12/10/2008
And (barring some Matrix type stuff that I am still not clued into) the answer is yes, this is for real. Charlotte has dealt Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and a 2010 (conditional) second round pick to Phoenix for...wait for it...Boris Diaw...Raja Bell...and Sean Singletary. And that is it. My initial reaction: Are you kidding me?
Here are the reasons for my incredulity:
1. Boris Diaw's contract, while slightly smaller ($9M per year to Jason's $13.3M average) runs an extra year...unless you assume Diaw will be opting out of a contract that pays him $9M despite having a single above average season in the NBA. That's right - Richardson's deal expires after the 10/11 season. Boris will almost certainly be cashing checks from his current deal through the season after that.
2. That whole 1 above average season thing for Diaw. Yes - Diaw has 1 season in the NBA where he posted a PER above 15 - that was in 05-06, when he posted a 17.31. Worth mentioning about that career year - Amare Stoudemire was out, so Boris was able to assume a far more significant offensive role than he has been able to receive/earn since. Oh, and Diaw was playing under a bit more progressive offensive coach than Larry Brown. Not sure if Diaw will be afforded the freedom he had that year under D'Antoni.
3. I think Phoenix is getting the 3 best players out of this deal. Jason Richardson > Boris Diaw. Jared Dudley > Raja Bell (probably - Bell is 32 now, and not the same elite defender he used to be). A Bobcats 2nd round pick (when they are not picking) > Sean Singletary. I like Sean, having seen him play a lot in college due to his being in the ACC. But being a sub-6 foot 2 guard is tough to pull off. Being the team getting the short end on each of the 3 player match ups is tough to justify.
It may be tough to justify, but I will give it a try.
1. Boris Diaw gets the chance to be a more central offensive player than he has the last couple of years in PHX. Maybe he bounces back with a bit more of focus on him. He definitely should get a chance to play as the Bobcats are desperate for help at the 4 - seriously, if they are considering Juwan Howard at this point, they are desperate. M.J. and Higgins need to find a good wingman to talk them out of that one.
2. Gerald goes back to being a bit more of a focus. Gerald had subjugated his game for the betterment of the team with Jason on the court - but it was not necessarily in the Bobcats best interest, considering that Gerald is a bit more efficient putting the ball in the basket. Yes, Jason had the higher scoring average last year...but Gerald scored more points per attempt 1.32 to 1.19.
I am not crazy about this trade...but I am not as upset as when I first saw the news. There are a couple of positives in it...and potential. If it yields anything, well, we just have to wait and see.
Click here to comment/view comments for this post.
I get home from church and have not even had time to check the score of the game...and I have this email waiting from BallHype:
Thoughts on the Suns/Bobcats trade and video of new player Jared Dudley.The Suns new player Jared Dudley?! What the deuce? I head to ESPN...and it gets worse: Suns score Cats' Richardson in big trade. Am I awake? Is this real?
And (barring some Matrix type stuff that I am still not clued into) the answer is yes, this is for real. Charlotte has dealt Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley, and a 2010 (conditional) second round pick to Phoenix for...wait for it...Boris Diaw...Raja Bell...and Sean Singletary. And that is it. My initial reaction: Are you kidding me?
Here are the reasons for my incredulity:
1. Boris Diaw's contract, while slightly smaller ($9M per year to Jason's $13.3M average) runs an extra year...unless you assume Diaw will be opting out of a contract that pays him $9M despite having a single above average season in the NBA. That's right - Richardson's deal expires after the 10/11 season. Boris will almost certainly be cashing checks from his current deal through the season after that.
2. That whole 1 above average season thing for Diaw. Yes - Diaw has 1 season in the NBA where he posted a PER above 15 - that was in 05-06, when he posted a 17.31. Worth mentioning about that career year - Amare Stoudemire was out, so Boris was able to assume a far more significant offensive role than he has been able to receive/earn since. Oh, and Diaw was playing under a bit more progressive offensive coach than Larry Brown. Not sure if Diaw will be afforded the freedom he had that year under D'Antoni.
3. I think Phoenix is getting the 3 best players out of this deal. Jason Richardson > Boris Diaw. Jared Dudley > Raja Bell (probably - Bell is 32 now, and not the same elite defender he used to be). A Bobcats 2nd round pick (when they are not picking) > Sean Singletary. I like Sean, having seen him play a lot in college due to his being in the ACC. But being a sub-6 foot 2 guard is tough to pull off. Being the team getting the short end on each of the 3 player match ups is tough to justify.
It may be tough to justify, but I will give it a try.
1. Boris Diaw gets the chance to be a more central offensive player than he has the last couple of years in PHX. Maybe he bounces back with a bit more of focus on him. He definitely should get a chance to play as the Bobcats are desperate for help at the 4 - seriously, if they are considering Juwan Howard at this point, they are desperate. M.J. and Higgins need to find a good wingman to talk them out of that one.
2. Gerald goes back to being a bit more of a focus. Gerald had subjugated his game for the betterment of the team with Jason on the court - but it was not necessarily in the Bobcats best interest, considering that Gerald is a bit more efficient putting the ball in the basket. Yes, Jason had the higher scoring average last year...but Gerald scored more points per attempt 1.32 to 1.19.
I am not crazy about this trade...but I am not as upset as when I first saw the news. There are a couple of positives in it...and potential. If it yields anything, well, we just have to wait and see.
Click here to comment/view comments for this post.
| Brett Says: | I meant to say something in the post about having a second French player, pairing Diaw with Ajinca. That would be the reason for the post title. Oh well. | ||
| Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:04 pm |
| Doom, MD Says: | Not sure what to think of this trade either. If Diaw can be the passing forward of 4 years ago we'll see Emeka and Gerald get a ton of easy baskets in the paint. If he's unconditioned and under committed we threw away a great scorer for nothing. Don't like Raja for Jared at all. Jared seemed like a great teammate and excellent energy guy. Raja's lost a lot on defense in the last two years and we don't need another guy jacking up 3s. If the Gerald trade rumors for a center are true I'll cry. Weep into my hands. |
||
| Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:50 am |
| Jaybilal Says: | The word I hear is that these two guys will start but I have some concerns. First as Hollinger pointed out how are we going to score? Even accounting for our slow pace, it wasn't like we were lighting it up. If Larry Brown was concerned that we weren't getting to the basket enough wait until Bell gets here. He's never been a dribble drive guy and his age doesn't help. Even though he'll defend he is basically a Bruce Bowen clone now who shoots better from 3. More than anything else this move says to Emeka that you'll get plenty of shots with Diaw being a frontcourt partner. He'll pass the ball all game to avoid shooting. Honestly I'll pretty depressed right now. I read Rick Bonnell's column about the EC GM calling him asking WTF are the Bobcats doing and realised I wasn't the only one. | ||
| Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:44 pm |
