RealGM

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... an_thomas/

The Oklahoma City Thunder have acquired veteran center Etan Thomas, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. In addition to Thomas, Oklahoma City receives Minnesota’s 2010 second round draft pick and a conditional 2010 second round draft pick in exchange for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins. “We are pleased to welcome Etan Thomas to the Thunder family,” said Presti. “Etan adds experience and depth to our front court as well as a defensive mentality and competitiveness that we value.”

they were all expirings?
Very solid move by Thunder. Etan is a solid defender, Wilkins and Chucky were useless.

RW, Livvy
Harden, Thabo, Weaver

A guard or two for depth would be nice now.

I hope this doesnt cut down BJ Mullens playing time.

Perfect trade by Presti
We needed a center and he got one without giving up something of use

With Thomas on the roster now, the move makes Nick Collison liable for trade IMO. If so where will he end up?

Big_Mac79 wrote:Perfect trade by Presti
We needed a center and he got one without giving up something of use

Yeah it helps the rotations and still clears cap next off season.

Pass_The_Sticks wrote:I hope this doesnt cut down BJ Mullens playing time.

I have mixed feeling about this.

#1 I want Mullens to get minutes too, but only if he is better than Etan.

#2Mullens had the option to stay in school and work on his game. If he chooses to come out early and has to ride the pine because he isn't that good well I hope it is a lesson learned to other college players who are thinking about coming out.

NBA minutes shouldn't be some sort of birth/draft right. They need to be earned by you being on of the best players on the team.

Pass_The_Sticks wrote:I hope this doesnt cut down BJ Mullens playing time.

Great trade to you guys!

Unless Wilkins has a breakout season and become a great 3 pt shooter, this trade made no sense to the Wolves

Is Atkins contract fully guaranteed for this season?

Don't understand it myself. I thought the Wolves at least needed Thomas for depth at their PF and C positions. Maybe the Wolves have another trade up their sleeves to get some help.

Hell yeah, Etan will open up the minds of the young core by his powerful poetic rhymes!

TexFTW wrote:Great trade to you guys!

Unless Wilkins has a breakout season and become a great 3 pt shooter, this trade made no sense to the Wolves

explain how it didn't make sense for the Wolves

Adam Morrison and Jordan Farmar for Collison and maybe Kyle Weaver(although not including him wouldn't derail the deal). Make it happen.

Adam Morrison and Jordan Farmar for Collison and maybe Kyle Weaver(although not including him wouldn't derail the deal). Make it happen.

i'm ambivalent about this trade. etan thomas is a solid backup center, but he's never healthy. since atkins was on a non-guaranteed contract, presti more or less gave up $3.5 million in cash for the rights to two second round picks.

if thomas plays 70+ games he'll be effective and then the trade is worth it in my opinion. if he plays half a year, i don't think the trade's a good one even though minnesota's 2nd rounder will probably be high..

Coming from a Wizards fan...good luck with Etan. He frustrated me more than once, but hopefully with a change of scenario he can pull off something good.

Hm. Im not totally sold on this one. Its good to have him as backup but if something happens to RW we only have the platoon of Weaver - Livingston - Harden as possible PGs. Thats not enuff in the west or elsewhere. So, not knowing the rest of the FA crop out there, but i think presti will follow that one up with something else, maybe some "tyron lue-type of" thing. Same as the Etan Thomas trade, someone you can thrwo in if you need to and has the "veteran" tag written on him (anthony carter f.e.)...

Don't really care too much either way on this one... Thomas should be a fairly nice backup post player. He does give us more shot blocking than anybody else on our roster, which was a significant weakness. He also plays hard (when he's healthy), and we don't have a bunch of the bruiser kind of post players, so that could help too.

In all actuality though, I pretty much agree with Swift. We just gave MIN 3+ mil (Atkins' non-guaranteed contract) for a couple of 2nd round picks and a swap of role players.

Not going to get to excited, I mean its not like he is going to average 10 and 10. We can expect 5 and 5 maybe if he has a good year. I'll reserve judgement for now. Is it possible Presti turns him for something else at the deadline? I mean 7mill is a big trade chip for teams looking at 2010? Are we going to be shop in 2010?

Etan will give you a good game every other fort night or so. He's strong, a good rebounder, and an underrated shot blocker. He is an extremely poor finisher around the basket though. He's one of those players who you'll watch for a game and go "Damn, he really hustled tonight." Then look at the boxscore and be completely bewildered as to why he only has 4 pts and 3 rbs. Standup human being though and his poems are deep.