the name switching, so I planned to wait a while before changing again, but then I found the funny thumb picture, realized Steve works pretty well as a nickname anyway, and it’s pretty memorable to the rest of the league. so it’s stuck consistently since then. Not much to it, really. I do like Apple products as a graphic designer with a love of music production (Mac OS being a little more stable tends to make the experience of working in CPU/GPU intensive programs a lot smoother imo), but never really had any special affinity for Steve as a person... so definitely just made the switch to counter the Bill Gates name as a joke.

2) Jaylen for sure. The sky is the limit for Dejounte if he can ever get his jump shot to the point that he can offensively take over games while also being a stellar defender and rebounder. But he’s got a lot to prove still and we still really haven’t seen him get back to full health/confidence after the ACL tear. Jaylen on the other hand was already putting together an All-Star caliber season on a great team in a tough conference while having some significant playoff experience as a go-to guy for the ECF Celtics team when Kyrie/Hayward we’re down. He can guard the best opposing wing and has developed a fantastic offensive game with the evolution of his handle unlocking efficient drives to the basket. I think Jaylen is hungry and has all the tools to push into the upper tier of two-way players in this league.

Dejounte’s contract extension could easily see him end up being more bang for the buck though. So it’s closer than it probably should be for me at the moment.

[Paul Pierce]

I’ll go with a basic question, what was the decision or move you’re most proud of and which one do you regret the most?

[Steve Jobs]

May 9, 2020 11:27:36 GMT -5 Jackie Kong said:

My vision is for people to have fun during the quarantine so go ahead.

Will ask the 1st question and go straight to the big one I think.

Go all the way back to the 2016 off-season. Sonics just won the title and then created enough cap space to sign Kevin Durant.

So, what if Sonics stayed put and didn't go for Durant? You think he would have signed with OKC instead and in that case do you believe you would have at least one title by now?

Thanks.

If I remember right, it was a 3-2 vote in Seattle’s favor and the decision was definitely not an easy one for the PAs. The tie-breaker made arguments for both sides and ultimately went with a gut-feeling vote (which in retrospect was the most accurate “KD decisions that could have gotten made).

So yeah, I feel confident KD is with my team in 16-17 if Seattle didn’t pursue. And that was the height of John Wall’s powers, so my team would have been damn near Seattle Big 3 / 19-20 Philly levels of stacked... Wall / Middleton / KD / Draymond Green with Jae Crowder, Norman Powell and the hottest destination for a vet min signing to fill out the rest of the depth chart. I traded Draymond shortly after for Victor Oladipo and probably would have either been able to keep him or still trade for Myles Turner to round out that starting 5.

I guess I don’t care to speculate about winning a championship or not, but I do know we’d have been in the mix for sure.

[Steve Jobs]

May 9, 2020 22:14:35 GMT -5 Paul Pierce said:

I’ll go with a basic question, what was the decision or move you’re most proud of and which one do you regret the most?

- The one I regret most is tough, since I’m pretty picky about what trades I accept... definitely had some duds though. Trading a 1st for a back up big in our first season was a pretty bad move and put me on a path to rarely have 1st rounders to make deals with. Trading Middleton in pursuit of Dejounte Murray could be a big regret if Middleton keeps up his all-star play and Murray doesn’t become what I hoped he would...

But honestly, I think the things I regret most are probably failed / missed trades. Gasol+Draymond Green for Cousins was the first big one that I felt certain I’d offered enough value for and just didn’t get through, but he would have been a big piece for me to build around. Also Middleton for Jimmy Butler... it was ultimately about as reasonable as I argued it was at the time, and that’s obvious after a few more years and seeing what Khris developed into. That trade would have put my team up a big notch since Butler was a tier above Middleton ratings wise.

I also vividly remember being crushed that I didn’t have the means to outbid Seattle for AD when my initial Draymond Green trade fell through. His deal was pretty bad in retrospect but it’s hard for a full TC to scoff at like... 5 1st rounders. That probably would have changed the league too.

