What's this I hear about us trading Noah for Tyreke Evans and the Kings no5 pick?

I had heard it with Deng, not Noah. I dislike this speculation even more.

Some people get all giddy about draft picks. They're all so bright, shiny and full of promise. I'm not one of these people.

As for Evans, he can score some, but is a dreadful 3-point shooter for a wing.

 

Draft picks get paid rookie scale wage for 4 years.

Think "bottom line."

 

Jordan could score some but had dreadful 3pt % almost every season.

Rondo is really effective even though the FT line is beyond his range ;-)

Evans is a really big combo guard who would instantly be our 2nd best creator.

He's injury prone tho, eh?

Seriously, the pickings at SG are really slim.

 

So Transplant, you know we've been in lock-step on this issue against the youngins at RealGM. I've started to dig into this draft though, and I think there is a middle-ground to be had. I think it's important to at least treat the draft as a potential mechanism for improvement. The Spurs are the model, with th Cavs (w/ James) and Orlando (w/ Dwight) acting as the cautionary tales.

A lot of this comes back to Harison Barnes. I've watched a fair amount of his tape now and I get the appeal. I was under the impression that he played a lot like Deng, but that he wasn't quite the same level of prospect . . . and that was incorrect. Barnes is a remarkable athlete, like Deng, but the thing about Barnes is that he can get his shot off at any time. At first, I thought I saw a lot of Kobe, but the more I watch, I think Barnes uses Jordan as a pattern. He has that mid-Jordan ability to get space in any situation using an array of elegant fade aways and penetration. Barnes is a much more fluid scorer and handler than Deng.

Now, I'm by no means saying that he's going to be as good as Deng, even with development time. I've seen Barnes struggle to hit enough open shots to have questions about his ability to score efficiently. All I'm saying is that, if the Bulls are convinced they need another player who can create open looks in isolation to complement Rose, Barnes is better than Deng at that skill -- and that there is the possibility that he becomes an elite marque-level scorer.

If the Bulls make a move for him I'm not going to write it off as a purely salary structure driven. Barnes has special talents, and if Paxson believes he will be a transcendent pro I'm more than willing to see this plays out.

 

So like, Evans is this really good player. He can play SG or SF, create his own shot and score with consistency. Sounds like he's already as good as Deng...heck, he had a higher PER. With the 5th pick, you can take Barnes who is very likely to be at least a good player and could be all star caliber.

What is Sacramento's motivation for trading these great assets for Deng? It's not like Deng is going to make them a playoff team.

 

So like, Evans is listed at 6'6". He came into the league as a PG. He played so well, and KMart was injured, that when KMart came back they felt they could deal KMart and have Evans take his place. Then Evans gets hurt and misses 25 games. Now they have Isaiah Thomas who looks like a stud at PG, and Marcus Thornton had a breakout season at SG. So they play Evans out of position at SF. He seems healthy enough, but at the SF position, his PER was about 2 below what it was at G. They also have Fredett, who looks plenty capable of filling in at G/F for them.

Why do they trade him? More than one reason.

Allow me an analogous situation. The Pittsburgh Pirates once had two great second basemen - Dave Cash and Rennie Stennett. They played Stennett out of position for a couple of years but realized they had to deal one of the two. They dealt the better of the two, Cash. Why? Because they got more in trade for him, while having a really capable replacement ready to go. The situation in Sacramento is pretty much the same.

The CBA doesn't really encourage teams the luxury of having a highly paid player, which he will be, when you can make do with guys on rookie contracts. Consider Thornton and him play the same position (see Cash/Stennett), and Thornton is on a reasonable ~$7M-ish contract. And consider, like I wrote earlier, the pickings at SG are pretty slim, so it may cost upwards of $10M to keep Evans. Do they want to pay $17M for their SG spot? Or play one out of position?

A guy like Deng actually fills their need for a true SF. He's an all-star in the east, who puts up steady if not unspectacular numbers while being a fine defender.

Similarly, Noah gives them a C to play next to Cousins (Basketball-Reference.com lists Hassan Whiteside as Sacto's only C on the roster).

If a deal for Deng went down, the Bulls would get Evans at a year or two of $6M salary range and he fills our need for a BIG (6'6") SG to go next to Rose, and we get a ~$5M rookie replacement for Deng with a low pick in a strong draft. Sacto is well under the cap so they can absorb all of Deng's salary (I think), or most of it. Bulls salaries out would be $13.4M for Deng plus the 29 pick @ $1M = $14.4M. In would be $11M, saving the team $3.4M in cap money. They save a similar amount next season, too. Heck, just Deng for Evans is $28M out for $12M in.

Think bottom line.

 

That's a fine explanation, Denny.

I did however, have trouble with Fredette at forward.

 

Fredette only needs to play 6 MPG to rest Deng who plays 42.

Call it 3 guards or whatever.

Don't get me wrong. I think this deal (for either Noah or Deng) is total B.S. and ain't happening.

There's some sense to it, but I bet Sacto is happy paying Tyreke $5M and $6M the next two seasons and are happy to keep him in any capacity.

 

I don't get the Noah alongside Counsins talk. Noah's a center who has trouble guarding power forwards on the perimeter. If I'm Sacto I'm not making that deal. Rereading my last post I want to make it clear that I'm not convinced that Barnes is even a better prospect coming out of college than Deng was coming out of college. I view Barnes as a greater risk-reward pick. My point was that he is conceptually a better fit for the Bulls than Deng, and if Paxson thinks his shooting will improve than I'm willing to see how this plays out.

 

If I were GM, I might look for a better offer for Deng or Noah. But talent isn't the only consideration. If I were GM and the Chairman held a gun to my head to get under the LT, pick one...

Deng has the bigger contract, but he leaves a hole in the lineup. Noah is $1M cheaper, and on a longer remaining deal. But we could get by with Boozer + Asik + Taj better than with Rip at SF.

 

Hey, just as a side note... If we did get Tyrke Evans and he started at SG next to Rose, our backcourt would be two ROY winners.

 

I don't think we can trade Boozer for anything that makes sense. We'd have Asik at the 5 if we traded Noah.

 

Exactly my point as well. Makes sense for us, but why do the Kings do it?

 

Just curious guys, but how many Sacramento Kings games did you watch in their entirety this past season?

I'll start...I watched two (you can guess the opponent if you want and I'll even give you a clue...their mascot's nickname is Benny).