Nick Young traded to Clippers/McGee to Denver/Nene to DC

[queridiculo]

Young, will make their detractors look dumber than they already look, but I'm not crushed that they're gone. I'm not a big believer in addition by subtraction unless a player is a total jerk who can't get along with anyone, but I guess at least now we'll find out for sure if having cinnamon-eaters on the roster was really what was bringing the team down the last few years.

I doubt Young will do anything we haven't seen from him.

The detractors say Young is a gunner that doesn't pass or rebound. He's not somebody you build a team around, but in the right situation he can be very effective.

It wasn't going to be here, and it wasn't going to be for $10 million annually.

I don't like Young for the Wizards, but I'm not going to deny that he could have considerable impact on the Clippers offense.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Raffy, Cousins is the guy I took so much crap for saying he'd be very good. Now you're saying he's more talented than Javale?

The crap you get primarily is about Cousins being a better prospect than Wall. I doubt you'd find anybody that wouldn't sign off on a McGee for Cousin's deal. Complete no-brainer.

The crap I get is from people who forget I never said Cousins straight up for Wall.

On draft day I did think Cousins was better. I thought that a long time. (I wonder if the Kings would trade Cousins and Isaiah Thomas for John Wall and Jan Vesely?)

I think most of you are not big enough to admit you said things like Cousins was a team cancer, he shoots a low eFG, he's no good, I want no parts of him. Sacramento wouldn't make the deal of Nene for Cousins. That should tell you something.

DeMarcus is floor-bound and he makes worse decisions than Javale. What he is is an elite rebounder. He can spot up and hit the open shot. He plays with raw aggression. He's refined his game. But he doesn't have the physical tools to be an elite player.

Javale on Denver is going to be interesting to watch. He won't have to deal with guards who don't know a bad shot from a good one, guards who cannot pass to bigs, guards who do not have to defend, or a bad head coach.

We shall see about McGee.

[Benjammin]

Trading Blatche for anything would have been addition by subtraction. This deal: not addition by subtraction.

In a lot of ways, it seems like a classic Washington trade. The Wizards just bought the ass end of another career. Denver got reasonable production from Nene at a reasonable price. The Wizards are likely to get an expensive decline.

It's what the Redskins did for years with their big free agent "splashes", paying for previous production rather than future production. I don't think Nene is as bad as some of those moves, but I don't blame anyone for it bringing up bad memories (Gus Williams, Dan Roundfield, Mark Price, Mitch Richmond, etc.)

[Jay81]

Clippers Stole Young too...a 18 point scorer thats one of the best mid range shooters in the league for a 2nd round pick.

I am tried of being raped

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Raffy, Cousins is the guy I took so much crap for saying he'd be very good. Now you're saying he's more talented than Javale?

If you call playing intelligently and shoring up one's weaknesses talent, sure, Cousins is better than McGee. DeMarcus has skilled moves. He's improved his rebounding a lot. He's cut down his turnovers a lot. He's cut down his fouls some. He shoots FTs much better. But, he's a very limited player physically. He's a guy who needs a McGee next to him.

McGee is going to be like Cousins in one respect. The same people who are down him now (like they were Cousins this time last year) will come back and say Javale is much better than they thought.

McGee is going to have more impact on big games than Cousins in the very near future. Now that Javale plays with a leader, Lawson, and he plays with a tough PF who can rebound consistently, Faried; that guy is going to kill it.

McGee is a stud and people in Washington will get to watch him win just like they watched Rip, when he went to a decent organization.

All this crap about McGee being so dumb wasn't what people were saying as recently as January. Flip's team got off to a terrible start, especially John Wall, but McGee was the bright spot. People let approximately 7 weeks of ball color their perspective. They ignore metrics that show McGee's worth. They say he's NEVER going to get it????

Incredible. I think he just got his first good break. I am so happy for McGee.

CCJ - you're awesome, you're a fun read, so keep doing you. You bring a lot here.

Now that's out of the way, you were comparing Wall to Cousins, that's where I disagreed with you. I would take Cousins over McGee every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

I feel the same way about you, Raf. This Wizards trade has me thinking about MMA. I'll be following that more closely after March Madness.

[FAH1223]

If we get Anthony Davis, then things will be turned around

[LyricalRico]

Not a Wizards or a Nuggets fan.

Surprised at the polarised opinion here. Nene is a very good player, efficient, plays good man defence, only real knock is that he doesn't rebound enough, but ultimately he's a talented and smart player.

Also, don't worry about the injury history. No signs of recurring knee issues; one year he missed was exceptional circumstance (Cancer!); he's been relatively healthy since then.

