Trevor Ariza & Marcin Gortat (What to do with them?)

[mhd]

Nobody with the Wizards (except maybe a few of the players) is worried about anything other than MAKING the playoffs. Performing well in the playoffs -- very secondary. To that end, trading Ariza would likely weaken the team this season, but it's unlikely it would weaken them to the point where they'd fail to make the postseason. So, they should make a trade that benefits them long-term. Will they? I doubt it.

There's a win win situation for everybody if we can move Webster to Oklahoma for a pick, trade exception and Pierre Jackson.

Uh, Pierre Jackson's rights belong to the Pelicans.

[Nivek]

Webster doesn't have an onerous contract. It's a bit too long, but he's worth the money, assuming reasonable health. "Reasonable" meaning that he plays in 65 games or so per season. The final year isn't guaranteed -- he has to hit certain benchmarks for games played for it to vest.

[mhd]

BTW, Porter REALLY needs to show something relatively soon (like next year). His cap holds (for being a #3 pick) are really large. That's part of the reason why Derrick Williams got traded.

[jeffsays]

trade Ariza for a first (possibly OKC) and have Otto start. It would be the best long-term move.

[mhd]

trade Ariza for a first (possibly OKC) and have Otto start. It would be the best long-term move.

So you want to trade Ariza for the #30 pick in the draft? What does that accomplish? You'd probably get more value maintaining Ariza's bird rights and possibly S&T this off-season.

Trade Ariza, and kiss the playoffs goodbye (and the sending of a likely #14 pick to Phoenix) b/c the protection of the pick is top 12.

I'd rather send Porter to the d-league, but EG is a total moron on that front. Why recall Rice (and NOT LET HIM play)?

Smart FO's use the D-league to their advantage. Our FO is made off of idiots who prefer our young players never to play.

[closg00]

Webster doesn't have an onerous contract. It's a bit too long, but he's worth the money, assuming reasonable health. "Reasonable" meaning that he plays in 65 games or so per season. The final year isn't guaranteed -- he has to hit certain benchmarks for games played for it to vest.

Sounds like a lot of hurtles and unattractive to trade-for.

[nate33]

trade Ariza for a first (possibly OKC) and have Otto start. It would be the best long-term move.

So you want to trade Ariza for the #30 pick in the draft? What does that accomplish? You'd probably get more value maintaining Ariza's bird rights and possibly S&T this off-season.

Trade Ariza, and kiss the playoffs goodbye (and the sending of a likely #14 pick to Phoenix) b/c the protection of the pick is top 12.

I'd rather send Porter to the d-league, but EG is a total moron on that front. Why recall Rice (and NOT LET HIM play)?

Smart FO's use the D-league to their advantage. Our FO is made off of idiots who prefer our young players never to play.

I wouldn't trade Ariza for the OKC pick, and I don't see why OKC would want him when they already have Durant and Thabo to man the position.

Ariza to Memphis makes the most sense. But Memphis doesn't have an expiring contract as cap ballast. They'd have to send us Prince's awful contract and I don't think their 1st round pick is enough incentive for that kind of downgrade on the floor and to our cap. I'd ask for 2 first round picks, one as compensation for the talent downgrade, and a future pick as compensation for taking on an extra year of Prince.

[nate33]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

[Dat2U]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

Problem is I'm not even sure Ernie makes that trade. Nene is too important to the current goal of making the playoffs. And we all know how much Ernie covets expensive veteran leadership.

[tontoz]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

Problem is I'm not even sure Ernie makes that trade. Nene is too important to the current goal of making the playoffs. And we all know how much Ernie covets expensive veteran leadership.

Agreed. The move makes sense to us but EG has shown that he is much more interested in the short term.

[Rafael122]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

Problem is I'm not even sure Ernie makes that trade. Nene is too important to the current goal of making the playoffs. And we all know how much Ernie covets expensive veteran leadership.

I would probably make the trade if we weren't getting Perkins. The contract is just awful, just awful!

[dobrojim]

trade Ariza for a first (possibly OKC) and have Otto start. It would be the best long-term move.

So you want to trade Ariza for the #30 pick in the draft? What does that accomplish? You'd probably get more value maintaining Ariza's bird rights and possibly S&T this off-season.

Trade Ariza, and kiss the playoffs goodbye (and the sending of a likely #14 pick to Phoenix) b/c the protection of the pick is top 12.

I'd rather send Porter to the d-league, but EG is a total moron on that front. Why recall Rice (and NOT LET HIM play)?

Smart FO's use the D-league to their advantage. Our FO is made off of idiots who prefer our young players never to play.

This strikes me as wrong. If we fail to make the playoffs, there will almost certainly be several
west conf teams that will fill out the bottom of the lottery. IIRC, the protection is top 13 this
year and top 12 after that. Remarkably, only 3 WC teams have worse records than the current
East conf 8th seed Charlotte.

I'm rooting for us to make it. But if we don't, chances are we keep our pick.

