nate33 wrote:I don't see anything "New EG" has done wrong (except the Yi trade, but since no teams are really looking to dump payroll, I'm not seeing much of opportunity cost).
I have to say that I think we missed out by not swinging a deal with Miami pre-draft. There was just a lot of value to be had there that meshed with our circumstances and prerogatives.
I don't know what all was on the table other than that "Beasley was there basically for free" (multiple reports; Sheridan most recently), but when you look at how everything worked out for them, us absorbing Beasley, Jones, Cook and the 18th pick would have been a better deal than what Miami got. In reality, they didn't dump Jones but they did get the high second for Pittman (plus future seconds from Minny with some caveats), so I think our offer would have beaten that. It might have been even cheaper to where we don't need to absorb Jones or are at least thrown $3 million in cash.
I plugged in the numbers and we could have still done the K-Honey/Seraphin absorption deal while also trading up to the 23rd and just skipped Yi/Howard; more good news, after the Jones buyout, we still would have had the money for the "seemed like a good idea at the time" Dray renegotiation too!
Then, we turn around and trade the 18th pick to the Clippers for that future 1st, just like OKC did (I think we might have needed to do that to make the cap numbers work anyway). The Clips are the best rebounding team in the league and will probably be a late lottery club next year, so you're looking at, say, maybe the 13th pick in the 2012 draft (worst case, probably the 17th pick).
Beasley either works out here or he's a trade chip and I'd definitely argue that the concerns about his character are overblown (not like some guys I can think of). He's been a good soldier in 'Sota and it's not surprising that he was being stifled by poor chemistry with Wade, very high expectations and a generally stodgy team culture (notable that Dorrel Wright has improved as well, even if we're talking Nelly numbers).
To me, that would have been the smarter move as far as asset accumulation even accounting for the cruddy James Jones contract which we may or may not have had to take on (after his buyout, he's now on the books for about $1.75 million in 2013; not a deal breaker).
As I mentioned in the trade thread, I do recall reading that there was internal debate/split opinions within the Wizards brass about absorbing Beasley, so this isn't particularly far into the realms of the hypothetical. IIRC, the main objection here on the board was based on the misinformation that we'd have max cap space after the lockout, but as events played out, that obviously wasn't the actual plan, so I say there's very little downside there.
Other than Yi presumably selling some Zig-Techs and Howard's defense, the upside that I'm seeing with our current roster is that we probably get a higher lottery pick this year; still, there's a cost involved there.
