Yi to the Wizards for Ross

[Hoopalotta]

I'm totally bleh at this point. My only surprise in this is that EG picked Yi over Beasley. I'm tired of screaming at the top of my lungs. The only thing I'm wondering about now is how long does it take for Teddy to realize that he needs to make a change?

I really don't think it's a coincidence that we just happened to get, as one veteran Jersey poster mentioned on the T&T board, "an international cash cow".

A coincidence that we didn't take Kris Humphries and $2 million instead? I think not. This is an ownership move.

[LyricalRico]

Christ, some of you are really whiny. I'd rather have Yi than Ross, it aint costing us ****. So what's the problem?

+1

[nate33]

The Wizards were not going to be players in free agency this season and should they choose to move Hiney and let Thornton and Yi exprire - they'd have max cap space again next year. They still have cap space for smaller BOYD deals but now will have 2 expirings to use. The Wizards still need talent and are 3 years away from even considering the playoffs.

You are the second person to make this argument. It doesn't make any sense. Expiring contracts are less valuable than raw cap space. If we want to make a move in the future, we'd put together a better package if we could offer to absorb bad salary outright, rather than to give back another expiring contract.

There is no silver lining. This is an utter waste of cap space. I'll cede that it's possible that EG shopped around elsewhere and could find nobody willing to give us picks for cap space, so he defaulted to this. But in that scenario, the prudent move would have been to do nothing and wait until the Trade Deadline to see what teams became desperate to dump salary.

[LyricalRico]

This doesn't seem like such a bad move. We need bodies and Yi might look a little better with a change of scenery (not banking on it, but it's been known to happen).

I don't buy the stuff about how this takes away our capability to make moves down the road. What fabulous moves are out there to make? Ted is committed to building the team through the draft...so, expect some stop-gap measures. This is a one year gig. If he plays decently at all, he will make excellent trade bait. If not, he is done after the year is up.

I've got my questions about Ernie, but this deal doesn't seem like a bad one, especially with the $ thrown in...

We are not contenders, so let's not try to pretend...for once.

Great post!

[AceDegenerate]

Your 2010-11 Wizards on opening night:

PF Yi Jianlian / Trevor Booker
SF Vince Carter / Al Thornton / Cartier Martin
CE Javale McGee / Kevin Seraphin / Hamady N'Diaye
SG Kirk Hinrich / Nick Young
PG John Wall / Jerome Randle

Injured: Andray Blatche

Where's the throw-up emoticon?

See this is my worst fear. I'll watch this team as long as the Wall/Arenas dynamic is there. Throw that away, and I don't see how Wall is going to sell tickets on his own carrying this team.

[Hoopalotta]

On another note, I got a laugh out of this line from Chad Ford's ESPN piece:

Yi is expected to compete for a starting position with forward Andray Blatche ...

Who is expecting that?

Jeeze Chad.

[pcbothwel]

With the understanding that the deal is yi and 3 mil for ross, I would say that the deal is mostly a wash like Jwiz stated for a few simple reasons: While this is a historic FA class, every other team knows this and have tried for 2 years to get in position to get one of the top FA's. While LBJ, wade, and Bosh will be difference makers, the Boozers, Gay's, Johnsons, and Amare's will be an eventual hinderence. By enableing the Bulls and now Nets to better compete with the other teams, we can almost be sure that at least 2 or 3 teams will lock themselves into Max contracts with non max players in order to appease a fan base that has been waiting for 2 years.
A new CBA will be drawn up and the cap will surely go down to around 50 mil. Is anyone truly afraid of a Wade/Boozer Miami team. Or a Joe Johnson/Amare Knick team. In the new CBA those two players will represent 65-70% of their cap.

Basically, Im saying I believe that we will see 4-5 very good teams in the East, not 1 or 2 Elite teams. EG is an average GM who made an average GM move today, but it doesnt hurt us. This move will be better evaluated in a week and a half, and fully evaluated by mid-season, lets sit back and watch.

[verbal8]

The only saving grace is that this stupid move is only a short term mess. By next summer, it all goes away. All it costs us was $4M in cap space maneuverability at the Trade Deadline. I'll get over it, but it's so darn senseless.

This reminds me of the Crittenton trade. It wasn't worth bitching about too much because the ultimate consequences were relatively minor, but it was still an utter waste of assets.

It is the little moves where EG is looking really bad. At the very least he should have been able to pry the rights to Tibor Pleiss from Nets. Pleiss may never amount to anything in the NBA, but he is a 7 footer that said "Playing defense is his favorite part of basketball".

This kind of reminds me of the the Gee deal. Not a big deal on its own, but it seems to be adding to a pattern of falling short of making good moves.

[McGully Culkin]

Do any of you think EG is indirectly forcing the hand of certain teams to make a trade for Gil. Yeah, we're helping out the likes of Chi/NJ, but there are only so many big name FA's to go around...there will be some desperation, so who knows....maybe a team who misses out on landing a huge FA will make a play for Gil via trade.

