Nick Young traded to Clippers/McGee to Denver/Nene to DC

[Silvie Lysandra]

You go ahead and show me where any of those guys were productive as McGee. And while you can question McGee's intelligence & whether he's spoiled I wouldn't jump to conclude he's unmotivated. I haven't seen signs that he doesn't really care. Maybe he doesn't 'get it', but I think the motivation is there.

Swift's career progression parallels McGee at least PER-wise. Way worse as a rookie, but was a 17 PER guy year 2, 18 PER year 3, 19.2 year 4, and he started on a playoff team. McGee absolutely cannot start on a playoff team. Tyrus Thomas doesn't quite have the stats, but they're comparable rebounders until this year, and similar ages to boot. Charlie Villanueva had an 18.6 PER his 4th year. Keep in mind that McGee's PER is pushed upwards by his empty block numbers. They're all in that mold of low-IQ, poor basketball fundamentals, big men.

Look at guys like Haywood and Perkins - they may not stuff the stat sheet or make highlight plays, but you cannot tell me with a straight face that Dallas or Oklahoma, all things being equal would trade them for Javale.

As for his motivation, he plays hard on the court, but where is the dedication to improvement? He knows he's a bad defender and makes stupid plays on the court, why hasn't he improved it in 4 years? Guys like Wall and Arenas are/were obsessed with basketball and it made the latter a transcendent player (and make no mistake, Gilbert Arenas was a transcendent player, in the Kobe/Wade/LeBron mold) and Wall seems to be on his way there. Does he care about being a good defensive center as long as he gets his highlights? Does he care about being a winner? The evidence is in and seems like the verdict is a resounding NO.

That is why Javale McGee will never be anything resembling an All-Star in this league. He may have the talent and the athleticism, but he doesn't have the brain or the drive. He will make spectacular highlight plays, and have games that make you go "wow he's a stud" but he cannot be counted on as a starting playoff center who you ask to do starting playoff center things.

And what is laughable is the excuses. "He'll be better if he plays with a tougher PF". "He'll be better if you play him such and such a way". History will remember such statements alongside "Jason Campbell is a franchise quarterback he just needs weapons!" and "THIS time Andray has turned the corner!" If you constantly, constantly need to make excuses for someone, then they're not the guy.

[nate33]

Swift's career progression parallels McGee at least PER-wise. Way worse as a rookie, but was a 17 PER guy year 2, 18 PER year 3, 19.2 year 4, and he started on a playoff team. McGee absolutely cannot start on a playoff team. Tyrus Thomas doesn't quite have the stats, but they're comparable rebounders until this year, and similar ages to boot. Charlie Villanueva had an 18.6 PER his 4th year. Keep in mind that McGee's PER is pushed upwards by his empty block numbers. They're all in that mold of low-IQ, poor basketball fundamentals, big men.

I like this line of thought.

Swift and Villaneuva are pretty good analogies. Both are considered low bball IQ big men who posted great stats but in the end, they were empty numbers. It's pretty telling that neither guy ever really "turned the corner" and became reliable, smart players.

What other players started off posting good numbers but were also known as having poor basketball IQ? Did any of them really pan out?

Elden Campbell
Raef LaFrentz
Michael Beasley
Al Jefferson

[Silvie Lysandra]

Wow, Beasley. He's just gotten worse and worse.

Campbell spent a LONG time in the NBA and was an effective NBA starting center for teams that went deep in the playoffs. Can you see McGee doing that?

I don't think Jefferson has bad basketball IQ, he's just a bit of a black hole on offense and bad on defense.

[The Consiglieri]

Raffy, Cousins is the guy I took so much crap for saying he'd be very good. Now you're saying he's more talented than Javale?

The crap you get primarily is about Cousins being a better prospect than Wall. I doubt you'd find anybody that wouldn't sign off on a McGee for Cousin's deal. Complete no-brainer.

The crap I get is from people who forget I never said Cousins straight up for Wall.

On draft day I did think Cousins was better. I thought that a long time. (I wonder if the Kings would trade Cousins and Isaiah Thomas for John Wall and Jan Vesely?)

I think most of you are not big enough to admit you said things like Cousins was a team cancer, he shoots a low eFG, he's no good, I want no parts of him. Sacramento wouldn't make the deal of Nene for Cousins. That should tell you something.

DeMarcus is floor-bound and he makes worse decisions than Javale. What he is is an elite rebounder. He can spot up and hit the open shot. He plays with raw aggression. He's refined his game. But he doesn't have the physical tools to be an elite player.

