Michael and I recap the last two games and then get right to your calls about trades! December 15th is the day many players will become trade eligible, and we look at various offers and proposals, make our own, and generally talk about what sort of teams the Hornets should be targeting to make trades. Gordon, Aminu, Vasquez, Lopez – they are all on the table.
Oh, and I apologize to Brian Roberts.
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20 responses to “In the NO Podcast Episode 104: Trade Extravaganza!”
I haven’t listnened yet, but I’m guessing Michael was tweeting about Tyreke Evans as the one most people wanted. I know I left 2 messages with trades involving him.
Why trade gordon, and sell at his all-time-low value, mind you, for a bunch of junk just because that junk is not on an albatross contract? Its like “Hey! you know who I’d rather than gordon? jeremy lin! Why lin? because im not as mad at him for being overpaid and marginal as i am at gordon for being overpaid (debatable if healthy) due to injury.”
You guys say that we won’t be ready to really compete until the ’14-’15 season anyway, so should it really matter that gordon isn’t back and balling already? I’m positive that you guys are just fine with being back in the lotto again. (looking forward to more “Draft Watch” material, MIke) Call me crazy but i say the guy can have the whole year off PROVIDED he comes back perfectly healthy and with his head in the game. Time heals all wounds, right?
Look, I understand the “When will you guys stop being optimists and realize this guy will always battle injuries and miss significant time?” argument. But the answer to that question is “when gordon gets 100% healthy from the 1 injury thats given him any trouble, AND THEN fails to be able to stay on the court. He’s not hurting us much even by not playing this year but by next year, he would start to.
You guys are right though, as a small market team, we definitely can’t afford to have a max player that can’t see the floor. But do you guys really not see Gordon staying healthy for a period of time long enough to raise his value before we trade him at least? That period of time may only have to be a few weeks to a month. Any value is better than negative value.
anyways, thanks to sensei schwan and maestro mike for the top notch infotainment (as usual)
That is the risk. I agree, selling Gordon right now would probably get you a D- package of assets and contracts in return. The best play would be to showcase him just long enough so that you can get that package up to a C or a C+ and sell before he gets hurt again. It’s a tightrope that you would be walking at that point.
But one or two injuries would make him untradeable IMO- similar to what Amare is at this point. You gotta play him to get the value up but sell before he becomes untradeable. I guess I would be willing to take that gamble, but if someone wanted to just take him off my hands now I would be relieved and take a safer bet elsewhere.
I should qualify.. I suggested Stuckey, Jerebko, and Kim English, but all of my trades were centered around financial flexibility and dumping Gordon to a desperate GM. I am not particularly fond of any player not named Calderon. That said, Ryan, I’m not sure I would take Bargnani back. He only has one less year than Gordon, and we’d only save a few mill taking back that contract. You guys have said that Colangelo thought Gordon didn’t deserve max, but he has to be getting desperate, right? He just threw out that contract to Fields. They have Lowry, Valanciunas, and DeRozan, and word is Bargnani is on trade lock. I don’t think they’re getting better anytime soon, and their pick might not even be theirs.
This summer, I was riding the Eric Gordon bandwagon. I love watching him play, and wanted to believe he was a foundational piece. But things have been fishy with him since the start, and I just don’t want that contract on our books.
Final note: I don’t want Michael Beasley anywhere near our players. Word is that his presence in Phoenix is toxic, and I already hated him in Minny
not saying Lowry, Valanciunas, and DeRozan won’t be any good, but my point is that they probably won’t immediately improve through draft, and I don’t see a marquee FA picking Toronto
Bargnani on trade block, not lock***
Just curious, where do you guys coach basketball?
I coach basketball and football at a high school in Provo, Utah. Great kids who really put in the effort. Being on this side of it is nerve wrecking and I have developed more empathy for coaches than I had in the past. It sucks to have the result so far outside of your control, but the wins are 10x sweeter than they were as a player. Losses are much more heart breaking.
Parents suck.
