http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... _calderon/ After reading this story this morning, I was going to create a thread entitled “WTF?” with respect to this 4 team trade. But I see someone beat me to the punch by creating one more conservatively named “Four-Team Trade”
The article, if accurate, basically states that we tried to get involved in yesterday’s multi-team deal by trading Dampier and getting back Calderon.
If we wanted Calderon, why the hell didn’t we just trade Chandler/Diaw for him directly back when we had the chance? The reported deal that MJ allegedly backed out of was Chandler/Diaw for Calderon and Reggie Evans’ $5mil expiring.
This would have amounted to:
Chandler: $12.8 (expiring)
Diaw: $9 (two years left)
for
Calderon: $9 mil (multiple years remaining)
Reggie Evans: 5 mil (expiring)
= $7.8 mil in net payroll savings next year.
Instead of doing that deal, we abort it at the 11th hour, deal Chandler/Ajinca for Dampier who we turn around and try to convert into Calderon anyway. BUT, in doing so, we acquiesce to taking Carroll and Najara’s garbage contracts off Dallas’s hands.
This would amount to:
Calderon: $9mil (multiple years remaining)
Carroll: $4.3 mil (multiple years remaining)
Najara: $2.8 mil (multiple years remaining)
+ Diaw $9 mil (multiple years remaining) [who we retain and otherwise would have been traded in the deal we vetoed]
- Ajicja (who was included in the Dampier trade @ $1.5 mil)
=$1.8 mil in net payroll addition when compared to the previous deal Charlotte rejected.
So both deals would snare them Calderon and a backup PF (Evans vs. Najara) but instead they inexplicably opt to pursue the one that not only results in them handing away Ajinca to Dallas for nothing and adding $1.8 mil more payroll for next year but also wasting an additional $19 mil over the next three seasons (the aggregate salary obligation for the balance of Carroll and Najaras deals plus the cost of keeping Diaw).
It’s becoming more and more apparent that they acquired Dampier’s contract with lofty ambitions and visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads (i.e. some pie in the sky scheme of converting the dust chip into Chris Paul) without conducting the appropriate due diligence before pulling the trigger.
Now that reality has slapped them in the face, they’re desperately scrambling to salvage something.
I suspect the pressure is becoming even greater as they see other Eastern teams improving around them.
While we’ve taken a step backwards, other teams like NJ, NY, and IN are improving.
Take NJ for example:
Harris / Farmar
T Will / Morrow
Outlaw / Twill
Murphy / Favors
Lopez / Boone
It goes without saying that their future is of course infinitely brighter than ours but even next year, I think that roster could conceivably post a win total in the high 30s and compete for the final playoff spot.
All that's playing in my head is a sad song. We have people in our FO that aren't smarter than a 5th grader!