Mek trade was actually great

Dexmor · Post #1 » by **Dexmor** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:32 pm

Not because of Tyson Chandler cause I want him gone but he makes what 14 million per year? Owed another 4 years on that deal?

Now we have 5 free agents and if Mek was still here it would be unrealistic to expect to keep them all.
Only possible guys who might walk on us imo (assuming Felton doesn't get a huge offer from somebody else because he's the only pg on the free agent market)

We could literally end up keeping them all for almost the same amount as paying Mek alone.
Maybe they don't resign Graham if a contender offers him 3-4 million to be a Durant-Wade-Kobe stopper or if Theo decides he wants to go to a contender so let's say they just get the other 3 free agents (guess on how much)

Tyrus-6 million per year
Felton-6 million per year
Hughes-3 million per year

That would be 15 million same as Mek and 2 of the 3 are better then Mek alone. Larry Hughes could be the third better one if he is the first guard off the bench.

Plus we have if you include Lexi 5 C's on the roster. Mek is averaging 10 points and 9 rebounds and less then 2 blocks per game. His contract is worse then Elton Brands and Gilbert Arenas. I would honestly rather have DIop's contract and start Diop then Mek.
Mek got 15 points here because there were no other scorers on the team. He has always been a 10 point a game guy.
I would much rather go with Tyrus Thomas then Mek. I would rather of had Diaw-Tyrus-Wallace-Jackson-Felton.

Battery · Post #2 » by **Battery** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 10:35 pm

It was a GOOD trade, not a great trade. If TC was healthy all season then it would have been a great trade. Now that he's a huge expiring contract this summer, the initial deal looks better and better. Losing the inconsistent, overrated, and grossly overpaid Okafor was addition by subtraction. New Orleans already wants to dump him, but unfortunately for them nobody will take on that contract unless NOH takes a garbage contract back.

Okafor admitted the other day that he is having a mediocre season. http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/03/19/okafor-cant-explain-production-decline/

And as I said over the summer, Larry Brown wanted Okafor gone despite what he said in public about it being about money. Well actually it was partly about money, getting rid of Yoga-for and his contract so we can bring in players like S-Jax and TT. Dumping him gave us more flexibility.

e4Nf6 · Post #3 » by **e4Nf6** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:47 pm

Dexmor wrote:
Now we have 5 free agents and if Mek was still here it would be unrealistic to expect to keep them all.

Not going to get into another TC-Mek debate, but one small point.

Chandler makes more money next year than Mek, we don't save any money from the trade until his contract is off the books year after next. He actually makes it HARDER to sign everybody and not go over the Lux cap in the off-season.

Battery · Post #4 » by **Battery** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:45 am

e4Nf6 wrote:
Dexmor wrote:
Now we have 5 free agents and if Mek was still here it would be unrealistic to expect to keep them all.

Not going to get into another TC-Mek debate, but one small point.

Chandler makes more money next year than Mek, we don't save any money from the trade until his contract is off the books year after next. He actually makes it HARDER to sign everybody and not go over the Lux cap in the off-season.

He makes 1.2 million more. We can make trades which bring back less money (like New Orleans did with us) so that is really not an issue. And who says we have to sign everybody???? At this point in time, I would not invest long term money on Raymond. IMO Raymond will not be brought back. Too inconsistent for us to invest long term at the money he will want this off season. Unless of course he takes his game to the next level over the final 15 games and playoffs. Doubtful.

I would resign TT and package Diaw/DJ for a point guard.

thruthefire · Post #5 » by **thruthefire** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:14 am

I doubt we'll get a point guard better than Felton with that package. Diaw's contract won't be appealing to any team, and Augustin has been a no-show this season. And if we do that, we'll be without a backup point guard.

Battery · Post #6 » by **Battery** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:55 am

thruthefire wrote:I doubt we'll get a point guard better than Felton with that package. Diaw's contract won't be appealing to any team, and Augustin has been a no-show this season. And if we do that, we'll be without a backup point guard.

Maybe maybe not. But just because we can't find anyone better than Raymond at the moment, doesn't mean we have to foolishly invest in a long term deal with him. That is how teams sink themselves! Also, Diaw will only have 2 years left on his contract. Different systems work better for different players. DJ is still young enough that he will garner some interest because teams are always on the lookout for point guards that have "potential." And it's not like DJ was going to be here next season anyway. He won't be as we almost dumped his lame ass at the trade deadline.

If we trade for Ford, then we will just need to find a backup for him. Shouldn't be too difficult for LB to find someone he likes who will fit in here much better than DJ.

Post #7 » by **Walt Cronkite** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:28 am

I would love to not sink ourselves into a long term deal with Felton. Don't see i happening.

W_HAMILTON · Post #8 » by **W_HAMILTON** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:28 am

It was a great trade if you factor in it made us so horrible to start the year that it forced our team to make changes that have helped make us the team we are today.

On-the-court, Chandler has provided nothing for us all season.*

Talent-wise, it was -- and still is -- a horrible trade. We're starting Theo Ratliff at center. Let's not be stupid. Even at his worst, Okafor is better than any of the centers we have today, including Mohammed.

*Except for one game against Toronto.

Battery · Post #9 » by **Battery** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:49 am

W_HAMILTON wrote:It was a great trade if you factor in it made us so horrible to start the year that it forced our team to make changes that have helped make us the team we are today.