I don’t see much point in just moving him for cap space. My personal take on cap space in a small market high lottery team is that it doesn’t do much. Not many great players worth big contract would sign with us. If anything, we may have to overpay for most guys in this market, which is not a winning plan for this team.
We’re stuck with Gordon. I don’t like it as much as the next guy, but small market teams, to me, deal in assests, not cap space. Gordon is a potential big asset who in an injury free vacuum is worth his contract. Our best bet is to wait for an extended period of quality play and ship him out at his highest, not lowest.
Stop it you guys. Just stop it. Stop it to everyone who called in or comments here (or any Hornets site for that matter) who seriously thinks Brian Roberts should be starting over Vasquez or is a better overall point guard.
I love chatting with Michael or Twitter during games or debating with you guys after podcasts but I really can’t believe the backlash over Vasquez tight now. Call me a Vasquez apologist or that I’m a little biased, that’s fine, but to me this is kinda ridiculous. Granted Greivis has played poorly of late and is better suited as a backup who comes off the bench and gives you 25 miniutes of play on a given night (a la Jason Smith, in a perfect Hornets world in which we have a legit starting PG). But to say you’d rather have Roberts running the show is a bit absurd to me.
I’ve watched this team play in person 3 times this year and the only thing I took away from Roberts play is that he’s a very good mid-range shooter who can get his shot with the right matchup (on backups). But he could not run the offense, is a poor passer and decision-maker and is a shooting guard thats better playing off the ball (as has been stated here and on Twitter before). Heck, if we want to make him our starting SG for the time being, I’d be ok with that. Give the backup PG minutes to Rivers when Vasquez is out. But for everyone to suddenly just want to ditch/trade Vasquez just to get rid of him for a bad game against Washington is stunning to me. I’m 30 mins into this podcast, will continue to listen on. But wanted to say that for now
Just wondering, how many calls did y’all get for this podcast?
We got close to 30- a lot of them targeting some of the same players or multiple calls by the same person, so we tried to play a few and then shout out some of the ideas from others instead of playing all the calls.
Love the interaction of the call ins
After listening to the remainder of the podcast, I’ve decided to divide the proposed trades into the following categories:
1) Trades I’d do but there’s no way in hell the other team would agree to:
-Charlotte: Lopez for Walker
-Toronto: Vasquez, Lopez and Top 8 protected pick for Lowry and Gray
-Milwaukee: Dalembert and Harris and lottery protected 1st rounder for Lopez and Henry
-Indiana: Stephenson and Augustin for Vasquez and Henry
I’d LOVE the Lopez for Kemba deal, I just don’t see the Bobcats making that trade ever (even if its a very smart deal for them). Kemba has turned it around this year and looking like a legit NBA PG and our glut of big men gives us the freedom to do this. I’m a HUGE Kyle Lowry fan and think he’d be the perfect guard for Monty’s style and this team; that being said there’s no reason for Toronto to just give him away after just 1/2 season unless they’re completely blowing it up, which Colangelo can’t afford to do. Plus we get to welcome Aaron Gray back (yay!) The Milwaukee dal I feel like is just swapping interchangeable parts for no reason (a trade for trade’s sake); unless we got Larry Sanders (who they really like) I don’t see how either team benefits. And the Indiana one, I just don’t see why the Pacers do it (they really like Stephenson), especially since they get Henry haha. Augustin for Vasquez straight up is intriguing tho.
2) Trades the Hornets should do in a second:
-Utah: Jefferson and Burks for Gordon and Lopez
-Boston: Lee and Fab Melo and 2013 1st rounder for Lopez and Henry
These are my two favorite deals and they have a serious chance of actually happening. The Utah deal is great because the Jazz get Lopez to backup Kanter (unless they play Favors at C) and add Gordon to their nice core of Millsap, Favors, Heyward and Kanter. While we get out of EG’s deal and get a nice expiring (and 1/2 year or more of Big Al next to Anderson and AD) to go along with Burks, who I really wanna see get a shot and some PT (being a CU guy I’m dying to see him in NOLA haha). And the Boston deal is great because the Celtics get a legit center to play with KG and they have a logjam at SG; Lee is another perfect fit for this team and you never know what Fab Melo or the pick could turn into.
