The Jason Richardson trade revisited

[SUNSARETHEBEST]

Well it's been a little over a week since it went down and it seems like both the Suns and Bobcats are making good out of it. Boris has came out of his shell and pretty much is "the man" with the Bobcats, Bell has struggled but he had a good game tonight. For the Suns J-Rich has been phenomenal, knocking down 3's and doing alot of little things to help the Suns win, the Suns are 3-1 with him now.

I know everyone knows it but to rehash everyones memory it was, Boris Diaw-Raja Bell-Sean Singletary for Jason Richardson-Jared Dudley-2010 Bobcats second round pick.

So what I'm asking is, if you guys had the chance to reverse the trade would you want to do it or are you glad it went down?

[TASTIC]

I'm all for it. We dumped Diaw's ridiculous contract, and although we lost a caged veteran like Raja who'd done so much for the team, we gained some youth and athleticism which was greatly needed.

[MaryvalesFinest]

Well at first on paper I thought the Suns won the trade hands down, getting J-Rich a boarderline all-star for a guy who's lost his rhythm for 2 years and a old Bell but than I realised what a rare talent Boris is and that lock down defender the Suns had with Bell. Don't get me wrong I'm glad the Suns traded for J-Rich but if I had the chance I would have kept Diaw and Bell and the guy I would have traded was Amare.

A trade with the Bobcats could have still went down, Amare for Emeka Okafor and Alexis Ajinca. I know on paper giving up Amare for that wouldn't look great but Okafor is one of the most underated players in the league and is a soldier on the defensive ends, he brings it every night and if wanted can score but he's just so unselfish he doesn't look to score but he can be averaging 20 + a night if he wanted. Also Ajinca would have been a good throw in, bring him in for chemistry purposes and he's also one of Diaw's fellow country men, the Suns should have drafted him over Lopez anyway and he has a ton of potential.

Now picture this lineup

C-Shaq
PF-Okafor
SF-Diaw
SG-Bell
PG-Nash

Now that looks like a pretty solid defensive team right? The offense could have been run through Shaq-Okafor-Diaw all in the post with Bell and Nash as the 3 point shooters. That's what I would have done anyway lol.

[SUNSARETHEBEST]

I'm all for it. We dumped Diaw's ridiculous contract, and although we lost a caged veteran like Raja who'd done so much for the team, we gained some youth and athleticism which was greatly needed.

Yeah I was actually surprised someone took on Diaw's huge deal but the Bobcats coaching staff seems to know how to utilize him and I'm glad Diaw is doing well with them.

[TASTIC]

No way would I keep Bell/Diaw for a deal that would send Amare out for Okafor+Ajinca. Pass....a million times over...

[SUNSARETHEBEST]

Well at first on paper I thought the Suns won the trade hands down, getting J-Rich a boarderline all-star for a guy who's lost his rhythm for 2 years and a old Bell but than I realised what a rare talent Boris is and that lock down defender the Suns had with Bell. Don't get me wrong I'm glad the Suns traded for J-Rich but if I had the chance I would have kept Diaw and Bell and the guy I would have traded was Amare.

A trade with the Bobcats could have still went down, Amare for Emeka Okafor and Alexis Ajinca. I know on paper giving up Amare for that wouldn't look great but Okafor is one of the most underated players in the league and is a soldier on the defensive ends, he brings it every night and if wanted can score but he's just so unselfish he doesn't look to score but he can be averaging 20 + a night if he wanted. Also Ajinca would have been a good throw in, bring him in for chemistry purposes and he's also one of Diaw's fellow country men, the Suns should have drafted him over Lopez anyway and he has a ton of potential.

Now picture this lineup

C-Shaq
PF-Okafor
SF-Diaw
SG-Bell
PG-Nash

Now that looks like a pretty solid defensive team right? The offense could have been run through Shaq-Okafor-Diaw all in the post with Bell and Nash as the 3 point shooters. That's what I would have done anyway lol.

Yeah but that's a big if, would Porter know how to utililize Diaw and run the offense through him? Plus that might make the Suns to much of a post team, Nash isn't that great of a defender and as you said Bell is getting older, it would be good for the opposing bigs but the guards could easily go off considering 3 of those guys are post players.

