[Fischer] Bennedict Mathurin is expected to opt-in to his qualifying offer to remain in LA or be sign-and-traded to the Pelicans. New Orleans has been the one aggressive suitor for Mathurin.
Which “untouchable” players are Pelicans willing to sacrifice for Mathurin?
Hawkins and Bey I am thinking
Hawkins yes
Bey is UN FUCKING touchable, do you hear me?
Bey is way better than Mathurin, and Hawkins is worse.
Man I thought bey was good when he played last season. He’d be good for a playoff team
wait so pelicans are actually giving up someone untouchable here
Bey is horrible.
Good bench scorer, but that’s about it.
Maybe by untouchable they mean they are uglier than hunger so not even their moms want to hug them?
By untouchable, they mean that the Pelicans all abide by the Indian caste system and unfortunately, the players are all in the lowest caste.
No one on the Pelicans is untouchable. That report came from some dumbasses that were pissed they didn’t send their only Center to the Knicks for a backup guard and a 2nd round pick.
doesn’t really mathurin the grand scheme of things
If the clippers somehow get Trey Murphy out of this I will laugh so fucking hard
mavs can facilitate as 3rd team with gaff to clippers, caleb martin to pels, and poole to mavs
picks discussed later (most likely FRP swap from pels using 2028 DAL FRP)
We’re not giving up Gafford for Jordan freaking Poole
no chance pels attach 2027 FRP
but swapping our 2028 FRP (okc own swap) with pels 2028 FRP, and looking at pels situation? i take my chance that pick will be late lottery or at worst in mid 10s
also consider clearing future money
EDIT : FRP swapping 2029 NOP for 2030 DAL also fine by me. if pels felt 2028 NOP ones still too pricey, 2030 DAL is lesser between DAL/SAS
Trey Murphy and two first rounders, top one protected, let’s not get crazy
Nobody should trade anything “untouchable” for Mathurin. I watched enough pacers games last year to see just how much of a black hole he is. Great tank commander but not for winning
Why don’t the Clippers want him long term?
Score first black hole archetype
if you are a 2 guard you either need to be a reaves or a derick white
Reaves archetype hasn’t proved yet to be a championship but white is a good one
i am not even talking about titles i am talking about getting a big second contract outside of ant i cant remember the last sg whos gotten one
That’s cuz guards these days aren’t limited to sg.
All score-first guards, like Luka’s old guard partners Brunson and Kyrie have bigger contracts and they can also handle the ball.
Even ant had to develop passing and ball-handling skills to be seen as a max contract.
The SG position is just cooked these days.
Yougot Ant, Donovan Mitchell and then a steeeeeeeep drop off
Booker had a down year but he’s at least in the conversation if you’re gonna include Mitchell.
Bradley Beal erasure
Castle definitely will get one and probably Brandon Miller and Amen Thompson
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Rutabaga?
Regurgitation
And don’t forget he is the leader of the team!!!
I mean, he did lead the rest of the team to the injury report. Kinda nail that it tbh.
“Braun will be our KCP replacement, let’s pay him 1.5x what KCP was making annually!” - Calvin Booth, probably
Eh…Booth wasn’t wrong on that one though. He bet on CB’s improvement and KCP’s decline and he was right. He just couldn’t predict CB’s injury.
2024 KCP: 10/2/2 on 52/41/89 splits (last season with Denver)
2025 CB: 15/5/3 on 65/40/83 splits (season that got him paid)
CB needs to hit shots in the playoffs, but KCP didn’t do that in 2024 either.
CB is going to be fine as long as he stays healthy. His transition game makes up for the shooting most nights and it’s hard to get out on the break when your ankle is toast. People are just surfing the narrative wave.
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shooting guard who cant pass or defend is a toxic style of player in the modern nba
Toxic is harsh but it is true that he isn’t doing himself any favors by only being elite at getting buckets (And even then he’s only truly elite at foul drawing)
Nah he’s a solid defender. Just ain’t a playmaker, 3 pt shot disappeared. So if he ain’t scoring and getting to the line he ain’t giving much else.
His off ball D ain’t great. His on ball isn’t bad though.
He is absolutely not a solid defender. He might be the worst off ball defender I’ve ever seen.
DeLess DeRozan
Zach Lavine is right there. A much better comp and the harbinger for the death of the SG.
Lavine is a great 3pt shooter though, stylistically Demar is far more similar
I got downvoted to hell for saying I’d rather have Beal than him. He was awful the last month of the season and it wasn’t just the bricks, it was his whole process.
