A minor trade in the works?

It appears that the Thunder might be very interesting in aquiring Amir and or Afflalo for a body and maybe a first round pick in the case of Amir.

Thunder Gearing Up for Trade Season

Posted: 1/5/2009 6:07:00 AM
Source: Oklahoman

→Detroit: Arron Afflalo and Amir Johnson are young players who fill two pressing needs for the Thunder on the wing and in the post. The Pistons are high on Johnson, but the Thunder could sweeten the deal with a future draft pick.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/HeadlineStories.asp?lc=NBA&c=1&TEAM_ID=&PLAYER_ID=&hd=20090105#STORY_15521

The players to trade for me would be Herrmann or Maxiell. They are both no higher than 3rd on the depth chart and could be rotation players on building teams.

As long as we didn’t move them for players, I’m all for it. Move ’em for picks.

As far as the Acker/Sharpe trade – I can’t imagine anyone thinking keeping either of them is worth the 3 million in penatly cash. Acker I don’t see being able to make this roster anytime soon – maybe he could get Hermann type minutes next year. Sharpe’s resume is so thin he seems like too big of a risk to be too high on, no matter how mysterious the ceiling.

I’d be sad to see either Amir or AA go as they are two of my personal favorite Pistons, but a Bobcats firt round pick is hard to turn away… if it wasn’t Joe Dumars. Joe Dumars track records with top 14 picks: Mateen Cleaves, Rodney White, Darko Milicic. I think we’ll take a pass on the high Bobcats pick and stick with our low 15-27 that we’d get anyway (Prince, Delfino, Stuckey, Afflalo). Speaking of picks whatever happened to Ricky Paulding and Andreas Glyniadakis? In terms of player swapping I don’t know we’d want from the Bocats in exchange for either of those two mentioned – not to say they don’t have talent (as I like their entire starting 5, well minus Bell) – but just not really anyone I think would help our team.

I think Joe D should consider a trade, but only if Philly throws in Thad Young or Willie Green to sweeten the pot

Maybe if Acker plays well enough these next few days, we can convince Phoenix to swap their second rounder for Acker. Phoenix is searching for some backup guard play, and Terry Porter already knows him. Now we’ll have 5 draft picks(our first and second rounder, then minnesota, toronto, and phoenix’s second rounders) Since we already have four projects,(Amir,Sharpe,Washington,and Plaisted) we don’t need any of those second rounders, so we can hopefully turn around and make quantity into quality.

Afflalo for a bobcats first round pick would be a no-brainer imo…I love the kid, but you’re not supposed to be able to trade role players for lottery tickets that can turn into all-stars

If we trade amir, I would bet the farm that our recent string of holding teams to awful shooting performances ends

Juicebox: I don’t think Cleaves is a good example, not because he didn’t suck (he sucked really bad) but because he was taken 14th and Stuckey was taken 15th. Those are both late lottery picks. What I find interesting about all those bad picks by Joe D. is that they all came before 2004. I’m not saying Joe is no longer capable of laying an egg on a top 10 pick, but has Joe really completely blown a pick since 2003?

I think there is a good opportunity to win at least another two games on this trip. Portland should be missing Roy and the Nuggs could be missing Anthony due to severe wankers cramp.

If Anthony’s hand is fractured and he sits on Friday, that might wind up being a ltitle gift for the West Coast trip, especially with Utah right after the Denver game.

If we could somehow get OKC’s first round pick for Afflalo STRAIGHT UP, that would be the fleecing of the century. They’re pretty much a lock for a top 2 pick. Could you imagine us with a frontcourt of Tayshaun, Amir, and Blake Griffin? Or maybe a future backcourt of Stuckey and Stephan Curry?

If the Thunder are willing to deal their pick, I think we should play ball.

Heh. Wankers.

Don’t the Thunder have quite a few draft picks stocked up?

Blake Griffin will probably be the most skilled big man in the 2009 draft. There also does not appear that there will be a lot of skilled big men in the draft.

Fom what I have seen of his game he could become a very very good NBA player.

One of the problems that the Pistons have going forward; i.e., 2009-10 and forward, is a Johnson problem.

1. He has not yet bulked up enough to play the center position on a night in and night out basis. He in fact may never do so.

