nate33 wrote:Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:What would have made a ton of sense and been proactive, IMO, is for the Wizards to arrange a good trade of Trevor Booker. They could have kept James Singleton because he has an outside shot and he can play SF. I would have been happy to see Trevor not have his minutes pinched, because I think he's a good basketball player. The deal has clouded his future--unless he puts an ineffective Okafor on the bench, or he can play SF and put Ariza on the bench some.
Exactly. Trading Booker for a SF version of Booker would have been real nice. The only trouble is, it's pretty hard to find a guy roughly as good (quality backup, borderline starter, good attitude, future improvement possible) who also has at least 2 years on his rookie deal.
nate33: You've written several times that Booker is your favorite player on the roster, so I know you that you value him and wouldn't trade him lightly.
I just want to say that, from limited information, I have the strong impression that he's the heart and soul of the team, a key part of the culture change we're discussing in this thread. I mostly formed this impression from the positive body language that I saw last year on the court, especially between him and Wall, but I also noticed that Beal cited him (Wizards.com interview) for contacting him immediately after he was drafted. He improved his shot markedly last year, and Nivek has described how much work this entails; I wouldn't put it past him to develop three point range. It reflects well on his character that he played for an Israeli team during the lockout, being willing to broaden his horizons, etc., although maybe he just wanted a paycheck.
I don't regard him as untouchable either; I just think the G.A.M has earned his spot, and that his value to the team goes beyond the minutes he plays. The roster can be balanced later, when the front office has more information about how it all fits together.