That is an interesting trade idea though, I like Okafor also but as much as I do you don't give up Amare for him and Ajinca is to risky he's very raw offensively and with the Suns he wouldn't get much playing time to develope since the Suns drafted Lopez, but as you said if the Suns drafted him he would have been great. Now on the other hand if the Bobcats gave up DJ Augustin along with Okafor you can sign me up, that guy is sick and can ball. He's basically just like Nash, not much athleticisim but has great court vision and is a unselfish point guard.

[TheMoochinator]

Well at first on paper I thought the Suns won the trade hands down, getting J-Rich a boarderline all-star for a guy who's lost his rhythm for 2 years and a old Bell but than I realised what a rare talent Boris is and that lock down defender the Suns had with Bell. Don't get me wrong I'm glad the Suns traded for J-Rich but if I had the chance I would have kept Diaw and Bell and the guy I would have traded was Amare.

A trade with the Bobcats could have still went down, Amare for Emeka Okafor and Alexis Ajinca. I know on paper giving up Amare for that wouldn't look great but Okafor is one of the most underated players in the league and is a soldier on the defensive ends, he brings it every night and if wanted can score but he's just so unselfish he doesn't look to score but he can be averaging 20 + a night if he wanted. Also Ajinca would have been a good throw in, bring him in for chemistry purposes and he's also one of Diaw's fellow country men, the Suns should have drafted him over Lopez anyway and he has a ton of potential.

Now picture this lineup

C-Shaq
PF-Okafor
SF-Diaw
SG-Bell
PG-Nash

Now that looks like a pretty solid defensive team right? The offense could have been run through Shaq-Okafor-Diaw all in the post with Bell and Nash as the 3 point shooters. That's what I would have done anyway lol.

I completely disagree. I think you are GREATLY overvaluing Okafor. That team can't score and it's defense still isnt very good.

[TASTIC]

^My thoughts too. Okafor's being forced to score - I dont think he's that efficient, nor impressive as a scoring option. He's a rock solid #2, but plays too close to Shaq to be effective here - not to mention you can't put a price on Amare's 7-8 ft attempts per game and MAKING more than Okafor takes

[lilfishi22]

Well, still hard to tell how this deal would affect us over the long run(ie playoffs etc etc) but so far I'm happy with it. I'm happy he came in and got into it straight away, normally it takes a few games for players to get into the offense and defense, but he got into it right away, so hopefully it means we could get even better over time.

The other good filler is the Bobcats 2nd round pick, it should be a fairly high 2nd rounder so hopefully we do something well with it. Yeah, that means I don't want us the draft the "2nd highest rated SF" in the next draft once Barnes and Hill are gone (presumably.)

The only thing I don't like about the deal is it showed how good (once again) Diaw could've been. We knew he had the talent, but it was just almost impossible for him to get big consistent minutes when he plays virtually the same position as Amare, so I'm happy he's found a team that would properly utilise him and give him the minutes he deserves. As for Bell, his defense would be missed, even though he has declined a fair bit, he still does a very good job on 3rd tier SG's and PG's, but offensively J-Rich has more than covered Diaw and Bell's numbers. I'm still hoping to see Dudley play some consistent minutes even if it's the last 2min of the quarter, I just want to see what he can do for our team. If not, maybe he could still be trade bait for a defensive stopper?

[-SDU-]

i wouldnt change a thing other than to have really tried to get felton in the deal

[nevetsov]

I like GWall/ Diaw/ Okafor as a frontcourt, I think there's a really nice mix of Defense, rebounding and scoring. If Diaw becomes the focal point of the offense (as well he should) then, provided he is given the room to operate where he feels comfortable it will definitely open it up for GWall and Okafor as complementary offensive options (where they will excel).

The only thing that will screw things up is if Larry Brown tries to force Diaw into playing a Scottie Pippen-esque SF role by Trading GWall for a "true" center. I don't think a Diaw/ Okafor/ C frontcourt has the potential to be anywhere near as balanced as the one they have now.

[pidi]

i absolutely love the trade. diaw will never work with amare beside him. never ever. bell lost all that makes him good. he couldn´t defend the way he used to. so we lost 2 players that didn´t work in our system. in return we got a player who can put up big numbers every single night. an allstar caliber player.

and we got jared dudley. someone i didn´t know before the trade. i would have loved to see him on brandon roy in the loss to the jailblazers. if we trust kerr ( haha ) he should get a chance in here.

and the okafor trade. man amare is one of the top players in this league. i don´t see emeka in here.
if we trade amare i want some of the superstars back, like lbj, kb or d-wade. and that won´t happen. so amare stays right where he is...

