Shams: Wizards trade Howard to Memphis for CJ Miles

[nate33]

Miles is a 14-year vet whose production declined significantly 2 years ago and then fell off a cliff last year. He's done as a useful NBA player.

As far as on-the-court contribution, this trade is kinda meaningless. We traded an overpaid big man who can no longer play for an overpaid swing man who can no longer play.

We made this trade for off-the-court reasons. We wanted Howard out of the locker room and Miles in it. I can't say whether Miles' "leadership" and the absence of Howard's is worth the $3.1M in extra salary. I'm not in a position to know.

But typically, teams pay to get $3.1M off of their cap. They either pay cash or a 2nd round pick. It's kind of disappointing that we absorbed that $3.1M differential and got nothing for it. Just a few months ago, didn't we pay a 2nd round pick to turn Morris' $8.6M contract into Wesley Johnson's $6.1M deal?

I'm starting to wonder about Sheppard. At first, he looked great - trying to squeeze value out of every asset we had. Now, he's just giving away value.

[Dat2U]

Miles was awful with Toronto last year. He was replacement level with Memphis.

(According to PPA)

Dwight was solid to me via the eye test and at least average via PPA as well.

I don't see how this move makes us better. Handing Dwight's minutes over to Mahinmi is a big loss.

More like Moritz Wagner.

[JWizmentality]

Probably not great. This trade was not about CJ Miles. It was about dumping Howard.

Then they should have just waived him. Why take on the extra salary?

Again, every move they make bothers people. Why? This is a throwaway season. Other than drafting for the future, taking on salary is just for this year. I really don't care about CJ Miles. So they could have waived him and picked up whom? Who the f-ck wants to come here? Would I rather have Justin Holiday? There's no guarantee he comes here and he's nothing special either. Thirty-year old poor shooting wing who can defend. You want to get Rondae Hollis-Jefferson? Same thing yet younger. Even poorer shooting wing. Maybe the can trade Miles or somebody else for another pick. That's what this season is all about. Accumulating picks and hopefully drafting wisely.

But you know what? We still don't have a permanent GM? He's basically doing Ted's work.

It doesn't bother me at all. Just asking.

[closg00]

Miles is a 14-year vet whose production declined significantly 2 years ago and then fell off a cliff last year. He's done as a useful NBA player.

As far as on-the-court contribution, this trade is kinda meaningless. We traded an overpaid big man who can no longer play for an overpaid swing man who can no longer play.

We made this trade for off-the-court reasons. We wanted Howard out of the locker room and Miles in it. I can't say whether Miles' "leadership" and the absence of Howard's is worth the $3.1M in extra salary. I'm not in a position to know.

But typically, teams pay to get $3.1M off of their cap. They either pay cash or a 2nd round pick. It's kind of disappointing that we absorbed that $3.1M differential and got nothing for it. Just a few months ago, didn't we pay a 2nd round pick to turn Morris' $8.6M contract into Wesley Johnson's $6.1M deal?

I'm starting to wonder about Sheppard. At first, he looked great - trying to squeeze value out of every asset we had. Now, he's just giving away value.

I was wondering the same, smacks of another GM punking a more desperate GM....makes no sense that we take the loss

[Dat2U]

Miles is a 14-year vet whose production declined significantly 2 years ago and then fell off a cliff last year. He's done as a useful NBA player.

As far as on-the-court contribution, this trade is kinda meaningless. We traded an overpaid big man who can no longer play for an overpaid swing man who can no longer play.

We made this trade for off-the-court reasons. We wanted Howard out of the locker room and Miles in it. I can't say whether Miles' "leadership" and the absence of Howard's is worth the $3.1M in extra salary. I'm not in a position to know.

But typically, teams pay to get $3.1M off of their cap. They either pay cash or a 2nd round pick. It's kind of disappointing that we absorbed that $3.1M differential and got nothing for it. Just a few months ago, didn't we pay a 2nd round pick to turn Morris' $8.6M contract into Wesley Johnson's $6.1M deal?

I'm starting to wonder about Sheppard. At first, he looked great - trying to squeeze value out of every asset we had. Now, he's just giving away value.

He was going to trade Howard for any expiring he can get. He probably didn't have any better options.

