The Conundrum

[Rastapopoulos]

1. If we don't re-sign Norman Powell, we'll look even worse than last year, and there's a strong possibility Dame could push for a trade.
2. If we don't trade CJ (the theory goes), Norm won't want to stay (because he doesn't like playing SF)
3. But if we do trade CJ, chances are we won't get somebody who we regard as equivalent, and there's a strong possibility Dame could push for a trade.

ALSO:
4. If we do re-sign Norm, we're just the same as last year, when Dame made it clear that that wasn't good enough. Except we've almost certainly overpaid for somebody who honestly didn't move the needle much.

Solution? Trade CJ for somebody AWESOME!
Is that at all likely to happen? No. But a lot hangs on it.

I think a plausible (only mildly pessimistic) scenario is:

We retain Norm by throwing money at him (closer to $30M per year than $20M)
Olshey refuses (rightly) to trade CJ for the shit offers we get for him
Dame comes in at the start of the season like a good soldier
Chauncey turns out not to be any better than Stotts, and perhaps a bit worse (because - surprise! Stotts actually did a very good job with the roster he was given)
Dame starts to get restless...

Well, we DID sign Powell, and for less than $20M, so I'm pleasantly surprised.
And the Cody Zeller signing was also solid: he's a real rotational player, and a definite defensive step up from Kanter. He's not as good as a healthy Zach Collins, but that doesn't exist, so he's probably about the best we can expect.

But that's part of the problem. If Cody Zeller is "the best you can expect," then contending for a championship is not what you can expect.
I actually find this, on the face of it, decent-to-good night in free agency kind of depressing. It's like Olshey is one of those students who looks like he's failing all the time, but then studies frantically hard for the final and just scrapes through. EVERY TIME.
Honestly, I'm ready to trade Dame. We're not getting Simmons or Siakam for CJ (say that fast), we just aren't. The best we could hope for would be Marcus Smart, and while I can actually get behind that, it wouldn't fix our roster problems as we now have a bazillion small guys. (Is Don Nelson Sr. ready to come out of retirement?)
But right now Dame would, for sure, net us Simmons. And I could get excited about a team that has a bazillion small guys sprinting up the court next to a giant PG who is the best defender in the league, according to opposing coaches. Would it be any better than one with Dame on it? Probably not, but it would have a lot more of a future.