A beat writer who is guessing at what could be offered isn't a very firm piece of evidence to support your conclusion. All he is saying is that if it were him, these are the pieces that would likely be available to offer. I think it is pretty safe to say that the memphis beat writer was referring to the bucher "significant offer" news when he mentioned beal WAS on the table.
No he isn't. Read the article, he's reporting what he's hearing from his sources. Same guy who reported that they shot down Beal for Harden.
So you trust what Memphis beat writer speculates (or relays from Grizzlies for PR purpose) but does not trust what WAS beat writer writes. Bottom line: Makes no sense for a rebuilding team to trade young player with high ceiling for old and expensive player. They can just keep Jordan Crawford of they want a guy to take pull-up 20 footers
His source information isn't inclusive of the entire article is what I am saying. If you read the quote about his source: "A source with knowledge of the Wizards’ thinking contended that defining the asset swap required for a talent such as Gay would be an ongoing process." After that quote, he moves toward HIS conjecture about the situation. Just read it, and you'll see. When he mentions OTHER THAN BEAL AND WALL, he doesn't mention this is a source giving him the info.
... ... ... Wait, what. You aren't actually suggesting Rudy Gay is on James Harden's level now, are you?
Better...according to what, Gay plays better D and is what you need to lockdown the superstars of the league.
I don't know it's a fact that they did. From what I recall, sources were split. Some of them were suggesting that OKC wanted additional "win now" veteran piece (a la Martin) that the Wizards didn't have themselves.
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Is this where I point out that Harden steals the ball more often per game than Gay, and by a fairly significant margin too?
OMG...I've never seen anyone do that before...did that really happen in an NBA game? Rudy is known for many things (chucker, not clutch and way overpaid , etc) but D is not one of them. Most Memphis fans want him traded before the deadline because if last year's playoff run showed them anything it was that they play better with him out of the lineup - especially during the big games. $16 million and climbing - that's what he's due...for a 15 PER, 41% (and dropping) shooter with a career 31.8% fg OT percentage. His age (26) is the only thing that keeps GMs from hanging up. But IMO, there is no way you'd want to trade for - and pay for - that. However I do know there are GMs out there that think he would bring value so I expect some kind of wth trade before the deadline.
I hear that the US national team is planning to recruit Gay and Ramon Sessions for the next World Cup. The theory being that a Gay-Love-Sessions lineup would get their hands on a lot of balls.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>RT @<a href="https://twitter.com/wizardsinsider">wizardsinsider</a>: Agent: Bradley Beal has not been offered to Memphis. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23wizards">#wizards</a><a href="http://t.co/Du9bglg3" title="http://wapo.st/Xz1Kh4">wapo.st/Xz1Kh4</a></p>— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrMichaelLee/status/290932056865792000" data-datetime="2013-01-14T21:23:02+00:00">January 14, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Grizzlies reject LeBron for Gay offer</p>— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) </blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>