Three Impact Trades for Power Forward Depth
We’ve been talking about it since Training Camp and Larry Brown has been crying for it (via Rick Bonnell) for months: Rod Higgidy-Higgins needs to make a trade ASAP to bring in another Power Forward.
The Bobcats are playing the best ball in franchise history. If they want to continue their push towards the top of the Eastern Conference, they’ll need another PF. Here’s why:
- Even though Boris Diaw is regaining his ’08-’09 form, he’ll never be a rebounding force. As much as we’d all like to see Gerald Wallace to win the rebounding title, logic dictates that he split ball-boards with another banger and save the wear and tear on his body for the Playoffs.
- Right now Wallace, Stephen Jackson and second rounder Derrick Brown are the backups. You don’t want your two best players getting beaten up down low against bigger players. The rookie Brown is giving up 20-30 pounds and a ton of experience on a nightly basis.
- Roster Imbalance. The team features four point guards and five wing players. Playoff teams need to be able to go big.
That brings me to the trades. First off, let me establish the RULES:
- No virtual trades with Eastern Conference Playoff contenders. Let’s be realistic, why would a division rival and potential first round opponent like Orlando trade the Bobcats Brandon Bass for cap relief or a young player? Makes no sense.
- Virtual trades can only be made within the conference IF the other team is absolutely horrible with no chance at the Playoffs and wants to clean house or dump salary.
- The Trade HAS TO MAKE SENSE FOR THE OTHER TEAM. This automatically excludes 99.9% of the trades that you’ve seen posted on Bobcats forums and comment threads.
- Don’t Mess with Chemistry: The Bobcats are playing great together right now, so you don’t want to trade away any player who is integral to this run.
Without further ado…
TRADE #1: Bobcats send Tyson Chandler and a Protected First Round Selection to Washington for Antawn Jamison.
WHY THE WIZARDS MAKE THE TRADE:
Washington ditches the last year of Jamison’s deal ($15 million in ’11-’12) and can move Tyson’s expiring as soon as this summer AND they get a late first rounder for their troubles.
WHY THE BOBCATS MAKE THE TRADE:
For one, the Charlotte Observer can kill two birds with one stone by writing updates on Jamison AND THE BOBCATS at the same time (we can only hope that the team can trade for Stephen Curry during the offseason as well).
Also Jamison could step in and either be the team’s electric frontcourt scorer off the bench OR start the game with an unselfish Diaw joining the lineup at Center as the sixth man. Although Antawn isn’t known as an elite defender, he’s an above-average rebounder at around 9 per game over the past four seasons.
Finally, bringing Jamison home to Charlotte would likely do wonders at the turnstiles as the former Tar Heel/Providence Panther could combine his local celebrity with the promise of a suddenly formidable Charlotte NBA team.
TRADE #2: Bobcats send Gerald Henderson and Stephen Graham to Golden State for Ronny Turiaf.
WHY THE WARRIORS MAKE THE TRADE:
Ronny isn’t getting much PT in Oaktown these days as Don Nelson seems hell-bent on playing a five guard lineup. The Warriors get another super-athletic two-guard with lots of potential and shave cap-space to boot.
WHY THE BOBCATS MAKE THE TRADE:
Larry Brown has fallen in love with the French. He praised their national team this summer, drafted one of their youngsters in ’08 and traded for another last winter. Turiaf would be a great complement to Diaw in Charlotte where he could spend 15-20 minutes (and six fouls) per game roughing up the opposing team’s low post players, blocking shots and taking up space in the lane.
Only two negatives with Turiaf:
1. (Mild Concern) Had open heart surgery in 2005 following the draft to repair an aortic artery.
2. (Moderate Concern) Once played at Gonzaga with Adam Morrison.
TRADE #3: Bobcats send Tyson Chandler, Acie Law and Gerald Henderson to the Utah Jazz for Andrei Kirilenko and a Protected First Round Selection.
