Wiz trade Shard and 2nd rounder for Okafor and Ariza

[TheKingOfVa360]

Im pissed if we don't get the number 10 pick if this trade. We blow out cap for a chance to be a treadmill playoff team for the next two seasons. I rather lose and stock pile picks like OKC did.

Short term, would you rather have another 20 win season and realize the season is over by January, or would you want to make a run at the playoffs with this group and see what happens? I'm saying short term here. This team hasn't won a lot of games the last 4 years or so. It's not like this is crippling the franchise, the free agent market wasn't going to be that stacked to begin with, and then you have to ask yourself, who's going to want to play here anyway.

As a fan in the short term I like this move now that I think about it. It should be a good team to watch player and have a shot at the playoffs. It's only so long we can be a cellar team without killing our young players.

When I think about the long term I'm pissed, I would like to see my team at least play in the conference finals before I'm 60 years old!

[TGW]

Capspace is not just useful in signing free agents. It's useful is facilitating trades, which is just as important. Now you take away that flexibility for two overpaid vets that make the team 3 wins better.

Loser franchise with a loser FO.

EDIT* -- Maybe Grunfeld is trying to set himself up for his next job. He just did the NBA a big favor by taking those 2 cruddy contracts off the Hornets' books. I mean, this has to be the only reason why a move like this was made. It definitely isn't because Ariza and Okafor make us a playoff team.

[KevinFCheng]

And we've shown the Bobcats our hand. Who's to say the petty Michael Jordan doesn't pick Beal just to spite us.

Cheers to Ernie!

[mlloyd10]

Looks like you guys are in Win-Now mode, so two possible trades:

Ellis for Blatche/3 or Ellis/12 for Nene/3

[Ruzious]

Also sending our #46 pick?

https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status ... 2349477889

NBA source tells me Emeka Okafor and Trevor Arizona have been traded to the Washington Wizards for Rashard Lewis and the #46 pick

Btw, was that a typo by Givony?

[keynote]

Who is going to score next year?

[Severn Hoos]

Who is going to score next year?

Blatche, of course! [/rimshot]

[keynote]

Who is going to score next year?

Blatche, of course! [/rimshot]

It ain't "scoring" if you're paying for it.

[miller31time]

Maybe not stylistically but this team's direction is looking eerily similar to the Arenas/Butler/Jamison teams of yesteryear.

Ernie builds a capped-out team just good enough to be playoff caliber and just bad enough not to be a threat in any way, shape or form to the league with little room for growth.

[Rafael122]

People act like Ariza and Okafor are on the books for the next 5 years. Ariza could just as well opt out. Hell, Jameer Nelson might be opting out of his $8 million salary this year. It could very well happen. Add 2 shooters, and this team will be fine.

[Halcyon]

This is yet another move to make this team semi-competitive in the short term, hopefully to keep Wall happy. I never really thought we were going to land a FA, so this isn't all too bad of a move I think.

Roster will probably look like this:
Wall/Mack
Beal/Crawford/#32 pick
Ariza/Crawford/Singleton
Nene/Seraphin/Booker/Vesely
Okafor/Seraphin

That's a lengthy, defensive team. I might consider packaging #32 + Booker to get a sparkplug scorer off the bench as the 6th man, move Crawford to backup PG.

[LyricalRico]

I may be in the minority but I like the move. Add Beal, and you've probably got a 35-40 win team here guys. This team is STACKED in the front court, almost to the point that another move might be made between now and draft night.

Let's stay tuned and see what happens.

It's not a championship team, but they damn sure won't have the 2nd worst record in the league next season.

Yep, it's a step forward. Not sure where others are getting this "championship or bust" mentality. We're nowhere near that level. It's got to be one step at a time for this team, and this is a step forward.

[Dat2U]

I refuse to believe we'd make this deal without getting the 10th back, otherwise there's no logic in it.

[queridiculo]

I don't get the over the top hate for this trade.

Who are the 2013 free agents that Washington had a realistic shot to sign?

