What does everyone think of my decision and moves to build for two years from now? I still might swing Carter and Davis, but for now, I turned Chris Andersen(33) + Mo Williams(29) + Shawn Marion(33) + Gustavo Ayon(26) into Patrick Peterson(22) + Ryan Anderson(23) + Baron Davis(33) + Ivan Johnson(27).
I really like the new direction of your team but to be honest I was surprised you were so willing to let go of Ayon. It remains to be seen if this season is a fluke so far but he's been phenomenal in his first year in the league.
Yeah, that might come back to bite me. The fact that he is almost 27 years old (26 years, 328 days according to basketball reference) and only plays 18 minutes a game for the Hornets made me a little more willing to part with him, though.
Yeah, almost the same exact sentence could be used for Tiago Splitter, though. Those international guys just get a late start. But that's a fair point.
The exact same sentence should be used for Splitter, and Scola.
The problem with Ayon (and Splitter, and Scola) is that they're in their prime right now. But, they're not used to the NBA game. Also, the NBA game is not used to defending them (there aren't reels upon reels of tape, and years of in-game experience playing against them) when they first get in.
My point is that you get some weird results. Ilyasova when he came back from Europe was very good for the bucks for a year. What happened? The NBA figured him out before he figured them out. He's just now coming around.
And, they (the Splitters, Scolas, Ayons) likely aren't ever going to get much better. Just craftier, and that goes both ways, as the NBA will figure out how to defend them, especially if they play for a contender.