They would have been better off just releasing Howard but that may not have been an option under Ted.

[Mojo Amok]

Probably not great. This trade was not about CJ Miles. It was about dumping Howard.

No. The trade was definitely about getting Miles for the $3.1 million additional salary he makes over Howard. If all we wanted was for Howard to be gone, we could have just cut him for cheaper. Just pay him and he goes away.

The Wizards presumably thought that Howard was sunk costs @ $5.6 million and someone that they wanted gone, so the play was that Miles at $3.1 million was a good deal. The trade is a bet on Miles helping to achieve the team's objectives over the next year. That may or may not be based purely on Miles' on-court impact as measured by box score numbers and could tie into his culture fit plus the expectations of what another veteran forward would cost.

To an extent, I think the trade is also the FO making a bet against what will be available between now and the trade deadline on the 'bad contract absorption' market.

If they really wanted RHJ then they should have just waived Howard. Shep obviously didn't want him. And let's face it. If Brown is (hopefully) the future at the 3, then Miles is not a bad guy to mentor him. They aren't adding another young wing who may take his minutes.

I agree with that. I'm not saying it's terrible, just calling a spade a tool with a sharp-edged, typically used for digging or cutting earth, sand, turf, etc.

The Wizards FO liked Miles at $3.1 million. It's defensible. For example, I wouldn't have minded Stanley Johnson on a $3.1 million one year contract for culture purposes, even if statistically he has issues. Could Miles outperform Johnson? Yes. If he does, the Wizards FO made a better decision than I would have suggested. Conversely, if Miles underperforms Johnson by a 20-30% margin, it's still not a huge deal like you're saying.

But, I do think we need to consider the trade a (small) bet on Miles rather than just getting rid of Howard.

[nate33]

My concern is that it appears that they made this trade because they think Miles can help this ball club. I think that's a mistake. Miles is done.

If they were willing to take on money in a Howard trade, they should have looked to trade Howard to a team desperate to dump salary. How about Howard to Milwaukee for Jon Leuer and his $9.5M contract? That fits just under the $5M salary differential permitted by the CBA. We would take on an extra $4.7M in salary and get an actual, useful player in Jon Leuer. Milwaukee throws in a future 2nd round pick (a distant future pick because they've given away most of their future 2nd rounders).

[Mojo Amok]

Assuming that the Wizards don't have a plan to bring in Cousins, again, I think the trade was also a bet against what would be available in the 'bad salary absorption' market between now and next year's trade deadline. If they thought that was going to be really lucrative, they probably wouldn't have made this trade.

What happens at next year's deadline with cap space teams taking on duds to save people from the tax could go a long way towards assessing this trade (not that we have cap space, but we have a TPE and maybe an injured player exception).

[Illmatic12]

Yes, but think how bad his numbers will be when he can no longer play against the Wizards every now and again.

Probably not great. This trade was not about CJ Miles. It was about dumping Howard.

No. The trade was definitely about getting Miles for the $3.1 million additional salary he makes over Howard. If all we wanted was for Howard to be gone, we could have just cut him for cheaper. Just pay him and he goes away.

The Wizards presumably thought that Howard was sunk costs @ $5.6 million and someone that they wanted gone, so the play was that Miles at $3.1 million was a good deal. The trade is a bet on Miles helping to achieve the team's objectives over the next year. That may or may not be based purely on Miles' on-court impact as measured by box score numbers and could tie into his culture fit plus the expectations of what another veteran forward would cost.

To an extent, I think the trade is also the FO making a bet against what will be available between now and the trade deadline on the 'bad contract absorption' market.

This post pretty much sums it up.

You can’t go into a season with 4 centers and not a single body at SF. That’s all there is to this trade, Miles is a warm body at the 3 who won’t complain about his role and adds professionalism/maturity to a fairly young locker room.

It was either that or take a flier on someone like Stanley Johnson , who is younger but also sucks and could clash with the locker room if things don’t go his way.

[nate33]

The Wizards are not bringing in Cousins. Not gonna happen.

[TGW]

way for Sheppard to do the grizzlies a favor for nothing.

The grizzlies have had a phenomenal offseason. Another great move by their FO.

