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

[dobrojim]

Damn, I hope they know what they're doing. And as nate says, Anthony Davis could fix a lot of this angst.

Sure, and so could TRob most likely.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Man, this island is getting lonely, but I'm not conceding in absolute terms the Singleton pick as a whiff.



Gilligan? You there? Lil buddy?

Singleton will get it on the defensive end, I just worry about the offensive end. He struggled with it his entire career at FSU, it was always the one weakness in his game, and only in his last year did he start to finally start shooting reasonably well. It's not surprising that he's looked a bit lost on the offensive end again, it was never his greatest skill to begin with. He's smart, tough, and a worker. He's not an idiot. He'll figure out the defensive end, it's just that unless he can grasp the rest, he'll never turn into what we hoped we were getting (and what justified potentially taking him instead of Faried) when we made the pick.

Singleton can turn into a decent player. With lots and lots of jump shots he can emulate James Posey.

I'm a little disappointed that he's not a mad dog with great quicks, but he does appear to be a smart, tough, worker. He and Shelvin won't do things to kill a team. Singleton, however, can't get eaten alive by Paul Pierce, however. Chris needs to go to the defensive school of dirty tricks. Hold, push, shove, crowd the shooter and stick your foot under them like Bowen--do something to make himself respected/feared/hated is what Chris needs to do.

Right now, he can still be an average to good player in time. Like Chris Singleton now, Kevin Seraphin was rocking a PER of 8 this time last season, IIRC. I think Singleton needs to bust out some tapes on Posey, Bowen, Battier, and Trevor Arista.

[Eoghan]

Sup, Wiz fans,

I think you guys made a pretty good trade. You guys had a circus going out there with McGee and Young driving the clown cars. Nene will bring some much needed maturity and be good for Wall. He's got some age on him but there's still plenty of tread on those tires thanks to the time missed with his cancer and what not.

Also, I'm pretty sure Denver didn't want to pay Nene regardless, nor do I think they'll give McGee any money either. They're just being fiscally conservative and trying to clear up space for Wilson Chandler.

[Illuminaire]

Thanks. Too much on my mind to really address this other than thanks, Illuminaire.

Nothing but love, bro! Wish I was down in your sunny part of the world. We could kick back with a rum punch and watch some March Madness.

[fishercob]

Ruzious, no.

I never would have picked Faried 6th in this past draft. But that doesn't make me right. In fact, it makes me wrong.

Regardless of what Chad Ford, Jon Givony, ESPN or any GM said, Faired at 6 would have been the correct move. He's the best player in the draft other than Irving.

You are right in that the second whiff is more egregious because the salary there makes Faried an absurd steal. But if we had traded both picks for Faried we would be in a better spot than we are today.

Sad but true.

I completely disagree - even using the hindsight that you're using.

When you know that Faried could be had later in the draft - where you already have a pick, strategically it would have been the WRONG decision to pick him 6th. The whiff at 6 was not missing on Faried. It was in not using the pick smarter. BB would have been a smarter use of the pick then Faried or Vesely. Trading the pick could have been a much smarter use of the pick.

Correct, the right pick was Leonard in my view. If we were not going to take Leonard because of our fears that he'd never develop a complete offensive game why in hell were we in love with Vesely's Dunk reel and complete inability to hit a free throw let alone a jump shot? Leonard was the athlete with fantastic defensive presence, athleticism and a great motor. He should have been the pick. I thought the Morris twins were an insane interest by some posters on the board and argued as much as their ceiling appeared to be no better than quality big man bench player/competent starter. You don't draft that at 6, no way in hell. However word coming out during the summer was that there was a reason that Markieff surprised a lot of folks going higher than his brother, that he was actually a better pro prospect, more sound etc.

In retrospect I think the smart play would have been to trade up for Valunciunas, trade down for Markieff or simply take Leonard at slot, and of course grab Faried later. I will freely own that after Valunciunas went, I didn't have a problem with the Ves pick as I felt nobod else save Leonard was worth the 6 slot, and since we weren't interested in Leonard, I'd be fine with Ves's upside as an athlete. Of course in retrospect I was wrong and the metrics were right, I simply had a hard time believing Ves could be so thoroughly hopeless as a shooter. It was and is utterly shocking to me how bad he is (I reserve some hope that he might eventually put it together and at least become competent, but that may be a foolish dream).