WHY THE JAZZ MAKE THE TRADE:
The Jazz need to get out from under the luxury tax and Law (expiring), Henderson (rookie deal) and Chandler (two more years at a lower number) are infinitely more moveable than Kirilenko’s $16 million salary.
WHY THE BOBCATS MAKE THE TRADE:
Seriously, do you have to even ask? Kirilenko is signed to MAX contract that may seem ludicrous now but in 2005 (PRE-CARLOS BOOZER), the big Russian was worth every penny. Back then when AK-47 was playing his natural PF position, Andrei averaged 15ppg, 8rpg, 4apg AND 3.3bpg. Once Boozer came to town and the Jazz decided to play Kirilenko out of position on the wing, things went south and Andrei never regained his previous form. Putting a still young (28) Kirilenko on the same line with Gerald Wallace might destroy the League record (if there even is one) for Most ReDonkulous Weakside Help In Your Face Blocks in a season. Add to this fact that Kirilenko has shown that he has no problem coming off of the bench and you have the makings of a perfect small-ball, ball-hawking, transition team set with Boris at Center, Andrei at PF and Crash at the the Three.
I like the fact that none of these trades involves shipping any of the Bobcats core players (Chandler does not count). My knock on these trade scenarios is that i don't really see the other teams going for it.
#1) This one is my favorite by far. This trade would leave the Cats with a solid group of players on the books for a couple of years, and if they could retain Felton for a reasonable price tag then they should be in a position to be competitive in the East for seasons to come. However, i don't know WAS would be willing to deal Jamison for an injured TC and a 2011 (at the soonest) draft pick.
#2) Don't really like this one so much. Turiaf is not the best, and he DID play with AmMo. Plus, i really do not see GS going for it either.
#3) I like this one too, but i would expect the Cats to make a play for Boozer instead of Kirilenko. Again, i don't really see Utah shipping out AK for TC, ACIE, & and a rook.
I would let Boris come off the bench and have Mohammad start since him playing starting centers seems to be working
Nazr and a 2nd for Nick Collison?
While everyone of those trades may sound good, I think we should just stick with what we got. Once Chandler gets healthy, we should move him to back-up PF. By doing so, this could light a fire under him. Make him work for his starting job back at C. Also, holding him till next year, he becomes a more attractive trade asset. Right now we have a really good team and we should not get in a rush and look for a trade that may or may not be the answer.
im starting to think that if we had Okafor, wed be a 25 win team right now. Okafor would provide us with more reliable rebounding and certainly more offense. Chandler does have the blessing of height however. i cant count the many times that ive seen Okafor dominated in the paint by bulkier centers like, Shaq (but who can stop him without getting hurt?), Kendrick Perkins, and, of corse, D12.
really like these three scenarios, however, the only one that i think could actually happen would probably be #2.
Turiaf would provide us with a solid backup PF to come in and clean the boards so Gerald can chill out.
im not saying this is the greatest trade for the bobcats (that would have to go to #3), but if one of these were to happen, itd have to be #2. the Warriors seem to love trading with the Cats, and they are hurting (no pun intended) for more players.
get something done Rod, or ASChin is taking over ASAP.
Good feedback everybody.
Remember that the Jazz would ideally move both Boozer AND Kirilenko as they have a guy named Milsap that they just signed to an extension over the summer.
As far as Tyson at PF goes… Has anybody seen this guy play? If he's anything more than an expiring contract from this point forward, I'll considered it a bonus.
When you get "Wally Pipp-ified" by a 32 year old Nazr Mohammed, you know things just aren't working out.
Anybody out there still maintaining that the Okafor/Chandler swap was "a wash"???
As we don't want to give up a core piece, we really can't afford to move Nazr and we can't move TC unless we take even more salary back we're limited in what we can do. That leaves our assets as:
Law's expiring (2.2 million).
Lex
Derrick Brown
Henderson
DJ
DJ nor Henderson have stood out (DJ more than Hendo), so they're not going to get us something better unless we take on salary…in fact, none of our assets will get us anything better unless we take on salary.
