Hypothetical trade

[CarolinaCash]

Let's say Wallace comes back and our chemistry is not so good. He has now publicly refused to play power forward but said he's a team player and will adjust to the team......"I'm a team player and I'll do what it takes to win," Wallace said. "They don't have to adjust to me, I have to adjust to them."

I actually don't think he's a team player if he refuses to play a certain position but I won't get into that. We drafted Adam Morrison ahead of Rudy Gay and Brandon Roy.......so he has talent and needs to play. Jared Dudley is a glue guy and plays mainly small forward. Matt Carroll can play small forward.

My question then is would you do this trade...... Let's say we end up with the #11 pick in the draft and Memphis ends up with the #1 pick in the draft. If Memphis would (I'm not saying they will) trade the pick for Wallace and our pick would you do it?

Felton/another pg
JRich/Carroll
Morrison/Dudley
Beasley/May
Okafor/Nazr

[Walt Cronkite]

I think so.

It's risky, but so is keeping Crash around unless he starts playing differently.

[SamBone]

YES
But NO way it happens

[TheBobcatDan]

I hate to be Debbie Downer on this dream, but our 5 game winning streak has consisted of: Toronto, Minnesota, Golden State, Atlanta, and Washington. I know we, at any point, should have the talent to beat Minnesota, Atlanta, and Washington and the wins over Toronto and Golden State are quality wins, but i'm not ready to say that we should deal our best player under any circumstance right now.

Things change if we can go into Dallas and Houston with wins. I think going into Dallas and beating them and snapping a (possible) 20 game winning streak would stamp that the chemistry cannot be changed.

But, all i'm saying is that it's insane with the quality of teams we've beaten in this streak that we should even plant the idea of trading our very talented young Best player on this team Gerald Wallace.

[Paydro70]

... I mean, Minnesota's a bottom-dweller, but Atlanta, Washington, Golden State, and Toronto are all currently playoff teams in the East. That stretch wasn't the hardest stretch in the NBA, but it wasn't cupcakes either. If this team can consistently beat sub-.500 teams, that's a major improvement.

I would totally do this, because I think Beasley is really something special, and Crash's injury history scares me. It's quite possible Beasley never reaches Crash's peak, or doesn't surpass it, but right now I'm not sure that Crash can stay in the league for another 5-10 years the way that Beasley will.

[Rich4114]

Wallace is actually one of the most valuable pieces on this team and since we're so deep at SF it wouldn't hurt as bad as say losing Okafor would IMO. However I don't think you trade him for a draft pick, I think you trade him for another all-star looking for a new home.

We could really use a scoring PF, who out there would we be able to trade for Wallace?

[CarolinaCash]

I agree with Rich. I know we don't want to trade Wallace but he is our most attractive player in the trade market and we are deep at that position. I would do a trade like this for a top 2 pick and draft Beasley or Rose and then use the money we save from Wallace on a Jamison.

[Paydro70]

An all-star is extremely unlikely, given the combination of team bias towards big men, players' tendency to be happy with a team that they are succeeding with, and Wallace's injury history. Nonetheless, guys who might make sense:

Lamarcus Aldridge
Antawn Jamison
Lamar Odom
Zach Randolph
David Lee
Rasheed Wallace
David West
Josh Smith

West and Smith would be by far the hardest to get, and for good reason. I guess my point is that there aren't very many guys who are as good as Crash, even fewer who could be traded for, and even fewer who are young/healthy. Hence the Beasley deal might make a lot of sense (if it were possible, which it isn't).

[JValone]

Memphis wouldn't do the trade for two reasons. The first one is obvious, Beasley is a beast and some scouts see him as a better prospect than Durant. The second reason is even more important though, they've been trying to sell the team forever and cut payroll to help make that happen. Rookies get paid less and have to stay for three seasons on that limited salary. As a seller what's the better move, draft Beasley (exciting) and have a lower payroll or trade for Wallace (not marketable in Memphis either) and scare off potential buyers?

I'd do it in a second if they'd ever agree though. I love Crash but bigs like Beasley are incredibly difficult to get and who knows what his long-term health will be like after all these concussions. I'm honestly worried he'll end up like Dan Morgan, I'm pretty worried about him even with his return coming up.

[MJallday59]

Gerald Wallace is a BYC so it could make it difficult to trade him..

Maybe Gerald Wallace for Corey Magette and Nick Fazekas or Magette/Future 1st rounder????

[Paydro70]

There would be no reason to do that, since they play the same position. We're talking about trading him for a PF, not another SF. I am a fan of Maggette, but I doubt most people are, and even I don't think he's on Gerald's level.

[SamBone]

NO WAY Crash for Magette! And this offseason the BYC is over since it will be his 2nd season of the new deal

[W_HAMILTON]

... I mean, Minnesota's a bottom-dweller, but Atlanta, Washington, Golden State, and Toronto are all currently playoff teams in the East.

Atlanta was the only team we could beat back in February, Golden State was Richardson's revenge game (if he didn't tie a franchise record for points scored, we probably lose), Washington was without their two best players and played a bunch of guys I've never heard of (and the ones I had heard of, what I heard wasn't good), and we beat a Bosh-less Toronto team, breaking a 12-year-old record in the process.

A favorable schedule + a few guys motivated to play better = some wins.

It's silly to think we would be better without Wallace, and when I read Bonnell's blog, even after some of the stupidity I've dealt with in recent years, I NEVER would have thought some would have suggested we would actually be a better team in the long-run with someone like Carroll instead of Wallace, but apparently I was wrong.

The answer isn't to get rid of Wallace, the answer is to best utilize his skills. You could do that by running more of an up-tempo offense, or other things such as that. I don't see how you fault Wallace back when our offense sucked, for trying to take things upon himself and create for himself and others.