Trade in the Works for Hornets-Raptors

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Published: November 20, 2010

ESPN.com is reporting that a five-player trade between the Raptors and Hornets was almost completed friday night, and still may be in the works.

The players involved are Peja Stojakovic and Jerryd Bayless for Jarrett Jack, Marcus Banks and David Andersen.    My quick take:

I love what this says about Dell Demps.  He made a move to get Bayless, thinking he would provide a solid backup option at the point.  10 games later, Bayless has shown no ability to play that position, and Demps is willing to make a move to get a much superior backup at the point.  That’s unheard of.  GMs are always loathe to admit a mistake.  Demps apparently does not.

And make no mistake, Jarrett Jack is the best player in this trade.  Peja was a season or two ago, but he’s not now.   Bayless is terrible.  No shooting stroke, a mediocre ability to get to the rim, and no respect from the refs to draw fouls.  Marcus Banks is a salary throw in, and David Andersen is essentially Darius Songaila without the toughness (though he can hit on the pick and pop – and we know the Hornets bread and butter is that play, so he may even get some minutes.)

So if you look at the trade overall,  the Hornets are working to trade a part that doesn’t fit and a part that isn’t working, for one of the best backup point guards in the league and some salary fill in, which they can still turn around and move later if they want.

Problems with the Reported Trade:

The trade reported above can’t actually be the one being completed.  First, Bayless cannot be moved as part of a trade bundle.  That’s not a huge problem, since it could actually be two seperate trades with Andersen being moved for for Bayless.

Here’s the actual problem, though.  The rest of the trade: Peja for Banks and Jack?  That trade does not contain enough Raptor salary for it to work according to the trade rules.  The Raptors need to send back another 2.5 million.  There are players for the Raptors that could be included – but it would have to be someone like DeMar DeRozan or Ed Davis, and there is no way I can see the Raptors giving up one of them in this deal too.

Something’s not right.  We’ll see how it develops.

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