Yi to the Wizards for Ross

[mohammed10]

PG-Wall/Hinrich
SG-Arenas/Young
SF-Thornton/Booker
PF-Blatche/Yi
C-McGee/N'diaye

meh

LOTTERY 2011!!!

[JWizmentality]

Christ, some of you are really whiny. I'd rather have Yi than Ross, it aint costing us ****. So what's the problem?

[mohammed10]

PG-Wall/Hinrich
SG-Arenas/Young
SF-Thornton/Booker
PF-Blatche/Yi
C-McGee/N'diaye

meh

Meh indeed. We are going to be some serious hot garbage next year, Wall or not.

+1

[JWizmentality]

PG-Wall/Hinrich
SG-Arenas/Young
SF-Thornton/Booker
PF-Blatche/Yi
C-McGee/N'diaye

meh

LOTTERY 2011!!!

Worst case scenario, we pull a Milwaukee Bucks and then we're really f**k*d!

[Dat2U]

Basically, Ernie has turned us into a dumping ground for teams with real aspirations (i.e. Chi & NJ).

You could probably make a legitimate argument that this deal has its merits. Maybe Yi has upside. Maybe we need insurance for Blatche. He's a one year rental blah, blah, blah. But just like every other move by Ernie, I always end up thinking that we could have done alot better.

[fishercob]

Christ, some of you are really whiny. I'd rather have Yi than Ross, it aint costing us ****. So what's the problem?

You're learning this now? The cost is opportunity cost. It costs $3M of our remaining cap room. We wouldnt use that room to sign FA's, we'd use it to take on a bad contract or two in exchange for a young asset or pick (see the Eric Maynor deal, the Knicks-Rockets Jeffries deal, etc).

Boo.

[Ed Wood]

Not a bad deal if it happens, even moreso if Seraphin is not coming over this year.

As you can tell, we finally have an owner who knows a thing or two about marketing. With Sun Yue on the Summer League squad, and now this. Yao planning on opting out, wonder what that could mean.

Edit: NM on Yao, Wiretap says not opting out.

Not to mention the Wiz play in

...wait for it....

Chinatown!

The horrible truth is that Ted isn't just Yi's boss, he's also Yi's fan; it's all part of his plan to create an artificial scoring drought and hoard all the buckets and wet jumpers for profit.

[fishercob]

Basically, Ernie has turned us into a dumping ground for teams with real aspirations (i.e. Chi & NJ).

You could probably make a legitimate argument that this deal has its merits. Maybe Yi has upside. Maybe we need insurance for Blatche. He's a one year rental blah, blah, blah. But just like every other move by Ernie, I always end up thinking that we could have done alot better.

You disappoint me. I thought you'd be a lot angrier. They've worn you down.

[Rafael122]

According to Mike Lee, we used our $4.5 million TPE.

[MJG]

If we just swapped the two players, I'd call it a total failure. If we get back the $3 million, I'd call it mildly disappointing. If we get back $3 million and a second rounder, I'd call it an acceptable if uninteresting move. If we get back more than that, I'd call it a success. Since it sounds like the second is what's going down, you can book my initial verdict as "mildly disappointing".

On another note, I got a laugh out of this line from Chad Ford's ESPN piece:

Yi is expected to compete for a starting position with forward Andray Blatche ...

Who is expecting that?

[tontoz]

Yi is horrible. He has to be the worst big in the NBA at finishing inside. He is just a soft jump shooter that doesn't rebound. Bad move.

[mohammed10]

And who cares about the fact that Blatche broke his foot? This team isn't going anywhere this year anyway, and Yi certainly isn't going to be the difference maker in that. There's no way to defend this deal if at least one pick doesn't come back to the Wizards. As fishercob just pointed out it costs us cap space that we can't use in other deals, and it gives the Nets cap space they can use potentially very well. So without a pick or two this is a completely pathetic deal.

+1

[keynote]

According to Mike Lee, we used our $4.5 million TPE.

So, how does that change the impact on the Wizards' cap situation?