2. The Pistons have yet to show that they plan to use Amir on offense for anything other than setting picks, screens and offensive rebounds and put backs.

So as it stands now what the Pistons have in Johnson is a non scoring (low scoring) Power Forward.

At this time that is okay because Sheed can still put up 15 – 20 in a game when he is making his tres. So with Sheed and Amir at the #5 amd the #4 we have at least one scorer between those two positions.

Having one scorer between those two positions is almost imperative if you want to win a NBA title.

So if Johnson does not bulk up enough to play the #5 on a regular basis that means that the Pistons will need to either trade him for a #4 that can score or somehow aquire a #5 that can score.

Unfortunately unless you can draft one, no team that has a #5 that can score is willing to trade them, except under very unusual circumstances.

It is also very unlikely that the Pistons will be able to draft high enough in the next couple of years to draft a #5 that can score, unless the Pistons make a trade for a high draft pick.

So it seems to me that the Pistons need to start going to Amir on offense so that he can deveop his game there or else trade him for a #4 that can score.

Don’t the Thunder have quite a few draft picks stocked up?>

The Thunder currently have for 2009 their own first round pick plus the Spurs 1st round pick, protected through the 15th pick.

They also have their own 2nd round pick and the Nets 2nd round pick

Mike about the Amir thing… That same thing has been going through my mind as well.

LB: Good point about post-2003 and Dumars picks improving. On the other hand, he hasn’t had a top 10 pick since 2003 for him to completely botch up – so has he improved or just not had the opportunity to completely screw up – because the team is good he is more or less given a pass on his second round picks to suck. I mean we’re not the Bobcats where they could have been building around Al Jefferson and Brandon Roy instead of not having a single player at half of either of their levels. So, it’s not like he’s the worst – but I don’t know if I’d trade one of Dumars few good draft picks to give him a high draft pick and a 50/50 chance of completely screwing up.

Thanks for the info Mike. With that in mind, I think we’d have a hard time making something work with them. Seems like our pieces are worth more to us than a late first rounder, but that OKC would be unwilling to pay their pick when they’re in shape to have a shot to bring in the hometown stud Griffin, which would also fill their biggest need.

Regarding our lack of a scoring big, I think that’s what most people have in mind to use our cap space for – whether he comes in the form of Bosh, Boozer, etc. I still think the same thing about centers and power forwards as I said all summer when some were offering such ideas as Dalembert for Wallace straight up because of our lack of a true center – all that matters is that they’re bigs, they don’t need to be a “center.” We’d be fine with front line rotation of FPXX, Amir, Max, and random bruiser. This season has shown that – the only center on our roster has played 15 minutes a night and we’ve been just fine. Even just the other night when Howard didn’t particularly go off and Kwame got a DNP.

@Juicebox:
“but I don’t know if I’d trade one of Dumars few good draft picks to give him a high draft pick and a 50/50 chance of completely screwing up.”

Agreed.

@All:

No way in hell is anyone trading a first round pick for either Sharpe or Acker. Additionally, I don’t see any GM giving up a likely top 5 pick for either Afflalo or Amir, nor do I see Joe giving up either for anything deeper.

@mike

FBCB can play very well with Amir

I meant FPCB and not as written
my keyboard is tiny and I have Kwame hands

The OKC article is pure speculation to begin with. It says “desirable trade partners” not ones being “probable” or “in the works”. It basically said Amir+Afflalo for a future first-round pick. There is no way that OKC would hand over their own 2009 1st rounder for those two. So we can forget that. The Spurs first rounder this year? Maybe, but would we really want that, seeing as we’d also have a our own pick in that area. 1st rounders get guaranteed deals, and roster space is tight. We also have Minnesota’s 2nd rounder this year, which will essentially be about the place Sharpe was picked last year. I don’t think Joe wants anymore draft picks in 2009 than the ones he already has. Different ones maybe, but not extra ones.

all this is very good but lebron did not travel!

no way is dumars going to deal affalo and amir. these two are both growing steadily as players and helping the team win at the same time. they are both almost rookies themselves in age. no point in trading them.

I definitely agree with Shinons… you only need two quality ‘bigs’. Centers just aren’t what they used to be so why pay a stiff to guard a stiff? Most teams don’t start a ‘true center’ anyway.

