Explaining Klaysanity and the Clippers trades

[JeridH]

The Clippers GM held a press conference explaining the two first and latest trades made by the team.

In the first trade, the Clippers traded away David Lee and Matthew Dellavedova for Anderson Varejao, Jamal Crawford, Ray McCallum, and two 2nd round picks.

While Lee is a decent PF with good SCR and RBD, Varejao fills a need for the team as a tough, rebounding and defensive center. He's on an incredible MLE deal and stacks up favorably against other really good defensive centers in the league, aside from his lack of shotblocking, which will be handled by Kenneth Faried and Terrence Jones.

The team also netted Crawford, who adds good veteran scoring to their bench, which is desperately needed, and a rotation-caliber player in McCallum who can handle the ball.

The moves gives the team a nice center while adding depth, giving up only Lee and allowing them to add assets and preserving their youth, especially since the team is very high on the defensive upside of Jones once he develops.


Klaysanity

Much news was made of Klaysanity. After checking out deals for Paul and Lawson (nearly non-existent), the team finally decided to move forward with the deal before being left dry.

The three offers in contention, after talking to about 10+ teams were:

BOS: Sanders, 1st, 2nd
CLE: Waiters, two 1st
DEN: Batum, Harris, pick swap

Obviously the best value offer was probably Cleveland, giving up a young stud in Waiters and two first round picks to boot. However, the team ultimately declined because they did not really see what they want in Waiters, especially with Lawson on board. No doubt he was probably the most valuable along with the firsts, but no third party satisfactorily could be found.

Then, the BOS offer. After many back-and-forths, the final offer settled on Sanders, a 1st, and a 2nd. While the team liked Sanders, the two teams disagreed on his overall value, and the Clippers opted to get Varejao (who is similar in ratings but lacking shotblocking) as a stopgap center while using Thompson to gain a young core piece instead.

Finally, the team settled on the DEN deal, where they could not pry a first round away from DEN, who drove a hard bargain. Batum fits the team because he's an elite defender like the other four players in the starting lineup, and provides a good portion of Klay's offense with great shooting and all-around ability.

There are not many wings at that age with great defense, averaging 17 points with more than one block and shooting 42% from three.


Final Roster

The deals give the Clippers a great defensive rotation of:

Chris Paul / Devin Harris / Ray McCallum
Ty Lawson / Jamal Crawford
Nicolas Batum / Reggie Bullock
Kenneth Faried / Terrence Jones
Anderson Varejao / Ed Davis

The team will try to build their identity as a tough defensive team, which is our philosophy.


Last Remarks

The Clippers considered many offers and were overwhelmed with the many many offers that came in.

Special thanks to BOS, CLE (what a G), BKN (who made many attempts at a deal and we talked a lot, respect), HOU, and all other teams for participating!

[Marcos_Beck]

First of all, you wrote so many articles this month, I don't know if you already did but you should send a scouting.

Then, I still think Sanders + Anderson + 1st, which was on table, and I know it because Dennis turned his offer public long time ago, this was the best deal available.
But it's not that you got completely ripped off, you still have a good, balanced team. You can fight for the playoffs and maybe advance to the 2nd round but that may be the ceiling of your team. I still don't like CP3 + Lawson together and down low I think you need shotblocking.

[Sky]

Give me CP3 lol

[Rizzo]

If you're going to join a sim league and manage a team the way you want, you need to have thick skin. Clearly, you have shown just that. You don't need to explain your rationale for doing things or try to please anyone else other than yourself. A lot of times leagues get worried about a GM joining a league, making a couple trades, getting killed on the forums for it and then leaving the league with their team ended up in a worse position than it was originally. As long as you decide to stay active and continue to mold this team into what you want, then it was a good trade for you.

Also, most GMs wouldn't have gone as public with the trade talks and discussions like you have but you aren't most GMs and if that's your style then so be it. You are going to operate the way you want to and people should respect that regardless of how they do their own business. At the same time, some GMs won't like you publicly announcing deals that were discussed throughout negotiations like you did in this trade. Personally, I don't care that you put my offer out there but some may. Whether that's something you should worry about or not, I don't know. Just my two cents.

