Trade Machine: Lou Williams to the Magic

…but I still would want something for him. And I hate the idea of taking on Duhon’s crappy contract to have him sitting on the end of the bench in streets, singing love songs with Mo Speezy, the Donger, and Krapono. That barbershop group is big enough already.

There’s no way they could get Brandon Bass for him, is there? :)

They should at least ask for someone useful, no? They might end up with Duhon, but like my dad always said when I was too shy to ask some girl out, “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

…a little too well. And he has a 9.6 PER this year.

Prof. Hollinger aside, I’d rather play Meeks in that role. But if you want to start Jrue and Meeks, with Turner coming off the bench, Rush would be an acceptable fourth guard, I guess. But I want them to get another PF who can actually bang a bit, for when the glass slipper falls off and Brand turns back into a pumpkin.

That’s a legitimate question Derek, but this is not just about the player and their ability, but their coach and the confidence the player induces in them. Every successful coach has some means of evaluation, but it’s clear that Collins’ perspective is screwed up since the change in play has coincided with changes in who’s playing.

In fairness to Turner, he is playing behind some pretty good players ( sort of begging the question of why he was drafted in the first place when we already had players of his type) But Collins did give him a long look at the begging and in the course of play it became apparent that in most instances Thad or Meeks was the better choice. This is important, because it was through objective performance that Turner lost his spot in the rotation.

Turner’s still getting minutes but not doing anything with them, or nothing that would cause a coach to want to play him more. If he started to perform better, it’s logical to assume he would garner more minutes, I’m sure that management wants Turner to succeed.

All of them!!!!

Seriously, the one thing I can dredge out is that making room for Turner shouldn’t be the only reason a trade gets made. I do think a trade should never be made unless either: 1) something at least as useful as what’s given up comes back (this can be draft picks, to be sure), or 2) to clear cap space to sign a free agent you really want (the infamous Korver trade, which seemed like a good idea at the time…no one had any idea that it would take two years for Brand to round back into some semblance of form).

For me, it’s the same logic as why I get a little irritated with all these suggested Iguodala trades that want to give him away for basically nothing…just get him out of here so Turner can have his spot. Iguodala is a valuable player, and value should be received. Obviously, it’s hard to get 1-1 value from a weak bargaining position, but I’d rather keep him until the right deal comes along, rather than strip the team of its most valuable trade asset just to say we made a deal.

Lou, for all his warts, is also a reasonably valuable trade chip. He provides quick-strike offense for a moderate price. Since there is value going out, there should be some value coming back.

I do think these guys need to be traded. I just want them to get something back for them that might make them a better team in the future (extra picks, young guys who have some upside). If they’re trying to rebuild, use these valuable trade chips to get something to rebuild with. Not just “It’ll get Turner more burn, and we’ll suck more.” This has to be done intelligently.

And yes, I know everyone disagrees with me, and would like them to ship out anyone who has a semblance of basketball ability for other teams’ bad contracts, just so the Sixers will get the #1 pick. I’m not so impressed with the top of this year’s draft that I would give away whatever value exists on the roster for it. There is no LeBron, no Dwyane Wade, no Kobe Bryant in this year’s draft, from what I can see. There are some nice players. But you don’t give away Iguodala (or Lou, since we’re talking about him, really) for nothing to get a better shot at a “nice player.”

/endrant