Wizards should cool on Arenas
Recent news reports suggest Arenas could land a 100 million dollar contract or maybe even more cash from the Wizards. On top of that Antawn Jamison is also a free agent. If the Wizards bring everyone back (and they stay healthy) they still can’t beat the top teams in the East. Clearly, the Wizards have hit a plateau. It is possible these free agents could sign with another team, but because of the market they likely will need to do a sign and trade to get with a team they are interested in. This gives the Wiz a lot of bargaining power. There is no way anyone can justify giving Gilbert Arenas 100 million dollars when it is clear that he can’t get the team over the hump.
The Wizards should explore sign and trade options with both players, and they should only take them back at a discounted price. Steve Kerr seems very willing to trade Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw, so the Wiz should sign and trade Arenas for both players and a first round draft pick. The Wiz should also look to send Brendan Haywood, Darius Songaila, and Oleksiy Pecherov to the Pacers for Marquis Daniels and Jamaal Tinsley. The Wiz could use a starting point guard, and Jamaal Tinsley has shown he has all star talent at this position when he is healthy and has his head in the game.
This move would also clear up space for new Wiz draft pick JaVale McGee, while Larry Bird gets his wish in trading Tinsley. The Hawks will be looking for a third piece to go with Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson this off season. It is unlikely that they will trade Josh Smith, but they may be willing to part with Marvin Williams in the right deal. The Wiz should sign and trade Jamison for Marvin Williams, Speedy Claxton, and Zaza Pachulia (expiring). This deal would bring back a younger talent and also save the club money when Zaza’s contract comes off the books next summer. Below is a potiental lineup with these deals.
Center: JaVale McGee, Etan Thomas, Zaza Pachulia
PF: Marvin Williams, Andray Blatche, Dominic McGuire
SF: Boris Diaw, Marquis Daniels, Nick Young
SG: Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson,
PG: Jamaal Tinsley, Leandro Barbosa, Antonio Daniels, Speedy Claxton
It looks like there is a jam at the point guard position, so that would likely make Antonio Daniels another trading piece. This isn’t a team that screams star power, but they are very solid at all five positions. I think this gives them more room to grow and greater flexibility moving forward. We already know how talented Caron Bulter is, and now Marvin Williams would get a chance to develop at the starting 4 spot as well. This makes more sense, because the franchise already understands that Jamison isn’t going to get them past the top Eastern Conference teams. These moves don’t scream title contender, but they are a lot smarter both financially and on paper moving forward.
Related posts:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.