Wiz trade Shard and 2nd rounder for Okafor and Ariza

[7-Day Dray]

I need the help of a cap specialist. Isn't this deal even sweeter for NO because Shard can be bought-out before June 30th correct?

Yes. NOLA is basically saving $30M by doing this trade if they buyout Shard I believe.

[7-Day Dray]

I'm here guys. Your friend from Milwaukee.

I just wanted to congratulate Ernie on his 9-year anniversary as Wizards GM coming up next week. Hard to believe it was June 25, 2003 when the Bucks released him so he could pursue his dreams as Wizards GM. Where does time go.

I feel for you guys. You were totally on the right rebuilding track. The track we have tried to get our inept owner Herb Kohl to take for years now.

But Ernie and Ted just had to spend $100 million plus on Nene, Ariza and Okafor to try and steal that 8th seed from my Bucks next year.

You guys are ahead of us though since you've got that 3rd pick, which could net an all-star. Just remember though that if we can't sign Chris Kaman to a $50 million dollar deal to compete with you guys, we may pack it in and trade Monta Ellis to you for the 3rd pick and Blatche.

We're not even aiming to be Atlanta Hawks/Philadelphia 76ers mediocre, we're aiming to be on par w/ the Bucks mediocrity. Yuck

[closg00]

I need the help of a cap specialist. Isn't this deal even sweeter for NO because Shard can be bought-out before June 30th correct?

Yes. NOLA is basically saving $30M by doing this trade if they buyout Shard I believe.

And for this we actually gave them our 46th pick aand no future pick in-return. Amazing!!!

[hands11]

I think I would have been happier with Kev's plan. Do nothing (like this).

I agree this is not the OKC model.

We better get Beal.

the only silver lining I see is that both these acquisitions are at worst
here for 2 years. And there is nothing saying it couldn't end up being
shorter than that. But I don't like that you either are going to be
paying big money to have players sit on the bench or you're not
going to be giving your recent draftees a chance to show what they
can do and learn from it.

Ok, let me try to make some sense of this. Lemons. Lemonade.

It was going to cost Ted 12M for pay Lewis to leave and get nothing in return.
Oak is 13.5M next year. So Ted is really only playing 1.5M more to have a vet big. If Okafor were to only sit on the bench as a back up and help in practice, that would be a better way to spend 12M dollars then getting nothing.. Right ? Only instead of 12M it cost 13.5. I have read nothing that says he will be starting.

So in a sense, he just spent the FA 5M and got a FA SF who can defend that is a vet when we had no vet SFs. Me personally, I would have liked to see James Singleton as that player but that didnt happen.

And both of these contract are expiring after a year. Either could get traded for smaller contracts where they buy out the second player.

So maybe Kevin and Ves still get there minutes. Specially to start the year. Let Oak rest up his knee and recover from injury. He only played 27 game last year.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1042/player?r=1

it seems the Hornets didn't approve of his attitude or desire to get back on the court. Even at full health, Okafor faces competition for minutes in the Wizards'

In summary, the silver lining could be that Oak isn't starting and it only cost Ted 1.5M next year to have him as a vet end of bench player. It's the year after that it would cost him. Then if we make the playoffs, we have his experience to tape into. And we get our second Trevor as our FA signing. We only had 5M. Instead we got to sign someone at 7M who could still make a come back. He played well for 3 year in ORL and LA. Maybe he is a system guy. He doesn't have to start either if he doesn't earn it.

Wall/Mack
Crawford/Beal/Mason
Trevor/C Singleton - now Chris has someone to beat out.
Nene/Booker/Dray
Ves/Kevin/Okafor

2nd round pick: Crowder. He finds his legs until we trade Dray and then he slides in as the SF/SG with range. But we lose James Singleton.. AGAIN. And we don't get my vet PG which I think we really needed. Beal will eventually start. Mason will drop off the roster in a year or two after he grooms Beal a little. Looks like Dray may stick around because you really can't move him in a trade without bringing back more clutter though as time goes on, it is easier to amnesty him if needed.

So the team has a set of vets who can help the younger player grow for two years. Them most of them drop off the team. This year we can draft and stash a player like Crowder. Next we can do the same. Rookies usually take a year to find their sea legs. Why not start loading up like a farm system so they are ready in two years. They can now take a risk on a big and keep then in the developmental league or overseas for a year.

When the dust clears in two years, you still have Wall, Beal, C Singleton, Booker, Ves and Kevin with Nene as a back up along with maybe Crowder and next years #1. Only all those younger players will be seasoned by then.

That the best I can do for Rose colored glasses.

[AFM]

ECF it is then! See you all there!!!!!!!

[paulpressey25]

We're not even aiming to be Atlanta Hawks/Philadelphia 76ers mediocre, we're aiming to be on par w/ the Bucks mediocrity. Yuck

Yeah, we'd sell our souls in Milwaukee to get actual Hawks level success of a few 50-win seasons and second round playoff series. It just takes discipline to not blow money and build wisely over a period of years through the draft.

