SB Nation User Blog: cuppettcj

My First Trade Idea - Foye, Stevenson, James for Diop, Bell

cuppettcj — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:23:24 -0000

This FanPost is my first idea on what kind of deal Ernie might have up his sleeve to account for the salary situation next season. In case you haven't read what this situation is all about, check out this post and the replies to it. In a nutshell, this trade is mostly about three things: obtaining a serviceable backup center to play behind Haywood, getting value for either Mike Miller or Randy Foye before one of them walks away in free agency, and maintaining enough salary space under the luxury tax threshold so that we can still resign Brendan Haywood in the 2010 offseason.

When looking for a big man, I had the following criteria: he should be able to play solid defense, he should be able to rebound, he should be big enough to protect the paint against some of the league's bigger centers, and he should not make more than $7 million per season because of our salary situation next offseason. One of the first names that jumped out to me that met all of this criteria was DeSagana Diop. DeSagana Diop has been known for his defensive and rebounding ability in the past. When he was 24 years old, Avery Johnson promoted him to starting center over Erik Dampier and Diop rewarded Johnson by playing superb defensive basketball in route to the Mavericks NBA Finals appearance. Since then, I'm not really sure what happened, but he apparently fell out of favor in Dallas and wound up being traded to the Bobcats only a few months after signing a five year deal for the full Mid-Level Exception.

Checking out his statistics at basketball-reference, Diop appears to be playing the same kind of basketball he always has. In 41 games for the Bobcats after the trade, he averaged 7 points, 9.6 rebounds (including 4.3 offensive rebounds), 1.2 assists, 1 steal, and 1.9 blocks per 36 minutes while only turning the ball over 1.7 times. Most of those numbers are actually better than the ones he averaged during his breakout season in 2005-06. Here is what fellow SB Nation blogger David Arnott from the Bobcats blog Rufus on Fire had to say about Diop this past April:

DIOP -- He's a lovely backup center, especially on a team where everyone else off the bench is an offense-minded player. It's not his fault, but he's the symbol of this team's profligacy, because he's getting paid many millions of dollars to be a backup.

Paying a backup center millions of dollars may not make much sense for a midling team without direction. But on a team with championship aspirations, I don't think his MLE salary is that dreadful. Assuming we resign Haywood for around $10 million per season and Mike Miller for around $7 million per season, then Diop would only be the 6th highest paid player on the team.

So here is my trade proposal: Randy Foye, DeShawn Stevenson, and Mike James to the Charlotte Bobcats for DeSagana Diop and Raja Bell. This trade will work once the trade restriction expires on Randy Foye on August 24th, according to RealGM's Trade Checker.

Why Charlotte Does This Trade

Charlotte has a two major reasons to participate in this trade. First of all, they have a chance to invest in what could be their shooting guard of the future in Randy Foye, who is still very young with a lot of potential. His contract would expire next season like Bell's, but unlike Bell the Bobcats will be able to make a qualifying offer to Foye and have the right to match any contract he gets in free agency. With DJ Augustin already locked in and ready to go, the Bobcats will be able to build around a young and talented backcourt that will help them gain respect around the league.

The second major reason the Bobcats do this trade is because they have the opportunity to rid themselves of Diop's contract, which runs through 2012-13 at a very high cost to a franchise looking to rebuild. I would personally think that for this reason alone, Michael Jordan would be willing to take on DeShawn Stevenson, despite his questionable back situation. DeShawn's contract would save the Bobcats $2.3 million in 2010-11, and would then expire, saving Charlotte close to $7 million per season for two seasons after that.

There is one more interesting tidbit about the value of this trade for Charlotte. In the comments section of the same post from Rufus on Fire above, it appears that David Arnott is a bit enamored with a certain DeShawn Stevenson. Keep in mind that these comments were made in April, after DeShawn's back injury:

Deshawn Stevenson

Please. Please tell me why in the last year I’ve been reading your articles that you have consistently favored Deshawn Stevenson so much?

...

by L'O

In short, Stevenson is younger, a lot cheaper, plays credible point guard for short stretches, has a wider variety of offensive skills, and I think he’s going into the stretch of his career where Raja was with the Suns. But, of course, the most important part of that would be cost. Even if you think Raja’s slightly better, it’s just over $5.00M vs. just under $4.00M. Every time you find equivalent (or IMO, better) talent for cheaper, and the other team will let you have it, you should do it, because it’s another step toward having the money to (re)sign a truly dominant player.

Or keeping the team in town.

by David Arnott

One wonders if Michael Jordan would agree with this.

