EnigmaticProblem wrote:Most Raptors fans would've preferred to keep Vince Carter. Sure, he was a whinging pseudo-gimp in his latter years, but equal liability should be placed on management, who surrounded Vince Carter with substandard talent. Vince Carter was a top three shooting guard, at the time of his trade, despite his lack of work ethic.
Two things I'd like to point out are. . . The Raptors didn't gain financial flexibility, and the Nets got a superb player. The Raptors were buried in horrid contracts, despite Vince Carter's departure; Jalen Rose, and Alonzo Mourning, combined for approximately $25 million themselves. It was a few years before they gained flexibility-- In that same amount of time, Carter's contract would've expired. Moreover, after his trade to the Nets, Vince Carter averaged 27.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 4.7 APG, with absurd efficiency-- His TS% was bonkers!
Point taken as you are right.
Now, you can't compare Shaquille O'Neal's "1 and 1" to the Lakers' "3 and 2"--
Yes you can as that is reality, not a futile guessing game of whnat would have happened, which only God knows.
What should be contrasted is the potential number of championships the Lakers could've won (sans trade), with the actual conclusion. O'Neal single-handedly altered Miami's future, instantly, whereas the Lakers had to wallow in misery, cringing at the services of Kwame Brown/Smush Parker, before God gifted us Pau Gasol.
I am NOT one of the people that feel Kobe and Shaq would have won a bunch more titles together. They couldn't win the title with GP and Karl Malone ... I don't think they would have won the following year or in 07' when the |purs won and by the time we actually started winning titles with Pau, Shaq was done. We MIGHT have won ONE more title with Shaq but I doubt that very much. We won the trade hands down.
The Suns did not "definitely" win that trade. They received an atrocious contract, in Vince Carter.
Are you kidding? VC's contract was expiring ... he's a FA now ... that is not atrocious, that is fantastic!
Let's assume Vince Carter and Jason Richardson negate each other, in terms of talent exchanged, which they don't (Richardson is better).
They do cancel each other out because they were both on expiring deals.
Then, let's assume Mickael Pietrus and Hedo Turkoglu negate each other, in terms of talent exchanged, which they don't (Turkoglu is better).
Um ..... Turk's contract was 4 years and $44 mil ... Pietrus was 2 years and 10.6 mil ... ANY TEAM ON EARTH would have rather had Pietrus ... the Suns murdered the Magic on this trade!
In the end, all the Suns really got was Marcin Gortat, who's definitely worth his contract, but is definitely not a top ten center. Brook Lopez, Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum, Tyson Chandler, Joakim Noah, Andrew Bogut, Al Horford, Nene, Brendan Haywood, Roy Hibbert, Marc Gasol, DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Camby, whomever Utah lists as their center, perhaps even Andrea Bargnani. . . I can go on, and on.
Gortat is way better than Haywood and is also better than Gasol, Hibbert, Camby, Chandler and Bargnani ... he's also probably better than Brook Lopez. The guy averaged 17/12/1.7 per 40mins for the Suns and over his last 28 games when he was given consistent starters mintes he truly averaged 15.3/10.6/1.5. The ONLY true C's (Cousins and Horford are PF's) that are "better" than Marcin are D12, Bynum, Bogut and Nene, maybe Noah but he is extremely one dimensional.
Thing is, most players are fillers, and can be replaced with relative ease-- This is why, 95% of the time, the team landing the best player wins the deal.
The Suns basically got a TOP 10 (easy, maybe top 6) C and Pietrus on a 2 year 10.6 mil deal while the Magic got Hedo on a 4 year $44mil deal and a half year rental of Earl Clark ... the Suns RAPED the Magic, period.
