Am I reading your OP right? You basically want us to trade our expiring contracts now for...an expiring contract two years from now? What exactly do we get by trading Battier and Jeffries for Peja? Some dude who's an overall worse player than Battier yet makes 1.5x his salary? Not to mention instead of having an expiring contract now, we still have to swallow 15M for the next two years? LOL you're an NO fan right? There's absolutely no logical reason for trading for Peja alone. None.
Except that Peja makes 15 Mil and Battier makes 7M. Does the concept of salaries and the salary cap elude you? Also even if we compare the boxscore stats Peja's % isn't that different from Battier's %...just that Peja took more shots.
I definitely don't want Battier or Budinger to start, but Peja won't cut it. More importantly I think we need to pair a good defensive player with Kevin Martin (unless it's Carmelo). A guy who can play offense AND defense would be even better (wow, imagine that!).
Just what we need. A net gain of 4 points a game for an extra 10 million. Now take away 10 points a game for the defensive liability Peja is compared to Shane and we lose 6 points a game and gain 10 million in Payroll. Definitely sounds like a move Morey would want to make Really the move is that of a shear MORON
lol no way The only way we stop kobe/artest, james/wade is with lee/battier Battier is gold to have..
He's done more than Shane Battier. Defensivley, Shane's the better player. But offensivley Pedja's MILES better than Shane and better compliments Yao. Since we already have Lee and Jeffries, Battier's defense will be collectivley replaced. If you look at Dallas, the Lakers, Portland, OKC etc...they all have FIREPOWER. Why wouldnt we stock up on as much firepower as the other teams
The Thunder and the Lakers have firepower? Really? Those two teams aren't good because of some crazy offense, they're good because they're really good defensive teams, whether due to the Twin Towers of the Lakers or the excellent coaching of Brown. Or are you going to bother defining firepower, which we already have a crapton of with Brooks and Martin, whom since will be obviously starting, we could use someone who's really good at defense. Which is not Peja. Defense is half the game. Period. You need people whom can play it really well, and help out. Battier can do that. Peja can't. And that's not even getting into Peja's ridiculous salary.
Not a bad idea, OP. Maybe we could use Peja as a kamikaze kinda player. Have him run over and injure LerBon when we meet them in the finals or Kobe when we meet them in the WCF. He'd obviously be banned for life, but 15 mil well spent.
But we already have Jeffries and Lee. In order for you to win you have to have options. Placing Pedja in a lineup with Yao would automatically give him open 3's. Plus Adelman's system is suited for Pedja. The Lakers, OKC, and Dallas have elite players surrounded by tons of offensive options. So does Portland. We dont have a elite talent, so why wouldnt we stock up offensivley? Especially if we already have defensivley capable players................
I submit that: 1. The OP proposed trading Battier AND Jeffries, as trading just Battier is impossible. And then we would have absolutely no one who could even remotely guard a SF, as Lee can hardly do that. 2. Placing Peja in a lineup with Yao would give him open 3s? So? Battier's offense is the 3. And he's not significantly worse as a 3 point shooter either, so frankly, the two as far as we're concerned are pretty much the same offensively. Meaning that since Battier is massively superior defensively and a lot cheaper, trading Battier for Peja is just stupid. I can't believe this has to be explained. 3. Let's take a look at the Lakers. Fisher is useless, Kobe is a great player whom I respect but is getting up there, Artest is LOL on offense, and you have the two big men. They're a good offensive squad, but they are not an offensive powerhouse. The reason the Lakers are still the best team in the league is because of the Gasol-Bynum combo which lets them guard the paint and grab rebounds. Playing inside and defense are the keys to winning rings, which is among other reasons why the Mavs, a soft jump shooting team, always choke. That's how you win. A soft has-been SF who can do absolutely nothing on BOTH ends of the court but fire three's and is paid an insane amount is not what we need.
