Could a Mike James for Jared Jeffries move be next? Or a Mike James for some big man trade? That second idea would make the most sense.

My first reaction when I saw that Songalia was traded was to think that Ernie is still Eddie Jordan-proofing the team. Ha.

Someone in the last thread mentioned Gortat. Anyone know what it would take to get him?

Start Gil, McGuire and Butler. Backups are PG Foye, SF Miller and offense/defense Young/Stevenson. Clearly they’d prefer to go with Young but when you need more defense DS is there (eventually).

Gilbert hasn’t played a NBA schedule in how long? Stevenson is rehabbing after BACK surgery. Ernie watched the season crumble because there was on depth behind them last year. Now we have Foye as a good back up or a worthy starter in spots AND the sharpshooter to keep defenses honest the way Roger Mason did.

We know there is more to be done, its obvious. So I’m going to refrain from freaking out about roster balance on June 23rd.

In June 2006, it was reported that Foye has the rare condition situs inversus, which means his organs are arranged as the mirror image of a normal person’s: for example, his heart is in the right side of his chest rather than the left. However, it is not expected that this fact will have an impact on his game

First post here, but I have been reading this site religiously the whole season. By way of introduction, I have been a Bullets fan since early childhood and my family has had season tickets since before I was born (I even got to attend the Webber-Howard Bullets almost beating the Jordan Bulls at home in that best of 3 1seed vs. 8 seed matchup in the playoffs) and have suffered through many terrible seasons with players like Michael “the Animal” Smith (who my dad and I always called “the Manimal”) to whom my screen name is an homage.

Anyhow, I have been going back and forth on how much I like this trade. I remember thinking about this particular trade possibility when it was rumored that the Wolves were shopping Miller and Foye for the pick. My conclusion at the time was that Miller + the 18th pick for Etan + 5 was not enough, but that if we could also get Foye that it may be worth doing as long as we could cut one of our contracts with 2+ years let and clear a roster spot to sign a pick. My questions after the trade have actually gone through are the following:

1. Why include Darius instead of Deshawn?

We are getting back a 1/2 and a 2/3 and instead of shipping a run-down 2 out of town we gave up one of the true warriors from last season who gave us shooting, Why give up Darius and create a real hole in our frontcourt rotation if his salary is only about $1m/year higher than Deshawn’s? Salary can’t be that big of a factor at this point.

2. Why couldn’t we get Minn to give us one of their late first rounders?

We now have 2 roster spots open (Had 14 players, traded 3 and got 2 back), and if Minn wanted the #5 bad enough we could have pried one of their first rounders from them. I think we are likely to sign a veteran backup center, so I would like to have seen us stay in the first round and then use our second round pick on a draft and stash type player. I just don’t think we are going to get any sort of a rotation player for our front court at #32.

3. What does this mean for the future of Nick and Javaris?

It seems like Foye and Miller are going to get the lion’s share of the minutes at the 2 spot and that Foye will probably do spot backup for Arenas at the 1 spot. I can see Nick getting some minutes, but this trade makes Javaris mostly redundant, which confuses me because I thought that Ernie was really high on Javaris. I don’t think Javaris has much value in a trade and ultimately I am a bit worried that we won’t be able to use him effectively and he will go to waste as an asset despite showing some promise down the stretch last year (I loved him motor and his quickness).

4. What is our next move?

We need a 4/5 to complete our front court rotation and our remaining assets are basically Nick Young and Mike James’s expiring contract. If we don’t want to take on a contract, then who should we target that has a roughly $8-9mil expiring deal that could help us this year?

5. How does this set us up for next offseason?

Foye and Miller both come off the books (though we can make Foye an RFA) and so do Mike James and Brendan. This means we have approximately $21mill (??) in salary coming off the books this coming off season and we need to use some of that to re-sign Brendan. How much will we have left after we re-sign Brendan and what should we do with that cash?

Hi first time poster here although a life-time Bullets/Wizards fan. I can’t believe I didn’t know about a site that replicates the exact conversations I have with 4-6 of my close friends on a daily basis. And like everyone else, we’ve gone through the rollercoaster of emotions when seeing this trade. First reaction of “what the, that’s it?” to “At least we’re actually better than we were yesterday” to “there’s got to be another move”.

And on that last question I started thinking that although EG has said he doesn’t want to trade any of the big 3, I think this trade actually puts us in a much better position to actually do it now. If we can get back a real quality big man for a combination/all of one of the big 3, Young, and James, why not? I haven’t seen anyone mention this possibility, is it because EG would never pull the trigger on our big 3?

Got rid of dead weight contracts but may have put to much emphasis on doing so and now roster is a little off balance. Of course with McGuire you have a guy that can play 4 positions and somehow the front office must still have faith in Bulletproof. IF Wizards got the 18th or 24th pick along with this they made out like bandits. As it is still puts team in position to make playoffs easy next year. Can’t really put a negative spin on this move. Good Job.

I’ll miss Pecherov on the Jumbotron. We should leave him there. If he ever gets on the court for them, I’ll cheer him on like a mad man.

Songaila drove me nuts, but at least he tried hard. I’d like to thank him for that.