[Rainwater]

Cousins will sign. Have a hard time imagining otherwise.

Lol i doubt it, the Wiz are rebuilding big time.

[Mojo Amok]

Probably not great. This trade was not about CJ Miles. It was about dumping Howard.

No. The trade was definitely about getting Miles for the $3.1 million additional salary he makes over Howard. If all we wanted was for Howard to be gone, we could have just cut him for cheaper. Just pay him and he goes away.

The Wizards presumably thought that Howard was sunk costs @ $5.6 million and someone that they wanted gone, so the play was that Miles at $3.1 million was a good deal. The trade is a bet on Miles helping to achieve the team's objectives over the next year. That may or may not be based purely on Miles' on-court impact as measured by box score numbers and could tie into his culture fit plus the expectations of what another veteran forward would cost.

To an extent, I think the trade is also the FO making a bet against what will be available between now and the trade deadline on the 'bad contract absorption' market.

This post pretty much sums it up.

You can’t go into a season with 4 centers and not a single body at SF. That’s all there is to this trade, Miles is a warm body at the 3 who won’t complain about his role and adds professionalism/maturity to a fairly young locker room.

It was either that or take a flier on someone like Stanley Johnson , who is younger but also sucks and could clash with the locker room if things don’t go his way.

Yeah, it's probably a safer play than Stanley Johnson. The thing I like about Johnson compared to the other guys still on the market is that (hopefully) he'd have the self awareness to thrive doing things other than scoring on a one year deal. A lot of guys will just go into chucker mode, so ideally we bring someone in who can fit in one a one year deal. Is that CJ? Maybe. But in general, I'm extremely suspicious of guys on one year deals gunning for numbers.

I don't know much about Johnson in the locker room and young guys looking for their first big deal are inherently more volatile than 32 year olds, so the chemistry advantage that I'm suggesting could indeed be off-base and blow up in the Wizards faces.

Bottom line though, the Wizards want a vet forward and were convinced enough on the Miles' bet to where they were willing to spend $3.1 million. Judgement comes later based on that. I suspect their internal criteria will be based on how Miles impacts the youth.

[nate33]

Ish Smith's $6M plus the $3.1M lost on this deal would have paid for Sato's contract.

[Mojo Amok]

Ish Smith's $6M plus the $3.1M lost on this deal would have paid for Sato's contract.

The issue with Sato must have been that third year, but it's not fully guaranteed money and I'm not sure on the exact figures there. Overall though, it looks like the Wizards have some plan to leverage cap space that year.

[MDStar]

Ish Smith's $6M plus the $3.1M lost on this deal would have paid for Sato's contract.

For this season, yes. However, Sato would’ve been on the hook for the next three seasons, while neither Ish not CJ will.

[montestewart]

way for Sheppard to do the grizzlies a favor for nothing.

The grizzlies have had a phenomenal offseason. Another great move by their FO.

Doing favors for the Grizzlies with nothing in return, he learned that from EGgo

[pcbothwel]

way for Sheppard to do the grizzlies a favor for nothing.

The grizzlies have had a phenomenal offseason. Another great move by their FO.

Doing favors for the Grizzlies with nothing in return, he learned that from EGgo

I dont like the value we are getting for Dwight... but Im trying to keep it in perspective. We arent contending, and we want to play Bryant and get Wagner minutes. Ian is also harder to move, so let him be your great teammate/6 fouls/elite defense big.

So long as we get one asset by the Trade deadline by taking on salary through TPE or by moving IT, Im fine with the our current approach. Getting the LAL prospects and the 2nd did enough for me to be content right now.
Beal, Bryant, Brown, and Rui are the key focal points with Robinson, Wagner, and Admiral being the support.

We are building a good culture and have good prospects and a GREAT leader in Beal. There are a lot of B teams this year and we'll get pushed into the top 10 of the draft...And as we saw with NOP, you never know.

[truwizfan4evr]

Not sure why people complaining about these moves and how bad our roster looks. Has everyone forgotten that we're tanking? So who cares how bad we look.

[Eli Babak]

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1757624#p69339284

...I expect Ernie to sign him to a contract with PO in the future...

Luckily he's just expiring! Had a bad season but at least he doesn't cause trouble in locker room.