Firstly it wasn't Danny that walked away, it was the Clippers. Danny held firm (finally) at Jordan and 2 firsts. The Clippers decided to walk rather than continue to negotiate and try to get Danny to bend more.
He had already compromised hugely from his original demands (which were admittedly too high, but you always start high to give yourself room to come down).
So really what you are saying is that Danny should have just said screw it I will give you exactly what you want? No. Thats terrible.
Jordan is young and athletic, but extremely flawed and although he might develop he won't be worth the money he is getting paid. With the roster the Clippers would have assembled (especially since it would have clinched a long extension for CP3) those picks would have been virtually second rounders, but guaranteed. And at that point you might find a real steal, but more realistically its bench fodder.
DJ and 2 firsts won't help our rebuild along enough to give in so thoroughly to the Clippers' demands. We are better off taking some time and try to develop some better options. Maybe KG will waive his NTC for another team if given enough time to mull it over and the right situation.
At the end of the day Danny refused to be mugged, and the Clippers decided to walk away, Danny did the right thing by (finally) holding firm.
Exactly, I don't see why some people want Danny to make this move.
Some simple points:
1. DeAndre's Contract:
DeAndre Jordan is owed $10M/year for the next couple of years, roughly the same contract that KG is on
2. DeAndre for now:
DeAndre Jordan is too raw to win us any games right now. He an above average rebounder, a good shot blocker and he's very athletic...but he is a liability on offense for a Boston team who's biggest problem right now is a lack of offense. He'd make a fantastic backup center (certainly a huge upgrade over DJ White, Shav or Wilcox) but who wants to pay $10M/year for a backup?
3. DeAndrew for the Future:
DeAndre Jordan doesn't have a massive upside. He shoots 30% from the foul line, he has no jump shot, he has no post up skills and he doesn't have a super high IQ. His youth (24 years old) may suggest he has a lot of potential to improve, but reality is that he's alrady been in the league 5 seasons and nothing much as changed...nothing much likely will. To the major optimist his ceiling Tyson Chandler, but to anyone realistic his ceiling is more like Samuel Dalembert - only a worse FT shooter. That gives you a solid backup / average starter for years to come so if you discard the money factor you could do much worse...but then would you really pay $10M and give up two future hall of famers
and a top tier coach in return for a possible future Sam Dalembert? You could just as easily draft one with #16.
4. LAC Picks:
The Clippers were offering us two picks + Jordan from memory. If we make this deal the Clippers end up with a starting lineup of Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Paul Pierce, Blake Griffin, Kevin Garnett as well as Doc Rivers as the head coach. Then you still have Bledsoe (since they won't give him to us), Jamaal Crawford and Lamar Odom coming off the bench. If that team doesn't make it to at least the WCF it would be the biggest basketball dissapointment of the last decade...and if they do make it to the WVC those two draft picks will fall somewhere in the 27-30 range. That's not worth much from a talent perspective or a trade asset perspective. In fact it's not worth much period.
5. Loss of production
With the loss of KG and Pierce we lose a combined production of 34 PPG, 14 RPG, 7 APG. Even if you assume an increased role and calculate on a Per-36 minute basis, the 13 PPG, 10 RPG and 0.5 APG we get back from Jordan still leaves us with a 20 point, 4 rebound, 6 assist void to fill. Where will that come from? In addition to that there are the intangibles. The defensive impact that KG has on the entire team will be gone, as will the veteran leadership of both players and Doc. In the meantime buying out Pierce only saves us enough Cap space to put us right on the Cap limit, so we still cannot sign players for any more than the MLE, BIA or Vet Min. That's not enough resources to fill the voids left by Pierce and KG...not even close.
This is even before you consider the other intangibles. Will Rondo resign if there's no Doc, no Pierce, no KG and the team is not Playoff bound? Will guys like Melo, Sully and Bradley develop to their potential without those guys around as mentors?
If you are getting sufficient young talent in return then sure, you take those gambles becasue the talent is there and will eventually work itself out (as with the OKC scenario) but what we were getting back from the Clippers certainly doesn't quality as 'sufficient young talent'.