I don't think this trade is as bad as some of you all are making it seem. We're not going to be competing for anything last year, and maybe...just maybe, Yi can be some sort of a reclamation project like Caron was when we got him from LA a few years back. It's a no risk trade IMO.

[Hoopalotta]

Where's the throw-up emoticon?

You've got to track it down on the net...

[80sballboy]

I can't imagine Grunfeld pursued this trade. The Nets probably called, offered Yi and $3M for Ross and he accepted because Ross sucks and Yi is 7-feet tall. If reports are true that Grunfeld is on a one-year audition for Teddy, why the **** would he make this deal and bring in this stiff? Wouldn't you try and surround Wall with a one or two B or C level Free agents? You don't have to go for broke, but WTF. This team might not win 30 games. The goal should not be to throw your worst garage out there. It's to show the fans that we will try to improve through the draft and add some young (under 30) free agents that will help the team compete. But we wanted Teddy so the grass is greener, ain't it?

[Donkey McDonkerton]

This is GREAT, for getting Wall to the All star game next year.

[Rafael122]

It also goes to show that getting AK-47 or Morris Peterson, even though he was eventually traded was all a pipe dream. We were going to sit out this year's free agent group, and Melo, who is the prize for next offseason will most likely re-sign with Denver. A few of you even suggested we just sit on all this cap space and wait until next year to see what's out there, which would have been a huge mistake. We need to field a team, as bad as it was or will be.

People point out the OKC model, it toka total dismantle of a team to the point that it was enough for them to move to another state, and a couple of years of rebuilding to get to where they are now. It also didn't help that they got Durant which sped up the process. I'm not defending this move or complaining about it. I'm merely in the meh category, but it's not the end of the world.

And things would be that much sweeter if the Nets and Bulls cleared enough cap space only for them to overpay for Joe Johnson.

[WallToWall]

A wothless Yi + cash + 1st rnd pick = Ross + cap space + flexibility this year.
A worthless Yi + cash < Ross + cap space + flexibility this year.

Regarding the 1st rnd pick.... if indeed NJ gets those 2 max players they're gunning for, this should be a low 1st rnd pick.

[Hoopalotta]

Do any of you think EG is indirectly forcing the hand of certain teams to make a trade for Gil.

The thought had occurred to me, yes. The certain team has colors that are royal blue and orange.

[pcbothwel]

Also, dont underestimate the Chinese aspect. This is a quick way to build the Wizard/John Wall brand overseas and allow a generation of people to "grow" with Wall over the next 10-12 years.
I think that a Booker/Yi, 3/4 second unit might work while Booker is still developing his 15-20 ft jumper.

[keynote]

I'm fairly ambivalent. Yi does feel like an EG throwback-type player: long and skilled, but weak on D and allergic to contact. Still, he's young and it's worth a flyer. Maybe he'll perform better with a legit PG (although admittedly, Harris isn't chopped liver).

Would I prefer it if the Nets threw in next year's 1st rounder? Of course. But to be honest, I really don't know how much leverage the Wizards really had - or, what the "market" is for that kind of cap flexibility. Sure, we can point to OKC's BOYD move(s), but each deal is hard to evaluate. MIA, for example, may value a shot at two MAX slots more than CHI or NJN. So, while it might be fair to complain that Presti beat EG to the punch, I'm not sure that the deals are fungible.

I still hope that Seraphin comes over this year, and I hope that Yi doesn't eat too much into his minutes.

[Hoopalotta]

Also, dont underestimate the Chinese aspect. This is a quick way to build the Wizard/John Wall brand overseas and allow a generation of people to "grow" with Wall over the next 10-12 years.
I think that a Booker/Yi, 3/4 second unit might work while Booker is still developing his 15-20 ft jumper.

Dude, good call, I think you nailed it! I was all over the Chinese money, but it didn't occur to me the connection with Wall being a rookie and 200 million Chinese people watching him 60 times a year.

I should imagine Reebok is pleased.

[Ed Wood]

Your 2010-11 Wizards on opening night:

PF Yi Jianlian / Trevor Booker
SF Vince Carter / Al Thornton / Cartier Martin
CE Javale McGee / Kevin Seraphin / Hamady N'Diaye
SG Kirk Hinrich / Nick Young
PG John Wall / Jerome Randle

Injured: Andray Blatche

Where's the throw-up emoticon?

And Now, representing the most powerful city in the world, your 2010 Guys the Nets Didn't Want!

[nate33]

Also, dont underestimate the Chinese aspect. This is a quick way to build the Wizard/John Wall brand overseas and allow a generation of people to "grow" with Wall over the next 10-12 years.
I think that a Booker/Yi, 3/4 second unit might work while Booker is still developing his 15-20 ft jumper.

This is really the only rational explanation. I think it's a bad premise. Yes, some Chinese fans may tune into Sopcast and watch a few extra Wizards games, but only so long as Yi is on the roster. Yi is going to suck and he will get cut next summer. Does Ted really think any of the new Chinese fans will continue to be Wizards fans thereafter?