Jeez, can you imagine if we had taken Leonard and Faried?

[The Consiglieri]

Ted's take:

Yesterday’s Trade Activities for the Wizards
Posted on March 16, 2012
If you can believe it, the trade deadline ended at 3:00 pm and our 3 team trade was finally approved via conference call by all parties and the NBA at close to 9:00 pm. The trade was a very complex one with Nick Young having to approve the team that he eventually would play for as he held Bird rights and the dollars having to line up team by team.

The docket was full at the league offices. There were many trades throughout the league and we weren’t official until late into the evening. We couldn’t comment on the trade until it was officially blessed by the NBA and we didn’t send out a press release until late into the game against the Hornets last night. This is the reason we weren’t able to comment or blog about the trade yesterday. I apologize if this caused any of you any inconvenience.

I had the chance to speak to one player last night – Nene – at about 10:00 pm. I look forward to also speaking to Brian Cook later today.

I wish to thank Nick Young and JaVale McGee for all of their contributions to our franchise. Ronny Turiaf as well. I wish them well and I am sure they will flourish with their new teams.

The trade was made for the several reasons. We have been crystal clear with our rebuild plan. We are celebrating young players and we have a commitment to add to our young players with picks this coming off season. We needed to add some certainty to the line-up via a veteran presence. Both Nick Young and JaVale McGee were free agents or restricted free agents this coming off season. By adding Nene – who is under contract – and is a mature and proven player, we now have secured a point guard (John Wall) and a big man – post player (Nene) – for a reasonable and certain period of time. We can build around these two positions via the draft and via additional trades and via free agency.

We will have a high first round pick this coming off season as well as a high second round pick as well. We haven’t altered our rebuild plan in the least. We will be one of the youngest teams in the NBA. We have more moves to make certainly but this set of trades positions us well to continue to re-craft our team and refocus our culture to one that is serious and is about winning.

Nene is coming to us from a winning program. He has played in a system that we admire. It is up tempo and high scoring and he has good hands; runs the floor well; and is very strong. He is a team first kind of player. He is about winning and is a respected teammate.

He is a family man; a player who is secure in who he is; and a player who has battled through adversity and is dependable and strong in spirit. I very much enjoyed my conversation with him last night and know our fans will appreciate his brand of intensity and the way he plays the game. It was nice to hear analysts on NBA TV call him a “Top 10 center” in the NBA.

As you saw last night in the game against the Hornets this is John Wall’s team to run and having a polished big man who likes to move; sets hard picks; plays defense; is humble, mature and blends in a team setting will help us to segue to a next generation of player and culture for our franchise.

We have a lot of work to do still. I understand that fact. We made a big move and made a big investment in our future yesterday. Help us to welcome our new players to our great city and to our community in the coming weeks. Thank you for caring so much.

One last point: In reading some emails and some blog posts, it is apparent to me that the new CBA and some of the rules regarding how trades are made are perhaps not fully understandable. Would it be helpful if one day we held a chalk talk to explain how the rules work and how trades get made so that you as opinion leaders are more informed about process and methodology around trades? Let me know. Thank you.

I would suppose with this blog post that maybe our interests on draft day are pretty transparent. We're gonna go for help at the 2 or 3 on draft day. Thorpe suggested that basically if we can't get one of the big 3, we should be looking at Barnes and Beal as the next best options considering our needs. So I imagine our draft board is Davis because he's Davis, or barring that, the best 2's and 3's in the draft. Guys like MKG, Barnes, and Beal.

I wonder where Drummond is on their board?

[Severn Hoos]

JAR -- I think it's reasonable to think Nene might have 2-3 good years left. Unfortunately, he's signed for 5. Which is why I don't think it's the right move for the team long-term. I think by the time they have enough talent with enough experience to think about contending for a title, they'll need a replacement for Nene. I think he's at just wrong age for the Wizards at this stage in their rebuild.

