Yes, cause then keeping the 1st around has more value

But if the going value for a top 4 rental is a 1st round pick, then it's not overpaying because that's what they are worth.

at some point looking at the deadline deals we are seeing, if we feel everyone is overpaying, its means maybe we dont have the right idea of the price on the market.

You understand that you have built a tautology? No one overpaid cause thats literally the market price for every player at that specific time.

What I would hope to be getting at is that the value you're giving up far exceeds any potential benefit from the trade.
A first rounder at the draft got you Sam Reinhart. Schmidt a third. Dillon cost two seconds. Bean a second.
If I'm a GM then I'm just buying everyone at the draft and selling at the deadline I guess.

If you agree with this I guess we agree. But then we've constructed a statement largely built on seasonality. I think it's more constructive to talk strategy in terms of what GMs 'should' and 'should not' do. Buying at this price falls in the 'should not' category for me.

well yeah it is undeniably true that the deadline is where you pay the most and it would make more sense to trade for players at some other times. but it not really a realistic approach. the deadline is usually where you know more if you are for real and its easier to commit to trade the futude if you know you are one of the top contender. for exemple in this scenario chiarot would also not have been available to be traded cause habs though they were gonna be contender at the start of the year. also most team are working closer to the cap at the stary of the seaskn and injuries and the potential to get players retained is easier at the deadline. i guess the point im trying to say is that its true that its more expensive at the deadline, but the deadline price is more expensive. and since this is where players have the mos value, these might not be considered overpay at the deadline, since its the norm.

That's true, but deadline additions are to address shortcomings after seeing the results of those off season moves. You can't make all your moves when it's more efficient to do so and then sit on your hands.

There's also cap space to consider. You accumulate extra through the season which allows you to strengthen your roster even further.
Players that may not have otherwise been available, have a much lower cap hit remaining, and that fit your evaluation of your team based on current performance.

You are both right, because there are two parts to this. There’s the value a guy brings to your team, and there’s his value on the trade market. These are usually not the same. In fact, if they were, then there’d be no reason to make a trade. When we say somebody is overpaying, we’re usually talking relative to what we think the player’s value is on the trade market, so in that sense if it seems like everybody’s overpaying then that probably means that the market has gone up, and they’re just paying the new market price. You could still overpay even relative to that new market price, but if the market price is changing fast it’s hard to tell what’s an overpay and what isn’t. Some of these recent trades may be the result of bidding wars that we don’t hear about. On the other hand, if a team pays more for a player than the value that player is going to bring to the team, then I’d say they’re paying too much regardless of what the market value is.

cool

BuT rEmEmBeR cHaRiOt MaDe ThE pAnThErS tOuGhEr!

Well, this trade is trending very positively for one of the two teams involved.

To think Zito might have just handed MTL a top 10 pick for 2 months of Chiarot is meme worthy

If the picks top 3 Zito should be fired