- Proudest decision / move is probably averting my championship aspirations late season 1 in favor of scrambling to deal my team into position to have full space under the cap for Draymond/Middleton/Reggie Jackson as RFAs... at the time bird rights didn’t exist yet, so banking my future on re-signing Marc Gasol as a UFA was a very questionable endeavor, and due to no bird rights, RFA’s required full space under the cap to be able to keep them. The couple deals I made to get the space produced a fully non-viable playoff team, but I hadn’t sinned a successful deep playoff run one single time so I wasn’t hopeful the actual sim would be more favorable... and without locking those three in on relatively cheap, long term deals I wouldn’t have been able to lay the ground work for any of the long-term plans I’ve rolled out since then - including the Reggie Jackson <-> John Wall trade that then led to Ben Simmons, the Draymond trade that got me Oladipo and resulted in getting Myles Turner and finally culminated in Beal in his prime, and the Middleton deal. Every one of those moves gave me the means to follow through on a youth movement to try to maximize trade value by getting young guys I thought could develop into better players, and at this point I think having a contender built from one of the youngest core rosters in the league was worth it.

[Steve Jobs]

May 9, 2020 22:14:35 GMT -5 Paul Pierce said:

I’ll go with a basic question, what was the decision or move you’re most proud of and which one do you regret the most?

Oh. No, sorry, I just realized the biggest regret move BY FAR.

I had traded Isaiah Thomas on a phenomenal deal for absolute pennies in return to clear enough cap space to pursue LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency. The contract offer he accepted wasn’t even a full 25% max but I hadn’t made the IT trade in time to send in a new offer so Aldridge went to Seattle instead.

I thought signing Greg Monroe to a 25% max was an awesome consolation prize but within a year Steph Curry started skyfucking at the height of his powers and the Warriors small-ball death line up changed the sport forever. Monroe proved to be borderline unplayable everywhere he went and I was lucky enough to get out from under the deal after a little bit, but skipping that signing or going after another player that offseason could have put me in a way better position over the long haul.

[Brian Scalabrine]

In the spirit of keeping us entertained in the quaran-times, can you give us 3 sizzling hot D720 team hot takes?

[Brian Scalabrine]

Do you miss being on the TC?

[Scott Pilgrim]

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

[Shaq O'Neal]

I think you have never missed the playoffs.So what is the biggest factor for this record?


List your best pick and one guy you wish you had picked in the inaugural D720 Fantasy Draft


If you had to switch teams in D720 which team would you choose and why

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 2:14:21 GMT -5 Brian Scalabrine said:

In the spirit of keeping us entertained in the quaran-times, can you give us 3 sizzling hot D720 team hot takes?

1) Brooklyn would have won a title by now if they didn’t refuse to trade.
2) GSW should be enjoying the over-inflated sim rating that BBGM is giving Philly instead. Curry+PG with complementary starting 5 and solid depth is a lot better core than Harden+Lillard with Drummond/Bojan/Fox and some scrubs.
3) Spurs not putting a decent team around Siakam could go down as the biggest “what if” in our league’s history. Pascal is so damn good.

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 2:14:41 GMT -5 Brian Scalabrine said:

Do you miss being on the TC?

Yes and no... I don’t miss it badly at the moment. I’ve always fallen a bit more towards the “all bad trades can be franchise ruining because there is never just one” end of the spectrum, so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to embody the laissez-faire trade attitude the league seems to crave.

That said, I enjoy doing it because it keeps my finger on the pulse of the league a little better, and also I think my mind set is a nice balance to most of the other TC voters that are willing to pass anything. Plus I just like to argue and engage a little more in the threads but without any TC authority it’s just kinda shouting into a cave. lol

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 7:40:40 GMT -5 Scott Pilgrim said:

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

I think I’ll need to put some time in on this... just accepted trades, or do some of the rejected ones still count?

