[Minnesota's decision] Ricky Davis or Steve Francis?

Just shows you how bad Steve's trade value has depleted. Orlando was willing to trade "the Franchise" for a couple of role players. Ouch.

 

From purely a fan or fun perspective... I think I'd much much rather have had the Timberwolves make the trade for Francis, but from a more business, "GM" and longterm perspective I'd taken the davis/Hassel/banks trade 9 times out of 10. I count Hassel and not blount due to, one blount would have been traded for Kandi regardless of Francis or Davis, whereas Hassel would be gone if the Francis trade went thru.

Reason being is simple... From a production and talent standpoint, Davis/Hassel/Banks pretty much equals or is just slightly less than Steve Francis at this stage in his carreer.

From a value standpoint... it isnt even close... Francis whos makes the MAX for 3 more years or Davis who makes 7million... Hassell and Banks much lower

If for whatever reason either player implodes, becomes a problem etc and has to be dumped or traded, Davis Hassel Banks would be much easier to get rid of for equal value than SF and his large contract.

But still Francis and Garnett woulda been fun! Heh

 

Well, assessing what the Wolves got:

Banks,
Banks is a non-prospect at this point. He an uncoachable, arrogant cancer who, despite a world of talent, has improved neither his attitude nor basketball saavy in his three years. The only improvement he's shown is in his shot, which is marginally better than it was. Whenever he's in the game, the Wolves' team offense will become his offense, which isn't great.

Additionally, it will take a full-court press for the Wolves to retain him over the summer. He's going to the Lakers, where Mitch Kupchack loves him for some reason and he'll be close to home. Go figure.

But I guess he was worth trading for 'cause his stock was low, and he's low- risk because his contract's up.

Reed,
Reed is the key prospect in this deal. He's not a tweener like everyone seems to think (he can play pretty much any position, hell on the Celtics summer league team he saw time at point), and he can play lock-down defense on anyone. He can also score anywhere on the floor, just not reliably from away the basket.

Blount,
On paper, not a bad player. What separates him from the other stiffs is that he can shoot out to 18 feet. He's also not as bad defensively or foul-prone as it sometimes seems, because he was the "filter" for a bad defensive team on the C's. He's also jacked, and can play 82 games out of the year unlike a lot of guys. However, he's worse than guys like Kandi in certain regards. His hands suck. He can't catch the ball in traffic, which kills a lot of potential for his offensive game (if you want to rely on him, you're gonna turn the ball over a lot.) He's also a cancer who demands touches even when he plays terribly.

Davis,
A more valuable player than Francis, plain and simple. Francis only put up all-star numbers because he was on terrible offensive teams, and was coached by Rudy, who let him do what he wanted. Davis had to perform a very specific role on the Celtics (carry a second-unit of first-and-second year players, and take pressure off Paul Pierce late in games) and this year put up better numbers than Francis. He's not a Wally Szcerbiak (that is, a player who'll do wonders for ball-movement), but nor is he a ball-dominating cancer like Francis. He also isn't paid nearly as much, and considerably young.

The big issue with him is that he needs to settle down at times, esp. on the defensive end. He can really overplay guys and give up costly points - but he tries.

So, considering what the Celtics gave the Wolves, yeah, the definitely made the right trade. They did give up a first-round pick (not for this year's weak draft, but for much later -- and who knows who that'll turn into?), but they didn't get Francis, which is always a plus.

 

The problem is you are looking at two players instead of the whole team. the magic actually are getting good shot distribution among its starters. francis isn't taking any shots from howard. hill avgs 13, francis 12, hedo 11, howard 10.


amare's a good comparison, but one thing to take note, the suns avg more shots as a whole. you have to look at the entire team dynamic.
K-Mart was the player of the year in college, a seasoned rookie. Howard is 20 years old.

 

What a bunch of r****ds.

 

I actually think the Ricky Davis/Mark Blount helps them right now. But, in the long term, and possibly in the playoffs THIS year, it helps Minnesota in the long run. It makes KG happy to have a fellow, young franchise player with him, especially one that is a PG that can score, rebound and take over a game. Francis showed that he is fearless in the playoffs.