Arenas Traded for Rashard Lewis

[Wizardspride]

I think I might have to take a step back from this team...at least until EG is out.

It sucks but its how I'm feeling at the moment.

[mattyBoi]

Here is his first interview in Orlando if anyone is interested.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobet ... ando-Magic

[mattyBoi]

By the way, I am very curious of you guys opinion on what kind of player we are getting in Gilbert. I admit I haven't seen much of him in years.

Is he a guy that still has "it"? Some one that you believe can turn it up a notch on the Magic? Past his prime? Very interested to hear some opinions and predictions for Arenas.

[Ruzious]

By the way, I am very curious of you guys opinion on what kind of player we are getting in Gilbert. I admit I haven't seen much of him in years.

Is he a guy that still has "it"? Some one that you believe can turn it up a notch on the Magic? Past his prime? Very interested to hear some opinions and predictions for Arenas.

Think of it this way - Before the trade, what happened to Orlando when Jameer Nelson got the stomach flu and hasn't been 100% lately? Correct - the bottom fell out. Now, Orlando shouldn't have that problem.

[willbcocks]

Can you imagine if we made this trade to build around, not John Wall, but Evan DNPCD Turner? In this holiday season we must count the ways we are blessed.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Can you imagine if we made this trade to build around, not John Wall, but Evan DNPCD Turner? In this holiday season we must count the ways we are blessed.

No kidding. This would be one gloomy franchise right now if we had anyone besides Wall.

[aznkillabeezZz]

Good trade for both teams. Both players are underplaying right now. Arenas is in a new environment, maybe he'll reach his form again. And Rashard lewis is not a bad player last year and the year before. He can score alot and he adds size to the team. He can help the team if he gets back to the way he was playing last year.

[Wizardspride]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 0121803644


Something about this quote irritates me.

The trade also signaled that the team can truly begin its rebuilding process around No. 1 overall pick John Wall. "There's no question. No one is ever going to ask whose team it is," Coach Flip Saunders said. "It's his team, and so that comes with a responsibility. The critics or people who thought that maybe Gilbert would hinder his development, that's not ever going to be brought up anymore. Hopefully what will happen, too, is he won't ever have to defer to Gilbert, and it will facilitate his learning process."

The timing of the trade was somewhat surprising since it comes nearly two weeks after Wizards owner Ted Leonsis shot down a trade rumor involving Arenas, and about a month after Leonsis said Arenas "isn't going anywhere." But Grunfeld said on Saturday, "Ted was 100 percent on board with this, this goes in line with what he wants to do.

Talks between both sides intensified in recent days, with Arenas telling those close to him that something could soon happen. He told some fans during a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Verizon Center on Tuesday that it was his last game in a Wizards uniform. He actually had just one more.

When Arenas found out about the trade, he was at the home of teammate Nick Young, who is now one of only three Wizards players - along with Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee - who were on the team's roster at this time last year. Young said he was taking a nap when Arenas knocked on his bedroom door. Arenas, who maintains an offseason home in Orlando, told Young, "I'm gone."


"I thought he was going to the store or something," Young said with a laugh. "He was about to get a flight to Orlando. I thought he was playing around. He was all dressed up, bags was packed."

"I thought it could have worked. I think more than anything else, where we look, where we're at not just with John but with our team, the development of our young players," Saunders said. "To be where we really want to be and make a run and make a long run, we're a couple years away, and that's going to put Gilbert at the end. If you're going to rebuild, then you need to rebuild."

Young said he thought the move would help Arenas, who had struggled with his role this season, with the team shifting him to shooting guard and shifting focus to Wall.

"He's a good dude, a great player and for everything that happened here, it was kind of tough for him, made it hard on him," Young said. "It came with a lot of difficulty. To see him go home, get a fresh start and be on a winning team, that's something that will be good for him."

[Dat2U]

CCJ, step away from the ledge.

The Wizards aren't going to trade McGee just because he's not Flip's favorite player. As much as you (and others) love to bash Flip, I say Flip has done an excellent job developing his young talent. Blatche blew up last year, Young is blowing up this year, and McGee has had flashes of great production. None of this happened under EJ or Tapscott.

