Meet
Trades Anybody……Anybody???
Posted by: Adam on December 31st, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Hey Jazz fans! I know some of you are fed up with all the trade talk, but in my opinion it is one of the most commented on and debated topics of the NBA (for all sports if you think about it). Therefore, you have the following post (hopefully to spark further ideas, not just about trades, on how the Jazz can be a contender for the title even more so than they already are).
There have been several previous posts and comments related to those posts that I believe boil down to one main point: we are one piece away from becoming an elite contender and having a serious shot at the title. I agree with everyone that we are a “good” team, a top 10 team. But I also agree with those who suggest that to be a “great” team, a top 5 or maybe even top 3 team we need something else. Now maybe that could be a trade, a change in management, a re-grouping of the team and its players, or maybe a simple tweak in our offensive and defensive strategy, I’m not sure. I’m giving one option that the Jazz could think about that could possibly boost our team to heights we haven’t seen since our two trips to the Finals in the late 90’s.
I have recently discovered ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine (for those who don’t know, this is where trades can be discovered and see if the logistics can match up and be a serious trade). I took several ideas from previous posts on who could be good for the Utah Jazz. Several names that came up more than once were those of Andre Iguodala, Gerald Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Monta Ellis, and more. I took these into account and tried several combinations that would work to move one or two of these players to our team. Those I took into consideration of sacrificing were Andrei Kinilenko, Raja Bell, Kyrylo Fesenko, Ronnie Price, and Gordon Hayward (I have just recently stopped my trades involving Hayward after his impressive second half performance against the L.A. Clippers). I have just since come up with the following trade that takes into consideration roster lineups, cap-room, and teams interests for players.
The trade I have come up with involves the Utah Jazz (of course), the Charlotte Bobcats, the Detroit Pistons, and the Philadelphia 76ers. I purpose that the Jazz send Andrei Kirilenko to the Pistons and Raja Bell to the 76ers. The Pistons send Tayshaun Prince to the Bobcats and Richard Hamilton to the 76ers. The Bobcats send Gerald Wallace to the Jazz. 76ers send Andre Iguodala to the Jazz. Did you catch all of that? Here it is a gain 
Jazz: Send- AK, Raja/Receive- Gerald Wallace, Andre Iguodala
76ers: Send-Andre Iguodala/Receive-Richard Hamilton, Raja Bell
Bobcats: Send-Gerald Wallace/Receive- Tayshaun Prince
Detroit: Send-Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton/Receive- Andrei Kirilenko
*Note: I know you are all upset about me suggesting to trade Raja. I myself don’t want to trade him but for reasons I will explain later, it may be just what we need.
**Note: I don’t expect this trade to happen from the Jazz or to have all these teams agree and go along with it. These are just my thoughts on paper.
So you now are probably asking, “Why would/should we do this and why would the other teams do this?” I’ll tell you in the following breakdown of each team:
Jazz: They’re giving up some defense in giving up AK and Raja, but Wallace steals and blocks shots and Iguodala has been known to grab at the ball. The main reason for this is to get some more offensive and rebounding power, without giving up too much of our denfense. Both Wallace and Iguodala average around 15 ppg., 7 rpg., and 3 apg. Thats much more than AK or Raja averages. I think a lineup of Williams, Iguodala, Wallace, Millsap, and Jefferson would be not only a powerhouse offensively, but all are big bodies in the paint and Iguodala and Wallace and high flying dunkers (think of the alley-oop possibilities).
76ers: I believe they like Iguodala, but they’re in need of a change offensively. Richard Hamilton averages around the same stats as Iguodala and another shooter in Raja could prove to help them in the long run. These changes in Philly could help them rebuild their crumbled team.
Bobcats: This one I think is the only tricky gear in the system. Tayshaun Prince has lower averages in almost every category (but not by too much). The reason I think they might do this is that Wallace has tried to carry their team through several seasons including a playoff appearance and the Bobcats haven’t put forth the effort to get a serious running mate for him (aside from Stephen Jackson). Gerald Wallace wants out and the Bobcats probably want to rebuild around new players.