Why Washington Does This Trade

In case my posts in the other thread didn't make this clear enough, allow me to restate the advantages. We obtain a big (7'0 300lbs), solid backup center that can easily give us 20 minutes per game of solid defense and rebounding. We get a player with loads of playoff experience, that was once the starting center on a team that played in the NBA Finals. We get a player that has experience matching up with dominant centers like Shaquille O'Neal. We get insurance in case Brendan is temporarily injured. We get the backup center we are looking for.

We also get the services of Raja Bell for one season, who is a career 41.1% three point shooter and a defensive specialist on the perimeter. He could mentor Nick Young for one season and get Nick ready for the responsibility of taking over at the backup shooting guard position in 2010-11. He could really help us in the playoffs next season, with lots of experience being there with the Suns.

In addition, we save ourselves $2.6 million dollars this season, which saves Abe $5.2 million when you factor in the luxury tax. We rid ourselves of DeShawn's contract that will help us pay for Diop's salary in 2010-11. We leave enough room under the luxury tax threshold in 2010-11 to resign Haywood at about $10 million per season. We then still have enough room under the luxury tax threshold to offer Mike Miller around $7 million per season to stay with us, assuming that the threshold is exactly $70 million. That's more than the MLE, which is hopefully all the other teams would be willing to offer him.

And lastly, it would make CJHutch very happy, because he seems to have an extreme dislike for DeShawn Stevenson.

Poll

Like This Trade Idea?

So Who Starts at Shooting Guard

cuppettcj — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:40:59 -0000

I've seen both NBA analysts and members here assume two different things about the roles of our two new guards. I'm curious what the overall consensus is. My assumption is that because Miller's game is such a good fit with Arenas's, that he will be the starter and that Foye will be the first man off of the bench (Sixth Man).

Yet Foye started a lot more games than Miller did last season, and is improving every year. So what say all of you guys? Maybe there is a different configuration you are thinking about? If so, please state your rationale in the comments below.

Poll

What Should Our Starting Lineup and Sixth Man Be Next Season?

Gilbert Arenas: The Guy Who Signed the $111 Million Contract

cuppettcj — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:10:34 -0000

Gilbert Arenas: The Guy Who Signed the $111 Million Contract

An old article I stumbled across while trying to get an update on Gilbert's knee. A pretty harsh indictment leveled against Gil. The comments were just as brutal.

What I don't understand is this: if Gilbert is fully healthy, then why doesn't he play? If he's not fully healthy, then what's the problem? How can his knee still be bothering him after all this time?

Etan Thomas Due a $2 Million Kicker if Traded?

cuppettcj — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:15:07 -0000

According to the Chicago Sun-Times:

Contrary to reports elsewhere, the Bulls have no interest in taking back Washington center Etan Thomas in a trade for Larry Hughes. The Bulls like Thomas - just not the extra $2 million kicker to the $7 million annual salary he is due by contract if traded. Guard Mike James ($6 million per season) also was rumored to be in the Wizards' package for Hughes, who is due $13.5 million next season.

What is this "kicker" that is being referred to? This is the first time I have read about this. Can someone please explain to me what this means?

This is probably why we can't unload Etan despite his expiring contract. Ernie is starting to look a lot less smart than I previously gave him credit for.

Sure, vets like Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Darius Songaila seem to truly care and bring a...

cuppettcj — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:56:33 -0000

Sure, vets like Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Darius Songaila seem to truly care and bring a professional effort. while the young guys simply don't really know what is happening around them. But the overall body language and attitude stinks.

...

Put it this way: Judging from the mood in that locker room after the game last night, it was impossible to tell whether I'm covering a 41-11 team or an 11-41 team.

As one injured vet told me recently: "Losing is a habit like anything else. Once it sets in, guys can start to get used to it."

Still, the entire thing is still a little shocking. As one scout said to me last night: "I've seen this team a bunch and I know it has injuries but I just can't imagine that a team with Butler and Jamison can be this bad."

Ivan Carter Once Again Bashing the Young Players and Their Attitudes

Even with Kwame Brown. If we don't take Kwame Brown at No. 1, he's going at 2. No matter how you...

cuppettcj — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:50:20 -0000

Even with Kwame Brown. If we don't take Kwame Brown at No. 1, he's going at 2. No matter how you look at it, everybody had him on their radar as being the top pick. We just so happened to be the top pick and we chose him. It didn't pan out and we take the brunt of that. We understand that. It's the risk that you take.

Michael Jordan defending his selection of Kwame Brown as the #1 overall draft pick while he was the GM for the Wizards

Phoenix Suns of the East

cuppettcj — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:19:55 -0000

So it looks like the Larry Hughes trade might not happen, or any trade at all before the deadline, for that matter. So I thought I would have some fun with the RealGM Trade Checker to see what the possibilities are. This scenario will never happen, but I still found it fun to consider.