Amir is 21. Let’s say he left college to enter the draft over the summer. Is anyone really taking Kevin Love, Danilo Gallinari, or Joe Alexander over Amir? Given what he’s accomplished this year (showing that he’s more than just hype) and that Jordan Hill (a prospect similar to Amir) is looking like a top 5 pick, Amir could definitely demand an elite draft pick in return. However it would certainly not come from OKC until after the lottery and they were sure they wouldn’t have a chance at Griffin. But honestly, who else in this draft would they take over Amir?

Of course not, it was a “crab dribble”!

If the Clippers are actually shopping Marcus Camby…I feel like we should make a strong consideration at getting him…especially if we can get him anywhere nearly as cheaply as they did from Denver.

Interior defense would improve significantly. He can step out and make an 17 ft. jumper and his rebounding skills are obvious. He’d help us win now and his contract comes off the books at the end of 2009-2010 leaving us still in a perfect position to sign big names in the following off-season.

I’d also rather have a full-sized defensive minded center over an undersized power forward like Boozer any day…

Of course the one problem with the above is that I ignored the whole luxury tax issue which would probably be a problem with this trade.

I should also mention that there are no current rumors that Camby is being shopped although a report out of OKC claimed that the Clippers have done just that. Can’t really see them doing that with 5 guys out…

I would shit hot razors if we could somehow get Camby in a trade that involves only Kwame/Max/Acker/Sharpe/Hermann and/or picks.

Hot razors.

To speculate a trade of Amir & Afflalo to anyone is ridiculous. Our team defense is improving because of these two blossoming players. Trading them would make us pitiful defensively. Then this season would be a total waste. I’m interested in a possible championship in June. I’m not focused on 2010 yet.

@Joel:
“I would shit hot razors…”

I just laughed hot razors out of my nose.

“snarfed” hot razors out of my nose.

It’s official. Carmelo will not be available for the Stones game and more.

Basketball gods but like the Pistons, going into this very important road trip the 4 teams the pistons will be facing (faced one already) have important injuries. While I would like the Pistons to see how they match up about those teams healthy, for the moment I would like them to get some wins.

Basketball gods must like*

Match up against*

The latest rumor has the Pistons trading Johnson, Afflalo and Acker for C. Wilcox and a draft pick.

im watching the OT session of bobcats vs. boston and wow… it’s exciting

Mike – do u have a link?

I’m really curious what people think about this. I think if the pick is protected, you say screw off. If it’s not…that’s less clear. The Thunder have a 25% of getting the first pick based on today’s standings. I think it’s fairly clear you’d do Amir and Affalo for cap space and Blake Griffin. I don’t know enough about the guys lower, and I do think that Afflalo would be a #15 area pick and Amir a top 5-10 pick if they were coming out in this draft. Do you do swap those picks, and get back cap room in return? I think no…but it’s close to me. If it’s Maxiell and Afflalo, I’d pull the trigger in a heartbeat.

Also – I’d do it as stands if this were the 2007 draft class.

I don’t like that trade one bit. Wilcox doesn’t make up for losing Afflalo and Amir for our playoff run this year. And the only way I’m doing that trade at the end of the season is if it’s for the number one pick and Blake Griffin.

I’m not a fan of that trade either…we’d be taking a step back this year. There’s too much risk involved and I feel Joe D wants to give this group a chance to jell and see how they perform come playoff time. The only way you do that trade is if you know you’re getting Griffin, which obviously isn’t possible.

So the Celtics lost again tonight at Charlotte. That’s 5 losses in their last 7 games.

Yeah I think you only do it for Griffin…and that’s less than a 25% chance (25% if they get the pick, but it’s not 100% that they get it)

A no go.

The Amir/Afflalo/Acker for Chris Wilcox and a pick possible deal is reported on Dave Dial’s mMlive blog (he rehashes a story from a OKC paper). My take on the deal…IT SUCKS. Amir and Afflalo are rotation players on a winning team and Wilcox isn’t clearly better than Kwame Brown, who barely plays. And it hits the reset button on whatever team chemistry is building. I think it’s a crazy, crazy idea. If I was the biggest homer Thunder fan I wouldn’t propose that trade. Yikes!

No jersey popping today hahahaha!! I wish the celts will have long losing streak as well that will be awesome.