Javale on Denver is going to be interesting to watch. He won't have to deal with guards who don't know a bad shot from a good one, guards who cannot pass to bigs, guards who do not have to defend, or a bad head coach.

We shall see about McGee.

I always felt you viewed DeMarcus as the best guy in the draft period. I didn't think it was a particularly wrongheaded view, I think if he had had the same mental make up as Anthony Davis he would have gone at least #2 and possibly #1.

The problem is mental make up. The guy has a rep as being some cross between Derrick Coleman, Latrell Spreewell and Rasheed Wallace. That, ended the discussion for me. We already had enough 10 cent head idiots with personality disorders. We didn't need to add another.

However, I will agree with you, it will be very interesting to see what McGee does on a team where the knuckleheads don't rule and where he has to find a way to fit in with a great program that doesnt necessairly need him and where he'll get great coaching. My guess is that he'll either thrive, or reach his potential, finally, and we'll regret this to some degree, but at the same time, I dont think he was going to ever have a chance at getting it here without ejecting Young and Blatche, and it was already possibly too late anyway.

Im bummed at the trade, I think we sold off our second best asset for the decline of a good but never great player. I think we sold low, and it was a mistake. At the same time, i think he was out the door for nothing but cap space probably this summer anyway so maybe getting a piece that potentially makes Wall happier and the BBIQ and chemistry of the team better is in the long term good.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Consiglieri, when it comes to evaluating talent I respect your opinion more than anyone else on this site. You and Dat seem to have a real good feel for things all the time. Sev and doc are up there, too. closg00 , you are a kindred spirit. Dude, you totally get it.

I have a lot of respect for most of you. Can't say enough good things about Induveca, Nivek, fishercob, and nate. You're all generally very strong where I am weak. I am verbose and opinionated, wrong sometimes.

We will see about this deal but I think it was not good.

[montestewart]

Im bummed at the trade, I think we sold off our second best asset for the decline of a good but never great player. I think we sold low, and it was a mistake. At the same time, i think he was out the door for nothing but cap space probably this summer anyway so maybe getting a piece that potentially makes Wall happier and the BBIQ and chemistry of the team better is in the long term good.

Pretty close to my view. I'm somewhere in between LR and CCJ (if they represent the extremes). McGee may have been the second best trade asset, but on this team, that's not saying much, and he was starting to feel like a codependent relationship or something. I really started to think that the Wizards had failed to act at the right time, and would end up paying too much for him or letting him walk for nothing.

Nene's OK, always liked his game, though he should get more boards for his size and positioning. He's not the most durable guy, but I don't think of him as injury prone, since much of that down time was related to treatment of cancer that's apparently in remission. Even if he's in decline, this could be an off year. Some declines are slower than others.

But he's on a huge contract, with four more years after this one. That might not matter so much immediately, especially if Blatche and Lewis are removed, but by the second or especially the 3rd year, that could hurt, especially if he's not delivering. I could stomach this better if Blatche had been moved too and/or if the pick was 1st.

If I haven't jumped off a bridge in the previous 30 years, this one sure isn't going to push me off. I'll wait and see, but this move better not be the "you saved your neck, Ernie" move.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Many have touched on the sad but true core of this story: Mcgee will likely blow up, but it was never going to happen here.

Until the organization sustains a long term culture change, we're doomed to draft young talented knuckleheads or unformed players, trade them low, watch them thrive elsewhere, rinse, repeat.

We need a solid GM now that we have an owner who, although the early returns are decidely mixed, isn't half as small time as Abe was.

[nuposse04]

Finally got around to posting about this (driving to JFK and back is no bueno from the DC metro area)...

Overall..I approve of the trade but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. Some of Nene's injury history I kind of look as a "blessing." While I wish testicular cancer on no good man, I do wonder if being out of the game for a bit means it may extend his prime a little. Maybe we can be the benefactor of that. His salary was my only concern but I'm wondering if some of the salary gurus here could help me with an idea..

Say we do amnesty blache next season....if its possible to buyout Lewis before season start, i imagine we should have a boat load of cap space. If we don't land a key free agent next season, is it possible to restructure some of Nene's contract in a way where we could front load it so it wouldn't hinder it down the line?

As for how this affects in the draft...I really wanted thomas robinson to be truthful...but with the emergence of Booker and seraphin proving his worth in minutes it seems like MKG or bust especially with Nene adding depth. If we don't get a shot at MKG...I would entertain the idea of trading a few spots down so long as we could still acquire Barnes.

