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Message: [QUOTE="nelsonmuntz, post: 3185645, member: 833"] You act like every trade is so obvious at the time it was made. It is not like every NBA player fits on a continuum that is known by everyone. Fit matters too. I think Kyrie is a terrible fit for Boston's team, and they would be better off without him. I think the Bucks have dropped in a very good set of complementary pieces for Giannis. Despite the fact that their star was a 13th pick of the draft that almost no other team was even looking at, and two other starters were second round picks, the Bucks are talented enough to win, they just have to show they have the stones to get it done in crunch time. You could make a similar argument about the Rockets, although their window may be closing. The Nuggets are the best team in the West at this moment, but they also have to show they have to show they have the gumption to be more than a fun-to-watch playoff team. That team is home built with mid-first round and second round draft picks, although they did bring in one aging superstar in Millsap. The salary cap makes it almost impossible to build a team by chasing established free agents, and this is the problem the Lakers now have. Charlotte tried to do that, and they are in a cap hell hole. If you look at the previous Lakers champions from the last 20 years, they came about because a) Kobe refused to play in Charlotte and Charlotte wanted a starting center in return for him, which the Lakers had in Divac; and b) Shaq wanted to make movies. Kobe's last two championship teams were actually perfect examples of how to build a championship team in a destination market. Pau Gasol was the second best player on those teams, and you could argue he was one of the top 20-30 players in the NBA at that time, but he couldn't have carried a team by himself. The rest of the team were just good pieces. The Lakers certainly didn't just chase superstars. [/QUOTE]

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