At first glance, I was all about this deal from our perspective. Now, not so much. JR was a first round pick, so obviously Danny saw something in him. Unless he is a complete locker room cancer, I don't see how he could have done anything this year to destroy all the faith Danny had in him. Definitely want to hang onto him UNLESS he's necessary in a deal that brings back a much better player than Willie Green.
Well, hypothetically, it would be Danny giving up on him. It's not like Danny ever really loved Giddens; the selection looks like it was a bit of a panic move because the Spurs took George Hill and Danny was left flat-footed. There have been numerous reports of Danny trying to dump Giddens ever since the draft.
From what he's said, the team took Giddens because he thought J.R. could step in as a rookie. We all see how that one worked out.
As for TA...I thought he was really starting to click right before he got hurt this year. IF, and this is a huge IF, he could get back even close to the TA of January of '07, no team in the NBA would touch us. He's clearly expendable IF it's part of a deal that brings us a much better player, but he still has too much potential to just give away for a player that's only marginally better, at the most.
Tony Allen doesn't have any potential, in my opinion. He is what he is, which is an injury-prone, horribly inconsistent, low-IQ player.
While Danny may have preferred George Hill, he must have seen something in Giddens to draft him. If not, he would have traded back a few places into the second round to get better value and avoid a guaranteed deal. Unless JR has a horrible attitude, I doubt DA would give up on him so soon if he thought enough of him last June to draft him. Like you said, if we make this trade, DA would be giving up on JR and admitting he made a mistake drafting him.
As for TA, trust me, there are times where I'm convinced that he's the worst player I've ever seen. He makes some of the stupidest plays of anyone in the NBA, and can really drag the team down at points. IMO though, he plays much smarter basketball when he's healthy and has been playing in a consistent role for awhile.
I wouldn't necessarily say he's injury-prone or doesn't have potential, either. His most recent injury was to his thumb - not exactly a nagging knee injury or a chronic shoulder problem like Perkins has. Lots of NBA players would have been able to step in after that thumb injury and regain their old form. Not TA - don't think he has the basketball smarts for that.
That being said, if he could play 75-80 games a year, truly establish a rhythm and have a legit role, I think you'd see him play much more consistently. And during that stretch in January of 2007, he was playing at a very high level that lots of NBA players would only dream about. He clearly has the talent to do that. If we (the coaching staff and/or veteran players) can get him to play anywhere near that level on a consistent basis, that'd be huge.
To clarify, I'm not strongly against trading him away if the right deal presents itself. However, I don't think he's complete trash, as many C's fans do. I wouldn't just give him away for a bag of Doritos, because he's shown enough talent to make me think there's a CHANCE - however slight - that he could still develop into a great energy guy off the bench.