[miller31time]

If McGee ever puts it together (and I don't think he will), it was never going to be here -- this much, I think we can all agree with.

For me, this trade boils down to the following train of thinking...

1. Young wasn't coming back and I don't want to re-sign McGee for 10-12mil per season
2. Productive centers are hard to come by (helps that they're good, smart people too)
3. Productive centers who are good people and smart players command a lot of money every year
4. Cap space is useless if no one wants to sign with you
5. No one would want to sign with us so we'd have to overpay for mediocre talent
6. There are no FA centers who are even remotely close to Nene (Hibbert doesn't count -- he'll be re-signed)
7. Even with the trade, our cap situation is still looking very promising

If our cap is fine and we're a better, smarter, more attractive destination, what's not to like?

And last point -- to those in horror of the 4yr contract of Nene...

The last year, he'll be an expiring contract with value. So we're really looking at year 3 as the only one where he might be completely unworthy of anywhere near his contract. And I doubt he's going to regress to that point under this contract.

Step off the ledge, we're going to be okay.

[WizarDynasty]

McGee hadn't improved his lateral footspeed in four years. He is literally the slowest player moving sideways in the league. Slow footed is an understatement. I just got fed up with his lack of physical improvement. He would have been a decent bench player and an upgrade over haywood, but just as blatche was an upgrade over jamison...neither jamison or haywood are responsible for racking up wins on their respective teams.

[JonathanJoseph]

The success of failure of this trade all hinges on Nene's health. If Nene is healthy then this is a great trade. If not, it is likely disastrous. I would love to know why Denver soured on Nene in the span of a few months.

The potential impact of this trade was evident in the Hornets game. The simple fact is that of 240 minutes played by Wizards tonight, about 55-60 fewer minutes were played by Knuckleheads. We're still not done clearing out the knuckleheads, but it made a very clear difference. Addition by subtraction.

This will a lesson to the pure stat-heads who take the numbers as gospel. Getting rid of McGee alone will improve the team dramatically. As others have noted, his PER is fools gold. He plays losing basketball and was a negative influence in the locker room. Haven't we learned that lesson with Blatche? McGee could blow up but I doubt it. Even if the light bulb goes on for McGee in a few years, the Wiz couldn't afford (figuratively and literally) to wait. Getting rid of him now while he had value was absolutely necessary.

Another reason I like this trade is that it very well may be that the Wizards didn't trade their best big man prospect. Kevin Seraphin is BALLING right now. McGee has a higher ceiling than Seraphin, but Seraphin looks to be quickly accelerating in his development. John Wall was the clear player of the game but don't underestimate the game that Seraphin played and this is only a few games after Seraphin took it to Bynum. I have no idea why Whitman didn't play Seraphin vs the Spurs or Mavs, but in Seraphin's last 3 games where he got burn, he's averaging 10.7 pts, 7 rebs, 1 blk on 78% FG in 23 minutes/game. That's 16 pts, 11.5 rebs, 1.5 blks per36. And he's showing real signs of an advanced post game.

Seraphin is a BULLY back there. I love it. He and Booker set a tone and an attitude. McGee and Young were soft. Addition by subtraction again.

The biggest immediate downside is that this will derail the tank. I LOVED the Wall, Mack, Mason, Booker and Seraphin lineup that ran the Hornets off the floor. Beautiful basketball. That lineup will win more than a few games and that's before we've added Nene.

If Nene is healthy and not in decline, the Wiz locked up a legit top line NBA center to go along with their PG and a high draft pick and cap room. The Nene, Seraphin, Booker trio looks like it's one piece away from being a very tough and formidable front line (ironically, that verstatile PF is what Blatche was supposed to be). It's a last act of desperation by Grunfeld but if Nene is healthy it could turn out to be one of his best moves.

[no D in Hibachi]

Because this trade Washington really really needs the lotto-Gods to help them out. The lotto will probably be the last chance for the Wiz to add elite level talent. Next year they'll simply be too good to expect a high lotto selection. We have to pray to two things: 1) this trade doesn't ruin the tank, they've worked too hard thus far to screw it up, 2) Washington ends up with either Robinson or Davis.

[The Consiglieri]

Like I implied before, this all boils down to what the Wizards could reasonably expect to acquire utilizing cap room. Effectively, we acquired Nene at $13M a year (and a 2nd round pick). I tend to side with Rico in that the Wizards can't expect to get good by tanking year after year after year. At some point, they need to utilize their cap room and acquire a few veteran players to serve as a stable backbone to the roster. I think Nene qualifies. $13M is a bit steep, but he's a solid two-way center. How many two way centers are there in this league?