On-the-court, Chandler has provided nothing for us all season.*

Talent-wise, it was -- and still is -- a horrible trade. We're starting Theo Ratliff at center. Let's not be stupid. Even at his worst, Okafor is better than any of the centers we have today, including Mohammed.

*Except for one game against Toronto.

LOVE how you always downplay how crappy Diaw, Wallace, Raymond, DJ, injured Raja and Flip were at the beginning of the season. Lets blame that on TC too. :roll:

Oh and look at Okafor's stats against the top teams in the East this season. God awful. Lets conveniently overlook that too.

NBA is a team game buddy. Larry Brown wanted him gone and now New Orleans does too.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/03/19/okafor-cant-explain-production-decline/ :lol:

Post #10 » by **fatlever** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:25 am

it amazes me that people are still hung up on okafor.

i am very happy with our center position right now. we are in better shape now than we were this time last year.

Stun704 · Post #11 » by **Stun704** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:02 am

Well okafor isn't a C, thats why he has been playing garbage, if he slid to PF, I think he would beast

Post #12 » by **Paydro70** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:30 am

Okafor is as much a center as anyone in the league but Shaq and Yao.

It was still a bad trade, because if nothing else, we could have traded him for expiring contracts instead of one that we have to hold onto for another year for next to no production from Chandler.

W_HAMILTON · Post #13 » by **W_HAMILTON** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:34 am

fatlever wrote:i am very happy with our center position right now. we are in better shape now than we were this time last year.

We have Theo Ratliff starting for us.

We may have better center depth, but that's because our center position has been such a fiasco that we have to keep trading for more.

daidalos · Post #14 » by **daidalos** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:03 pm

The Okafor trade was not good. It was a mere financial decision. And I think we could have done a better deal.

Regarding to our financial state I doubt Felton will be back next year.

If we only sign TT to the qualifying offer then we will have about 66M in salaries.

With so many teams with huge cap space this summer, a team that fell short on the big free agents could easily try to compansate with signing Felton to a contract about 7-8 mill a year. Which we can not match.

I think the managment will try to dump salary (also means letting Ray walk) which will result trading of Nazr to a late first or early second rounder.
(The only other scenario for reducing salary is when Nazr excercises his ETO, which is unlikely, but it could happen. If a team with huge cap space need a good backup C and offers him a full MLE for 3 years ...)

So I agree with Battery and I think we should packege Diaw and DJ together for a starting caliber pg.

Post #15 » by **BigSlam** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:33 pm

Battery wrote:Maybe maybe not. But just because we can't find anyone better than Raymond at the moment, doesn't mean we have to foolishly invest in a long term deal with him. That is how teams sink themselves!

I couldn't agree more.

Don't want to feel forced into offering him something because we panic only to view his contract as we and others view the contracts of guys like Udrih and Hinrich today.

Post #16 » by **Diop** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:53 pm

What starting calibre Pg guard could we get for Diaw and Dj?

Tj Ford? Calderon? I can't think of many others and I'm not even sure Toronto would give up Calderon for that.
Its always easier said than done when saying we should trade our assets for an upgrade.
I think our FO has done an excellent job this year by snaring Jackson and Tyrus.

thruthefire · Post #17 » by **thruthefire** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:12 pm

Battery wrote:
thruthefire wrote:I doubt we'll get a point guard better than Felton with that package. Diaw's contract won't be appealing to any team, and Augustin has been a no-show this season. And if we do that, we'll be without a backup point guard.

Maybe maybe not. But just because we can't find anyone better than Raymond at the moment, doesn't mean we have to foolishly invest in a long term deal with him. That is how teams sink themselves!

Do you consider three years long-term? I would be very pleased with a 3 year/$18 million deal.

Post #18 » by **fatlever** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:46 pm

W_HAMILTON wrote:
fatlever wrote:i am very happy with our center position right now. we are in better shape now than we were this time last year.

We have Theo Ratliff starting for us.

We may have better center depth, but that's because our center position has been such a fiasco that we have to keep trading for more.

regardless of how we got here, i am still happier with our center position today than i was last year.

Post #19 » by **fatlever** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 4:48 pm

thruthefire wrote:
Battery wrote:
thruthefire wrote:I doubt we'll get a point guard better than Felton with that package. Diaw's contract won't be appealing to any team, and Augustin has been a no-show this season. And if we do that, we'll be without a backup point guard.

Maybe maybe not. But just because we can't find anyone better than Raymond at the moment, doesn't mean we have to foolishly invest in a long term deal with him. That is how teams sink themselves!

Do you consider three years long-term? I would be very pleased with a 3 year/$18 million deal.

i would be shocked if ray accepted a 3 year deal.

Post #20 » by **BigSlam** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:04 pm

thruthefire wrote:
Battery wrote:
thruthefire wrote:I doubt we'll get a point guard better than Felton with that package. Diaw's contract won't be appealing to any team, and Augustin has been a no-show this season. And if we do that, we'll be without a backup point guard.

Maybe maybe not. But just because we can't find anyone better than Raymond at the moment, doesn't mean we have to foolishly invest in a long term deal with him. That is how teams sink themselves!

Do you consider three years long-term? I would be very pleased with a 3 year/$18 million deal.

I think that would be perfect.