THE "OFFICIAL" February 21, 2013 Trade Deadline Thread...

And if batum moved to sg; where would be be?

 

He's 20th in PER for SG's, 18th in defensive rating for SG's, 18th in 3pt% for SG's. How is he top 10?

 

By the numbers 4th. That is if he could theoretically do as well (or better) at SG. (I am going off of VA not PER if anyone is wondering, if you go off per then he would be at 8)

 

Nic is a SF, but didn't he put up great numbers last season at the 2?

 

Yep and i can only imagine how incredibly hard it would be to defend Lillard and Batum at the top of the key. Also, Batum can create his own shot, score off screens and make that wide open J from the corner.

I think the SF position is much easier to fill than SG, IMO.

 

SGs who are better than Wes:
Wade
Kobe
Harden
Johnson
Iggy

SGs who are arguably at the same level
Mayo
DeRozen

I'm sure you can pick out some stats to say that guys like Reddick, Martin, Ellis are better than Wes, but I'm not buying it. And of the guys who are better, or "as good", how many are available? By trading Wes for Smoove you are downgrading the team. You're not gonna pick up a SG who is better than Wes.

 

Batum would play shooting guard.

 

And I said I'm not a fan of playing players out of position.

 

I can pick out nearly every important stat. Wes is and has been extremely overrated by our fan base since he got here. He's a nice player, but losing him would not be anything close to the end of the world

 

Positions are just words on paper. It doesn't matter what two letter acronym you put next to his name. Aldridge plays center for us at times, but he doesn't like the "C" next to his name so he's a "PF".

 

Nobody's saying "end of the world". I just don't understand why you're harping on this when CLEARLY trading Wes for a rental is a downgrade. You turned this into a "Wes is overrated" argument, rather than the original argument of "trading Wes for Smoove is a good idea".
I'm not against trading Wes, but it better be for someone that's going to improve the team, not bolt in a couple months.

 

Why does everyone assume that Smith would leave? Who else is out there with money and a better situation?

 

Yes and no. Certain skills are necessary from certain positions. And while the SF position is deeper than SG, it's still a little shallow. What SF are you wanting to get that'll push Nic to the SG spot?

 

Would him bolting and giving us an additional 6 million in cap space be worse than Wes?

 

We're talking about Josh Smith. Starting a lineup of Lillard, Batum, Smith, Aldridge, and Leonard.

 

I think it's actually a good position. For one, we hold the bird rights for Smith; so we could make moves and then resign him being over cap. Second, if he does just bolt; we would have an additional 8 million in cap space; removing Hickson's cap hold and Matthew's actual contract.

3rdly, I actually think Batum will dominate the SG position. I think he wouldn't be out of position, since he's actually more efficient at 2 than 3. His PER at 2 is actually 19.5; which his PER AT 3 is 16.6.

http://www.82games.com/1213/12POR8.HTM

WHAT's even more appealing is the differential Batum has per position. His opponents have a 13.6 PER (+6 PER) at SG; while they get a 12.4 PER (+4) at SF.

 

Smith could do it.

 

For Smith yes I would move Batum to SG.

However the chances that ATL wants our deal vs any other teams' is very remote.

 

But the discussion was with that type of hypothetical.

 

By the way, doesn't Smith play a lot of PF too?