Washington/Phoenix trade Being reported Gortat, Okafor

[LooseCannon]

Are they giving the reigns to Alex Len now?

I dont like this trade for Washington. I think $14 million expiring can land more than just Gortat, who I believe is an equally good player as Okafor. I don't think Gortat elevate the Wiz in a way.

And they have to give up a pick?

Except Okafor, I hear, is out indefinitely with an injury.

This is didn't know.

But still, that's a ton of expiring money. I think it can net more than just Gortat, injuries and all. I think with a few pieces they can net Rudy Gay from Toronto. Or Carlos Boozer maybe.

But I retract my position, Okafor being injured and getting Gortat in exchange, it is indeed a win for Washington.

I don't think you understand the value of an expiring contract.

The Wiz are trying to compete right? So I think they want to net talent for their expiring. I think they can get more than Gortat with that $14 million, namely those guys I mentioned. Those players' teams want to shed salary, a perfect match.

Teams generally want an expiring contract as trade ballast to match salary between cheap assets such as draft picks or rookie-scale contracts being traded for a veteran player on a bigger contract.

Toronto and Chicago also want to compete.  You would have to explain why a team such as the Bulls would want to dump Boozer's contract in exchange for a draft pick and a player who might not play this season.

[fairweatherfan]

Dammm phx now has 4 first rounders for 2014 draft

Washington's (top 12 protected)
Minnesota's (top 13 protected)
Indiana's (top 14 protected)
their own

I wonder what the odds are of all three of those protections triggering.

Indiana makes those odds extremely low, but the other 2 could easily happen.

I like the deal for Washington, they're a big enough market that they can make a push like this.  They still need a solid SF but if Wall and Beal can make a leap they'll be pretty dangerous.

Disagree.

Devil's advocate: John Wall pulls a hamstring, Kevin Love sprains a knee, and Paul George breaks a finger on his shooting hand. Boom, triple protection activates.

Haha, maybe.  But I think Indy would still make the playoffs with an injured George.  Washington and Minny are in "believe it when I see it" mode.  They've both got promise but they've both had promise before, especially Minny. 

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Are they giving the reigns to Alex Len now?

I dont like this trade for Washington. I think $14 million expiring can land more than just Gortat, who I believe is an equally good player as Okafor. I don't think Gortat elevate the Wiz in a way.

And they have to give up a pick?

Except Okafor, I hear, is out indefinitely with an injury.

This is didn't know.

But still, that's a ton of expiring money. I think it can net more than just Gortat, injuries and all. I think with a few pieces they can net Rudy Gay from Toronto. Or Carlos Boozer maybe.

But I retract my position, Okafor being injured and getting Gortat in exchange, it is indeed a win for Washington.

I don't think you understand the value of an expiring contract.

The Wiz are trying to compete right? So I think they want to net talent for their expiring. I think they can get more than Gortat with that $14 million, namely those guys I mentioned. Those players' teams want to shed salary, a perfect match.

Teams generally want an expiring contract as trade ballast to match salary between cheap assets such as draft picks or rookie-scale contracts being traded for a veteran player on a bigger contract.

Toronto and Chicago also want to compete.  You would have to explain why a team such as the Bulls would want to dump Boozer's contract in exchange for a draft pick and a player who might not play this season.

Toronto is having a fire sale when Ujiri took over. He already started by dumping Bargs contract. Rudy Gay is not the favorite of a lot of people (the metrics guy hate him much more) but he's a 2nd tier talent. Ujiri would do that trade that involves those two, especially with a 1st rounder coming in.

Chicago is indeed competing, but also wants to be below the tax line (because their owner is cheap). Losing Boozer is not going to be a big detriment to that team because they have Taj Gibson.

And talent wise, Boozer is better (not defensively of course) than Gortat. I think the Wiz could compete better with Boozer than with Gortat. He will provide a second scoring option, stretch the floor a bit with his midrange and still be a productive rebounder.

I really think the Bulls would do Okafor for Boozer. Gortat is not a bad haul, knowing that Okafor is hurt and all, but I think Wiz could have had something better.

So we agree to disagree I guess.

[VitorSullyandKOFan]

Good trade for both teams. Wow 4 picks for the Suns this season I Ainge can trade Bass or Bradley for another pick.

[LooseCannon]

Toronto is having a fire sale when Ujiri took over. He already started by dumping Bargs contract.

That's not a fire sale, that's the Raptors finding a sucker to take on a bad player on a bad contract.

[Celtics4ever]

Ainge can trade Bass or Bradley for another pick.

I hope he trades for Faried.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Toronto is having a fire sale when Ujiri took over. He already started by dumping Bargs contract.

That's not a fire sale, that's the Raptors finding a sucker to take on a bad player on a bad contract.

And indeed he did. From what I read from Yahoo! Sports last July, that's just one of a few more moves he intends to do. But I guess I'm just believing in the article a bit too much, maybe?

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Ainge can trade Bass or Bradley for another pick.

I hope he trades for Faried.

Oh I hope not. Faried will be overpaid. Great motor, great rebounder, decent in everything else. Wouldnt really mind him if he's not going to get overpaid, which he will.

[gpap]

Why couldn't Ainge get in on this?

Not like we don't need a center or anything

[Lucky17]

Why couldn't Ainge get in on this?

Not like we don't need a center or anything

Not sure what you mean. Why didn't Ainge go after Gortat? I think that's pretty evident.

[Endless Paradise]

Gortat is an expiring and will be 30 by February.  Why would you want a year's rental of a guy who would most certainly not stick around for the rebuilding project?  He makes sense on a competitive team, which the Celtics are not.  And he isn't good enough to make this team competitive.

[LooseCannon]

Why couldn't Ainge get in on this?

Not like we don't need a center or anything

I'd guess because Ainge didn't want to give up a first-round pick.

Kendall Marshall didn't have good stats last year and is expected to be waived.  I wonder if he would be available if Ainge wanted to try and sign him to a minimum, non-guaranteed contract to fill that 15th roster spot.  Would a former first-round pick still young enough to be seen as having upside be available for that cheap?

[Fan from VT]

Gortat's better than Gay, and more of a need for Washington. I understand it from Washington's perspective, especially since their owner is old and doesn't want to sit through a rebuild.

I think expirings are now less valuable due to a more owner friendly CBA and fewer terribly dumb GMs. Not as many terrible contracts on productive players; bad contracts aren't as long or for as much money, because contracts are shorter there are more expiring contracts each season. If you look around, there are a lot of expirings, so instead of the market being teams calling washington saying "can we please have your expiring contract, we'll give you player X plus something!!" the market is more teams with expirings calling around saying "we'll give you our expiring plus X to get that player you don't need."

[Lucky17]

Why couldn't Ainge get in on this?

Not like we don't need a center or anything

I'd guess because Ainge didn't want to give up a first-round pick.

Kendall Marshall didn't have good stats last year and is expected to be waived.  I wonder if he would be available if Ainge wanted to try and sign him to a minimum, non-guaranteed contract to fill that 15th roster spot.  Would a former first-round pick still young enough to be seen as having upside be available for that cheap?

If Marshall does get waived, he can call his own shots, and go wherever he wants. Presumably, someplace where he can compete for minutes. Maybe that could be Boston, I'm not sure. It might take a bit of salesmanship to convince Marshall that Boston is his best landing spot.

[gpap]

Why couldn't Ainge get in on this?

Not like we don't need a center or anything

Not sure what you mean. Why didn't Ainge go after Gortat? I think that's pretty evident.

What I mean is we need a center and Gortat fits that need.