[Scott Pilgrim]

May 10, 2020 10:35:22 GMT -5 Steve Jobs said:

May 10, 2020 7:40:40 GMT -5 Scott Pilgrim said:

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

I think I’ll need to put some time in on this... just accepted trades, or do some of the rejected ones still count?

You can do either one, whatever suits you.

[Jackie Kong]

LOL, again with the TC talk between old TC members complimenting themselves. Some of the worst trades were made by old TC members you know but they wont tell you that. Please, just make fun questions instead of going back to things that trigger. Like the hot takes question was fun.

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 8:20:00 GMT -5 Shaq O'Neal said:

I think you have never missed the playoffs.So what is the biggest factor for this record?


List your best pick and one guy you wish you had picked in the inaugural D720 Fantasy Draft


If you had to switch teams in D720 which team would you choose and why

- The playoff streak stems mainly from the fact that I’ve always had a win-first mentality... every time I’ve come close to considering tanking, I’ve had decent talent acquisition opportunities come along that made it feel a bit silly to not just gun for the playoffs anyway.

- I made a lot of mistakes in the fantasy draft. Thought I’d be able to take advantage of other people trying to tank, but should have realized a late 20s pick kind of eliminated having the right kind of top end talent to be fully competitive.

Best pick was probably Draymond Green... biggest “wish I’d taken him instead” was definitely Klay Thompson instead of Jeff Teague in round 1, but Middleton or McCollum instead of Tyson Chandler would have been pretty big for me as well.

Most of my picks were informed by trying to get as good of a “win now” team as possible since I wasn’t especially plugged in to the draft / crop of young players at the time, but since I didn’t get an All-NBA guy to build around there are one or two players in every round that I’d prefer I had taken instead with hindsight. lol.

- I love the Luka / Zion core that Dallas has. From a contending perspective, Cleveland/Chicago/Philly/GSW are all intriguing as well. I like my team about as much as any but probably one of those if I had to.

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 11:43:21 GMT -5 Jackie Kong said:

LOL, again with the TC talk between old TC members complimenting themselves. Some of the worst trades were made by old TC members you know but they wont tell you that. Please, just make fun questions instead of going back to things that trigger. Like the hot takes question was fun.

If that kind of question regarding TC members thoughts on the TC triggers anyone, they’re taking this shit way too seriously.

[Steve Jobs]

May 10, 2020 7:40:40 GMT -5 Scott Pilgrim said:

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

I’m going with only accepted trades as I think including rejected seems a bit of a cop out...

This season:

We’ve been relatively light on the horrendous trades this season, so it’s a little difficult to pick one that’s just head and shoulders the worst...

I think it’s probably between:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7474/por-chi

And

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7509/boston-houston

The former because even at 35, CP3 on an expiring deal in the middle of a resurgent season is probably worth a good amount more than a first and salary filler. The latter because it basically boils down to Sexton for Jrue (except even less favorable for the Jrue owner than a straight swap) and I don’t particularly feel like Sexton ever lives up to that and it probably should have taken an extra pick or something on top to get that swap through anyway since Jrue is in his prime and Sexton still has to get there to even be worth a comparison.

Last Season:

Better choices here... probably between:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/6917/den-gsw
(Which lead to Doc choosing to move expiring Middleton for Mike Conley when Brogdon would have been cheaper and much better next to Middleton/Tatum)

And the obvious candidate:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/6532/gsw-chi-dal-den-bos
(No explanation needed)


I’d lean towards the Jrue deal this year and the KAT deal last year.

[Paul Pierce]

May 10, 2020 17:33:48 GMT -5 Steve Jobs said:

May 10, 2020 7:40:40 GMT -5 Scott Pilgrim said:

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

I’m going with only accepted trades as I think including rejected seems a bit of a cop out...

This season:

We’ve been relatively light on the horrendous trades this season, so it’s a little difficult to pick one that’s just head and shoulders the worst...

