Looking back, would you still trade Harris for Jamison?

[DallasShalDune]

Since we again have the 5th pick in the draft, and we again are looking trade it, I though this poll was appropriate.

Would you still do this trade, looking back. Has Antawn brought a winning attitude and multiple playoff appearances to our franchise? Or did he speed up to inevitable, and prematurely lead us there? Could Devin Harris coexist with a back court of Larry Hughes and Arenas? Would we have traded for Butler still if Larry Hughes left?

Just a bunny trail that I thought it was interesting to hop down.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

That trade worked out but this time the Wizards need to KEEP CURRY if they get him at #5.

[jimij]

While I'm not the biggest AJ fan and would love for us to trade him and go with a more defensive minded PF, I'd absolutely do this trade again. At that point in the teams history we absolutely needed someone like AJ to make us relevant again (along with Gil). That was huge in the Wiz becoming a playoff team again. Now, I'd like us to make the next step and advance deep in the playoffs and I'm not convinced that any team can do that with AJ as its starting PF, but that doesn't change the past nor the necessity for doing that original deal.

[fishercob]

yes

[closg00]

That trade worked out but this time the Wizards need to KEEP CURRY if they get him at #5.

Agree, see what we can get later for Etan/James expirings.

[MJG]

Technically, we almost surely wouldn't have taken Harris if we had kept the pick, so the question is more whether we'd rather have gotten Jamison or taken Deng/Childress/Iguodala. I don't know that that'd change anyone's response, but it's worth mentioning.

Jamison wasn't the sole reason the organization turned itself around, but he was a big part of it, one of the main cogs in our upgrade from Clippers East to a respectable franchise. And it wasn't as though we only got a couple of years out the vet before he broke down; we've gotten five straight all-star caliber seasons, with likely another one or two more before he starts to slow down. That's solid value.

[MDStar]

Since Harris wouldn't have been the pick, it would have come down to Childress, Deng or Iggy for Jamison. They're all good players but none are the calibar of player that Jamison is. So with that being said, I still do the trade. Now if Al Jefferson was in the conversation at pick #5, I might have secobnd thoughts.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Most definitely

[Ruzious]

A better question would be if Dallas regrets trading Harris away for Jason Kidd.

[Dat2U]

No. I never liked the trade in the first place. I said back then it would doom us to mediocrity and it has. Gilbert made this franchise relevant not Jamison. I'd take Iggy over Jamison 10 times out of 10 because iggy plays defense. Even a healthy Deng is better for the same reason.

We sacrificed the future for the short term success of a couple of 40 win seasons and look where we ended up five years later. Back where we started with the 5th pick, a roster of aging veterans, mediocre young talent and a less than envious financial situation. For 25 out of 30 teams the past five years would be viewed as a huge disappointment and failure. Somehow because of this team's history, we can view mediocrity as some kind of success story. Talk about low standards.

[verbal8]

I think Jamison was the right player at the time. I don't see that the Wizards would have made the play-offs without him. He also gave us a lot more value than we got from our draft picks.

I think the big issue with Jamison is his recent contract that is a little too big and a lot too long.

[Pitbull]

That trade worked out but this time the Wizards need to KEEP CURRY if they get him at #5.

Agree, see what we can get later for Etan/James expirings.

And 1...

The idea of adding a heady young player with a great jumper is really starting to grow on me. If Harden isn't there, I'd love to see us grab Curry and call it a day. We can worry about dealing expirings after the draft or the trade deadline.

My greatest fear is Ernie drafting Hill. That would be an abject failure and utterly demoralizing (unless we trade him elsewhere).

But to the point of the original post -- I think the Harris/Jamison trade worked out for all parties. I can't say I'd have changed a thing about it.

[Ruzious]

No. I never liked the trade in the first place. I said back then it would doom us to mediocrity and it has. Gilbert made this franchise relevant not Jamison. I'd take Iggy over Jamison 10 times out of 10 because iggy plays defense. Even a healthy Deng is better for the same reason.

