Wojnarowski on MEM trade, Lebron's future (disses Hollinger)

Bargiani woul be the perfect stretch 4 the rockets desperately want and need...

 

Lebron is not returning to Cleveland in 2014. You can take that to the bank.

 

Correct, but he might slither over to the Lakers or Clippers, depending on what their rosters look like in two years.

 

I'd rather trust the words and actions of the people who run LeBron's bank.

 

I really don't see him leaving Miami. He could, but I think he's happy there and knows he could lure somebody else if D Wade or Bosh begin to decline/get sent out.

But I guess ya never know...

 

Woj seems to think that Rudy Gay is a superstar when in fact he is an average player, maybe a little above average. Seems like Woj doesn't watch the NBA.

 

What makes you think Woj sees Gay as a superstar? The point of the article is about salaries in the modern NBA and how difficult it is to keep a team together, given owners' reluctance to pay increasing tax penalties. From a salary standpoint, Gay is on par with other superstars -- that's where the comparison comes from.

 

Maybe because he lambasted the trade as an awful basketball move and lambasted Hollinger as well? This is the portion of the article that he really could have left out and really shows that he's ridiculously biased and had an agenda in writing this article, or perhaps it was his source's agenda that Woj was told to pass on as a condition for the information.

 

It is a bad basketball move. Tayshaun Prince hasn't been relevant in years, and his main skill (defense) isn't fully there anymore. He's also paid nearly $8 mil per through 2015. It's not as if trading Gay is going to give them salary cap flexibility to make a major addition, either. For no other reason than being thrifty and avoiding the tax, the Grizzlies are taking a clear basketball downgrade and ruining their best shot at catching lightning in a bottle come playoff time (see April and May 2011). I don't think Gay is a star. Never have. Still think this is a clear downgrade for them as a basketball team, both now and going forward.

I thought the "cable sports company" was a cute jab at ESPN, but I don't see what's out of bounds with the Hollinger commentary. He is unproven, and he did make a poor recommendation on Butler with the Spurs. His first two trades with the Grizzlies weren't particularly good ones. I think he's open to criticism.

 

How so? The prevailing sentiment, more or less backed by reality to the best we can determine, is that Gay is a low efficiency player (particularly becausee he specializes in the worst shot in basketball, the pull-up 20 footer...) who takes a ton of touches and is a ballstopper - distributing those touches/shots to other more efficient options (Randloph, Gasol, Conley, whoever) doesnt't seem like a bad basketball move, rather it seems like a good one.

 

Jackie Butler was signed to a 3 year/$7 million deal. That's hardly a disaster. Scola was traded for other reasons, they simply didn't see him as a great fit. That offseason, they signed Matt Bonner to the same deal we gave Scola (3 year/$9 million). Popovich was livid.

 

A lot of players are "efficient" precisely because they can't handle higher usage. Gay's had a PER of 17.8 in his last two full seasons and was the go-to option down the stretch on a team starved for perimeter playmakers. It's too damn easy to front and take post players out of the game when it matters. You can try screen and rolls, sure, but the likes of Conley and Tayshaun Prince aren't going to draw the attention needed. Gay gave them an opportunity that isn't there now. He's been less efficient this year than most of his career, but it's been half of one season. Sample.

I'm not in love with Gay. I think it's a senseless deal for Toronto. But if I put myself in Memphis' shoes, I'd either go one of two ways. Load up the best talent you can around Randolph/Gasol now, contracts be damned, and hope that you can get a motion offense going by the playoffs. Gay is clearly a superior talent to Prince, for this scenario. Or trade Gay and target youth and flexibility. Give yourself a shot in the massive 2014 free agency class to surround Gasol/Conley (and possibly Randolph) with an impact acquisition.

Instead, they rushed to give up a valuable first rounder in the Cleveland deal and chose here to tread water with Tayshaun Prince, a middling veteran who puts them no closer to contention this year and ties up cap space at nearly $8 mil/per for the next three years. Why? Because he'll keep them competitive and ensure playoff berths. As long as the team is competitive, with ample fans and a few extra gate receipts coming in, that's all Memphis ownership cares about.

If the end game is giving yourself the best shot at winning a title, the most logical plays for Memphis were to either keep Gay or target youth and flexibility via those two (or any) trades. They opted for neither. That's why it's a short-sighted, cheap and poor basketball decision.

 

Did it make Pop want to spit?

 

It's not like Rudy Gay plays defense, or rebounds, or makes plays. He does one thing, score, and does it inefficiently. Basically he's become like Michael Beasley, perhaps without the silly off court crap, but on the court there's really not much difference. So they got a promising big, and a solid defender and shooter, they can replace the shots Gay took by going to Randolph and Gasol more and getting more efficient scoring. Yes, they lack perimeter scoring and playmaking but Gay was not really doing that job either. This is a decent basketball move and they even save $10 million a year.

My point about Woj though was that he writes his articles, including this one, with such vitriol it's become nearly impossible for me to take him seriously. You're not a columnist on Fox News writing about Obama, Woj. Restrain your hate.

 

agree with soeme others. Rudy Gay is much better than most would think, Raptors got better. I don't understand Memphis's mentality in making this trade.

 

It will be a great day when Lebron will summon Woj and his other lackeys to his court for Decision 2.0 to announce that he is indeed keeping his talent at South Beach.

 

why would lebron go to the lakers? i just wanna ask cuz' people keep sayin he'll go there.

if lebron does leave miami heat, that would be some, stuff some nasty stuff. they got his olympic jersey hangin' in their arena. it was unveiled in their first game this season against boston celtics.

 

He's done it inefficiently for half of one season. The past two years, Gay has had PERs of 17.8 and 17.8 on shooting percentages of 47.1% and 45.5%. Beasley's only had one season even close to that efficiency, and it was four years ago when he was a rookie. Not an ideal comparison, unless you think Gay won't improve at all from his current state (which is completely out of line with the rest of his career).

It might be a "decent basketball move" in the context of before and after, relative to Gay's weak performance this year. Hard to say. Where it's an awful basketball move is in the big-picture context of trying to win a title. Either stick with Gay, hope he recaptures his old form and your team catches lightning in a bottle like two years ago... or keep Calderon (expiring), don't give away a potential lottery pick in the Cleveland trade, and in general prioritize youth and flexibility.

I don't see the middling Tayshaun Prince route doing anything but keeping them afloat as a lower-tier playoff team for the near future -- nothing less (what matters to the owner), but also guaranteeing nothing more (what should matter with good ownership).

 

If he can stab Cleveland in the back, he can do it to anybody. He could go to LA simply because LA is the most glamorous of the glamor towns. If the Miami roster is crumbling and LA has positioned itself by then to plug him in and immediately go contend, why wouldn't he jump?

 

I can't believe you guys don't think Gay will be on Melos level offensively.. Wait, no he will be on Durants level