Flip, like any coach, gets frustrated with his young players. He gets even more frustrated with our group of uncommonly low bball IQ youngsters. But Flip hasn't buried anybody on the bench. When he sits his youngsters, it's temporary. He gets them back on the floor soon enough.

The only time where I've been truly frustrated with Flip was during that stretch early last year when he continued to play DeSuck in front of a clearly superior Nick Young.

When EJ and Tapscott were coaching Nick was 21-23 and Javale was 19-20. Time helped mature these guys some. Putting things in perspective, nate, EJ got fired at 1-11, but he had STARTED McGee before he got run. EJ STARTED McGee, the same guy Flip doesn't like.

Flip lost a ton of games with DeShawn in front of Nick and he didn't start Nick until the trade today. he STILL DOESN'T give Young enough minutes. Flip is adament and consistent in the guys he's biased against.

----

nate, telling me to come off the ledge is making me sound like I, and not Ernie, just did something dumb. JUST LEWIS was not good. Worst contract in all of basketball. Unless he's the SF of the future he just displaced his bargain basement salary and much younger PF, Blatche.

McGee will be the one to go. Watch and see.

I don't necessarily agree with the premise that either Blatche or McGee will get traded or leave b/c of Shart but your dead on with the other two points. Of course Flip is going to get the credit for Nick, Andray & McGee b/c he's the current coach but is it a case of these guys getting older, maturing and learning to be more accountable or is it Flip pushing the right buttons and getting the most out of these low IQ players? Maybe its a combination of both or maybe not. It's really subjective. I don't think anyone without inside knowledge of the situation can say one way or the other. But I've read on more than one occasion how Gil has taken both Young & Blatche under his wing and provided tutelage & guidance to both. That's probably something that's been greatly overlooked.

As far as Lewis. He's currently got the second most expensive contract in the NBA. The savings comes in the fact his deal ends one year sooner. I don't know all the details of Lewis' final year but everything I've read makes the incentives to full guarantee that final year very reachable. To say were saving $30 mil or we've only got to pay $10 mil that year is incredibly misleading and frankly not true.

Secondly Lewis is horrible. Gil, even on one leg, not finishing at the rim is thrice the player Lewis is. Lewis is essentially a dead man with a $20 mil+ per year contract. Were basically paying Lewis a fortune to play the "Yi" role going forward. I've yet to read a reasoned response that legitimately explains why this is a good move in the short term or long term.

I had come to the realization that if the right trade for Gilbert came around, he probably should be moved. However, this was NOT it.

[Jimmy Recard]

By the way, I am very curious of you guys opinion on what kind of player we are getting in Gilbert. I admit I haven't seen much of him in years.

Is he a guy that still has "it"? Some one that you believe can turn it up a notch on the Magic? Past his prime? Very interested to hear some opinions and predictions for Arenas.

It's been difficult evaluating Gilbert's progress throughout the season thus far. He's shown signs of the old Gil at times with his burst at fearless attack to the rim, and then its like he'd regress only a game later and go back to his high TO's/low percentage jump-shooting ways. I think he still does have something left in the tank though.

What made Gil so special during his peak was that he had the TOTAL package offensively. That and like true superstars do, he raised his level of play when the stakes when up. Gilbert was absolutely on the same level as Kobe/LeBron/Wade in his ability to single-handedly change a game. Especially in the fourth quarter and in crunch time. IIRC, he lead the enitire league a few seasons back in fourth quarter scoring (above all those guys mentioned).

Going back to Gilberts play during 2005-2007, one of the most complete scorers i've ever seen. There was not one guy in this league that could guard him, especially if he had in going from the outside. Remember a few years ago Gilbert lighting up Bruce Bowen for 45 in 3 quarters?

He had range out to 30+ feet, he was just a phenomenal shooter on all accounts. Excellent stand still shooter, and an excellent pull-up and fadeaway jumper to boot. Then came his slashing game. Again, not one guy in the league could stay infront of him. Lightning first step, then had the burst to explode to the rim, then finally had the body control and strength to finish with contact. And he lived at the FT line. He did a great job of knowing how to throw his defender off balance, and then initiating contact from them and selling the foul, whilst still keeping great body control.

