As I said when we first acquired him, Jose is a "cherry on top" kind of player: you don't build a winner with him, you add him to a winner e.g. Trevor Ariza with the Lakers, Boris Diaw the Spurs, Chris Andersen/Shane Battier with the Heat, James Posey with the Celtics, etc. I think with each passing day that this point becomes more salient given Calderon's injury history, age and limitations in his game. He doesn't have any utility on a rebuilding/retooling team, which is why the Pistons let him walk for nothing to Dallas. This, however, does not change the fact that Jose is still a pretty good player that other ready-made contenders could use in their rotation. After he regains his health, it would be in the best interest of the team to trade him and recoup longer term assets that we can use to become a contender. Here are a few teams we should look to trade him to:
1.) The Miami Heat- they lack a true floor general and are still very much in win-now mode. If Wade goes down, they'd be left with no one that could handle the ball or get the team into its offense. I'd be interested in a deal that brings me back Norris Cole and Shabazz Napier, along with whatever fillers necessary to make the deal work.
2.) The Houston Rockets- they have an unconventional system that doesn't require a traditional guard but Calderon is versatile enough and talented enough to be an immediate upgrade on that team. Heading into the playoffs, I'd be hesitant to trust a rookie-ish PG like Isiah Cannan and Patrick Beverly; especially after how exposed the Rockets were at PG when they played the Blazers in the first round. I'd do Jose Calderon for Jason Terry and a protected first round pick.
3.) The Oklahoma City Thunder- they are set at PG but let's face it, Reggie Jackson isn't going to stick around there long-term and Russell Westbrook does not consistently get guys shots. The Thunder don't have much dead weight on their roster though, so a trade would be hard to finagle. I could see a Calderon for Reggie Jackson being the framework for a deal but the contracts would be hard to balance and we'd definitely need to include additional assets as well.
4.) The Sacramento Kings- they are no contenders but are dumb enough to think that they can get there in spite of the front office's ineptitude. It seems like their only interest is in saving their jobs and say "yes" to any dumb edicts that Randeive issues. With them off to a hot start, I could see them being even more emboldened to make a dumb trade, which we should be more than happy to oblige. I'd be willing to do Jose Calderon and a contract for Ramon Sessions, Derrick Williams and a poorly protected 2015 1st round pick. When they fall back down to Earth and miss the playoffs, we'd be sitting pretty with $7 million in freed up cap room and an additional lottery pick.
