Wiz trade 5th pick to Minnesota

[closg00]

I wouldn't be so-quick to gloat, what happens if none of our 1-year rentals return next year and Haywood walks, or if Gilbert goes down again? Johnny Flynn would have looked damn good in a Wiz uni also.

For a 1-shot deal at making a run for the ECF, Ernie did well. I still believe we should have gotten their late second-rounder.

[montestewart]

I can undertand some of those sentiments, Rubio being the exciting unknown and all that. I was more upset about passing on DeJuan Blair than about the trade, but not all that upset there either, more surprised that Blair made it that far and fell further. Looking at the above post, I guess I'm glad I didn't sound off.

[verbal8]

I wonder if the NBA GMs thought it was likely Rubio would stay in Spain for a year or more? At one point he was talked about as going as high as 2nd.

[montestewart]

^
At one point it seemed his going at 2 was a given in many circles. Like with DeJuan Blair, something must have happened (or been discovered or suspected) to make some teams hesitate.

[MJG]

I think it sounds pretty good for everyone involved. Rubio doesn't have to cough up a huge amount of his own cash. His original club gets buyout money. His new club gets him for two years. The Timberwolves delay his rookie contract for two years, letting him develop on someone else's dime. Flynn doesn't have to worry about competing with another top prospect at the PG spot. Wins all around.

[closg00]

Oops, not so fast.

Minnesota Timberwolves president David Kahn says "no team in any league has reached a deal" on a buyout for Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio.



A Spanish media report circulated earlier Wednesday said that Regal Barcelona had reached a buyout agreement with Rubio's team, DKV Joventut. The report said Rubio would sign a six-year deal with the team that included an affordable buyout in 2011 that would allow him to come to the NBA.

But Kahn issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying no deal has been reached.

The Timberwolves selected Rubio with the fifth pick in the June draft. Kahn has made two trips to Spain since then to try to help Rubio negotiate a buyout and play in the NBA this season.

[DCZards]

^
At one point it seemed his [Rubio] going at 2 was a given in many circles. Like with DeJuan Blair, something must have happened (or been discovered or suspected) to make some teams hesitate.

What happened is that GMs realized that Rubio was not the second best player in the draft. Plus Thabett is a better fit for Memphis, Harden is more NBA ready than Rubio, and Evans, imo, could turn out to be the best player in this year's draft.

[Dat2U]

After some time, I wonder how these people feel now given that Rubio will only have an affordable buyout for the 2011-12 season:

I respect your posts bro, but your making yourself look foolish with this one. It's waaaaaaaaaay too early to start dealing out 'I told you so's'. Rubio's deal ain't done. Secondly, there's no telling whether Rubio would be worth the wait until he actually plays in the NBA. Thirdly, Rubio wasn't the player available at #5.

More importantly, as alluded to, the Wizards because their offseason acquistitions, face some tough offseason choices next year with regards to Foye, Haywood & Miller. Losing any of those guys should bring into question whether the trade was the right move.

Finally, anything less than a high 40s win total or a first round exit would show that throwing all your eggs in the basket with this roster was a mistake. It's put up or shut up with this squad and there are no more excuses for failure. We have to let this year play out (and possibly beyond) before anyone can claim being on having the right or wrong opinion of EG's trade.

[Dat2U]

^
At one point it seemed his [Rubio] going at 2 was a given in many circles. Like with DeJuan Blair, something must have happened (or been discovered or suspected) to make some teams hesitate.

What happened is that GMs realized that Rubio was not the second best player in the draft. Plus Thabett is a better fit for Memphis, Harden is more NBA ready than Rubio, and Evans, imo, could turn out to be the best player in this year's draft.

Thabeet is a better fit in Memphis? Where'd you get that from? He's a walking bust and I got the feeling sitting behind the Memphis contingent of higher ups during the Vegas summer league that there's already hand-wringing over his selection. Thabeet AT BEST is years away from contributing to a winning NBA team. There's 10 or 12 guys that would have been better fits IMO.

[montestewart]

Relevant to this conversation, from the latest Wizards Insider:

The thing about Grunfeld's tinkering this summer is that the moves he made weren't just motivated by a 19-63 season; he was looking at improving the previous three playoff teams which flamed out against Cleveland in the first round.

"There were a couple of things I thought needed improving," Grunfeld said. Versatility. Getting more size in the backcourt and getting a pop off the bench for us."

Some other interesting comments about improved and consistent 3-pt. shooting.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/

[DCZards]

Thabeet is a better fit in Memphis? Where'd you get that from? He's a walking bust and I got the feeling sitting behind the Memphis contingent of higher ups during the Vegas summer league that there's already hand-wringing over his selection. Thabeet AT BEST is years away from contributing to a winning NBA team. There's 10 or 12 guys that would have been better fits IMO.

Dat, it's "summer league." Some guys look like instant stars during their first summer league season (i.e. Blatche) and other guys look like they could be busts (i.e. Thabett). I'd advise you not to put too much stock in summer league games. There's a long list of guys who look like all-stars during summer league and yet can't make a regular season roster.