[b-ball forever]

The trade looks good for both teams so far.
We went 3-1 ever since J-Rich started playing (including wins vs top teams like Orlando and the Nugz), and he's been playing pretty good. Charlotte has been playing better since Diaw/Raja started playing too and Diaw is gettin to do what he does best by dominating the highpost and getting his touches (Which he wasn't able to do with Amare and Shaq on the team).

[NashtyNas]

No way would I keep Bell/Diaw for a deal that would send Amare out for Okafor+Ajinca. Pass....a million times over...

Yeah, I don't know what Mary was smoking, but I want some of THAT SH*T. You give a better player for a worse player and another unproven guy like RoLo, who has a worse contract, and not to mention is 100x worse offensively. Then you START HIM with 2 other guys that can't shoot in the front court, and create a recipe for disaster. There would be NO SPACE down low to handle all 3 of them. PASS FOREVER.

[BurningHeart]

The trade looks good for both teams so far.
We went 3-1 ever since J-Rich started playing (including wins vs top teams like Orlando and the Nugz), and he's been playing pretty good. Charlotte has been playing better since Diaw/Raja started playing too and Diaw is gettin to do what he does best by dominating the highpost and getting his touches (Which he wasn't able to do with Amare and Shaq on the team).

Pretty much, although the defensive harm to our team is obvious. Then again, we're playing faster which leads to more possessions which leads to more points given up. I suppose it's natural.

[sunsfan13az]

I love the trade for Richards it gives a slasher at the sg position which we haven't seen since Joe Johnson was here, I just hope the trade pays off in the playoffs when it matters the most. I'm glad were back to run n gun now even if we lose games we are still fun to watch .

[dantian]

Simply put, it turned out a win-win trade for both teams, contrary to the pundits' initial comments.

Diaw needs touches and needs to be featured on offense to be most effective, which he can't get on the Suns team ever after 05/06. He fits Bobcats without a dominant go-to guy perfectly. JR has some strong scoring moves but he is not in the elites' class of Pierce or Wade to make a real difference. Raja is just a malcontent we had to get rid of. Great deal!

[Jdiddy701]

Yes I would do this trade over and over again. If we hadn't done the trade we wouldn't have beat Orlando, Knicks, Denver, but probably would have beat Portland with Bell guarding Roy. Bell isn't doing as well in Charlotte, but Diaw is playing good.

Jrich is our Joe Johnson. Can't wait for the Spurs.

[suns12345]

i love the trade and would do it again

but

does anyone think it would have been better to add in LB for felton aswell (dunno if it works but) thoughts????????

[Mr2400]

Well at first on paper I thought the Suns won the trade hands down, getting J-Rich a boarderline all-star for a guy who's lost his rhythm for 2 years and a old Bell but than I realised what a rare talent Boris is and that lock down defender the Suns had with Bell. Don't get me wrong I'm glad the Suns traded for J-Rich but if I had the chance I would have kept Diaw and Bell and the guy I would have traded was Amare.

A trade with the Bobcats could have still went down, Amare for Emeka Okafor and Alexis Ajinca. I know on paper giving up Amare for that wouldn't look great but Okafor is one of the most underated players in the league and is a soldier on the defensive ends, he brings it every night and if wanted can score but he's just so unselfish he doesn't look to score but he can be averaging 20 + a night if he wanted. Also Ajinca would have been a good throw in, bring him in for chemistry purposes and he's also one of Diaw's fellow country men, the Suns should have drafted him over Lopez anyway and he has a ton of potential.

Now picture this lineup

C-Shaq
PF-Okafor
SF-Diaw
SG-Bell
PG-Nash

Now that looks like a pretty solid defensive team right? The offense could have been run through Shaq-Okafor-Diaw all in the post with Bell and Nash as the 3 point shooters. That's what I would have done anyway lol.

bell was far from a lockdown defender this year. FAR from it. boris is a rare talent; just as rare as it is that he plays worth anything near what the suns were paying him. that lineup has absolutely no spacing. diaw needs a lot of room to operate in the post as it is (shown by the fact that he can't produce much when on the floor with amare). Shaq takes up a ton of space as well. then you have okafor who can not score when asked to like you somehow came up with, and mostly scores and put backs and tip-ins. so you have a crowded lane with no penetration happening because of it, 2 3-point threats on an offensive-based team, and a poor defensive back court. where exactly is the improvement?