Donte Greene

[fairweatherfan]

Are you kidding?  I'm a lifelong Syracuse fan who saw plenty of Donte Greene.  He's okay and I guess it's great for SU that another of its players got into the NBA, but he's nowhere NEAR the hype.  He has zero intangibles, and that's deadly when the sum of his so-called "gifts" doesn't add up to what it should.

I'm from Northern NY and I've heard this from a lot of SU fans. They love Johnny Flynn, Carmelo, Wes Johnson...but they hate Paul Harris and Greene.

Ding ding ding!   Although I'm pretty ambivalent on Harris.  But Greene is my least favorite player to wear the orange.  Tons of talent, but he wanted to be Carmelo without the effort - just jack up 3s and make fastbreak dunks without ever banging inside.  Seriously, he's at least an honest 6'9" and he flat-out refused to post up or rebound most games.  And his defense was weak too.  Don't want him here. 

[Ian]

Are you kidding?  I'm a lifelong Syracuse fan who saw plenty of Donte Greene.  He's okay and I guess it's great for SU that another of its players got into the NBA, but he's nowhere NEAR the hype.  He has zero intangibles, and that's deadly when the sum of his so-called "gifts" doesn't add up to what it should.

I'm from Northern NY and I've heard this from a lot of SU fans. They love Johnny Flynn, Carmelo, Wes Johnson...but they hate Paul Harris and Greene.

Ding ding ding!   Although I'm pretty ambivalent on Harris.  But Greene is my least favorite player to wear the orange.  Tons of talent, but he wanted to be Carmelo without the effort - just jack up 3s and make fastbreak dunks without ever banging inside.  Seriously, he's at least an honest 6'9" and he flat-out refused to post up or rebound most games.  And his defense was weak too.  Don't want him here. 

Being an SU fan myself I think Donte is a guy you shouldn't write off because of how talented he is/could be. He seems to have shown a lot more work ethic so far in the NBA than he did at Cuse, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that he knew he was a 1-and-done player no matter what and because of that he seemed to just be going through the motions.

[indeedproceed]

Don't think so, In the Sac blog circles they are expecting a break out season from Donte. Teams don't usually trade guys when they expecting a break out season from them.

I think Casspi is probably the more likely trading chip, both due to his value as a player, and his value as an Israeli. Remember when all that fuss was made about Yi Jianlian going to a city with a large Chinese population?

Casspi hit the rookie wall pretty hard in Sactown last year. Harder than most. He went from having a prominent place in the rotation and a starter into being a bench guy with diminishing minutes as the season went on.

Sacramento right now is having the same argument about Casspi and Greene as this board had in 06/07 about Telfair/West/Rondo.

They're split pretty even, Casspi being the more skilled player with less athletic ability and a much lower ceiling, Greene being the more talented player with less developed skills and a questionable work ethic.

Casspi is their second best player on the perimeter. I don't see Sacramento moving him. They value him very highly plus his ability to play both wing spots (SG to SF) is a great fit alongside Tyreke Evans (PG to SG).

Donte Greene on the other hand is close to wearing out his welcome. That organization is growing frustrated with his lack of development over the past two years. It's do or dump time for Greene.

Well that kind of speaks to my case...if greene does well, and they keep him, they move Casspi. If Greene sinks this season, they dump Greene.

One of the two of them has to move though, at least as long as they are retaining Garcia

[Who]

Don't think so, In the Sac blog circles they are expecting a break out season from Donte. Teams don't usually trade guys when they expecting a break out season from them.

I think Casspi is probably the more likely trading chip, both due to his value as a player, and his value as an Israeli. Remember when all that fuss was made about Yi Jianlian going to a city with a large Chinese population?

Casspi hit the rookie wall pretty hard in Sactown last year. Harder than most. He went from having a prominent place in the rotation and a starter into being a bench guy with diminishing minutes as the season went on.

Sacramento right now is having the same argument about Casspi and Greene as this board had in 06/07 about Telfair/West/Rondo.

They're split pretty even, Casspi being the more skilled player with less athletic ability and a much lower ceiling, Greene being the more talented player with less developed skills and a questionable work ethic.

Casspi is their second best player on the perimeter. I don't see Sacramento moving him. They value him very highly plus his ability to play both wing spots (SG to SF) is a great fit alongside Tyreke Evans (PG to SG).

Donte Greene on the other hand is close to wearing out his welcome. That organization is growing frustrated with his lack of development over the past two years. It's do or dump time for Greene.

Well that kind of speaks to my case...if greene does well, and they keep him, they move Casspi. If Greene sinks this season, they dump Greene.

One of the two of them has to move though, at least as long as they are retaining Garcia

If I were the Kings I'd be trying to develop Greene into a power forward and keep both. Start Casspi at the two and Greene at the four alongside a small forward who can rebound.

I'd be looking to move Garcia too. Not wild about him on that roster + I hate his contract for a rebuilding team.

If Tyreke Evans fails to become a point guard I'd move Casspi into that sixth man role and main backup wing. Keep my starting three + Greene at the four. Bring in a new point guard to upgrade Udrih (who also needs to be traded along with Garcia).

Note: I prefer Casspi at the two rather than the three. He is finesse defender which isn't a great fit at the three. He'll be, and already is, more effective defensively as a two guard. Plus he has a huge rebounding advantage at that position. He is very nice fit alongside Evans too. A nice blend of complementary skills + while a role player, an aggressive type of role player like Nocioni was.