Official Trade Thread XV: 12/22/10 - 5/3/11

[pcbothwel]

I have no desire to obtain Wallace. He is injury prone and his game relies on athleticism. I get the feeling that his career is about to decline dramatically.

Completely agree, but the Cats are in need of a blow up. I think Wallace and diaw could very well be out the door for expirings and picks. I think a three way trade with us taking on Diaw for Yi/Thorton?etc. could have some legs...

[mhd]

I have no desire to obtain Wallace. He is injury prone and his game relies on athleticism. I get the feeling that his career is about to decline dramatically.

Completely agree, but the Cats are in need of a blow up. I think Wallace and diaw could very well be out the door for expirings and picks. I think a three way trade with us taking on Diaw for Yi/Thorton?etc. could have some legs...

Unless we are getting back picks, there is no need for Diaw. I'd rather Booker get all his minutes.

[mhd]

Wiz interested in Telfair?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=m ... zzer122410

Telafir for Thorton swap? Both make relatively the same.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Wiz interested in Telfair?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=m ... zzer122410

Telafir for Thorton swap? Both make relatively the same.

Just say no.

Assuming we don't move K-honey, we have no need for anything more than a 10 day contract pg.

With Wall back, if Flip isn't a complete idiot (well, granted that is a lot to assume), our roster has some balance if Kippy backs up Wall at the pg spot. We'd be better off simply playing Lester the offensive set molester at the 2 for 8-10 minutes a game to spell Nick.

[MJG]

I don't like Telfair at all, but I don't like Thornton at all either, and a straight swap of the two seems like a good roster balance move, so that trade would get a thumbs up and a yawn from me.

[Hoopalotta]

Hmmmm.....

STEIN_LINE_HQ Even before McGee tiff via @MrMichaelLee, Wiz said to be disappointed w/Blatche since extension and have discussed trying to trade Blatche

[FAH1223]

We trade Blatche... he'll bloom somewhere else

Gosh, why does this always have to happen with this damn organization

[dangermouse]

yeah. can we hold off the "trade Blatche right now for nothing!" attitude please Wizards???? lets at least give him the rest of the season to get out of this funk. if we still wanna trade him, we should be able to swing something around draft day surely, especially if we end up picking high enough to get sullinger.

trading young players away for the sake of moving them is counter-productive. you know what would be productive though? A GODDAMN BIG MAN COACH. PLEASE TED. get an ex-player in. is Olajuwan contracted to Orlando or was that a once-off thing? people say "we dont need a big man coach, Flip can do it, any coach can teach that stuff". that is missing the point entirely. you think these young guys want to listen to him? clearly they are not. get in someone whos a legend, hall of famer type. maybe not even that high profile, but just someone who actually played their position who the players look up to and will respect, and above all who they can RELATE to. i guarantee they will start learning more, listening more, playing better, but the biggest improvement will be in attitude.

Ted, you might have to open the wallet a bit, but its worth it if we want these young guys to develop and mature into the type of players who you, and we, want on the team

[Hoopalotta]

It's worth noting that Stein was also reporting that we were pushing to extend Yi and even Thornton, so he's been wrong about Wizards FO positions quite recently (Mike Lee and basic reasoning skills shot all that down rather emphatically).

But the further drama is decidedly crimping the mirth making of my winter consumer-spending holiday. I'm about to plant a small grim reaper figurine smack dab into the cheery frosting of what remains of my Christmas log-cake.

Anyway, I like Blatche, but could grumpily accept a trade in a Scrooge-like way if there's some value there and if the club internally has reasons to want to make a switch. We're kind of in culture purge mode, it seems. I don't think he's got much trade value, so the best way to get something back would be to work if with us offering some financial relief in tandem with Dray.

But count me also as being very strongly averse to any deals for guys like Gerald Wallace who's beyond useless for a rebuilding team. He's in fact self defeating in that context as he'd sabotage our draft picks before fading out on us. Let's just not even talk about vets.

My apologies for the lack of good cheer.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Wiz interested in Telfair?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=m ... zzer122410

Telafir for Thorton swap? Both make relatively the same.

Wiz must have a thing for PGs with hand gun violations.

http://www.shamsports.com/content/chara ... elfair.htm

If they get Telfiair their next move could be to get Lonny Baxter for low post scoring. He and Sebastian could also be team armor bearers.