As for the trade, I really like Batum and had discussions with OP on trying to acquire him as well. You're building a defensive minded team and Batum gives you just that as well as a fantastically robust offensive game as well. Some people love shooters in this league, some love defenders. You got the player you wanted so props to you.

At the end of the day, it's a team that YOU need to build for YOUR system. If this move brings you in that direction, it's a win for you. Personally, I could care less if a GM tears down his team to nothing as long as that GM continues to stay active and correct their mistakes in the long run. Good luck to the Clippers and to you and continue to stay active because I think you have been a great addition to the league thus far.

CLE (what a G)

[JeridH]

First of all, you wrote so many articles this month, I don't know if you already did but you should send a scouting.

Then, I still think Sanders + Anderson + 1st, which was on table, and I know it because Dennis turned his offer public long time ago, this was the best deal available.
But it's not that you got completely ripped off, you still have a good, balanced team. You can fight for the playoffs and maybe advance to the 2nd round but that may be the ceiling of your team. I still don't like CP3 + Lawson together and down low I think you need shotblocking.

I don't know, Anderson is not that valuable to me and BOS is a great team so that first won't be like really good. Doesn't really make a difference to me.


Thank for the feedback guys. I have a goal and vision for this team and ain't no newbie. Appreciate the opinions andactivity.

[WillyJakkz]

Brian Schmidt of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting he heard Orlando offered Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross for Klay Thompson...

I think Varejao and Batum is decent return for Thompson Lee, maybe lateral but not as bad as it's been made out and I honestly take that any day of the week over Sanders Anderson 1st and don't think twice about it.

I don't see how guys really think that's the best deal but it is all an opinion, of the 3 I think Waiters picks were good then move Lawson for a SF.

That said Orlando was hands down the best offer (biased though cause y'all know how much I LOVE Terrence Ross lol) but I pulled it from the table after being declined for more assets.

As for JeridH do your thing don't sweat it, have fun and make your stamp on your team buddy!

[OneNole]

Brian Schmidt of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting he heard Orlando offered Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross for Klay Thompson...

I think Varejao and Batum is decent return for Thompson Lee, maybe lateral but not as bad as it's been made out and I honestly take that any day of the week over Sanders Anderson 1st and don't think twice about it.

I don't see how guys really think that's the best deal but it is all an opinion, of the 3 I think Waiters picks were good then move Lawson for a SF.

That said Orlando was hands down the best offer (biased though cause y'all know how much I LOVE Terrence Ross lol) but I pulled it from the table after being declined for more assets.

As for JeridH do your thing don't sweat it, have fun and make your stamp on your team buddy!

That trade has been cancelled.

However Mike Bianchi is reporting that Dan Devos and Alex Martins are looking into replacing the GM of the Magic to give the team a "new" direction.

[WillyJakkz]

Lol at Mike Bianchi, he isn't aware of what's going on in our war room lol

And what the hell??? So this trade etc was all a dream???

[JeridH]

Brian Schmidt of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting he heard Orlando offered Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross for Klay Thompson...

I think Varejao and Batum is decent return for Thompson Lee, maybe lateral but not as bad as it's been made out and I honestly take that any day of the week over Sanders Anderson 1st and don't think twice about it.

I don't see how guys really think that's the best deal but it is all an opinion, of the 3 I think Waiters picks were good then move Lawson for a SF.

That said Orlando was hands down the best offer (biased though cause y'all know how much I LOVE Terrence Ross lol) but I pulled it from the table after being declined for more assets.

As for JeridH do your thing don't sweat it, have fun and make your stamp on your team buddy!

Just to be clear, we flat out rejected anything to do with Thompson for Ross. We weren't interested at all in that...

[andrei]

Haha we talked so much about this trade and nothing happened. Good for the Clippers though. Better off keeping Klay imo