3) Trades that wonder what you guys were smoking when you thought of them:
-Sacramento: Brooks and Fredette for Vasquez and Aminu
-Houston: Lin for Lopez and Aminu (plus Top-10 protected pick)
-LA Clippers: Bledsoe and Odom for Vasquez and Lopez
Ok. So I like Aaron Brooks, but Fredette is not good, period. And this trade means Henry/Thomas are our SF combo…not good. Plus I don’t see why Sacramento would want Vasquez/Aminu. They already have Outlaw, James Johnson, Salmons, Garcia…where does Aminu fit in there? Just continues their problem of logjams at spots. Houston deal: why would Morey trade Lin?? He’s not gonna break up that backcourt (yet) after 40 or so games. But the bigger problem (as Mike mentioned in the podcast) is what this trade would mean for Rivers; shows no confidence in him, and bumps him to SG (he’s a PG in this league). And Lin isn’t worth 8.5 mil IMO. The Clips trade; I mean, I get what Mike said about Vinny playing the vets come playoff time and all, but they really like him and to that point, where do the Clips play Grevis with Green, Crawfors, Chauncey, CP3 already there? Same problem, different player. Lopez would be competing with Jordon, Griffin, Barnes, Turiaf for minutes. I just don’t see why Clips would want him either. And bringing in Bledsoe sends the same message to Rivers that bringing in Lin would (plus I like Bledsoe as sparkplug off bench).
Alright y’all…soak it all in and hit me with your best shot.
Really think Raps could go for that Lowry trade. You think he will re-sign there after next year?
They tried to win now and it failed miserably. Time to sell.
As for Bledsoe, I think it is possible. Basically, they give Bledsoe’s minutes to Vasquez- minor downgrade, and then give Ryan Hollins and Turiaf’s minutes to Lopez- major upgrade. Possible, but it is all dependent on what other teams offer. But take a minute and look around the league for teams that would trade for a starting PG and then look at what they have to give up. I am telling you, we might be able to give them their best offer
Regardless of whether it’s the best offer for the Clippers, I just don’t see how they’ll feel any pressure to trade Bledsoe for fairly mediocre players. Especially when they’re leading the Pacific division and playing well.
Sure there’s a logjam in the backcourt at the moment, but getting Lopez does not upgrade them all that significantly, he’ll still be a bench player who doesn’t seem nearly as talented as Bledsoe. And they’re looking to resign CP3 after the season, trading away a future piece (who could easily pair with CP3 in the backcourt, similar to the Rondo/Bradley combination in Boston) to get a marginal benefit in the present doesn’t seem particularly wise.
LMAO! “In front of hundreds of people”
We can’t afford the Gordon risk. Hopefully some large market team can. All we need in return is the ability to spend that money on performing assets sooner than Gordon’s contract allows.
I don’t know what happened to Lance thomas he was productive for us at first.Aminu is still young and he plays a position where you have some of the best players at the small forward spot.We need a defensive veteran to guard great small forwards.I think Greivis isn’t ready to start,he has spurts but we got spoiled by having chris paul at point guard.Xavier henry needs to score for us.Do something.Jason smith should not be playing center.That’s what we should have drafted – a backup or starting center.I like Robin lopez,keep him. We have open roster spots,get a center and a veteran scoring point guard.
Heres a trade NO-SAC-TOR
NO gets: Bargani,Lowry,Kietza,Ed Davis from Tor and Thornton from Sac
Sac gets Gordon,Aminu and Henry
Tor gets:Smith,Vasguez,Lopez from NO and Salmons Sac
Hornets get:
Richard Jefferson
Harrison Barnes
Klay Thompson/Brandon Rush
Warriors get:
Eric Gordon
Al-Farouq Aminu
Xavier Henry