I previously posted this on the Wizards board
JayTWill wrote:I recently proposed a deal on the Trade board and i'm interested in getting other Wizards fans' opinions. The original proposal was -
Knicks out - Quickley, Fournier, Roby
Knicks in - Avdija, Gallinari, Young, Flynn, 2026 Raptors Second Round Pick
Wizards out - Avdija, Wright, Shamet, Gallinari
Wizards in - Quickley, Fournier, Porter, Roby
Raptors out - Porter, Young, Flynn, 2026 Second Round Pick
Raptors in - Wright, Shamet
Seeing as the Knicks currently have a lawsuit filed against the Raptors and obvious friction I revised the deal to be
Quickley, Fournier, and Roby for Avdija, Gallinari and Shamet
This deal would leave the Wizards thin at the forward spots but maybe the Wizards could make a deal directly with the Raptors offering Wright for one of their many forwards. Most Wizards fans seemed to prefer the potential of Deni over IQ while Knicks fans felt IQ was currently too good of a player to trade and gamble on the upside of a Deni. Thoughts?
Their board's response was once again that they preferred Deni to IQ and that they felt confident with the trades for Poole and Jones filling their backcourt needs for now. Since that post the Jones/Poole backcourt has looked like a disaster in the small sample size but Deni reworked his jumpshot over the summer and his efficiency and confidence have seemed to improve across the board although it is on limited volume. Kuzma is playing well so far and the Wizards just drafted Coulibaly. The top of next year's draft is full of more forwards. Maybe they would be willing to move Deni to improve their backcourt. I would be willing to swap Sims for Roby who has been cut. Sims is behind 2 much more experienced and polished centers and is surprisingly the same age as them. I don't know if he will ever be a rotational level player in this league but the Wizards lack center depth and could take a flyer on him.
As far as the rest of the trade I love what IQ brings to the team outside of his limited point guard skills but the organization seems fully committed to Brunson as the starting point guard and they are content with Grimes in his starting role. IQ will not have the opportunity to fully blossom in his current role and the Knicks have other needs that they should invest in financially. Deni could fill the role as a back up power forward/bigger wing defender while also providing the ability to facilitate while hopefully maintaining his shooting efficiency. I would love to see a lineup of DD/Grimes/Hart/Avdija/IHart. That lineup would provide great defense, energy and ball movement offering the opportunity for Grimes and Donte to get more touches and hopefully be more consistent shooting.
Mostly I just want to swap out one of the many guards for more length. The team's lack of size affects the game in many ways. Defensively watching Grimes trying to defend the Tatum, Ingram or even guys like Middleton and you can just see he is physically over-matched. Randle being on the only power forward and even with his lackadaisical effort being seen as the best defensive matchup against guys like Zion and Giannis is depressing. Seeing Josh Hart close out to a stretch 4/5 like Naz Reid in the preseason was almost comical. Deni would provide more size and defensive versatility. He is like a bigger version of Grimes. Doesn't have great measurements or athleticism but is very fundamentally sound.
And quietly I think the lack of size hurts the offense and specifically Brunson. The roster makeup forces the Knicks to play small much of the time and allows teams to hide their small poor defending guards. Brunson has to deal with longer defenders for much of the game because he is always on the floor with 1,2 or 3 of Grimes/IQ/Hart/DD where teams can hide the Lillards and Trae Youngs while Brunson dominates the ball trying to score against tougher defenders. Providing one more player with size makes it much more difficult to hide small poor defenders. You can't hide Trae Young versus Brunson, Barrett, Deni, Randle, Robinson. Deni is not a dominant scorer but he is skilled enough to take advantage of Young on the interior and would destroy him on the boards. I just feel like Deni would give the team the opportunity to play big or small and he just signed a very reasonable declining contract. Shamet and Gallinari would also provide more depth and shooting when necessary.
