BREAKING: Sixers Trade Willie Green and Jason Smith to Hornets

According to Adrian Wojnarowski's twitter, the Sixers have dealt Willie Green and Jason Smith to the Hornets for Craig Brackins and Darius Songaila.

Obviously this is huge news for everyone who finally got around to buying their Willie Green jersey, but aside from that contingent, I can't express how thrilled I am. Brackins is a high upside prospect recently drafted out of Iowa State. Songaila is a $4.8 million expiring contract. This is awesome.

From Tanner:

You have no idea how much this excites me to A) get rid of Willie Green once and for all and, B) get Craig Brackins, the player I was advocating the Sixers take a shot at in the late first round or early second.  He ended up going in the middle of the first round to the Hornets but he's ours now.  At 6'10" and 229 pounds, he provides some much needed size for the interior.

The Sixers also get an expiring, serviceable inside role player in Songalia instead of having a slow, soft, expiring Jason Smith.  I'd say this is a win on all accounts for the Sixers.

From Jordan:

I love this trade on so many levels. Getting rid of Willie Green is obviously incredible, but receiving a player (Brackins) drafted in the first round last year in return is even more incredible. Brackins may never amount to much, but trading Willie Green and Jason Smith for any prospect is a steal. And all we have to take back was Darius Songalia's expiring 4.6 million dollar deal. Give Thorn props on this deal. He made something out of nothing.

From Derek:

I can't say I'm nearly as in love with Brackins as some of my cohorts. I'm not sure what he projects to as doing well on the NBA level. He played a lot of mid-post in college, but he's not great at establishing position, and it led to a lot of contested jumpers that he didn't shoot a great percentage on. He's not great as holding defensive position in the post, he's not a great athlete to be a shotblocker, he's not strong enough or consistent enough to be a great rebounder, and his range, while he shows flashes, isn't consistent and he's fairly inefficient from midrange.

Perhaps his post game translates, I'm just not sure. He certainly didn't get much help from his guards, so maybe he's got some untapped potential. I thought he was a late first/early second guy, not mid-first. I definitely liked him more on a non-guaranteed second round deal.

That being said, even though the Sixers are adding salary on this deal, just not having Bill is reason enough to celebrate.

On whether Brackins has more upside than Smith ...

Yeah, he definitely has more potential than Smith. If he adds some lower body strength he has the chance to be an average defender and rebounder, something I don’t think Smith ever had.

Somebody pat Rod Thorn on the back. More to come later.

HERCULES! HERCULES!