Jjj – I think you can ignore wilcox’s ability in your analysis – he’s just an expiring contract…unless u think this deal is the difference between us winning in 09 or not…

Why am I considering becoming a Bobcats fan?

Since no one posted a link yet on that trade nonsense:
http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2009/01/report_oklahoma_city_thunder_i.html

If we just have to trade with the Thunder…

How about this: OK City gives us Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and 2009 1st round pick for…

Rip and Max.

Thoughts?

Let me say, personally, that I don’t really want to trade with OK City for any of their players. However, this would give you two expiring big man contracts so make that 44 million coming off the books. LOL

Also I think the OK City reporter Darnell Mayberry may have made all of this up because Afflalo and Amir in the same deal is a tough cookie to bite into.

Who’s better: Tayshaun Prince or Gerald Wallace?

Who at the top of this draft class do we really need? It’s Griffin (a scoring big, but isn’t that why we had all that cap space set aside?), dynamic point/combo guards, and project big men. There are some good players in this draft, but no one who fills any kind of need that we have.

Has anyone heard of the possible deal – Rasheed for Chandler -?

How about:

Kwame, Afflalo, and our 1st rd pick

for

Wilcox and their 1st rd pick

Wilcox can at the very least do what Kwame does— I’ve actually liked Wilcox for a few years now; he could be a great big man off the bench. Losing AA hurts for a number of reasons, but he could be easily replaced through the draft or free agency. And speaking of the draft— at the very least, it’s going to be a top 3 pick, which gets us Blake Griffin/Hasheem Thabeet/Ricky Rubio/Greg Monroe— basically we can get an incredible inside/outside guaranteed star 4 (Griffin), a 7’3" monster with monster potential (Thabeet), the best freshman in the country and 6’11" (Monroe), or a wizard 19 yo PG (Rubio with Stuck in the backcourt? Carazay!).

I would do that trade with Kwame or Max and Afflalo. But NO Amir. I’m ready to admit that he’s legit.
In fact, he may be 2 legit.
But I’m UNlegit.
And for that reason, I must quit.
Stay sweet.

Have you guys heard of sam presti? There is no trade where they give up their first round pick. All he’s done since he took over is cut the pay roll and stock picks. That doesn’t equate to him swapping or giving away the potential first pick in any draft. And John, I like your proposal, but it would probably the spurs first rounder. More then likely, OKC drops their bigs for picks or other exp. contracts, then they try to lure a big name fa to come play with durant/green/westbrook/09 #1.

joejoejoe,

Not sure how you determine that Wilcox is only as good as Kwame when Wilcox had his best season last year averaging 13.7 points and 7 boards a game for one of the worst teams in the league (the thought being that with a better teammates he’d have more opportunities to score or at least be more efficient with his scoring as double teams would come less often).

I’ve watched Wilcox play a fair amount and am generally impressed with his style of play, however, I think he’ll ultimately be one of those bigs that gets way overpaid.

As far as a trade goes, I’d be surprised to see the Sonics get rid of their potentially 1st overall draft pick for Afflalo and Amir. No knocks on AA and AJ, but they’re known commodities in this league whereas a guy like Blake Griffin has infinite times more potential because all he has is hype and some killer stats in the NCAA.

The Sonics don’t need two role players from a upper echelon team, they need a true scoring big (which the Sonics haven’t been able to find since Kemp) who can take some of the pressure off Green, Durant, and Westbrook and who can finally get Robert Swift (read: ugliest man in the NBA) off their roster.

And yes I know that the team that shall not be named is no longer in Seattle, but screw Clay Bennett and screw David Stern. I live out here in Seattle now and they will always be the Sonics.

PS – I’ll be at the Blazers Pistons game tonight YIPPEY!!!

“There is no trade where they give up their first round pick. All he’s done since he took over is cut the pay roll and stock picks. That doesn’t equate to him swapping or giving away the potential first pick in any draft.”

Definitely. Add to that Griffin, the best player in the draft, plays for Oklahoma. Oklahoma City is in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City is the front runner to land Griffin, the hometown stud. Oh, and Oklahoma City’s biggest need is an elite big man, which is exactly what Griffin is.