I haven't run the numbers, but if memory serves, we should still have about $18M in cap room assuming we amnesty Lewis. If we amnesty Blatche, we'll have $12M in cap room this summer with Rashard's $13M cap number coming off the books the following summer. All we really need to do is sign a free agent shooter and draft a star caliber player and we should be a decent team next year. Next summer, we should still have enough cap room for a max player.

The point is, although Nene is expensive, I don't see his contract hindering our rebuild anytime soon. Either way, we have plenty of cap room to work with this summer and next summer, and after that, we won't have much cap room anyway because Wall will be maxed out.

That's fine, but we have to realize that though we may be in year 4 of suck, we wasted year 1's assets, and it's looking like we wasted year 3's as well. To do a rebuild properly you have to actually land some young pieces of elite quality. We still only have 1, after 3.5 years of sucking. So not surprisingly we're ghastly, and would not attract free agents anyway (I dont really get the opening up cap space argument, didn't we see Golden State get completely rebuffed left, right and center, despite being better than us, and w/new and much better ownership and in the beautiful bay area) . I don't think it's spinning the wheels to suck in 2012-2013, I just think it's the end of the process. If that blows up in our face, then I'm w/you, but I believe we'll need the piece that comes from a 30 win season next year. I think if this goes well we contend by '13-'14 and probably look competent in late '13.

We'll see though. I just think we need to be more patient. They screwed up badly in '08-'09, and then got terrible slotting and chose the wrong guy (almost certainly) in 2011, that delays things. Just my thoughts.

[cl_1_2008]

Unbiased observer here. When I heard about this trade today, I thought wow, what a trade for Washington, so I get on here to see the fans' reactions, and some of you are actually angry? This team, more than any other team in the NBA, needs a quality veteran presence on the team. He doesn't deserve it, but like it or not, Javale McGee is going to get paid this offseason(see: DeAndre Jordan). Guys like that don't just mature by themselves. They need vocal veterans to get them in line. You can pull all the stats you want, but Nene is a better basketball player than Javale McGee. As for Nick Young, any GUARD averaging 30 minutes, 15 shots, and ONE assist, is not a positive asset. Crawford kind of has the same mindset, but when you have 2 guys who just want to shoot every single time they touch the ball, this will hinder the development of everyone else. Young is the biggest black hole in the league, and he had nobody to put him in his place. Now that he's playing with Chris Paul, I'd bet a lot of money that his shot selection gets a whole hell of a lot better, because CP will chew his ass out if he takes bad shots. Another thing, I don't think Washington was going to have any great FAs beating down their door to play here, and when you can't sign free agents you have to improve through the draft and by trades. You have a potential superstar in Wall, several quality youngsters in Booker, Crawford, Vesely, Seraphin, and Singleton, a high draft pick in a loaded draft, a good center/power forward locked up for a reasonable deal, and you have one of the best trade chips in the NBA for next year(Rashard Lewis' $24m expiring contract), and you can amnesty Blatche to rid yourself of the final piece of cancer on the team. Even if you let the Lewis contract expire, you'll probably have around 20 mil in cap space in 2013 to throw at Howard(dream scenario) or Harden(possible). Not sure what some of you are so down about, but the future looks bright in Washington.

[doclinkin]

Nene + Booker + Doris Day = a much more physical front court rotation than McGee + Blatche + Booker (or + Vesley, for that matter). Those guys are gonna split some wigs down low.

What were the options? Be still. Sometimes the best move is to not make one. I think this is one the Wiz will regret down the road. By the end of this contract, they're likely to be looking for way to dump it on someone.

Momma Bear made it clear earlier this year. McGee was *not* going to give DC any kind of preference during free agency. If anything, the Wizards would've had to overpay to keep him from signing the QO.

I think anyone who's rejoicing about this is cuckoo. I think it's an okay move, and I kind of like the idea of Nene, Booker, Vesely, and Singleton making this a tough, scrappy team, but it does nothing to address shooting and rebounding. I like Nene and I;ll be excited to see the new team dynamic, but all I'm really hoping is that he has a good first half next season and keeps his trade value up.