[dlts20]

Classic Wiz. Trade the talented big to watch him blowup somewhere else. We stay with him when he sucks & learning only for some other team to reap the rewards. Classic Wiz

[dopeismarcus]

You guys are dumb Blatche is terrible.

[nate33]

You guys are dumb Blatche is terrible.

Blatche is not terrible, he just isn't a primary option. Lately, his D has been pretty good and his rebounding okay.

On offense, Flip just has to eliminate his isolation plays. Blatche is quite good as a pick-and-pop guy. When his feet are set, his 17-footer is money. He needs to concentrate exclusively on that. He also has the ability to take a pump fake and drive to keep the defenders honest. But that's it. He's not good at anything else offensively - and that includes a post game. I get tired of everybody screaming that he needs to post up more. His post game sucks.

Basically, Blatche needs to envision himself becoming a rich man's Udonis Haslem or Kurt Thomas; not a poor man's Kevin Garnett.

[Wizardspride]

Basically, Blatche needs to envision himself becoming a rich man's Udonis Haslem or Kurt Thomas; not a poor man's Kevin Garnett.

I agree with you and disagree at the same time.

Personally, I think Blatche needs to envision himself a rich man's Udonis Haslem/Kurt Thomas AND a poor man's Kevin Garnett.

But I tend to think he's more talented than a lot of you guys do.

[AceDegenerate]

Blatche is skilled, but this franchise/organization has always lacked motivators. Just like we lack specialists in any sort of prevention of injuries, when fragile players play here who do not take care of themselves; they get injured. When weak-minded/easily distracted players play here; they come off as lazy.

There are long standing, serious organizational problems with this franchise that a lot of people would like to ignore. I do not think we can continue to ignore them and let talented players go on to blossom elsewhere simply because we did not get the most out of them here. This team cannot be a championship contender simply by shuffling players in and out, even with all the luck in the world we will still fail without changing the culture, and it starts from inside the organization at the very top.

[Ed Wood]

Basically, Blatche needs to envision himself becoming a rich man's Udonis Haslem or Kurt Thomas; not a poor man's Kevin Garnett.

I agree with you and disagree at the sma etime.

Personally, I think Blatche needs to envision himself a rich man's Udonis Haslem/Kurt Thomas AND a poor man's Kevin Garnett.

But I tend to think he's more talented that a lot of you guys do.

The one area he might emulate Garnett a little more is by passing, which was the aspect of his improvement over the second half of last year that I figured at the time was most likely to stick around and which would be really worth preserving even as the team improved to the point where Andray Blatche scoring twenty five points was not necessarily a good thing.

Andray is an okay catch and shoot jump shooter, and I'm willing to put up with his drives to the rim because that is potentially a good play, especially if he ever stops being fat and hurt or whatever there's a good chance that play will lead to either a score, a foul, or a kickout if he draws an extra defender. Other than that I agree with Nate, Andray's post game is awful until he stops being so incredibly ponderous and anything that involves dribbling and then a jumpshot is bad.

Andray himself is not necessarily bad, the question is whether it is possible to separate the player from the shot selection, which is bad. Doing some of that help defense stuff he used to do would also help.

[DMVleGeND]

Why trade Blatche. First of all, if we trade him now, we'll be selling low. The player/s that we would acquire I guarentee will be worse then Blatche. And Blatche will blossom with whatever team he goes too and you guys will start blaming Ernie for trading him even though you guys wanted him gone too. SMH.

He's more talented then you guys are saying. People are underestimating the impact that the foot injury has had on him. It prevented him from working on his game the whole offseason and it caused him to come to training camp out of shape, and he still isn't in top playing shape. Since he's not in shape, he play has regressed. He was never a freak athlete, but this year, he can't jump and like Dat2U said, is playing in slow motion due to the extra weight he's carrying.

On offense, he isn't a physical player, and most of his game is involved with beating his man off the dribble, and he can't do that as much because of how slow he is right now. On defense, he used to be known as a great shot-blocker, but this season, he has no vertical, and he's only averaging 0.5 bpg. Earlier in the season, I was questioning his effort. It seemed like he didn't care about playing defense, but ever since that Toronto game, he's been a changed man. It seems like he put a lot more effort in. With that being said though, he still usually isn't playing good defense, but he's trying. Before this season, he used to at least be an average defender, but his defense has really taken a hit this season, and I think it's mainly due to conditioning. When he's playing man-to-man defense this season, he has usually gotten blown by EASILY because of how slow he is, even when he's trying. Him being out of shape also hurts his rebounding. He has ZERO explosion right now.

