>I think the Pels need to buckle down in the reality that,
>unless they can convince AD to publicly announce he's staying
>and grab a high-profile FA who wants to play with AD and Zion,
>then they aren't contending for a title or a WCF run *anytime*
>soon, so the East vs. West notion shouldn't be an overwhelming
>concern imo.

Even if it isn't East vs West, it's Lakers vs another team. I wouldn't want to be at the owners meeting after trading Davis to LA to play with Bron. As I stated as well, Davis gets less opportunities to come back and drop 45/19/8/6 on your young squad.

Trading in-conference (especially when there's comparable deals out of conference) is usually not preferred.

>If anything, the last point you made may cause both Bron and
>AD to pressure the GMs to get it done ASAP. I'm sure Bron
>doesn't want a miracle to happen and for AD and Zion to play
>well together, and AD doesn't want to waste another year of
>his career on that longshot. The Lakers are probably more
>likely to make the desperation trade, because they know they
>can actually refill the slots with free agents more easily
>than the Knicks likely can.

Knicks have like 72 mil in cap space. All they have to do is NOT f*ck this up in the summer and they should be contenders next season. If they manage to get AD, I think it HUGELY increases the chances the Kyrie comes (even if KD doesn't).

>Maybe the Knicks can offer more future firsts (as is often
>their prerogative). Those would likely have more value with AD
>on the team than the Lakers' future firsts would with AD on
>the team, and we all know the Knicks are happy to wildly
>overpay from time to time. Maybe the Knicks will offer Knox,
>Smith, Robinson, Vonleh, Trier, the #3, and their next two
>first round picks. I'm still not convinced anything beyond the
>#3 pick can match the ceiling of Ingram and Kuz, but perhaps
>the sheer volume of youth would raise the Pels' eyebrows.

Yeah but the Pels keep more flexibility to evaluate the roster with the Knicks package. Kuz, Ingram and Ball will be up for cash, REAL soon. I also don't think the rest of the league values Ingram and Kuz the way you do.

>I just think, end of the day, the Pels will leap for whichever
>package has the highest perceived ceiling. The Knicks can't
>really offer anything beyond the #3 that has that... and as I
>said above, Culver's *ceiling* isn't terribly far behind
>Barrett's. There's def a scenario where Culver is the better
>NBA player (though it's not the scenario I would bet on,
>personally).

This is about Zion. Knicks give them the best chance to get roster flexibility without long term commitment, add a player (Barrett) that will help make Zion's transition into the NBA smoother and young talent that shows promise.

>I also think, despite all the drama, the Celtics should say,
>"Look, here's Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and
>three first rounders this year." Pels can draft some more
>guard/wing talent-- guys like Keldon Johnson, Tyler Herro,
>Louis King should all be in that ballpark-- and maybe a big to
>play alongside Zion, someone like Daniel Gafford or, if they
>wanna go small ball (my personal choice) Brandon Clarke to
>play when Zion or Randle is resting. They roll into next year
>starting Jrue, Tatum, Brown, Randle, and Zion, with guys like
>Herro, King, and Clarke off the bench, and they play all fast,
>hustle-hard small ball-- it'd be ELECTRIC. Meanwhile, Celtics
>can sign AD and extend Kyrie on the same day, and that would
>be enough to recruit another big name FA-- it'd take some
>drama management on their part, but if they pulled it off,
>it'd be huge.

I'd be highly surprised if Kyrie stayed in Boston. Highly. But in the event he does stay, your trade scenario is probably deal 1a to NY's 1b and LA's 2a.