I think the Wizards came in 3rd in this deal, and I think there's a good chance McGee and, in particular, Young, will make their detractors look dumber than they already look, but I'm not crushed that they're gone. I'm not a big believer in addition by subtraction unless a player is a total jerk who can't get along with anyone, but I guess at least now we'll find out for sure if having cinnamon-eaters on the roster was really what was bringing the team down the last few years.

In a lot of ways, it seems like a classic Washington trade. The Wizards just bought the ass end of another career. Denver got reasonable production from Nene at a reasonable price. The Wizards are likely to get an expensive decline.

I'm ifsy-andsy-butsy on this one. Ultimately the only way this made real sense was that the lackadaisical attitude of Nick and JaVale was poisoning the well such that other players were starting to similarly not give a crap. That a guy like John Wall was so sick of being a laughingstock that he was checking out on the franchise and DC as a place to play.

A desperation move by GMEG looking to protect his job, but he managed to sell low on this one, and didn't shore up one of our significant weaknesses in frontcourt rebounding. In terms of 'prospect and a pick' we got little in the way of hope for the future, and we added an asset that may prove hard to move instead of acting as as a potential trade asset (as a theoretically improved JaVale might have been).

But. One key part of Ted's plan has always been to field a team that wouldn't disgrace the fans for their support, that would at the bare minimum play scrappy and tough, with defense and guts as a priority. At his best (which may be past) Nene does add this. A far better sparring partner for a developing player like Seraphin than the 18 foot fading jump hook game of Pam McGee's boy.

We'll be a bruising team to play, and a bruising team to watch. No finesse at all right now. With one fewer outside shot creator it might be tough to get a basket at times, but could be the chemistry clicks and the team begins to develop a self-conception as a tough-minded gutsy team. No wow factor from anyone but Johnny Ballgame, but at least we have a dump-down finisher now, who will prove a better asset once we add a bit more shooting to clear up the interior.

We were sure the current chemistry was doing nothing positive for the longterm health of the team, expect to earn lotto balls. But locking in a longterm interior defender may not look to terrible in a few years. With the amount of cap space available to teams in the next couple years there will be a few stupid contracts skewing the curve, it may prove in a few years that we landed a relative bargain, never know.

Of course all it will take is a string of a few good games, gutsy gritty wins and thug defense before even CCJ is back on board, even if he runs up a toldja-so flag when JaVale does what he occasionally can do in remarkable fashion. Fans support effort and a good attitude, win a few games in this way and we'll build a good foundation of the right kind of attitude, on the court and in the stands.

[TGW]

Javale is an internet phenom and a running joke. Deadspin loves the guy:

http://deadspin.com/5893098/javale-mcge ... er-tonight

[GhostsOfGil]

Stuff like that really irks me. The Mcgee bloopers got a lot of attention and now they are just reaching for more. That pass was bad, but we see big men make that mistake all the time.

[The Consiglieri]

Consiglieri, when it comes to evaluating talent I respect your opinion more than anyone else on this site. You and Dat seem to have a real good feel for things all the time. Sev and doc are up there, too.

I have a lot of respect for most of you. Can't say enough good things about Induveca, Nivek, fishercob, and nate. You're all generally very strong where I am weak. I am verbose and opinionated, wrong sometimes.

We will see about this deal but I think it was not good.

I think the best that can come out of it is a net neutral in terms of production and making Wall happy enough to stick around which would of course be a net positive.

The risks are massive:

Nene puts at risk our tank.

Nene's contract blows up in our face like the last six big time contracts that were issues.

Javale actually learns how to play at least less stupidly in Denver or at worst just continues on his trajectory (big time rebounder/shot blocker/solid shooter/pathetic BBIQ drives team and fanbase crazy)

Wall leaves anyway

I dont think it was worth the risk. At the same time I understand why they pulled the trigger, I just would have pulled the trigger for different assets that were young. There are smart young players all around the league, why go old and smart?

Thanks for the kind words, I don't have half the basketball knowledge the rest of you do, i just fancy myself an armchair team builder

[WashWiz54]

Read all 21 pages of this thread and have no idea where to really start. I guess it would be by saying that all of you brought some knowledge to this thread "+1" to everyone.

As for my opinion, I'm cool with it sums it up best.

Nick Young was as good as gone in a few months so whatever. Ernie should have been shopping him way earlier to hopefully get a better haul, but I can't complain too much. Nobody was giving up anything for him worth a cent. He'll do well for the Clips and people who didn't know the circumstances will say LAC robbed us. At this point in the game, there was nothing we could do. Minus points to Ernie for not looking to deal earlier (as far as I know) but plus points for getting something.