Pistons: Their whole team is a mess. Aside from beating the Celtics the other day, there hasn’t been a single impressive performance in the last two years. Letting two of their players go and bringing in a both offensive and defensive minded player (that they can resign next year) might prove appealing for a broken down team.
Let me know what you think!
Replies: 15
Views: 725
15 Responses
I like getting Wallace but not so much Iguodala. I think for the Jazz to be a true contender we need a consistent outside shooter(like Ray Allen, although not likely of that caliber) and someone who can penetrate very well(like Ginobili, who I hate), in addition to Deron. These types of players are both very hard to come by, and we’d need certainly need to give something up in order to get them. I don’t like what I’ve seen lately. The Jazz have only won 1 game against a .500+ team this month. I wouldn’t jump the gun before we are sure of what we have as team, but I would certainly evaluate our options and go from there.
I agree 100%! Wallace and Iguodala aren’t shooters, but they do penetrate and are good dunkers (something I wish Big Al would do more often). We do need a better shooter, but I’m not sure who that would be. Ray Allen, but like you said, Boston is holding on to him for a while.
There was a very interesting back and forth between Matt Mitnick (head of Deron William’s Foundation) and Klay Korver (head of Kyle Korver’s Foundation) on Twitter a day or so ago that made it sound like they didn’t think the Jazz would do anything major before the trade deadline (at least I think that’s what they were talking about).
This trade is absolutely ridiculous because the Pistons would be giving up their two best players and getting a waste of $17.8 million in return. The Jazz would be getting two all-star caliber players in exchange for two mediocre players. I would love it if it happened, as those are specifically the two players I really think the Jazz should go after, but it’s not gonna happen in this way. We would be lucky to get one of the two. One thing is for sure though, the Jazz need to trade AK away ASAP to any team sucker enough to take him and his cancerous contract
haha, this would be a hot trade. get together with KOC and see what you can do.
Honestly, I think Raja isn’t producing as we hoped he would. He’s shooting terribly altogether and isn’t doing what we need him to do. Trade Raja. But Ak? seriously?
AK is our best defender by far, and his ability to fill the stat sheet up is something few players can do in the league. Keep AK and sign him for a reasonable amount next season.
Only players i can see the Jazz trading away: Raja Bell, Kyrylo Fesenko, and maybe Gordon Hayward. Very iffy on Gordon.
TACOREV: I know what you are saying. Haha, this trade is almost as probable as me playing for the Jazz in 5 years! The Jazz organization made a terrible move when we agreed to Kirilenko’s outrageous contract and since he got hurt and he hasn’t been producing to a good level, no one wants him (I truthfully think the Jazz don’t even want him. Think of the options we could have with that burden off our shoulders). Kirilenko isn’t as valuable as his contract makes him out to be. Also, he isn’t doing anybody any good with his injury.
I say let’s just love the Jazz as they are, and let the front office take care of this. I personally don’t want to trade AK, he can fill up the stat sheet and other intangibles that others can’t replace.
realgm trade checker (SP?) is another good trade machine. Problem is most trade suggestions include complete trash for one of the teams. Usually to get something good you have to trade something good. Even the Jazz getting Big Al for next to nothing made sense to the Wolves. This is the last year on AK contract. I think he does too many things that don”t show up on the box score. He has a high basketball IQ and should come a lot cheeper next year. I do think Wallace would be a great addition to the team. Or someone like Marcus Thorton from the Hornets. Fess, Okur, and maybe even CJ to be traded for the right person.
AAAAGGGHHH the AK discussion.
Everyone is so emotionally attached to AK. You don’t pay someone $17M to ‘fill up the stat sheet’ with some blocks and a few threes and some assists and a regularly spasming back.
You pay someone $8M or so for that.
You pay your STAR, your FRANCHISE PLAYER $17M.
There are like SIX players who are getting paid more than AK. Do people not realize this???? AK is NOT the 7th-best player in the league!! This means the potential to get better via trading AK is huge!
Quit saying should keep him, when for the money we are paying, we could make a trade for any number of talented players out there who would make this team a BETTER TEAM. We need some scoring depth badly. I’m hoping the Jazz can find a team that wants that $17M of cap space next season and are willing to give up some of that talent.