With all that being said though, I'm not a physical trainer, but shouldn't he be in shape by now. I think he's played 23 games this season, he said he runs extra laps during practice, and said he has cut red meat out of his diet, but it doesn't even look like he's lost a single pound yet. Like I said, I'm not a physical trainer so I don't know how long it takes to get in good shape after a big injury like he had, but it just makes me wonder how good his work ethic is.

Like all of you I was looking forward to Dray taking that big leap this season, and I know it hasn't happened yet, but give him time. It's really tough to come off an injury like that. I really don't think he's satisfied now that he got a new contract. Yes, he does make some mistakes he shouldn't be making on the court, but I think that MOST of his problems are because of the offseason injury. I truly think that as he rounds back into shape, that his play will get better. He does make some dumb plays on the court, bu at least wait until his shot returns to form before we spread trade rumors.

[Dat2U]

Warning, rant below:

Blatche would probably do better elsewhere.

But you could probably argue that case for most Wizard players.

Although we spent 17 million on acquiring leadership in Hinrich to help a guy that probably doesn't need it in Wall, we totally ignored the leadership vacuum in the front court.

I brought up this point before but its probably no coincidence that Blatche played his best ball and acted more mature when James Singleton was constantly in his ear and had his back. Blatche, just like Javale McGee needs to be held accountable. They both need the influence of veteran players who don't just lead by example, but can help them deal with the trials & tribulations that young NBA bigs deal with on a daily basis.

You can't have a team of all young players. You can't have a team devoid of leadership. And you can't expect just coaches to hold players accountable. It has to come from inside the locker room. There has to be a strong voice. Right now this team doesn't have it. It didn't have it with Jamison. It didn't have it with Arenas. It didn't have it with Butler and it still doesn't have it with Hinrich or Lewis. Guys who "lead by example" aren't true leaders IMO. We need a guy or two that's willing to get in someone's face and demand accountability. That's real leadership.

Ernie Grunfeld made a huge mistake when he put more value in raw physical talent (Yi) than a guy who was willing to mentor & hold his teammates accountable (Singleton).

[Induveca]

Blatche is skilled, but this franchise/organization has always lacked motivators. Just like we lack specialists in any sort of prevention of injuries, when fragile players play here who do not take care of themselves; they get injured. When weak-minded/easily distracted players play here; they come off as lazy.

There are long standing, serious organizational problems with this franchise that a lot of people would like to ignore. I do not think we can continue to ignore them and let talented players go on to blossom elsewhere simply because we did not get the most out of them here. This team cannot be a championship contender simply by shuffling players in and out, even with all the luck in the world we will still fail without changing the culture, and it starts from inside the organization at the very top.

Excellent, excellent post.

[507Mack]

Warning, rant below:

Blatche would probably do better elsewhere.

But you could probably argue that case for most Wizard players.

Although we spent 17 million on acquiring leadership in Hinrich to help a guy that probably doesn't need it in Wall, we totally ignored the leadership vacuum in the front court.

I brought up this point before but its probably no coincidence that Blatche played his best ball and acted more mature when James Singleton was constantly in his ear and had his back. Blatche, just like Javale McGee needs to be held accountable. They both need the influence of veteran players who don't just lead by example, but can help them deal with the trials & tribulations that young NBA bigs deal with on a daily basis.

You can't have a team of all young players. You can't have a team devoid of leadership. And you can't expect just coaches to hold players accountable. It has to come from inside the locker room. There has to be a strong voice. Right now this team doesn't have it. It didn't have it with Jamison. It didn't have it with Arenas. It didn't have it with Butler and it still doesn't have it with Hinrich or Lewis. Guys who "lead by example" aren't true leaders IMO. We need a guy or two that's willing to get in someone's face and demand accountability. That's real leadership.

Ernie Grunfeld made a huge mistake when he put more value in raw physical talent (Yi) than a guy who was willing to mentor & hold his teammates accountable (Singleton).

I agree completely. When is the last time that we had a real veteran big man that could lead by example and keep the younger guys in check? I don't count Jamison b/c he was a complete hypocrite since he'd always talk the talk but was a matador on D. Last guy we had that fit that mold was probably Oakley.