I'm thinking a small deal is the only route we can go, and there's not many options. Over on BCP I've been throwing out Acie Law for Blatche…gives them an expiring for a 3 year deal plus about 800k relief this season. He has his issues too however.
Not so sure the Jazz would go for #3. With Boozer almost guaranteed to walk, wouldn’t they want to hold on to AK-47 that much tighter?
If I had to choose, I’d go with #1 (I’m still high on Henderson’s upside), but I agree with Pepperz. We’re a playoff team with the pieces we have right now. Let’s play this season out, and re-evaluate our talent after our deep (wishful thinking) playoff run.
I Love the Jamison trade and the Kirelenko trade !!! If we one of those two for that price i really think we could be title contenders.
reggie-
I agree. Tyson's height advantage really comes in handy when he's sitting in the seats BEHIND the team's bench, watching his fellow Bobcats roll off an eight game home winning streak.
Okafor would've taken up far too many resources blocking shots, averaging a double-double and being the team's starting center over the next decade.
Jon-
How can you trade Nazr when he's leading the team in PER (21+) and playing the best basketball of his career? …FOR NICK-FREAKIN'-COLLISON!
Are you a Sam Presti Internet Scout/Memetic Implanter?
spectre-
It all depends on what Raymond gets in Free Agency. If he does get a $6 million – $7 million per deal then the AK-47 trade could work if you include DJ instead of Acie Law and substitute Stephen Graham for Gerald Henderson.
If this were the deal, I'd ask for lower restrictions on the pick that Utah sends to CLT in return.
Is Andrei worth it? I think he'd be incredible on this team and I'd love for Higgins to try and land him before the deadline.
ASChin:
First one won't happen…Cleveland is offering Z's expiring contract (supposedly the holdup is the filler…think WAS wants Hickson thrown in but will probably get West as his deal isn't fully guaranteed next season) and we can't beat that.
I like the 2nd trade and think it's the most viable. GSW fans in the past have not wanted to move Turiaf due to their lack of bigs…but Nelson might not feel the same way.
At first I thought you "had it" with the 3rd trade…rumors say Utah is furiously trying to unload AK47's contract and I think they'd bite on this one pretty quickly. The problem for us is the extra 5-6 million we'd be taking on next season. As it stands now we'd have 10 players and roughly 66 million locked into salary (that's with an unsigned Felton). It looks like that 66 will be over the LT next season…and we aren't doing that.
I know "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." But this trade would bring an All Star PF (among others) to Charlotte, while only dealing one player that has seen any playing time during the Cats' current hot streak.
http://www.realgm.com/src_checktrade.php?tradeid=…
Portland gets: Tyson Chandler, DJ Augustin, Alexis Ajinca
Washington gets: Andre Miller, Acie Law
Charlotte gets: Joel Pryzbilla, Antawn Jamison, Patrick Mills
Star-divide
Why this deal is good for Portland. The Blazers get the big man they have been shopping for to fill in for their season-ending injured centers. Plus, they get rid of their two highest payed players in Andre Miller who is openly feuding with the coach and they unload the contract of Pryzbilla who may (or may not) play another NBA game after his latest knee injury. To replace Miller, POR gets Augustin who may still develop into a NBA starting PG and a 21 year-old project in Ajinca (who is putting up decent numbers in the d-league, btw).
Why this deal is good for Washington. Washington can start cleaning house by dealing Jamison's contract. The Wiz get two PGs to replace suspended PGs Arenas and Crittendon: Andre Miller is a proven vet putting up solid numbers this season & Acie Law has an expiring contract. This trade would save Washington big money next year and in the future.
Why this deal is good for Charlotte. If this trade got done, the Bobcats would add the power forward they have needed — in this case it would happen to be an All-Star caliber vet in Jamison. Plus they get a PG prospect on Mills to replace Augustin, and in Pryzbilla the Cats may never get him to suit up, rather use him as an expring contract to use as trade bait next season. Jamison could be the best 6th man in the league for now, and maybe replace Boris as the starting PF moving forward as he gets more familiar with LB's system. WIth Jamison added to the roster, the Cats would be signing Felton to a long term deal away from having a competitive line-up in the East on the books for several years into the future.
dudemanhey-
I like it. Not crazy about giving up two number one picks (Ajinca and Augustin) but let's face it, with freaks like Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose evolving the PG position, Augustin will never be more than a bit player and Ajinca looks at best like an 8th or 9th man.