Instead we sell out the minute that "Cutino Mobley" or the like becomes available to us via trade or free agency. Gotta fill those 18 minutes a night of backup combo guard with a proven vet like him!

In all seriousness, we think our GM may be planning on using our cap space this summer on Nick Young.

Hopefully you guys get a star with the 3rd pick to save you from Grunfeld. Ernie is terrible.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Yeah, our rebuilding effort mimicking that of the bucks a few years back was my worst nightmare. It was like so much promise was just swept up and thrown away. And sadly we're moving in that direction. The only difference is that Nene still has positive value at his contract and Okafor/Ariza are only signed for two years.

If ever there were a time to simply be patient, this summer was it for Washington. Clearly, Rashard and Andray needed to go. Buy one out. Exercise the amnesty clause on the other. Draft wisely and be patient while the young players improve.

Washington could have drafted Beal and signed one free agent guard. That would have been so easy to do. Heck, they could had given Ray Allen money to mentor Beal.

I dunno ...

[jivelikenice]

What you are missing is that the wizards can't sign any quality free agents because those two are here. They won't have the capspace to offer more than the MLE to anyone.

The possibility of signing a quality free agent was always a crapshoot. I don't blame Ted and EG for not liking the odds and going another way for the short term.

+1. We added an 3 and D SF who is a clear upgrade over what we have and we added another big who gives up depth, shot blocking, and rebounding. Best of all, we don't trade down and still have the 3rd pick.

We were not going to be a player in FA for anything other than maybe 1 MLE type of player. We would have had to give out a max deal for Batum or Eric Gordon. Even an MLE type would have required a 4 yr commitment in all likelihood. This trade and this draft pick give us a chance to be a playoff team with a mix of vets and young players. How far we go will depend on Wall, the 3rd pick, Seraphin, and Vesely's development. The good thing is now we've built an environment that can help them grow to their potential.

Let's say they become a 7th/8th seed type of team. In two years we will be a playoff team with $20+ MM coming off the books and Wall's rookie class all entering their RFA season. We'll have money to throw at Demarcus Cousins, or Favors, etc....)

We're also not done. There will be a smaller moves made with some of our other young guys on their rookie deals. Booker, Singleton, & Crawford I imagine are all being shopped going into the draft. I'm hoping we have someone willing to give us a mid first for Booker and our 2nd rounder...get two wing scorers in this draft. Then re-sign Singleton & Carter and I think we're a playoff team.

[jivelikenice]

Yeah, our rebuilding effort mimicking that of the bucks a few years back was my worst nightmare. It was like so much promise was just swept up and thrown away. And sadly we're moving in that direction. The only difference is that Nene still has positive value at his contract and Okafor/Ariza are only signed for two years.

If ever there were a time to simply be patient, this summer was it for Washington. Clearly, Rashard and Andray needed to go. Buy one out. Exercise the amnesty clause on the other. Draft wisely and be patient while the young players improve.

Washington could have drafted Beal and signed one free agent guard. That would have been so easy to do. Heck, they could had given Ray Allen money to mentor Beal.

I dunno ...

Ray Allen wasn't coming here. Give us a realistic FA that we could have signed that we now have no shot at?

Also didn't you suggest trading down to #10 just to get rid of Dray's deal? Now you say we should amnesty him and should have bought out Lewis...

[davidgrant]

And for this we actually gave them our 46th pick aand no future pick in-return. Amazing!!!

The guys who hate this trade the most seem to be the ones who thought we could get a starter with the 46th pick. I realize that this is a deep draft, but c'mon, I'm willing to bet that nobody picked 46th or later is ever going to be an all-star.

[TGW]

Yeah, our rebuilding effort mimicking that of the bucks a few years back was my worst nightmare. It was like so much promise was just swept up and thrown away. And sadly we're moving in that direction. The only difference is that Nene still has positive value at his contract and Okafor/Ariza are only signed for two years.

If ever there were a time to simply be patient, this summer was it for Washington. Clearly, Rashard and Andray needed to go. Buy one out. Exercise the amnesty clause on the other. Draft wisely and be patient while the young players improve.

Washington could have drafted Beal and signed one free agent guard. That would have been so easy to do. Heck, they could had given Ray Allen money to mentor Beal.

I dunno ...

Ray Allen wasn't coming here. Give us a realistic FA that we could have signed that we now have no shot at?

Also didn't you suggest trading down to #10 just to get rid of Dray's deal? Now you say we should amnesty him and should have bought out Lewis...

I will repeat it.

BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.
BOYD.

Sorry for spamming, but people are flat-out ignoring this aspect of having capspace. We cannot do BOYD deals anymore.

[Ruzious]

I'm here guys. Your friend from Milwaukee.