As Craig said, that doesn’t equate to him swapping or giving away the potential first pick in any draft. We can feel free to give up on talking about getting OKC’s pick.

Can we also feel free to stop speculating where amir would be in this or any years draft? He didn’t go to college, and there’s no way to say that he’d be a x-z pick in the draft. Pistons fans are the only people on earth who value him as a lottery pick. I’d rather have psycho T.

@Craig

If a guy’s favorite “musical group” is the Insane Clown Posse, I don’t want him on my team. Not to mention he actually thinks he invented Sting-Pong a couple years ago.

Is Hansbrough’s favorite band icp? I didn’t take him for a juggalo. Even with the questionable taste in music, I’d take him. He reminds me of Big Nasty coming out of college, good post moves, but questions about his size.

Joel: Not that I believe we’ll actually end up with a high lottery pick next year, but Rubio’s 2009 draft status is totally murky and he may hold out for 2010. Draft Express doesn’t even have him in their 2009 Mock Draft (though sitting pretty at 1st overall in their 2010). Regardless, I still can’t wait for his arrival to the NBA whenever it happens.

Wilcox has an expiring contract. If we ran the experiment and he didn’t fit well, he’s gone this summer. The Rasheed Wallace experiment worked beautifully in ‘03-’04 and that’s why he’s (deservedly) still around this far after the fact. Though Wilcox will never be able to lace Sheed’s Air Force Ones, I fail to see the downside here. We’d be trading for a fantastic pick and a solid player in Wilcox on a trial basis. Using any combination on our roster sans Stuckey that adds up to $5.4 million-$8.4375 million, I’d green light it. Though I agree with Craig, doesn’t strike me as very Presti-esque.

After watching yesterday’s Texas vs. Arkansas game, I no longer believe Griffin is the only great big man/player. Michael Washington looked really really good. He plays both PF and C, and I believe he can continue to play both positions in the pros. If we had a frontcourt of Amir and Washington, that would please me. Thabeet is very tall and Jordan Hill also looks promising…

Put me on the acquire a quality first round pick train.

I don’t see a big upside with this OKC trade idea. Sure Wilcox is gone after this year if it doesn’t work out, per se. But let’s suppose he lights it up and the pistons don’t want to give him alot of money. Or we have to decide for a 3 year contract between he and Wallace. I’ll take Wallace on Duncan, Pau or KG over Wilcox any nite of the week.

OKC is set at PG, SG, and now with Krystic (sp) (a potential all-star before knee surgery) at the 5. So they are really looking for a 3 or 4. None of those guys are a 3, so they are really trading for a 4. If Wilcox is that good, shouldn’t he be that 4?

So we end up with a late lottery or late teen pick once the protection expires. I think anyone of those three guys are at a minimum a late teen pick now based on what the NBA already knows what they can do. If you are a GM, would you give up a #15-25 pick for anyone of Amir/Max/AA? I think the vast majority do it in a heartbeat. Amir is ~21, AA ~23 and Max ~25. We end up with a pick that’s even younger, no experience, the proverbial “upside” and someone we would have to work into the lineup. I just don’t see the benefit given we’ve positioned ourselves pretty well, re: cap space going forward.

@Craig

There is a reason his nickname is “Psycho T.”

(ICP = “Violent J” and “Shaggy 2 Dope”)

I wonder if that means he’d play his rookie contract for equal value in Fago?

If Tyler Hansborough ever plays for the Pistons,they might as well change back to teal jerseys because I’ll stop watching. I hate that dude. Faygo is good though.

LOLZ @ Faygo

Faygo is REAL good. Rock ’N Rye anyone?

He could be our version of tough juice, instead drinking a couple of 2 liters of moon mist on game days.

Not that I believe any of this OKC trade stuff (that’s just one reporter brain-storming trades, not based on anything solid), I will point out that OKC just picked up yet another 2009 first-round pick in a trade with Denver today.

Denver unloaded Chucky Atkins and a first-rounder, gets back Johan Petro and a 2009 second-rounder in return.

http://blog.newsok.com/nbainokc/2009/01/07/thunder-acquires-chucky-atkins/

that’s on the heels of me reading that kroenke was trying to get under the lux tax and they still had their 1st rounder to work with. I wonder if there’s another, bigger move for the nuggs on the horizon…