We sacrificed the future for the short term success of a couple of 40 win seasons and look where we ended up five years later. Back where we started with the 5th pick, a roster of aging veterans, mediocre young talent and a less than envious financial situation. For 25 out of 30 teams the past five years would be viewed as a huge disappointment and failure. Somehow because of this team's history, we can view mediocrity as some kind of success story. Talk about low standards.

I don't think that's a fair assessment. You don't know what the team would have done if Arenas had been healthy the last 3 seasons (not to mention injuries to Butler and Haywood) - or what other moves they would have made if he were healthy. Evaluating a trade with 20/20 injury hindsight is not the way to evaluate the intelligence of a trade, imo.

[WizarDynasty]

Grunfeld made a huge mistake. His number one priority back then should have been to secure an elite perimeter defender to complement the offensive firepower we had. This team hasn't had a starting elite perimeter defender in the last twenty years. The closest thing we have ever had to lockdown defender was jared jeffries and EG never replaced him.
Grunfeld never brought in a starter to cover the defensive weakness of Jamison after he let JJ go figuring the wizards would be the phoenix suns of the east. That probably should have cost him his job but Abe was just to old to figure things out. Now we are cursed for years with a flawed roster since for the next three years Jamison logs heavy minutes at the p/f spot and we have to figure out how to cover him up every single play for the next three years for 36 plus minutes per night on defense. Horrible longterm trade.

[Brenice]

In hindsight, I would have drafted a power forward in that draft instead of making the trade.

[Wizards2Lottery]

If we are talking about hindsight then we would have been much better off having Josh Smith or Al Jefferson. Deng or Iguadala wouldn't have helped this team more than Jamison at that time. The biggest mistake we made was resigning AJ to that ridiculous contract. Should have let him walk away. No other team would have given him that money besides us but once again Ernie outbids himself to maintain "continuity".

[LyricalRico]

If we are talking about hindsight then we would have been much better off having Josh Smith or Al Jefferson. Deng or Iguadala wouldn't have helped this team more than Jamison at that time.

Good point.

I think in the end you still make the Jamison deal. If you don't, the team doesn't make the playoffs in 2004-05. That means Hughes probably doesn't get his big payday and ends up staying. And if you had drafted Dent or Iggy, the Kwame-for-Butler trade never happens because we would've already had our SF of the future on the roster.

I think everyting went well those first two years. Jamison helped us finally get to the playoffs and we upgraded from Hughes to Butler. The problem is that the organization fell in love with the roster and stopped making changes. Extending EJ for no reason and then not trading Jamison when his previous contract was expiring are the two biggest mistakes.

Had the organization upgraded from EJ to RIck Adelman 2 years ago and then traded AJ's expiring for Gasol last year, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The original Jamison trade would be viewed as a stepping stone to bigger and better things instead of something to potentially regret.

[WizarDynasty]

it was bad because you don't trade away a high lottery selection for a bench player that hasn't ever made the all-nba third team at least once in his life.

[Wizards2Lottery]

I think everyting went well those first two years. Jamison helped us finally get to the playoffs and we upgraded from Hughes to Butler. The problem is that the organization fell in love with the roster and stopped making changes. Extending EJ for no reason and then not trading Jamison when his previous contract was expiring are the two biggest mistakes.

Had the organization upgraded from EJ to RIck Adelman 2 years ago and then traded AJ's expiring for Gasol last year, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The original Jamison trade would be viewed as a stepping stone to bigger and better things instead of something to potentially regret.

Exactly. Antawn was good as a stop gap and as a person who could help this team right away and change the basketball attitude of this town. But the fact that we decided to extend his contract when we have seen how far his one dimensional play can take us is just beyond stupid. It almost makes me regret that trade knowing we have to see him get abused every game on the defensive end while we give up a record number of threes trying to mask his horrid interior defense.

Again, that faux run this team had when we were #1 in the East for less than a month and EJ became the All Star coach is the worst thing ever. It's created this mirage that people still believe so blindly. Sad thing is that I think that season was our best year to do some damage in the East because of how weak it was. Now we have a management who believes that we are still good enough when everyone around us has gotten significantly better and we haven't.

[JWizmentality]

Yes...every day of the week and twice on Sunday.