I'm sure you have all read Bill Simmons's annual Trade Value column, and if you haven't, you probably shouldn't, because it will just anger you. Here's a breakdown of the rules:
A quick recap of the rules:
1. Salaries matter. Over this season and the next two, would you rather pay David West $27 million or Amare Stoudemire $43 million?
2. Age matters. Would you rather have Chauncey Billups for the next five seasons or Rajon Rondo for the next 12?
3. Pretend the league passed the following rule: For 24 hours, any player can be traded without cap ramifications but with luxury-tax ramifications. So if Team A tells Team B, "We'll trade you Player X for Player Y," would Team B make the deal?
4. Concentrate on degrees. Neither San Antonio nor Orlando would make a Howard-Duncan trade, but the Spurs would at least say, "Wow, Dwight Howard's available?" and have a meeting about it while the Magic would say, "There's no frickin' way we're trading Dwight Howard." That counts in the big scheme of things.
5. The list runs in reverse order (Nos. 40 to 1). So if Carmelo comes in at No. 16, players 1 through 15 are all players about whom the Nuggets would probably say, "We hate giving up 'Melo, but we definitely have to consider this deal." And they wouldn't trade him straight-up for any player listed between Nos. 17 and 50.
Fair enough. That's not where my problem lies. My problem lies with the list itself. There is not a single Sixer on it. No Andre Iguodala. No Marreese Speights. No Thaddeus Young. That is a complete and utter joke. They didn't even make the honorable mention list for god's sake.
So you're telling me NBA teams with these players would reject a one-for-one trade for Andre Iguodala?
Andrea Bargnani. No.
Rudy Gay and Rodney Stuckey. No.
Luol Deng. Are you serious? The next one's even worse.
J.J. Hickson. J.J. Hickson for Andre Iguodala?. That's ridiculous.
I might be able to understand if Young and Speights didn't make the cut, but for Iguodala not to make the list at all is horrible.
Sorry if I'm coming off as an angry homer, but this list was just the icing on the cake. I've been sick of the Sixers and Iguodala getting no love from the NBA and ESPN, especially Bill Simmons, for a long time. I'd write more, but I might hurt somebody.
P.S. Elton Brand ranked second on the list. The list of the NBA's worst contracts that is.