@KC Jones You forget when we signed him to the huge deal back in 2004 he was the franchise player. He was our star player, do you not remember his “5×5″ games, his allstar year and everything else he did as a player? AK was our guy, best on our team until Deron arrived.
The Deal made sense back then and people give him crap now. I doubt you were complaining back when the deal was made. AK still does more on our team than most players, Everyone gets injured, even star players like Deron, Kobe, Melo, Stuademire, etc. I don’t hear you complaining when Deron goes out with a sprained wrist, or Okur with his back problems…
AK Was the star, the deal made sense back then.
Jazz are not going to trade AK because of the expiring contract and the talk earlier in the season of him going to Denver was just outright dumb considering who the Jazz would of got in return. The Jazz will more than likely keep him till the end of the season and attempt to resign him at a “reasonable” market value and bring in another worthy Free Agent. You can’t really make a decision on someone either just cause of one game, Gordon Hayward has been inconsistent and I think it would do the Jazz good to send him to the Development league and give him time to develop, it is obvious he is not ready to compete in the NBA, but don’t trade him. Raja = He’s coming off an injury plagued season and unfortunately it is taking him time to get into the groove which has led to his inconsistency. The Jazz still need to improve in the “center” position to back up Okur once he is fully ready to go, Fesenko still needs to develop as well and learn to utilize his size to his advantage and Elson has proven he can only back-up for minutes at a time.
The Jazz really do not need to make any trades to make the team better, they have the pieces, its just a matter of development of certain players and each one of them being consistent, granted fatigue occasionally takes its toll but when your playing for millions of dollars, its time to give it your all, go out their each and every night and bust your butt.
KC is EXACTLY right. It blows me away how delusional so many Jazz fans are. AK is a CANCER to this team. Yeah he fills up a stat sheet all right… fills it up with unforced turnovers and unnecessary fouls. How about all the games he misses due to his frail body? Where is that stat on the stat sheet? For almost every steal or block he gets, there is at least one stupid foul or turnover he creates on the other end. The amount of money he has leached from our team over the past few years, compared to what he does in return, is nothing short of criminal. The Jazz need to trade him now and be rid of him forever.
Just think of all the better players out there that the Jazz might be able to pick up if they didn’t have AK’s joke of a contract weighing them down! The FIRST one that comes to my mind is Wesley Matthews. He would still be here if it weren’t for AK and his disgusting contract. Trade AK NOW!!!!
Andrew. Appreciate you proving my point about emotional attachment. The fact AK was the best player on one of the crappier incarnations of our team six years ago as justification of why we should pay him $17M and not trade him instead of improving our team via a trade is one of the more ridiculous arguments I’ve heard.
A lot of people (like Michael) think that if we re-sign AK at a lower salary next year opens the door to add someone else. Wrong. We are over the cap. We’ll still be over the cap after re-signing AK. Over the cap means you can only sign players via an exception. Jazz could sign at max a $3M player now, and that doesn’t change after re-signing AK.
That leaves trading AK as the most viable way to improve the team. At his salary, you could trade him straight up for Pau Gasol, Paul Pierce or Dwight Howard. Any of those players would make us instant contenders if not favorites. And that would all be without spending any more than we do now. I’m not advocating trading AK for the sake of trading him. I’m just as impressed with his stats as anyone, but the talent we could bring back would make our team better for the money. If totally against trading him for lesser talent to save money (Millers might not be, though). Of course a trade partner may not be available, and keeping AK and hoping to re-sign him would be the next best option. Though NOT trading him runs the risk of losing him straight up with no replacement player when the Portlands and Russian Billionaires of the league throw more money at him than the Jazz are willing to pay.
Sorry I’m rambling. Some fans are just so blinded by attachment to the familiar they don’t see the opportunity to improve and the risks we run by passing it up.
We should go after a shooter. It’s our biggest problem. I’d look at OJ Mayo, since Memphis hates him for whatever reason. Or, guys like Reggie William and Jodie Meeks (great shooter, under-used in Philly)