I think it’s probably between:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7474/por-chi

And

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7509/boston-houston

The former because even at 35, CP3 on an expiring deal in the middle of a resurgent season is probably worth a good amount more than a first and salary filler. The latter because it basically boils down to Sexton for Jrue (except even less favorable for the Jrue owner than a straight swap) and I don’t particularly feel like Sexton ever lives up to that and it probably should have taken an extra pick or something on top to get that swap through anyway since Jrue is in his prime and Sexton still has to get there to even be worth a comparison.

Last Season:

Better choices here... probably between:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/6917/den-gsw
(Which lead to Doc choosing to move expiring Middleton for Mike Conley when Brogdon would have been cheaper and much better next to Middleton/Tatum)

And the obvious candidate:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/6532/gsw-chi-dal-den-bos
(No explanation needed)


I’d lean towards the Jrue deal this year and the KAT deal last year.

I’m glad to be the side you prefer on both of these deals!

[Steve Jobs]

Your roster on the last day of the 17-18 regular season:

Fultz
Jabari Parker
Shawn Long
KCP
Dakari Johnson
CJ Miles
Josh Hart
Greivis Vasquez
Terrence Ferguson
Antonio Blakeney

And now you’re building around KAT/Booker/Collins with max cap space and decent depth ... I don’t think any can be surprised that you would have been on the receiving end of a couple of the more lopsided deals in the past couple of years. lol.

[Theodore Duncan]

May 10, 2020 17:33:48 GMT -5 Steve Jobs said:

May 10, 2020 7:40:40 GMT -5 Scott Pilgrim said:

Give us your take on the worst trade this d720 season and last season.

I’m going with only accepted trades as I think including rejected seems a bit of a cop out...

This season:

We’ve been relatively light on the horrendous trades this season, so it’s a little difficult to pick one that’s just head and shoulders the worst...

I think it’s probably between:

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7474/por-chi

And

dynasty720.proboards.com/thread/7509/boston-houston

The former because even at 35, CP3 on an expiring deal in the middle of a resurgent season is probably worth a good amount more than a first and salary filler.

Yeah, there isn't too many really bad trades in the end that where accepted. So making Steve's top2 is not that bad, but I'm gonna take the bait anyways and comment :D

It's easy to just say that you can get better deal for CP3. But if you would really dig into it, I dare you to find a better deal for him, where you get pieces back that are good for rebuild without taking a lot of bad salary to go with it. I spend months to go through rosters of each team and thinking of different ways to find a deal that works for both teams.

It's weird environment this league was in this season.

A lot of teams tanking or planning to start a rebuild, and they are not going to give a 1st round pick or good young player to get an veteran star in expiring contract. Only realistic targets are teams already contending or teams on the rise. One team really ahead of pack, which made everyone else hesitant. Couple of teams that were good, but on decline but maybe have one or two more years left. They are also not looking to take huge risks for one more off-shot at the championship. There are only few teams (like CHI for example) that are trying to be good partly this year and also see the value of CP3 for next few years AND that these teams have also a lot of young assets to give without sacrificing any long term success. Those are the only realistic targets to get something out.

I mean teams like yours or Minny, who are good now and plan to be good for next few years. Of course you are interested, but problem there is that you guys all would include some bad contract in return, and also the 1st round picks won't be good. For me pick #20 + expiring salary filler is way better than pick #20 + Kevin Love for example. KLove is decent but he is way overpaid for two years. By getting someone like him in return, you are having no cap space and still staying in middle of the pack for one more year, and just postponing proper rebuilding by another year.