I was all for making a hard push for Harden, but it seems like the collective consensus on that front was that there was absolutely no way we'd have a shot at him. That leaves whom out there to make a huge franchise changing splash exactly?

Both of the guys that were added can make a significant contribution for a potential playoff push, and may net some assets/picks in the 2013 season as expiring contracts.

Part of changing the culture is to actually, you know, win some games.

[Captain_Obvious]

I can only understand this if the no. 10 pick is included!

[LyricalRico]

Im pissed if we don't get the number 10 pick if this trade. We blow out cap for a chance to be a treadmill playoff team for the next two seasons. I rather lose and stock pile picks like OKC did.

Short term, would you rather have another 20 win season and realize the season is over by January, or would you want to make a run at the playoffs with this group and see what happens? I'm saying short term here. This team hasn't won a lot of games the last 4 years or so. It's not like this is crippling the franchise, the free agent market wasn't going to be that stacked to begin with, and then you have to ask yourself, who's going to want to play here anyway.

As a fan in the short term I like this move now that I think about it. It should be a good team to watch player and have a shot at the playoffs. It's only so long we can be a cellar team without killing our young players.

When I think about the long term I'm pissed, I would like to see my team at least play in the conference finals before I'm 60 years old!

But what moves where we going to make either this summer or next that would get us to the conference finals? I wasn't seeing any. But next summer we will have $20M in expiring contracts with two guys that, while not being All-Stars, can actually still play (unlike Lewis). I would argue that we might be in a better position to make a move with those assets than with pure cap space.

So again, I'm not seeing the longterm death knell to the franchise that many are making this out to be.

[Halcyon]

The only way {that I see) that we could have signed a FA was if we had won the lottery....but we didn't. Hopefully we have enough of a solid team around Wall to let him develop properly, and we can add somebody in a few years that can pair up with Wall.

Until then, we have to develop some kinda culture where we aren't perennial losers.

[miller31time]

I don't get the over the top hate for this trade.

Who are the 2013 free agents that Washington had a realistic shot to sign?

I was all for making a hard push for Harden, but it seems like the collective consensus on that front was that there was absolutely no way we'd have a shot at him. That leaves whom out there to make a huge franchise changing splash exactly?

Both of the guys that were added can make a significant contribution for a potential playoff push, and may net some assets/picks in the 2013 season as expiring contracts.

Part of changing the culture is to actually, you know, win some games.

How is Okafor significantly helping this team? He adds clutter to an already cluttered frontcourt. Ariza is decent but we could have easily signed someone in free agency who could have been just as impactful (and cheaper).

I can understand adding expensive role players if they are unquestionably upgrades but I'm not seeing that in this instance.

But most of all, we helped NOH big time and didn't get compensated for it. That's the main crux of the issue -- we just cleared all of their salary woes away in one fell swoop. Oh, and for our trouble, we also gave them a pick. Sure, it's not a high pick but it's the principle of it all -- we help them more than they help us and we still are the ones adding extra incentives. It just reeks of Grunfeldian philosophy.

[dobrojim]

Who is going to score next year?

Blatche, of course! [/rimshot]

It ain't "scoring" if you're paying for it.

ouch

[LyricalRico]

I don't get the over the top hate for this trade.

Who are the 2013 free agents that Washington had a realistic shot to sign?

I was all for making a hard push for Harden, but it seems like the collective consensus on that front was that there was absolutely no way we'd have a shot at him. That leaves whom out there to make a huge franchise changing splash exactly?

Both of the guys that were added can make a significant contribution for a potential playoff push, and may net some assets/picks in the 2013 season as expiring contracts.

Part of changing the culture is to actually, you know, win some games.

The only way {that I see) that we could have signed a FA was if we had won the lottery....but we didn't. Hopefully we have enough of a solid team around Wall to let him develop properly, and we can add somebody in a few years that can pair up with Wall.

Until then, we have to develop some kinda culture where we aren't perennial losers.