While technically correct, the "5" includes the remaining month of the current season, so I think it's more accurate to say he 's signed for 4 more years. Especially if the point of the "Nene might have 2-3 good years left" implies that the next 2-3 years may be pretty good. And if it plays out that way, then there's only one year where production is grossly out of line - which is the expiring year.

Not necessarily an endorsement, just an appeal for precision

EDIT: Sorry kev, I see a few others made the same point. Didn't mean to beat a dead horse. Moving on....

[Ruzious]

And I liked Marcus Morris - not at 6; but as a trade down - and only if we couldn't trade up. That's not looking too good right now. Hopefully, he gets a look some day. When he got sent down to the D League, he made some comments about being unhappy about it, and the Rockets coach or GM was furious about it - so he's going to have to dig himself out of the doghouse. We shall see. The long run is a long run.

[Eoghan]

Since you're talking about Singleton, I can only really speak on what I know from his college days but Singleton improved dramatically when he became "the man" and vocally led them on defense and offense. I think as his rookie jitters wear off, you'll see some significant improvement on defense at least as he becomes a veteran. He's definitely not a guy that doesn't try and improve and just rests on his laurels.

[LyricalRico]

The $13M per year thing is troubling. Two buts, though.

1) The fact that it's a flat $13M is nice. If the cap grows, his hit relative to the cap obviously shrinks and we wont be in the stupid situation we were with Jamison where his game was declining and his salary was increasing

2) For the next couple of years the money shouldn't matter. Next season Nene is going to make $13M. Nene is going to be taking minutes currently occupied by Baltche, Turiaf and Mcgee, who this year combine to make about $13M. McGee is obviously going to get a significant raise from someone this summer. Booker and Seraphin are locked in dirt cheap for two more years.

The final two years of the deal is when it could get really dicey -- the new CBA will be kicking in, we'll want to give extensions to Booker, Wall, and maybe Seraphin.

Damn, I hope they know what they're doing. And as nate says, Anthony Davis could fix a lot of this angst.

See, this is the kind of analysis we need. Fish, you've really captured the discussion. This is a significant upgrade for us in the near-term. And in the long-term...well, let's cross that bridge when we come to it IMO.

When Gil's deal looked like a millstone that couldn't be moved, we were able to get significant savings by swapping him for Lewis. The Spurs were able to swap Richard Jefferson for a guy in SJax with a shorter contract. Heck, Portland just got a high lottery pick to unload Gerald freaking Wallace. There are always opportunities to make moves in the NBA.

Basically I'm saying let's get good first, and then we can worry about the cap 3+ years down the road. By then the contract may not even be an issue. But it certainly could be, that risk does exist. Or we could have a team poised to take the next step and are able to add the final piece because we've got a still-decent big man on a large expiring deal to offer in trades. Let's see how it plays out.

[Severn Hoos]

See, this is the kind of analysis we need. Fish, you've really captured the discussion. This is a significant upgrade for us in the near-term. And in the long-term...well, let's cross that bridge when we come to it IMO..

I know - it should be on the Politics thread, but:

“The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.”
― John Maynard Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform

In for a dime, in for a dollar. Think of it as a basketball stimulus. And hopefully it will work out just as well as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

[fishercob]

The $13M per year thing is troubling. Two buts, though.

1) The fact that it's a flat $13M is nice. If the cap grows, his hit relative to the cap obviously shrinks and we wont be in the stupid situation we were with Jamison where his game was declining and his salary was increasing

2) For the next couple of years the money shouldn't matter. Next season Nene is going to make $13M. Nene is going to be taking minutes currently occupied by Baltche, Turiaf and Mcgee, who this year combine to make about $13M. McGee is obviously going to get a significant raise from someone this summer. Booker and Seraphin are locked in dirt cheap for two more years.

The final two years of the deal is when it could get really dicey -- the new CBA will be kicking in, we'll want to give extensions to Booker, Wall, and maybe Seraphin.

Damn, I hope they know what they're doing. And as nate says, Anthony Davis could fix a lot of this angst.

See, this is the kind of analysis we need. Fish, you've really captured the discussion.

Well, obviously. Had you forgotten that I am a f*cking genius?!?!