Fucking up in transition, not making extra passes. Simple stuff
Everyone was complaining how Beal would take touches away from Wagler, which is hilarious because black hole Mathurin is 10x more terrifying. He’s a young guy who probably thinks he’s a future All-Star
I felt like when the Zubac trade happened that the Mathurin was looked at as an interesting prospect for the Clippers, but all Pacers fans knew he was just there for salary match lmao
I saw enough Pacers games to know that without someone like Haliburton keeping Mathurin in check, he is a disaster on the court. The only reason you bring him in is to make him a tank commander
I think the main thing is that Mathurin is more experienced and more durable, and Ballmer tends to want those players because he’s deathly afraid of having a rebuild year
Wagler has a ton of upside but will be a project, and Beal is old and fragile
Personally I hope we can trade Mathurin before the season starts, even though this seems to be a textbook “keep him and give him lots of touches so we can sell high at the deadline” situation that the clippers love to do
Beal? Really?! I gotta watch more. When Kawhi leaves I’ll get back to not hating the Clippers so hopefully soon
We have a too many guards and score-first players, the risk is that he takes touches away from our newest draft pick and future franchise star in Wagler because to this point he’s shown to be far less effective off ball. Also his defense is questionable at best. I think we’d all want him back on the team if the deal was right although we’d have already signed him if we were able to come to an agreement on that number. At this point if we can get some size in return for him it’s something we would have to consider because that’s the one thing that is pretty lacking on our roster. Missi would be intriguing to me
Shooting guard is a slur in the modern NBA
You heard of tunnel vision? His vision is so narrow, calling it tunnel vision would be too generous. He has drinking straw vision.
He isn’t good enough for the money he’s asking for.
He’s pretty awful
i legit think playmaking from the shooting guard position is mandatory now a days
It’s a plus, but not mandatory.
If we are talking about role players, it’s the defense that’s mandatory. SG role players basically have to be 3 and D players
Edit: to clarify, defense is obviously important for any position, but I feel it’s more so the case with shooting guards.
Most PGs aren’t great defenders because of their size, so the SGs are usually the ones that need to be good POA defenders
you either have to a top 20 playmaker in the nba or a good to great defender if you are neither you arent getting paid as a SG
Shout out Austin Reaves
Name 20 better play makers than AR
Bronny
Basically
shaedon “glass knees and bones” sharpe is the exception even though he’s dog shit
Why was KCP an albatross contract in Orlando?
Because he forgot how to shoot.
He was always going to be considered overpaid, but his contract became a negative when he forgot how to shoot
He declined really quickly.
or have to be Kyrie style pure bucket in limited attempts/lack of rhythm
Or be an elite scorer
Nah, you gotta be either an All-Star, secondary point guard or 3&D guy.
two of the best SG’s in the league can’t pass
Who is this?
Ant and D Mitch
…they can both pass
They are okay passers but they are such offensive scoring juggernauts that can win you games consistently.
You get it
They’re also two of the best scorers in the league.
Mathurin is basically a poor mans version of them which isn’t good enough
I like Benn a lot but he’s incredibly frustrating for a contending team. He’ll be the best player on the court for a few possessions and then get a bad call from the refs, go on a tilt, and be the worst player on the court for twice as many possessions.
It’s just really hard to fit an iso scorer in your guys motion offense. I know Siakam fits that role very well but he also does a ton of other things even when his scoring doesn’t work.
Siakam isn’t much of an ISO scorer. His go-tos are almost all sped up post moves. So fast that there’s no hitch in the offense.
Siakam can score 1v1 but he’s not an iso player? He sprints down the court and plays transition, and is really fast to get off ball. He also prefers to catch the ball and go immediately unlike traditional iso players who wanna dance. I’m not sure I’d call him an iso scorer at all. A guy like Mathurin will catch and hold, then try a few dribble moves and it takes 5+ seconds to decide if they’re shooting or not.
Sign and trade to the Pelicans, then play the Pacers on for Tyrese’s first game back? nice
Mathurin hasnt improved much since his rookie season.
Defense is where he has shown the most improvement. From abysmal to usually subpar, but occasionally average.
We probably offered him a 3 or 4 year contract after his 3rd season and he declined it.
Would guess it was in the 15 to 18m range.
I hope we never offered him that lmao.
I’m new to the NBA so I don’t really know all the ins and outs but why aren’t a bunch of teams chasing Mathurin? I understand he’s not consistent but he has really good fudamentals and talent as 2 way guard/SF. He was huge in that Indy finals run, I’m pretty sure he dropped 25-30 a couple times too in that 7 game series vs OKC.
Money, the answer is always money
He needs the ball in his hands. Otherwise he’s just standing there. And when he has the ball in his hands if he’s not being aggressive he just takes bad shots
He’s okay at on-ball defense but a poor off-ball which is more important and he’s one dimensional on offense. Altogether, he’s not good enough to start but will be paid too much to come off the bench
There’s too many good players these days and not enough spots
Dude hasn’t moved from that couch since FA started
I do like the idea of Mathurin on the Pelicans. I just dont know who’d they give up to get him.
Jake Fischer would look so much better clean shaven with short hair
Aren’t the pelicans in LA as well?
He had a toe injury he was trying to play through last season on the Pacers. There was a pretty clear post injury dip in his athleticism… but he had to try and play through it so he could earn that contract. Then, he really didn’t shoot well with LA. Unfortunate that injury maybe cost him a decent pay day.
I really hope he can a sign long term deal with a team and potenitally become an all star in the future. Rooting for my hometown guy.