Stupid is kidding yourself into thinking your players will stay and being so naive that you let the trade deadline come and go without getting anything for them. We did the right thing. At the end of the day, we did the right thing and got more for DWill than we'd ever get. I truly believe that.
Salary is a whole 'nother issue too long to go into right now. What I will say though is that we have AK coming off the books (and Miles too if we want) this summer, Memo coming off the books next year (maybe he'll be an asset to someone next year or the next year the league plays), and then Bell, AJ, Millsap and Harris the year after that. Does that seem an eternity away? Sure. But it's only 28 months or so. By that time, Favors will still just be 21, we'll have drafted a couple of young gems (cross your fingers anyway) who likewise will be very young, hopefully gotten another draft pick or three by trading off some of the expirings year to year (and hopefully those too will have yielded good prospects), Hayward will have developed and will still be just 23, we'll have a ton of cap room to re-sign the aforementioned players or free agents,and so on and so on,
In other words, in just over two years time, we could have a ton, A TON, of legitimate young talent on this team along with a ton of cap room and be headed in the exact right direction that we need to be headed. That reminds me of what OKC has been doing and I like how that sounds. That requires Favors or other picks develop similarly to Durant and Westbrook to some degree of course. That also requires us to try to continue to trade marginal guys (Miles, Bell, Okur, Jefferson, maybe even Millsap) next year to stockpile picks, gain cap room, and pick up young talent. But I think Favors can be a cornerstone and think we can do all that and am excited about it.
No sense in continuing to fret about it bro. Look at the bright side (and there's a very bright one considering Deron was likely walking) and get excited.