My guess is if there is going to be someone moved out of Jersey it's Yi Jianlian because he hasn't panned out to be quite what he projected to be at the time of the draft(yeah, I know he was drafted by someone else, just saying he's been a bit of a disappointment) and because it dumps another $4.5 million in salary for next year when the Nets aren't sure what the salary cap is going to come in at.
Jianlian for Scal and Giddens
I think they get at least a first rounder as well for Yi. But ultimately, I think that would be an interesting trade for both teams. I really don't think Yi fits into their future, playing next to Lopez (Ideally, they would have more of a banger in that spot), but he would infuse some talent into this C's team.
How do you figure? He's not infusing talent to the Nets.
The move for Courtney Lee I could understand from the C's perspective, less so for the Nets. Yi would only happen if Danny is still hung up on him but I can't imagine that's still the case after having seen his lack of production for the past 2 years.
Danny can do better than this deal for those expirings without having to toss in a 1st rounder to boot.
What I meant to say was infuse YOUNG talent. For all his faults, Yi would be the most talented young guy the C's have other than Rondo and Perkins (although Yi may have even more talent than Perk...if he could figure out what to do with it).
Now, it still needs to be cultivated, and that is certainly a risk. But Yi is still a talented young player with a lot of upside. They are not given away for expiring contracts without some kind of sweetener.
And you may be right, Danny could do better (at least with improving the team for this year as the goal), but I also think it is not a terrible deal.
Dumping Yi helps the Nets get down to about $21 million in open cap space after everyone but Harris, Lopez, T.Williams, Lee, CDR, and Boone is renounced and that includes the holds for their two first round picks. Moving Yi would guarantee the Nets the ability to add one max contract free agent and almost(90-95%of max) another max level free agent contract.
Is that worth a first round pick? If you are giving them salary relief, maybe. But if that is the case have them include this year's pick, which lowers there cap another million and give them picks in 2011 and 2013. That gives the C's two first rounders this year that they could use to replace Giddens and Walker as prospects as I think both are probably gone as they haven't panned out.
OK, you are putting too much stock in the whole cap space thing. They already have plenty of capspace to sign a superstar, and surround them with a couple role players to go along with their excellent young core. There is no way they give away Yi without getting SOMETHING of value back. And they sure are not going to give away a lottery pick next year, just to pick late in the first roung in 2011 and 2013.
Yi may be a disappointment based on where he was drafted, but he is averaging 10 points, and 7.5 rebounds per game before he got injured. Yeah, he is not going to bring back as much as they gave up for him, but there is no way they dump him simply for expiring contracts.