But instead of getting expiring salary instead , I have shitload of cap space to offer max money to someone younger than CP3. I might not get anyone, but the point is that at least I'm giving my team a chance to get great quickly again, instead of waiting longer. The value of cap space is really undervalued here. Even if I can't sign someone like AD in the off-season to pair with KP, I can use the space next year to take on shitty contracts with another 1st round pick attached to that. So then if you look at the ripple effect of the trade, you can say that one 1st round pick and expiring money turned into two 1st rounders, or to one pick and signed new franchise star... not bad for CP3 in my opinion. I could have of course not traded him and taken my chances in the offseason if I can re-sign him into a decent deal.. but again there are many rising teams with cap space. There would be much more enticing teams for him to join than stay in Blazers that had our peak in past two years, but likely missed the championship window with this core... just my two cents :)

[Steve Jobs]

You already said it yourself, so I don’t feel much need to reiterate beyond the obviously implied “no offense” that none of the deals from the season are really that bad. I feel the Jrue one is probably at least twice as unfavorable (since he’s 30 instead of 35) and even that one is not a trade I think I’d have rejected easily had I been TC for the deal, your CP3 trade was more than reasonable, and I definitely agree with everything you said and see the logic behind it from your perspective.

My primary rebuttal, and part of why the trade made my “list”, is that you aren’t actively aiming to tank/be worse this season, and as such CP3 was always an expiring deal and simultaneously a great player to have on your roster. The late 20s 1st rounder won’t hold much value for you and losing CP3 without any other influx of comparable talent will just improve a pick you don’t even own. Team gets worse, minimal draft benefits from doing it, and the salary considerations for your team are virtually identical on either end of the deal.

Because I know how difficult those big contracts can be to trade, I don’t hold it against you much for pulling the trigger on any return, beyond my standard “you definitely could have asked for more and PP probably would have given more gladly” line of thinking that usually informed the majority of my rejects when a less experience GM was the one taking the L.

[Theodore Duncan]

Your take on Top 3 worst/best non-rookie contracts in D720?

[Steve Jobs]

Best non-rookie contracts:

1) Malcolm Brogdon (at least by sim performance)
2) Jaylen Brown (extension)
3) Zach Lavine

Worst:

1) Demarcus Cousins... by far.
2) Nic Batum
3) KCP

Didn’t look over the roster page for too long, so I might be missing something. If you think I’ve overlooked one on either list call it out and I can give my thoughts on if it beats out something on the lists.

[Shaq O'Neal]

May 13, 2020 7:12:35 GMT -5 Steve Jobs said:

Best non-rookie contracts:

1) Malcolm Brogdon (at least by sim performance)
2) Jaylen Brown (extension)
3) Zach Lavine

Worst:

1) Demarcus Cousins... by far.
2) Nic Batum
3) KCP

Didn’t look over the roster page for too long, so I might be missing something. If you think I’ve overlooked one on either list call it out and I can give my thoughts on if it beats out something on the lists.

For worst contracts, what about Harrison Barnes,John Wall and Blake Griffin?

[Steve Jobs]

For starters, I genuinely don’t think Blake Griffin’s contract can be considered bad... he’s a game changing star when he’s healthy, just hasn’t been on a relevant team in a while because Detroit and nagging injuries.

Wall is in a similar boat, but has dealt with way more serious injuries. Either way, he has the potential to come back and still be a great player for Washington, if not a max-caliber star, if he can get healthy.

Harrison Barnes was sooo close to taking the spot over KCP, but I just think he’s been considerably more productive on average, even if he hasn’t don’t it for any decent teams, such that it was hard to put him over KCP for (roughly) the same dollar signs.

[billy]

What do you think about the butterfly keyboard? Have you already ditched it for the new 2020?

[Jackie Kong]

May 13, 2020 8:27:48 GMT -5 Steve Jobs said:

Wall is in a similar boat, but has dealt with way more serious injuries. Either way, he has the potential to come back and still be a great player for Washington, if not a max-caliber star, if he can get healthy.

I still wonder though if Memphis outbidded himself massively with Wall's contract. Say he offered $20M per season for 5 years instead of a $27M starting salary with $2M annual increases for 5 years like he did? Did anyone would have come close to that? I actually had him more in the $15M range as a gamble.