It's primarily heartbreak over McGee. Many were still drinking the kool-aid and were convinced he was a star in the making. I'm not of them, therefore I see what you see - the addition of a good player that will help this team.

I think there are also some who are concerned about the contract, and I'll admit that it's not ideal. But considering the position the Wizards are in, they were going to have to overpay no matter who they acquired. To have expected otherwise is just wishful thinking IMO.

[Spence]

Young can be very useful to a good team that has guys to do all the rebounding, passing and defense that he won't do. If he can play on a team that has enough talent that they can ask him to score and do nothing else, Young could be a valuable role player. He'll get his chance with the Clips.

He had no business being on the Wizards.

[7-Day Dray]

Clippers Stole Young too...a 18 point scorer thats one of the best mid range shooters in the league for a 2nd round pick.

I am tried of being *****

We probably couldn't any more value for him. He's an UFA, and teams aren't going to give up much value to rent someone for half a season. The Raptors gave up Barbosa for the same value.

Nick is a good fit for the Clippers though.

[Illuminaire]

Nivek:

Please list the options that will be upcoming to get a better center than Nene in free agency, or a significantly better value than he represents.

Maybe I'm miss-remembering, but most of the time the really good centers stay put and the flawed ones bounce around getting paid too much. Congrats, we got a flawed one getting paid too much... but it's still better overall than what the situation with McGee is likely to have been.

So what other options would have been better over the next two years? Who would come here that would help the team more on a dollar for production basis?

I don't love the trade. But I do question whether we had truly superior choices to work with. Some times you have to make the B- move because that's all you have.

[FAH1223]

Ji, Nick wasn't going to come back in the summer. Atleast we got a pick for him.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Young can be very useful to a good team that has guys to do all the rebounding, passing and defense that he won't do. If he can play on a team that has enough talent that they can ask him to score and do nothing else, Young could be a valuable role player. He'll get his chance with the Clips.

He had no business being on the Wizards.

One chucker is gone. One more to go.

You won't here me complain about Nick. I hope they have someone inquire about Jordan Crawford in the offseason.

[nate33]

Like I implied before, this all boils down to what the Wizards could reasonably expect to acquire utilizing cap room. Effectively, we acquired Nene at $13M a year (and a 2nd round pick). I tend to side with Rico in that the Wizards can't expect to get good by tanking year after year after year. At some point, they need to utilize their cap room and acquire a few veteran players to serve as a stable backbone to the roster. I think Nene qualifies. $13M is a bit steep, but he's a solid two-way center. How many two way centers are there in this league?

I haven't run the numbers, but if memory serves, we should still have about $18M in cap room assuming we amnesty Lewis. If we amnesty Blatche, we'll have $12M in cap room this summer with Rashard's $13M cap number coming off the books the following summer. All we really need to do is sign a free agent shooter and draft a star caliber player and we should be a decent team next year. Next summer, we should still have enough cap room for a max player.

The point is, although Nene is expensive, I don't see his contract hindering our rebuild anytime soon. Either way, we have plenty of cap room to work with this summer and next summer, and after that, we won't have much cap room anyway because Wall will be maxed out.

[Yilun]

Anyone know if Nene is going to be suited up for Thursday's game?

[7-Day Dray]

This trade is eerily similar to the Mitch Richmond trade. I'm not happy about this.

[FAH1223]

wow, Nene got a 5 year $67 million extension? I was thinking it was about $10 million less than that

[DallasShalDune]

This trade is eerily similar to the Mitch Richmond trade. I'm not happy about this.

Webber was a player who was a star on a playoff team. Neither NY nor McGee are that star.

[LyricalRico]

Maybe I'm miss-remembering, but most of the time the really good centers stay put and the flawed ones bounce around getting paid too much. Congrats, we got a flawed one getting paid too much... but it's still better overall than what the situation with McGee is likely to have been.

So what other options would have been better over the next two years? Who would come here that would help the team more on a dollar for production basis?

I don't love the trade. But I do question whether we had truly superior choices to work with. Some times you have to make the B- move because that's all you have.

[Bickerstaff]

The detractors say Young is a gunner that doesn't pass or rebound. He's not somebody you build a team around, but in the right situation he can be very effective.

That's some pretty mild detracting. I know he's not as hated as Dray (who at this point I hope gets it together merely to spite the booers and the armchair GMs) or Javale, but I've seen plenty of people demand that Nick be cut, that he's a clown, a cancer, etc. I guess people's instincts are to blame all of an organization's problems on whomever's been around the longest.

[Rafael122]

This is a 9 win team right now, we have no stars.