I was one of the ones that did not want any part of Smith two years ago when he was a free agent. The vet minimum is a different story. I would take him in a heart beat. My bet is he ends up with Dallas to take over Brandan Wright's spot. edit: upon further review I guess Houston does make more since. Especially since he and Howard are childhood buds.
Emotional? How? I thought they brought in Davis because he was the one player on the planet who could slow Shaq down?
I thought it was because the dude was fresh off an all-star season and jermaine had done squat in four years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What part was incorrect? Jermaine also wanted out because he was buried behind sheed and sabas. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The fact that a team would give up on a player after 4 years. No different than those that defend Leonard in here. Also, Jerm was the youngest player to enter the league (a few months younger than Kobe). When he was traded, he would have been a senior in College. Whatever the case, our team made emotional decisions that dramatically effected our future. I understand Grant was unhappy and also wanted some max deal. But trading him for Kemp was ridiculous. I would have asked for other players. As for Jerm... He was cheap and still on his rookie scale. All we had to do was wait just one more year and we would have seen a much improved player.
Grant for Kemp was terrible. But come on guys, trading O'Neal for dale Davis, after the finals Davis had against Shaq was a no brainer at the time. Saying it wasn't is almost as bad as saying you wanted Durant #1 over oden
Davis' one and only all star season he averaged 10.0 ppg and 9.9 rpg. He didn't suck, but to refer to him as an all star makes Jamaal Magloire chuckle. Jermaine wanted more PT and Sabas wanted less. Anyone else see a solution here - short of trading away Jermaine for DD? Davis was brought in to start and play about 25 MPG so Sabas could coast during the regular season and be ready for the playoffs. Jermaine was supposedly beasting in practice. So, why not start him and play him 24 MPG during the regular season? Then you end up with a greatly improved, very hungry, confident Jermaine and a rested and ready Sabas come playoff time. I know, 20:20 hindsight. I wasn't thrilled with the Jermaine for DD trade at the time, but t was the Grant/Kemp deal that I absolutely HATED. Kemp was fat, lazy and not nearly the player he'd been in Seattle - not to mention addicted to cocaine. With that extra 50 pounds of weight, Kemp lost his biggest advantage - his explosive athleticism. Grant was the heart of that team. There was no luxury tax back then. So, pay Grant and win a couple titles. Let that 2000 team come back with a vengeance after that 4th quarter Game 7 meltdown. They would have been so hungry and so focused on avenging that loss and claiming the title they should have won, but Whitsitt never gave them a chance to do so. Oh well, what's done is done. Olshey isn't going to destroy this team's chemistry for the likes of a pouting, poor shooting, poor decision maker like Josh Smith. BNM
Desire, period. If he showed the emotional maturity to select a team that... has a rainy city, is 2nd in the league, has players that play unselfish team ball, over a team that... has a sunny city, is lower ranked, and has selfish players that play hero ball, then I'd take him in a heartbeat. If he wanted us, I'd want him. However, that is unlikely to be the case.
I didn't like either trade. Honest truth. I complained loudly that Dale Davis was not all that, and losing Jerm was a mistake. And it was a punch in the gut to lose the heart and soul of the team for fat Kemp. Way to ruin your legacy, Whitsitt.
Thank God. He's been stinking up my fantasy team, hopefully he goes somewhere where he can be less josh Smirh and more josh smith. I don't even know what that means but something's gotta change.
We must have watched a different finals. Shaq absolutely DESTROYED Dale Davis in that series. Shaq scored 43, 40, 33, 36, 35 and 41 points in those six games. That's an average of 38.0 ppg. So much for Davis' ability to guard Shaq. Davis fouled out 3 times and scored in double digits once in the entire series. For comparison, Shaq averaged 25.9 ppg in the WCF against the Blazers. Containing Shaq wasn't our problem, and if it was, Dale Davis wasn't the answer. BNM
