And Foye, Gil, Crittendon, and James.

That’s a lot of guys who have reasonable expectations for playing time. I can’t imagine this is the last move EG makes. The frontcourt is now just Jamison, Haywood, Blatche and McGee.

And while this may come as a surprise to some, I’m sorry to see Songaila go. He was a real pro while he was here, and always played hard, and it wasn’t his fault that he was asked to do some things that weren’t really his strengths.

Let’s be honest: Etan and Pech were awful. So let’s ignore them.

Songaila played decent this year – offensively, he can only hit the WIDE open mid-range jumper. Defensively, he was surprisingly good for his physical abilities. The 5th pick is probably some un-polished guard. Would you trade Songaila and Tyreke/Steph/James for Miller and Foye? Given our circumstances (the time is now), ABSOLUTELY.

I don’t LOVE the trade, but it’s not awful. I think it will make us better, just not amazingly better.

Another trade has to come no?

I loved Foye in college. Haven’t seen much of him in the NBA. Playing in Minnesota will do that to you. I’m excited. Whatever with Miller, but Foye has improved his PPG and AST every year so far. If he can improve his jumpshot, this could be a steal.

Foye’s problematic defensively. His entire rookie year he’d get into the air at the slightest hint of a pump fake from the opposing point. He’s a classic ’tween, not quite having the quicks for great defense on the PG and not having the height at SG.

One thing you’re going to find out is that the kid is one heck of a human being. Seriously — we’re not talking about one of those sports figures who’s supposedly a humanitarian because he’s not a total jerk, we’re talking about a truly nice guy.

Miller, meanwhile…. Defensively, Mike Miller is seriously awful. I spent all last year cursing Miller’s peripatetic attempts at defense. He’s one of those guys who seems always to be lunging a step late at that open jump shooter after never quite finding his own man…. The haircut makes these moments dramatic, mostly.

Not that I was super down on Mike. He played his guts out, injured, for a big chunk of last year, and he was trying to provide a versatile veteran presence. If you look at his stats in the one year, you’d think he was a utility player. That was because he took it on himself to try to plug every last hole on a pretty shaky team.

I think we should fire Flip and hire Tapscott so that McGee and Nick don’t get good minutes this year.

Because as Prada said, the draft loses value. If you’re not planning on using the pick, then trade it before draft day.

We ought to just wait until Friday to make it official.

Perhaps Minnesota wanted to do it early – While there’s still a chance to make a deal to trade the 5th and 6th picks for a higher pick – to get Rubio…

We thought the same thing when we heard about Mitch Richmond trade rumors.

I feel like this has to be the first of a series of moves. Or why not get the 18th pick too? Does Minny really want to sign three first rounders in a week draft? Chad ford said they wanted to hang on to the picks instead of trading them.

Since Love and Jefferson are already set in their roster, do they play on filling their 1,2 and 3’s with these picks? Remains to be seen but I really do hope we re-coup a pick so we can get a dejuan blair or even better, JAMES JOHNSON.

I don’t like Miller or Foye either but they are better than Curry/Harden at this point. Predraft day hype annually overstates rookie’s abilities and short of Blake Griffin, I don’t see any rookies that would have helped the Wizards win now.

He’s easily their most valuable asset behind Javale.

nerds

But not Miller’s.

Randy Foye is a seriously interesting guy, isn’t he?

Probably Mike James and filler

Not sure it’s a bad thing when only one rotation player goes and two rotation players come back.

Correct me if I’m wrong here….but

Miller ($9.7 Million expiring) + Foye ($3.6 Million)
Wizard’s Incoming Total ($13.3 Million)

Thomas ($7.3 Million expiring) + Pecherov ($1.5 Million Expiring) + Songaila ($4.5 Million)
Wizard’s Outgoing Total ($13.3 Million)

How is that cutting salary?

And how does this trade not improve the Wizards, from a Basketball standpoint?

They acquired a “lights out” 3-point shooter (40% career 3-point percentage) who can pass and rebound… His True Shooting percentage is always in the high 50’s or low 60%… With a career PER of over 15. I’d say that’s an upgrade of the Shooting Guard position…

They acquired a Point Guard that was the 7th pick in the 2006 draft. A player that has improved EVERY YEAR in the League… He averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 assists last year. I think it’s a safe statement to say he’s an upgrade of the back-up Point Guard position.

So = the Wizards upgraded their Starting Shooting Guard position, and their Back-up Point Guard positions
and to do so – they gave away:
a broken Center with a HUGE salary, who didn’t play last year, and is probably washed up…
a 7-ft Euro 3-point shooter with a career 30% percentage…
their 3rd Power Forward off the bench…
and the 5th pick in a terribly weak draft….

Flip has generally confined himself to being skeptical of the Wolves’ direction in general. He doesn’t tend to go into specific player personnel stuff in his appearances. (Taste of the future: Flip will say “As far as” roughly 7,000 times more than it would take to make you sick of hearing that verbal mannerism.)

Knowing Flip from his long tenure here with the Wolves, I’d say offhand that Miller — a versatile offensive guy whose defense is painful at times — fits his mold more. The ‘tween PG with the potential for explosive scoring doesn’t match up to Mr. Saunders that well…. (But then, er, I have some questions about the guy with the zero on his back and the ridiculous number of them on his contract, too…. Gilbert Arenas doesn’t fit my picture of a Flip point guard at all.)

Plus Miller’s $10 millio expires next year, so we can give him a run and maybe move him and Mike James ($6 millio) for a good player during the season if it’s not working. I’m happy with it.

Exactly – Miller gives the Wizards some things they need (3-point shooting, rebounding from the Guard position, passing)

PLUS – they can either re-sign him next year, for much less… then be able to re-sign Haywood with the savings.
OR
Trade Miller and/or James at the Trading Deadline (Feb 2010) when those expiring contracts will have the most value.

That’s a big stretch. Billups wanted to be a great PG and put in the work and the study to become one. Read the excellent ESPN article posted a month ago.

Foye has not put in that kind of work nor ever indicated he is willing to. I think Foye has very little upside, he is what he is right now – a good, streaky scorer, with some athleticism. He’ll help you, but not surprise you.

Miller – if he would start shooting he’d be great, he stopped last year. Watch out.

Foye is a great guy, and I agree with much of what your friend said. However, the comparison to Billups is a canard. You’ll never see Foye play defensive like Chauncey, and Foye has never played the PG with success. There’s always been lovely debate about whether Foye was suited to playing off the ball.

Miller was a mensch last year, but his role was a total mess. He’s a terrible defender, subjectively.

if he has already been traded

I’d rather have Miller than Camby.

Hansborough has been killing his workouts recently. He’s probably going to be a lottery pick.

Darko for Mike James might actually not be terrible.

And he’s going to get more than that.

And spell out your words, please.