Nene for McGee is obviously the splash and I like it. First off, McGee was as good as gone and we all knew it. He needed to be traded this deadline if we were to get any value and Nene is good value. There are a handful of centers that are "fairly" paid so his contract isn't much of a big deal. Big men are overpaid, get over it.

Even if McGee was resigning here, he was signing for more than Nene, and I doubt he'd ever turn the corner in DC. To be honest, I never see him turning the corner. He's just not there in the head. So in the end we'd have a really overpaid center who was paid on potential (that won't be reached IMO). I'll take Nene, thanks.

If we wanted Nene (or a player of his caliber) here this past offseason, we'd of had to max him out and it still wouldn't of been guaranteed he'd come. Now we got him for cheaper! Nobody will willingly come to Washington until we change our culture and Nene helps us do that. We need to add a Nene or two to this roster before players will seriously consider being apart of this team. The "OKC" model sounds great, but how many other OKC's are there?

If you say that you don't want the "Nene's" you want the "Hibbert's", my counter would be that they're RFA's and will be matched. Roy Hibbert or whatever young player you're thinking of will more than likely all be resigned or sign and traded somewhere with assets. So even if they do sign an offer sheet with us (which will be for way too much), they'll probably be retained or traded to a different team. This is why I do not understand people screaming bloody murder over us losing potential capspace.

Also, think of John Wall for a second. He's our true prize and you know he had to hate how the team was constructed. A bunch of boneheads and some over the hill vets. You know he had to be thinking of getting out of Washington ASAP. With this addition and a good draft pick maybe he starts to think about staying longterm. I know the counter argument would be "well he's going to be a RFA when he hits free agency so its basically here or nowhere" and to that I say, BS. Stars makes the rules and if he said he wanted out, we wouldn't be holding him hostage. We'd match any offer on him, yeah, but we'd then be shipping him off somewhere for pennies.

Just my 2 AM, 2 cents.

[miller31time]

Read all 21 pages of this thread and have no idea where to really start. I guess it would be by saying that all of you brought some knowledge to this thread "+1" to everyone.

As for my opinion, I'm cool with it sums it up best.

Nick Young was as good as gone in a few months so whatever. Ernie should have been shopping him way earlier to hopefully get a better haul, but I can't complain too much. Nobody was giving up anything for him worth a cent. He'll do well for the Clips and people who didn't know the circumstances will say LAC robbed us. At this point in the game, there was nothing we could do. Minus points to Ernie for not looking to deal earlier (as far as I know) but plus points for getting something.

Nene for McGee is obviously the splash and I like it. First off, McGee was as good as gone and we all knew it. He needed to be traded this deadline if we were to get any value and Nene is good value. There are a handful of centers that are "fairly" paid so his contract isn't much of a big deal. Big men are overpaid, get over it.

Even if McGee was resigning here, he was signing for more than Nene, and I doubt he'd ever turn the corner in DC. To be honest, I never see him turning the corner. He's just not there in the head. So in the end we'd have a really overpaid center who was paid on potential (that won't be reached IMO). I'll take Nene, thanks.

If we wanted Nene (or a player of his caliber) here this past offseason, we'd of had to max him out and it still wouldn't of been guaranteed he'd come. Now we got him for cheaper! Nobody will willingly come to Washington until we change our culture and Nene helps us do that. We need to add a Nene or two to this roster before players will seriously consider being apart of this team. The "OKC" model sounds great, but how many other OKC's are there?

If you say that you don't want the "Nene's" you want the "Hibbert's", my counter would be that they're RFA's and will be matched. Roy Hibbert or whatever young player you're thinking of will more than likely all be resigned or sign and traded somewhere with assets. So even if they do sign an offer sheet with us (which will be for way too much), they'll probably be retained or traded to a different team. This is why I do not understand people screaming bloody murder over us losing potential capspace.

Also, think of John Wall for a second. He's our true prize and you know he had to hate how the team was constructed. A bunch of boneheads and some over the hill vets. You know he had to be thinking of getting out of Washington ASAP. With this addition and a good draft pick maybe he starts to think about staying longterm. I know the counter argument would be "well he's going to be a RFA when he hits free agency so its basically here or nowhere" and to that I say, BS. Stars makes the rules and if he said he wanted out, we wouldn't be holding him hostage. We'd match any offer on him, yeah, but we'd then be shipping him off somewhere for pennies.

Just my 2 AM, 2 cents.

Nice post, man. I agree with all of your "counters" to conventional thought.