I wonder how much trade value Foye has? I don’t want to give up Miller now… if we swap Miller for Camby I don’t know why we wouldn’t have just traded for Camby in the first place. I like Critt at the 1 and Dom at the 2 as backups. Foye + James + NY= something, right? Don’t get me wrong, I like NY, but if he keeps fading away on EVERY SHOT he’s never going to get us foul shots.

I was going to wish for Mills at the 32 if we traded the 5. Now that seems ridiculous.

i was building a tribal bond fire with my family and friends and i knew we made a trade i felt it yooo … this is freakin CRazy i came home to check it out lol ….. i like this trade very good team players for our big three would of loved to get one of there later picks too but hey at least we did not give up any of our promising youngins …. the draft was too risky anyone we picked could of been a bust outside of Blake …. this is great news for our team

i got to gooo … im going to ask the spirits to bless our team and guide us to the championship :)

How is the frontcourt thinner? Etan would barely play, and Darius would be at 10 min a night best. And unfortunately, Songaila defined “replacement level” player. I can’t imagine we can’t find a Joel Anthony-esque frontcourt reserve who is focused on defense only and will be good for six fouls.

Re: Rook’s post— I will readily admit I may be being irrational, but if we got Amare I’d rather keep Miller at the 2 and start McGuire or Jamison at 3 (I know Jamison at 3 hasn’t worked before but Flip is a genius, so who knows?) I’m probably just bitter at the fact that my usernname would be irrelevant.

Anyone got his reaction to the trade?

Its easy to figure out that the Wiz could only have gotten under the cap this year by finding a few of the very small number of non-guaranteed contracts out there. We made our bed last February and then signed an expensive coach while risking paying for our old one still. This stuff is OBVIOUS, why can’t people whose entire job it is to think about these things figure it out …

nt

no doubt in my mind that this makes us BETTER…. we traded two worthless assets, a decent backup player, and a 5th pick in an awful draft… foye will definitely be better than harden/curry… we improved our team and lost nothing.

mike miller is much better than songalia ever will be

But here it goes:

I like this trade for the Wolves, but not because I necessarily think we got the better end of the talent deal. But Miller and Foye were never going to be a part of a winning Wolves team. The Wovles are bad. They need great players. While it’s unlikely the 5 turns into that, they are in a position where rolling the dice makes sense when they aren’t dealing their core players (Jefferson, Love).

Here’s what you are getting: Foye has some talent. His ideal role is as a bench scorer. He really can’t play the point, but he is undersized at the 2. He can’t defend either position well enough to be a starter on an upper echelon team. He’ll hit some 3s, but isn’t a pure shooter. He’s a volume guy. Somewhat similar to Ben Gordon.

Mike Miller…had a weird season. As others have pointed out, he bizarrely refused to shoot the ball last year, for reasons that remain unknown. He did a lot of things for the Wolves; he tried to be a veteran stability, fill the gaps guy for a bad team. He didn’t complain. He’s a pro. If he starts shooting open shots again, he’ll help you. He also can’t really guard anyone, but rebounds well for his size, passes well, and can obviously shoot. If he’s your 4th best player, that’s pretty good.

I can’t see how your team is actually going to stop anyone next season, but I wish you all the best of luck.

PS—I’m shocked the Wolves were able to do this without giving up one of their later picks, which now I hope can be used in other deals.

Don’t forget that management is making their bid to compete NOW, and that one of their goals was to minimize luxury tax this year — the wiz just dumped the cost of a first round pick and actually gained $100K in salary this year and almost $5 million next, while improving significantly. Pech doesn’t belong in the NBA. Etan is done, unfortunately. Darius is a servicable backup, but not worth the money owed him.

We’re definitely gambling on Javale, but Blatche is a quality back-up now, and should still be improving. The depth in the backcourt is a good thing. James shouldn’t even smell the court, and as of last year Crittendon wasn’t ready to help win anything (yet — he still may get there). And who knows if Deshawn can still be the (mediocre) player he was before last year. Miller will probably play some 3, and McGuire should fill in at the 3 & 4. One 4/5 type backup would probably make me comfortable — and there’s a pretty good chance we can get that via the early-2nd rounder or a league-minimum signing.

The wiz should hang on to James for now, I think — his expiring contract will buy more near the trade deadline than now, and by then we’ll know if this team has a shot and what’s really needed. Management seems committed to giving the big 3 their shot, so I don’t think any major deal is in the works, but that option is there too. Keep in mind, Miller has a huge expiring contract, and that could become a major asset if he or the team isn’t doing well by the trade deadline.

That’s really the best part about this deal — the wiz kept their young players with potential, and added some alternative talent to the big 3. If the team as currently conceived isn’t able to deliver they should be able to rebuild around Arenas next year.
  
I know everyone gets excited about draft picks, but for every Roy or Wade there are several busts. This is a weak draft, and scouting outside of sure-things is pretty much a crapshoot. For every Roy or Wade there are several busts or future journeymen. I really wouldn’t bet on any specific player after Griffin even starting for the majority of their career. Not even Thabeet or Rubio. I could easily see those guys turning into Adonal Foyle and Carlos Arroyo.

This was a smart move, I think.