I just wanted to congratulate Ernie on his 9-year anniversary as Wizards GM coming up next week. Hard to believe it was June 25, 2003 when the Bucks released him so he could pursue his dreams as Wizards GM. Where does time go.

I feel for you guys. You were totally on the right rebuilding track. The track we have tried to get our inept owner Herb Kohl to take for years now.

But Ernie and Ted just had to spend $100 million plus on Nene, Ariza and Okafor to try and steal that 8th seed from my Bucks next year.

You guys are ahead of us though since you've got that 3rd pick, which could net an all-star. Just remember though that if we can't sign Chris Kaman to a $50 million dollar deal to compete with you guys, we may pack it in and trade Monta Ellis to you for the 3rd pick and Blatche.

Lol, classic post. It'd be nice if the Wiz and Bucks had long-term plans higher than competing for the 8th seed, but I don't see that happening in Washington until Ted sells the team to Vince McMahon and Vince has Ernie come into the ring so he can tell him those 2 magic words.

[Illuminaire]

And for this we actually gave them our 46th pick aand no future pick in-return. Amazing!!!

The guys who hate this trade the most seem to be the ones who thought we could get a starter with the 46th pick. I realize that this is a deep draft, but c'mon, I'm willing to bet that nobody picked 46th or later is ever going to be an all-star.

Strawman much?

I've yet to see ONE person here focus their ire on the second round pick we gave up. That was just salt in the wound.

We're angry because several assets that could have been used to actually improve the team were used to gather extraordinarily expensive, entirely redundant parts that may not even be better than what we already have.

We're bitter because almost all of our flexibility to improve is gone in one idiotic stroke, and the roster we're left with is an unbalanced mess.

But please, do try to pin our "hate" on the 46th pick in the draft. I'm sure if you say it enough it will even sound halfway credible.

[vabigpoppa]

people act like free agency is so easy and matter of fact. "yeah we couldve just signed james harden or eric gordon", "yeah we couldve had danny green", "yeah lets just throw some money at ray allen he should be grateful we offer him a contract to come play w/ a non-playoff team". being at the top of the lottery every year isnt very attractive to top free agents.

im on the "i like this trade" bandwagon, we can terminate okafors contract after next year so hes here for a 1 year prove it season pretty much....i feel like the wizard still have flexibility to go after free agents in 2013 & definitely 2014. if we at least show we are a playoff worth team in the next year or so free agents may actually want to come here.

[jivelikenice]

We were never going to have 3 rooks this yr. We were going to use maybe 2 and either sell the 3rd or draft a guy to stay overseas. Anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't watched the mess having all these guys on rookie deals has created and ignored everything Ted/ Ernie/ and Randy said since the Nene deal about bringing in more vets.

[7-Day Dray]

And for this we actually gave them our 46th pick aand no future pick in-return. Amazing!!!

The guys who hate this trade the most seem to be the ones who thought we could get a starter with the 46th pick. I realize that this is a deep draft, but c'mon, I'm willing to bet that nobody picked 46th or later is ever going to be an all-star.

Who the hell ever said that we would get an All-Star w/ the 46th pick? I'm only seeing a few people saying that we shouldn't have had to include it in the deal because we had already given NOLA enough of a favor. Personally, I would've used that 46th pick to trade up into the 1st round, but no matter how worthless that pick was, we shouldn't have had to include it in the deal. We could've gotten a good shooter at that pick at the least.

[Illuminaire]

im on the "i like this trade" bandwagon, we can terminate okafors contract after next year so hes here for a 1 year prove it season pretty much....i feel like the wizard still have flexibility to go after free agents in 2013 & definitely 2014.

Your feelings do not make this mathematically true. Please explain how we will terminate Okafor's contract when we can neither amnesty him nor do we have a team option on his contract.

[hands11]

Once again this is yet another example of Ernie going all in... for depth, lol.

First time it was Foye & Miller. Now it's Okafor & Ariza.

I don't think the man has a clue of what he's doing unless it's to cover his own ass or assign blame elsewhere for his mistakes.

I'm not thrilled with the trade either (although I will wait until the summer is over to pass any definitive judgment). However, this trade is nothing like Foye and Miller. This team is a lot younger than that team. Foye and Miller were brought in with the false illusion we could be a championship contender with them as the missing pieces. Okafor and Ariza are being brought here with not such illusions. The trade was made to make us more competitive while our young players develop. Totally different situation.

And add the all important, we didn't give up a #6 pick to get them.

[ChrisTheFuturePaul]

Hornets fan here:

I know you guys hate the deal but really; You're acquiring 2 starters for a guy who became a cancer on your team. Cap space might be nice in theory but if you have to overpay drasticly to get someone to sign here it ends up looking bad anyway. The Hornets are taking a gamble here too, they may possibly overpay Dragic or Batum for longer term deals that the Wizards are taking on. I think the value is reasonable. The wizards should be boarderline playoff team with Wall and possibly Beal not even in their primes.

[terperoni]

Get rid of draft bust Vesely now and were golden.