Pryz gives you salary relief after next season and Jamison elevates local interest, increases bench scoring and retires for his hometown team.
http://www.bobcatsplanet.com/vb/showthread.php?t=…
Use these numbers for next season ASChin.
As it sits we are locked in for 59,789,925. If we included DJ (and I'd want something more back if we did that) we'd be at 62,472,525. Assuming the cap drops to 54 million and the LT will be about 12 million more than that we're left with 3,527,475…but now with only 9 players signed.
If Felton can continue his play I see him getting 8 per, but even if he only gets 7 we're going to be over the tax with 11 players if we make no changes.
Just standing pat we're in trouble next year. Since so many teams are going to be under the cap next season I'll bet we end up giving some potential (say Hendo or maybe Ajinca if someone is foolish) just to cut some salary.
Don't get me wrong; I think the concept is great and very doable from a talent standpoint.
Bobcats get: AK, B. Wallace, D. Summers
Jazz get: T.Chandler, A. Law
Pistons get: Ajinca
Hate to give up on T.C. so soon, so if you do, you need a team defensive center as part of the deal. May have to send a second round pick to Detroit…
Better move may be none at all. Maybe a 10 Day with Rob Kurz, or Law for Denver's versitile R. Balkman.
mike flowe-
"Defensive Center"??? Isn't that none other than Diop-It-Like-It's-Hot???
I'm all for Balkman (being a Gamecock and all). The above deal sounds good but I don't know if Detroit would consider the Ajinca/Wallace trade an upgrade.
Wouldn't trading for Chris Bosh make sense as well? I know he does not play the greatest of defense but he can score, rebound, score, block shots, and score some more. I'm not sure as to what other trades offers have been made for him but I would think that if we offered TC, Diop, DJ and a protected 1st rounder then I think we could put a decent deal on the table. We'd just have to add either Amir Johnson or Marcus Banks to help even out the the salaries. The only thing that keeps me from thinking the Raps wouldn't pull the trigger on a trade is because they want something in return for Bosh. So here they'd get 2 (only one healthy one though) defensive centers and a scoring guard. The centers with defense as their specialty, would help the Raps terribad defense. DJ would help if the Raps go to a smaller lineup in which case he could run the point or in a pinch the 2 with Calderon filling the other and have derozan slide to the 3 and hedo to the 4 and Bargnani at the 5. My only concern would be if Jax and Bosh and Wallace and Felton could get enough shots to satisfy themselves. That I don't know about, but still, it'd be a dream come true to get a post-scoring threat(still ticked we made that dumb trade for TC and shipping Okafor away for almost nothing…) and I'm sure Bosh wouldn't mind signing with the Bobcats.
By the way, would trading Stephen Graham and a 2nd rounder to the Clips for Deandre Jordan be a bad idea? the clips would get a 2nd rounder and a decent (and taller) SG option to back up the shorter Baron and Gordon. The Bobcats would get a Dwight-lite in Jordan who is sure to put people in their seats with some alley-oops and blocks and could really help in the rebounding department with the 2nd unit if in fact we get bosh and Diaw comes off the bench. I like it but that's just me.
@dudemanhey
the only problem I have with your Andre Miller to the Wiz is that Miller wants out of Portland for the reason that he feels he can still ball it up. If he goes to Washington then he'll have to earn his spot with Foye playing really well as of late and with the team being high on Dominic Mcguire and Nick young. On top of that, the Wiz also have Mike Miller and Earl Boykins too. So this would just lead to an unhappy Andre Miller again.
what would be wrong with trading DJ for kirk hinrich from the bulls?