[leswizards]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

I would love for the Wizards to make that trade. Perkins makes $4 million less than Nene, and his contract is 1 year shorter. That means the Wizards would improve their long term salary situation. Adams is doing very well as a Rookie, and can possibly be a long term piece for the Wizards at center.

As to the Wizards making the playoffs this year, right now the ninth seed in the East is playing .423 basketball. That means the Wizards could finish the year 10-20 and still have a realistic chance at making the playoffs.

[Sluggerface]

I would trade Ariza and Nene to Houston for Lin/Asik straight up.

We would have an answer at center next season without being pressured to offer Gortat the multi-year deal he's going to be looking for, and let's be honest, how many seasons can we really stomach his soft play below the rim?

Our backup point guard situation is fixed and then some. Rice and Porter will finally get some burn with a PG that knows what he's doing.

Our lineups would probably look like this for the 2nd half.

Wall/Lin/Maynor
Beal/Temple
Webster/(Rice or Porter)
Booker/Seraphin/Harrington
Gortat/Asik

I think we would be slightly worse than we are now. We give up some defense in the starting unit for a more well-rounded team.

If I'm Morey, it'd be hard to say no to this deal. Nene/Ariza fits in perfectly with their rotation, and vaults them into the best team in the Western Conference.

In the off-season we let Gortat walk, go after Deng and keep either Porter or Rice depending on who shows the most potential.

After next season (When Lin/Asik expire) we can go after Love(if he declines player option), Aldridge, Millsap Gasol, Hibbert/Jefferson(If they decline), Chandler and Jordan are also options.

Depending on how we manage Deng's contract, we'll also be eligible for the KD sweepstakes in 2016.

My dream scenario (which is completely possible if we're smart about structuring contracts, or convince somebody to take a paycut, can't be cheap about the luxury tax either) is a starting unit of Wall/Beal/Durant/Love/Chandler. Wall and Beal would both be in their primes by this point. It would be the most dangerous perimeter team of our generation.

[dobrojim]

In the off-season we let Gortat walk, go after Deng and keep either Porter or Rice depending on who shows the most potential.

I could see/agree much of what you suggest but why would we go after Deng when we
would still have both Webster and Porter? (and Rice too)

[Sluggerface]

In the off-season we let Gortat walk, go after Deng and keep either Porter or Rice depending on who shows the most potential.

I could see/agree much of what you suggest but why would we go after Deng when we
would still have both Webster and Porter? (and Rice too)

Well in my scenario, Rice and Porter would both get significant playing time with the trade, but I can't imagine each of them playing well enough to warrant keeping both of them. Rice has exceptional value, but Porters top 3 contract leaves a lot to be desired, and I just can't see him reaching his potential in the foreseeable future. I'd rather trade Porter for whatever we can get (We're just going to have to live with the fact that Ernie blew yet another pick) and give Deng a 28-30 million 2-year contract, which is probably the best deal he would get considering how stacked 2015 and 2016 free agency is going to be.

[Upper Decker]

I still think Ernie ought to be calling OKC every day about a Nene trade. Championship opportunities are rare. OKC is arguably the frontrunner right now, but it's definitely not a sure thing with Perkins as their starting center. If they trade Perkins and Adams for Nene, it would virtually guarantee them a championship this year and next year too.

Simmons and Rose were talking about this concept in the most recent "birdmester" podcast. If OKC adds one more impact guy they'd be the clear front runner's and odds-on favorites to win the championship. However, they concluded OKC acts like a rebuilding team in that they're always trying to 'acquire assets'. Stupid philosophy in my opinion when you're this close. If you trade 2 firsts, or a first and lamb with Perkins for a guy like Nene you have a legit possibility to win 2 championships over the next three years. Why not go for it? What good is it for OKC if they keep acquiring decent, but not great prospects like Adams and Lamb, when neither of those guys project to be good enough over the next 1-2 years to be the missing piece? By the time they're prime-time players it's totally possible Westbrooks in LA, and Durrants looking around thinking, "Can I win a championship in OKC alone?"

[Upper Decker]

I'd prefer that Washington not resign Gortat. If they have to resign one of the two it needs to be Ariza. He's so impactful defensively and really raises the level of everyone on the team with this length, quickness, alertness, and hustle. Losing him will be pretty big defensively and spacing-wise on offense.

If there's a way to sign Monroe and keep Ariza I'd be all for that. People complain that Monroe is a bad defender, but honestly is he any worse than Gortat? Monroe is a much better offensive player. If not Monroe, I'd rather go for Spencer Hawes or even, gulp, Okafor on a cheap one year flier. I bet you can get Okafor on a 1y/$5M deal and pair him with Chris Kaman on a 1y/$4M deal and it'd be more productive than Gortat, especially considering 'Tat will get a big multi-year deal.

[Knighthonor]

Final call here.
Glad to see what happens.

MMO gamers are the easiest people in the world to scam with a product using tapatalk

[jeffsays]

Final call here.
Glad to see what happens.

MMO gamers are the easiest people in the world to scam with a product using tapatalk

Nothing will happen, we'll lose Ariza and overpay Gortat. Our team will be awful forever. **** Ernie and Ted.