[LyricalRico]

PG-Wall/Hinrich
SG-Arenas/Young
SF-Thornton/Booker
PF-Blatche/Yi
C-McGee/N'diaye

meh

Were you really expecting something else? I think people got their hopes artificially up with all the pretend scenarios being talked about in the moths since the blowup in February. But guess what? Real life isn't like internet message boards. Blame Ernie if you want, but the problem is the delusions of granduer that have been floating around this place for too long.

Bottom line - this team stinks and will continue to stink next season. And since the owner is okay with that, I don't see any reason why we should be shocked and hyper-reactive when stop-gap moves like this are made.

P.S. - This probably doesn't happen IMO if Blatche doesn't break his foot.

overreact much? all i did was post the lineup so far. i know this team is in rebuilding mode.

You know what's funny, I was close to putting a "not directed at you" disclaimer in the post but forgot. LOL

No, that was directed at everybody with their "OMG there is no reason for this trade" posts. Either way, this team is going to stink. If this is the way they want to fill out their roster, so be it. Whoever they had at backup PF wasn't going to be there longterm anyway. So if it's Yi or James Singleton, it doesn't really matter. But some folks seem to have it in their heads that every move is supposed to be some kind of GM-of-the-year steal that's going to net us a future HOF player and that's not reality.

[Dat2U]

Expirings only help if we take back longer term salary. This eats badly in our ability to be flexible. Can someone locate Dat and CCJ? I worry one is on a ledge and the other is loading up a truck with fertilizer...

I'm totally bleh at this point. My only surprise in this is that EG picked Yi over Beasley. I'm tired of screaming at the top of my lungs. The only thing I'm wondering about now is how long does it take for Teddy to realize that he needs to make a change?

[kavu]

This doesn't seem like such a bad move. We need bodies and Yi might look a little better with a change of scenery (not banking on it, but it's been known to happen).

I don't buy the stuff about how this takes away our capability to make moves down the road. What fabulous moves are out there to make? Ted is committed to building the team through the draft...so, expect some stop-gap measures. This is a one year gig. If he plays decently at all, he will make excellent trade bait. If not, he is done after the year is up.

I've got my questions about Ernie, but this deal doesn't seem like a bad one, especially with the $ thrown in...

We are not contenders, so let's not try to pretend...for once.

[nate33]

I agree with Fishercob. This trade is an abomination. I can't believe we just bailed the nets out of their cap space situation and didn't get any pick for it. Yi sucks. He's an utterly worthless player that no one is going to want on their team next year. Hell, if Blatche is hurt, I'd much rather start Al Thornton at PF (with Cartier Martin handling SF duties) than play Yi.

I can't believe I spent the last week defending EG in the Hinrich trade, only for EG to undermine me like this. Dat2U is right. EG doesn't know what he is doing.

[Liverbird]

My thoughts from the Big Board:

From a Wizard perspective this is far from ideal - however - he's a FA next season if they don't pick-up the qualifying offer. Same is true of Thornton and Hinrich is still an asset than could be dealt at the trading deadline if necessary. Blatche has a broken his foot and 50/50 that he'll be ready for the season. Yi is an insurance policy that becomes 10th man once Blatche returns.

The Wizards were not going to be players in free agency this season and should they choose to move Hiney and let Thornton and Yi exprire - they'd have max cap space again next year. They still have cap space for smaller BOYD deals but now will have 2 expirings to use. The Wizards still need talent and are 3 years away from even considering the playoffs.

[nate33]

The only saving grace is that this stupid move is only a short term mess. By next summer, it all goes away. All it costs us was $4M in cap space maneuverability at the Trade Deadline. I'll get over it, but it's so darn senseless.

This reminds me of the Crittenton trade. It wasn't worth bitching about too much because the ultimate consequences were relatively minor, but it was still an utter waste of assets.

[Dat2U]

Your 2010-11 Wizards on opening night:

PF Yi Jianlian / Trevor Booker
SF Vince Carter / Al Thornton / Cartier Martin
CE Javale McGee / Kevin Seraphin / Hamady N'Diaye
SG Kirk Hinrich / Nick Young
PG John Wall / Jerome Randle

Injured: Andray Blatche

Where's the throw-up emoticon?