Remember when Gilbert Arenas said the Wizards wanted to be the Phoenix Suns of the East? What if Ernie actually made that a reality for this team? Consider the following hypothetical trades:

Trade 1

Suns get: Antawn Jamison, Etan Thomas, Mike James, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, 1st Round Draft Pick

Wizards get: Amar'e Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa

Why the Suns Do This Deal: The Suns would be dumping a disgruntled star with a huge contract for a lot of good pieces to rebuild with. With Thomas and James's contracts expiring next season, they could position themselves in the 2010 free agent sweepstakes. They would be giving up a bench spark in Barbosa, but would add the consistant production of Jamison, who could work wonders playing with Nash.

Trade 2

Bobcats get: Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, Andray Blatche

Wizards get: Boris Diaw, Raja Bell

Why the Bobcats Do This Deal: The Bobcats would upgrade the SF position with an All-Star performer, and a consistant one at that. The benefit that entails will be incentive enough for them to part with aging Raja in exchange for the potential of Blatche and the lackluster of Stevenson. Plus their GM is Michael Jordan, and he'll do anything if it is stupid.

Wizards depth chart for next season:

C - Brendan Haywood, Amar'e Stoudemire, Oleksiy Pecherov

PF - Amar'e Stoudemire, Darius Songaila

SF - Boris Diaw, Dominic McGuire

SG - Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa

PG - Gilbert Arenas, Javaris Crittenton, Dee Brown (he played for both the Wizards and Suns this season, why not resign him in this fantasy?)

The resulting salary of the 11 players would be less than $68 million, with more than enough below the luxury tax threshold to acquire a cheap 12th man.

Then Ernie Grunfeld can offer the head coaching job to Mike D'Antoni's brother and longtime assistant Dan D'Antoni (good ol' DanDan). Next, Ernie would order Gheorghe Muresan off of the executive nacho cheese dispenser and give him the job of changing all of the calendars that say 2009 to 2006, and all of the calendars that say 2010 to 2007. Then the real fun begins.

OK, I know that Wizznutzz is a lot better at this, but at least I amused myself.

Larry Hughes Discussion The quest to trade Larry Hughes continues and the most promising...

cuppettcj — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:13:48 -0000

Larry Hughes Discussion

The quest to trade Larry Hughes continues and the most promising destination still appears to be Washington for forward Etan Thomas and guard Mike James.

Thomas is injured, but that hardly matters. James, a 6-4 scoring guard, might be a personality risk. He's played on eight teams in the past six seasons. If that wasn't enough of a red flag, his family appeared on a recent episode of "Supernanny." Let's just say if James takes coaching advice in basketball as well as he took parenting advice from Supernanny, the Bulls would be in for some headaches.

I'm hearing there are other possibilities for Hughes, but my idea of sending him to Sacramento for Mikki Moore and Kenny Thomas appears to have no legs.

Chicago Bulls beat writer Mike McGraw in his daily blog update

[Ed. Note: There were two different Fan Shots and one Fan Post on the Larry Hughes possibility - I'm promoting this FS to the front page for discussion and deleting the other two - Truth]

UPDATE: Mike Jones of the Washington Times says that this deal is not likely.

The Fun Could Start Today

cuppettcj — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:55:01 -0000

Two months have passed since Ernie Grunfeld traded for Javaris Crittenton and Mike James. According to NBA trade rules, that means that those two players are now eligible to be traded again starting today. If my past theory is correct, then Ernie could announce a huge blockbuster trade any time between now and the trade deadline, February 19th. Of course, there is no guarantee that he will announce by then, but I think it is possible if he has already worked out the details behind the scenes.

The only other possibility that makes sense to me is that Ernie will wait until the offseason so that he knows what his draft spot will be before dealing James. This seems less likely to me and if that is the case, then there will officially be no excuse for the terrible player rotations that Tapscott has been using these past two months.

If Mike James is not traded at all, then I will officially lose all remaining confidence that I have in Ernie Grunfeld. We shall see.

Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire[1] (born November 16, 1982 in Lake Wales, Florida) is the worst...

cuppettcj — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:46:36 -0000

Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire[1] (born November 16, 1982 in Lake Wales, Florida) is the worst basketball player ever to play the game. He is a 6-foot-10-inch (2.1 m) and 249-pound (113 kg) power forward/center.

Amar'e Stoudemire's Wikipedia Page as of February 3rd, 2009 20:42.