>In order for that to have happened, he'd either have to have
>taken a huge paycut (obviously not happening) or we'd have to
>have a S&T with the Spurs. Pop doesn't work with the Lakers.

maybe, maybe not. I think that's an assumption that that's a hard rule that could never be broken under any circumstance. I can absolutely see him having a heart for DD and facilitating his return home.

Thing is, that would have had the same net impact as the Russ trade, from a roster construction/flexibility standpoint, as it would have hard capped us. In hindsight, that may be the biggest hurdle. At least Russ allowed us to build out a roster with minimum deals.

>The most realistic optimistic view of the last offseason was
>some pairing of KCP/Kuz/Trez for Hield, retaining Caruso &
>THT, and then the vet mins like Melo, etc + the MLE to Nunn.
>That's not a whole lot better than what we have, but it is a
>hell of a lot more flexible as far as roster
>construction/trades goes.

No doubt.

But I am very pessimistic about AD. I think we're at the start of diminishing returns with him. I'm sure loyalty still holds some cache, but I don't think a fire sale would have the horrible ramifications people think.

None of that will happen, apart from finding a bag of dicks to take back for Russ in the offseason.