I say Thabett was a better fit for Mem than Rubio because the Grizz already have two very good perimeter players with huge upsides (Mayo and Gay) and Conley started showing he can ball during the second half of last season--after the coaching change. I agree it will take Thabett a few years to be an impact player but it WILL happen. He'll be a force on defense and a beast on the boards, imo.

[Kanyewest]

I wonder if Ricky Rubio even wanted to go Memphis. After all, Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro have reportedly bad mouthed the organization after they left. I also wonder if economics had anything to do with it; after all Memphis ends up paying less to get Thabeet than Rubio. The Grizzlies also have a high invested pick in Mike Conley; perhaps the Grizzlies are in denial that he hasn't turned out to be their franchise saving point guard.

Either way, Thabeet could get the Grizzlies get a few more wins since he helps them what they need most; defense. I wouldn't call him a bust yet, he can still be an effective player especially on the defensive end by blocking shots and changing shots with his height. But he has a lot of hard work to put in b4 we find out.

[verbal8]

Relevant to this conversation, from the latest Wizards Insider:

"There were a couple of things I thought needed improving," Grunfeld said. Versatility. Getting more size in the backcourt and getting a pop off the bench for us."

I think this may answer the question of the intended line-up. That sounds like Mike Miller was brought in to start at SG and Foye was brought in to be a spark off the bench. There is a chance that Nick Young and/or Foye steps up and pushes Miller out of the starting line-up, but having 6 or 7 starting level players is a good problem to have.

Butler slimming down also makes sense if Miller is the starting SG. Butler may end up playing SG defensively and SF on offense. This way Miller would avoid having to match up with the quicker SG.

[closg00]

^
At one point it seemed his [Rubio] going at 2 was a given in many circles. Like with DeJuan Blair, something must have happened (or been discovered or suspected) to make some teams hesitate.

What happened is that GMs realized that Rubio was not the second best player in the draft. Plus Thabett is a better fit for Memphis, Harden is more NBA ready than Rubio, and Evans, imo, could turn out to be the best player in this year's draft.

I thought that Memphis had a bad draft, they didn't need Thabeet and they didn't need another Darrell Arthur clone in DeMarre Carroll, they should have taken Harden & perhaps a back-up PG.

[LyricalRico]

Relevant to this conversation, from the latest Wizards Insider:

"There were a couple of things I thought needed improving," Grunfeld said. Versatility. Getting more size in the backcourt and getting a pop off the bench for us."

I think this may answer the question of the intended line-up. That sounds like Mike Miller was brought in to start at SG and Foye was brought in to be a spark off the bench.

Been saying that all along.

I also think it speaks to whether or not Grunfeld views these guys as one year rentals. It wouldn't make much sense for him to bring in guys to solve problems in the lineup only to turn around and let them walk, thus creating the same problems all over again. I know that the team still has to find a way to make it work financially, but I'm saying that I fully believe that Grunfeld's intent was to acquire guys who would be here longterm. And I think that bodes well for it actually happening.

[Kanyewest]

Rubio to Barcelona is official; according to Yahoosports.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

And ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4435861

[TheKingOfVa360]

Smart trade for the Wizards

[montestewart]

more on the trade from Michael Lee:

A league source told me this summer that Grunfeld was well aware of the difficulty in getting Rubio out of his outlandish buyout and into an NBA uniform this season. That, combined with Fegan's apprehension about having Rubio play alongside Gilbert Arenas (which suddenly is no longer a concern) made it imperative for Grunfeld to get something for that pick right now (although few expected Rubio to slip all the way to fifth).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

more on the trade from Michael Lee:

A league source told me this summer that Grunfeld was well aware of the difficulty in getting Rubio out of his outlandish buyout and into an NBA uniform this season. That, combined with Fegan's apprehension about having Rubio play alongside Gilbert Arenas (which suddenly is no longer a concern) made it imperative for Grunfeld to get something for that pick right now (although few expected Rubio to slip all the way to fifth).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/

Grunfeld was wise not to use the 5th on Rubio.

HOWEVER, that same pick could have drafted Jonny Flynn, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Gerald Henderson, Tyler Hansbrough, Earl Clark, etc. (Those were picks 6-14, with Jordan Hill omitted).

If EG had gotten the 18th pick from the trade with Minnesota he could have had Ty Lawson, Eric Maynor, Jeff Teague, or Darren Collison (Picks 18-21, at least two of which purer PGs than Foye).

If EG had gotten pick 28, ah well the same guys were there at 32 when he sold the pick. (Blair, Summers, Cunningham, Sam Young).

So, just because he was wise about Rubio I am in a wait-and-see mode with EG. Foye and Miller better pay HUGE benefits or else I think EG didn't do so well, in the LONG RUN.

[closg00]

^^^
CCJ, I was going to post pretty-much the same thing. This trade, for a somewhat all-out effort to at-least contend for the ECF, is decent if-not incomplete. The rentals have to be re-signed, otherwise this ends-up being nothing but a cap-clearing deal in the end. Flynn, Curry, Blair & Summers are guys we could have gone forward with if we end up in re-building mode. Wait and see.