nate33 wrote:TGW wrote:Sheppard should be fired for that trade IMO. It's arguably worst than any single trade EG ever made except for the disastrous trade for Mike Miller and Randy Foye.
No it isn't. Wall isn't that good either. His assists are way down (without a similar drop in TO's). His shooting is still bad. He's not getting to the free throw line. And his team is -7.1 per 100 when he is on the court. Yeah, he is still playing better than Westbrook, who has been awful, but let's not act like Wall is still a star. It's still a really bad contract.
It's like choosing between a trash fire and a dumpster fire. Yeah, the trash fire is better, but the difference between the two doesn't make or break the future of your franchise. The trade wasn't nearly as bad as the Miller trade, the Vesely draft or the free agency signings of 2016.
Being generous, we should expect both guys to improve as the season wears on. In John's case b/c he's coming back after a long time off, & in Russ's case b/c that's what happened last year.
Still, as you point out, Russ has been way worse than Wall so far -- so even if both improve that's no argument in favor of the trade.
But, what you didn't mention in this post is the big killer -- the R1 pick we gave for the privilege, at least so far, of even worse performance. It must be obvious by now that this is a rebuilding team. Might not like it, but a fact is a fact.
A rebuilding team cannot afford to give up a R1 pick for a 32 year old player. Period.