As i said, we've seen flashes of the old Gil in stretches so far, but the one thing he's noticeably lacking right now out of all those qualities i mentioned is his final explosion to the hoop. He doesn't seem to have a problem getting past his direct opponent, it's when he tries to take it to the rim and the help comes where he's looking suspect. Whether it's the knee, his confidence, or the fact that he mailed it, I'm not sure. We'll see. But if he can get to 80-85% of what he was 3 years ago, you guys got an GREAT addition to your team.

[Dat2U]

Not thrilled with this move but something had to be done. Arenas in Washington just wasn't going to work. When you have a franchise player at point guard, it just doesn't make any sense to have an oft-injured, under-performing, grossly-paid veteran taking up the other guard slot.

We get out of Gil's contract a year early and the last year of Shard's contract isn't fully guaranteed so I'm okay with this from a monetary standpoint.

From a lineup standpoint, it's not bad. Shard will spread the floor for Wall to drive. He'll help open things up for us.

Maybe this is just the 1st move with more to come...

But it makes sense to have an under-performing, grossly overpaid veteran PF on the roster? 1 year of cap space in the big picture of 4 years is a ridiculous trade off.

Yes, it makes sense because the new grossly overpaid veteran is only owed $50M, not $80M (actually it's $30M versus $60M if you assume a full year lockout in 2011). And the new grossly overpaid vet will be taking minutes from other short-timers who aren't part of the team's future either.

People need to chill out. It is what it is. Management opted for a minor downgrade on the court in exchange for a major upgrade on balance sheet (which significantly improves cap flexibility in 2012 and 2013.) One can debate whether the benefits outweigh the cost, but let's not act like it's some kind of wild, stupid, heinous act of GM malpractice. It's a perfectly logical move.

You mean just like the majority of this board and yourself said trading the 5th pick for Mike Miller and Randy 'freaking' Foye was a rational move?

Every deal, based on its on merit at the time its made can be made to look rational. If that wasn't the case, the move wouldn't be made in the first place.

We've got an abject of a disaster of a GM running things. Always buy high and sell low. Yes, I understand the desire and impetus to move Gilbert. I would have been fine with an expiring or something close to that. Instead we shave one year off the deal to get a significantly inferior player with less in his tank than Gilbert at a higher per year salary. And I love how you jump to conclusions about these supposed savings in 2012 when its a stretch to even assume that this will be the case.

[Dat2U]

So what exactly is the benefit of this trade? Rashard would play what position here exactly? Don't we already have Howard, a better player, at the three? Don't we already have Blatche, a better player, at the four?

Did we really just pee away the best player on the team for ONE YEAR of cap relief and a player who contributes NOTHING to our starting five? SERIOUSLY?????

QFT.

Grunfeld is a complete FAIL as a basketball executive. At least we got our replacement for Jamison, lol. Maybe we can make Shart captain and he can become the next "Great Leader of Men".

[w dumseld]

Haters gonna hate and losers gonna lose, so CCJ please keep the hate alive.

Which is the only NBA team that hasn't won more than 47 games in any of the last 30 seasons. That's right! Our Wizards/Bullets. An inept franchise with a long culture of losing. And as we learned, the franchise is rat crap from top to bottom. The hope was that Ted would change everything but he hasn't yet. Our goal is to be a top team in 3-5 years but Flop's coaching is beyond understanding playing guys that aren't that good but help us to lose respectably. He did it last year when he played Oberto and DS instead of the young guys. No vision. He played Wall 45 minutes a game in preseason and over-played him in the season even after some injuries and now he's out hurt. How dumb is that. Now he plays neck and Yi instead of the young guys that will be on the team beyond this season. And as for GM, Grunfeld has a pitiful track record of assembling soft talent that loses lots of basketball games. Its just like Lyrical said, if you look at Grunfeld's moves in isolation, they can be rationalized. But as he is implying, if you look at them in totallity they make no sense. That is because there was no vision, no master plan. Just tactics and no strategy. Which is one reason we have such an impressively long streak of sucking. Everything is short term, not part of some 3-5 year plan.

