The trade deadline is officially over. The Nets roster is set barring any FA pickups via G League or Buyouts. I was hoping Sean Marks had something sneaky up his sleeve, but much like the offseason this past summer, no big signings or movement.
Immediate Impact: Spencer Dinwiddie remains a Net
If healthy, I would believe Spencer Dinwiddie's value would have been very similar to other soon to be FAs such as Norman Powell and Lonzo Ball. After seeing Norman Powell get traded for Gary Trent and Rodney Hood earlier in the day, this set my expectations on what we could possibly get for Spencer, which would not be much. If you want my views on Spencer Dinwiddie, you can check out my Tweet from earlier in the week.
Well, What Now? Is Spencer Dinwiddie going to stay or leave?
INSIDE SPENCER DINWIDDIE'S MIND.
For this season, I believe we have a 50/50 chance that Spencer can return some time during the playoffs. Spencer is motivated as hell to get back on the court. He is a competitor, he wants a ring, and he wants to contribute to getting the ring. How effective would he be is anyone's guess. His raw stats from the 2 full games he played were not good, but his +/- stats were +24 and +16. If Spencer comes back, plays, and the Nets win, he would have accomplished everything he needs for the Nets and will most likely walk away in the offseason to whoever pays him the most and offers him a starting role. If Spencer does not play, or if Nets do not win this year, things can get interesting.
Nets have Spencer's Bird Rights and can basically pay him however much money Joe Tsai is willing to get destroyed by the Luxury Tax. I think Spencer easily commands 20+ with 24 potential. Putting money aside, will Spencer be okay to come off the bench? If you look at Spencer's skillset, he is very much a mini James Harden. He is a do it all guard that can draw fouls at an elite rate. If Spencer buys in, he can learn all the tricks of the trade from James Harden and bring his game to another level. This is 6th man of the year, give us the championship trophy now kind of signing. But being from LA, Spencer may get tempted by the Clippers and Lakers if they offer him $$$ and a starting role.
What moves are left for the Nets?
This will be an interesting buyout market. The two impact signing the Nets could make would be Andre Drummond or Otto Porter. Reports are that Andre Drummond prefers the Lakers, but I see the Knicks as a dark horse candidate. I think if Otto Porter gets bought out he would immediately sign with Nets, as Sean Marks was the one who helped him secure his bag. Chess, not checkers. Otto Porter would be an immediate upgrade over anyone we have on the bench. With his size, length, 3pt prowess, I could see Otto closing out games over Joe Harris depending on matchup.
Current Random Roster Thoughts:
Deandre Jordan: We saw DJ tear it up immediately after Jarrett Allen was traded. I get the sense that he does not thrive when there is competition looming. Hopefully he can turn it back on when the playoffs come around, but he has not looked good defensively and gets outplayed by Claxton.
Nicolas Claxton: Looks amazing as a defender and lob threat. My concerns are that he is raw, an injury risk, and can get pushed around vs dominant bigs. I want to see him work his way up to 28+ minutes per game and continually develop. Make the mistakes now and be good for playoffs.
Blake Griffin: His IQ is off the charts. Offensively, he has accepted the ultimate role player role, always making the extra pass and only shooting when absolutely necessary. Defensively, he has been very vocal, oftentimes quarterbacking the defense barking out switches and rotating for help. He has successfully taken 2 charges already and his presence will help reduce DJ's minutes.
Alize Johnson looked good versus Utah. He is an Elite rebounding big/wing. He has a good floater and dribble spin move. If he can play defense and hit open 3s at a decent clip, he can find himself some minutes on the team. Ideally he can be a Bruce Brown on steroids. The G League is littered with talented guys like Alize. I'm happy that we have Sean Marks to unearth these guys and develop them into gems.
Seeing the way TLC has been playing, I would be surprised if he is still on the team by next week.
These are my thoughts for now, took me a little too long to put together. I may add some more later, but this is it for now. Enjoy.
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