[nate33]

Here is what should have happened:

1. Coaching should have noticed what we saw in 2010-2011 when Javale and Andray were suspended for fighting each other. Defense was much better with Booker and Seraphin.
2. Instead of allowing McGee's mistakes to cause a negative vibe, he simply should have been benched in favor of Seraphin.
3. A wise coach, and not one who tolerates shot jackers, should have praised Seraphin's emergence and at the same time praised McGee for continuing to play with 100% effort off the bench.
4. McGee being a bench player would not be credited with bogus contract demands that never were validated.
5. People who want a defensive C would realize Seraphin might be a better defender already than Nene. Denver traded Nene for a reason.
6. Instead of allowing an inept GM and a lame duck head coach to make long-term decisions, no move should have been made until someone like Kevin Pritchard made the call, and Dave Joerger was the coach.

Good grief, CCJ. You talk out of both sides or your mouth so much it makes my ears hurt. It was you who screamed from the mountaintops all last season that McGee was much better than people give him credit for and that he deserved more minutes and less reprimands from the coaches. Indeed, you rightfully pointed out that McGee led the team in PER and on/off differential. Now you're trying to say that management made some kind of colossal screw up by not playing Seraphin more? WTF?

[nate33]

Good stuff on the past several pages. What I see from the age stats that Nivek posted is that we can expect relatively flat production from Nene over the next 2-3 years, with perhaps an ever so slight dropoff each year, followed by a more significant decline in his 4th year. All in all, that doesn't seem so bad to me.

[Ruzious]

Ya know what - while I'm not real excited about the trade - it's certainly not awful, and it could turn out well. And it's a lot safer than if the Wiz had saved the money to use mostly on McGee - which could have turned out to be awful. So I will try to keep an open mind and be optimistic.

[fishercob]

Hey, let's all hug!

[closg00]

McGee will be an allstar in 2-3 years, right around year-4 of Nene's deal.

in track and field?

Keep making jokes

But the Nuggets believe wholeheartedly that Nene had reached his ceiling as a player and the thought around Denver is head coach George Karl believes he can channel McGee’s talent and eventually develop him into an All-Star caliber performer.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-trad ... ine-losers

Like I said earlier, you-guys (not all) underestimate what an awful basketball organization the Wizards are, and I'm not just taking about their record. I'm talking about the culture and the "development".

I fully expected that another organization would think that they could rescue a 24 y/o talent and help him reach his full potential. Watch JaVale in 2-3 years, not now.

[Illuminaire]

Hugs all around! Let us unite in the one thing we can all agree on....

.... if this thing goes south, it's probably the fault of our crack medical team.

[montestewart]

Good stuff on the past several pages. What I see from the age stats that Nivek posted is that we can expect relatively flat production from Nene over the next 2-3 years, with perhaps an ever so slight dropoff each year, followed by a more significant decline in his 4th year. All in all, that doesn't seem so bad to me.

Studies of decline in basketball line up pretty well with those looking at baseball players. But they are averages. I expect a decline, but I don't assume that the drop off, whether gradual or unexpectedly large, will necessarily be from Nene's performance this year. Further, the low number of minutes in Nene's career may have a positive effect in slowing the decline. That's a couple of maybes. I wouldn't have made this trade, but time will tell if it was a horrible deal or a possibly OK one.

PS: More charts and graphs, Nivek. It makes the board seem a more respectable publication, like Nature or Scientific American

[tontoz]

McGee will be an allstar in 2-3 years, right around year-4 of Nene's deal.

in track and field?

Keep making jokes

But the Nuggets believe wholeheartedly that Nene had reached his ceiling as a player and the thought around Denver is head coach George Karl believes he can channel McGee’s talent and eventually develop him into an All-Star caliber performer.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/2012-nba-trad ... ine-losers

Like I said earlier, you-guys (not all) underestimate what an awful basketball organization the Wizards are, and I'm not just taking about their record. I'm talking about the culture and the "development".

I fully expected that another organization would think that they could rescue a 24 y/o talent and help him reach his full potential. Watch JaVale in 2-3 years, not now.

Let's see what Karl says after he actually has to coach McGee. My guess is that it won't be long before the rest of his hair is gone.