Bottom line, the losers don't want any changes because they are comfortable with the status quo and are worried about change. Its a natural instinct and many people have that characteristic trait. But the haters are sick of losing. I can't f#^$ing stand it, drives me crazy. So I see CCJ get hammered by many on the board because he wants to make changes and try and take risks to stop this losing culture and the loserz would much rather just keep losing and not risk making changes to what clearly and with a long track record, doesn't work. As CCJ represents the silent majority of haterz on the board, I just want to appeal to him to come back and keep hating. Who knows, maybe Ted surfs the boards and will finally get the message. Maybe he'll get rid of Flop just to protect Wall. Maybe because playing Booker and Seraphin and not Hilton and Yi is what matters for us over the next 3-5 years. Who knows. But for all of us that can't stand the status quo of a losing culture and losing organization please keep the hate alive.

[willbcocks]

So Flip is destroying the future by playing Javale 28 minutes a game and Neck 12? Or is it by consistently expanding and defining Nick's role while praising his defense and consistency? Or giving the guy our future depends on a taste of the load he will have to carry to take us beyond 48 wins in a season? I'm all for pointing out the flaws in the status quo, but Flip and his 5 million a year salary is not where we need to start. If you listen to Flip's comments, he understands that we are in a long term rebuilding situation and seems ready to accept it. Every coach in the league is going to use playing time as a reward and punishment and make players MAKE the coach play them.

I have been about 70% in favor of sacking Grunfeld for years now, but now I am up to 90%. Now (well after the next losing streak so we have an excuse) is that time. He has not proven himself worthy of leading the rebuild. Moreover, the safe moves are done. You don't need a very clear plan to knock down the building, and though a better GM might have salvaged a bit more, either way we were going to be looking at rebuilding with a dearth of material.

From here, however, we need a new vision. We need someone with a plan for how all the pieces will fit and who has the patience to execute it. Bring in a new guy, tell him to be patient and evaluate everyone we have (including the coaches, trainers, and players), and then let him set to work at next year's draft.

[Hoopalotta]

There's a quote on the Washington Post comment section that has folks worked up here and expecting that Shart's contract is going to be fully guaranteed;

The sixth year is worth $22.7 million, if paid in full. While only $10 million of it is currently guaranteed, a league source revealed that the remainder will be guaranteed if certain performance incentives are met. According to this source, it boils down to this: If Lewis remains healthy, he’ll get the money.

But that comes from an article written in July of 2007, which was simultaneous with Shart playing at an all star level and at the apex of his career right before he went to Orlando:

http://www.sportsfrog.com/2007/07/14/th ... -contract/
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/s ... ayerId=469

In context, I'd say there's a very good chance that the league source was not accounting for the precarious decline that was coming up. You just can't fall off much more decisively than Shart has from his last year in Seattle, so it's not unlike an injury. And he's paraphrasing; so it doesn't mean that the "Performance Benchmarks" are "Be healthy in 2013", but rather produce in either 2012 or the years leading up to 2012. You can't read that quote directly as "Performance Incentives/Benchmarks" have nothing to do with being healthy in the final year as an inviolable rule; it's 100% that the final year is going to be guaranteed to whatever threshold based on what happened in the preceding years.

The only thing I really worry about is that he made the All-Star team in 2009, so hopefully "at least one all-star appearance in any year" is not a clause, but for the most part I think Shart's decline is in line with what that unnamed source is talking about.

However, according to Sham, there's no way for the contract to be 100% guaranteed under any circumstances; he has the absolute max for the final year to cap out at $17,249,551

http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages ... /magic.jsp

So, I wouldn't be shocked if it went up to $12 to $14 million guaranteed in the worst case, but it's quite unlikely that it would get much higher than that. The dude was a 22 point scorer when those incentives were conceptualized.

[willbcocks]

I imagine that, if that's what it takes, it will be hard for him to meet any performance standards except for # of DNPCD's.

[dlts20]

Gil seems very happy

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 7849.story

[sashae]

First time I've seen him looking that happy in ages. Ugh, I can see him getting his mojo back already...

[DaRealHibachi]

Gil seems very happy

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 7849.story

What a great dude, I'm sincerely happy for him... Hope he wins it with Howard this year, cause I'll be following them for sure...

[Hoopalotta]

Yeah, I'll definitely be tuning into a good number of Magic games too. Very nice situation for Gil with Orlando being ridiculous offensively if they can gel right.