mreinman wrote:Finestrg wrote:mreinman wrote:Finestrg wrote:How's this deal with the Pelicans -Chandler/Hardaway Jr. for Evans/Babbitt/Ajinca/rights to Pierre Jackson.
New Orleans gets a sizable center upgrade that could help A. Davis in a variety of ways and help take their club to the next level. If it didn't work out, Chandler expires off their cap and the Pels clear close to $20mm in cap room moving forward. There may be irreconcilable differences between the Pelicans & Pierre Jackson -- he will probably never play there. I think they realize he will need to be moved eventually. THJ, one of the NBA's top rookies, replaces Evans in their guard rotation. THJ's a better perimeter player than Evans; better shooter. Once Jrue Holiday makes it back, Evans may no longer fit and could struggle once again in a reduced role. No picks involved -- they keep their pick around 40.
The Knicks turn Chandler into Tyreke Evans, a guy about 7 years younger who still has potential to be a top-level player again. Babbitt's a real underrated young SF (this guy could be better than Chandler Parsons eventually and that guy's pretty darn good and gonna get paid). Ajinca's 7'2" young and skilled (would make for a great contrast splitting time with the defensive-minded/rebounding Cole Aldrich if we bring Cole back) and Pierre Jackson could be a real dynamo/change-of-pace little PG. If guys like Babbitt/Ajinca/P-Jax blow up, we'll have cap maneuverability to keep them after Amar'e's contract expires along with hopefully enough cap room left over for another impact FA or two.
I actually like what little I have seen with Babbitt.
I can't see why NO would give up so much for an older overrated player and a young promising streak shooter who does not do much else (yet).
We'd be taking on salary and assuming some risk here -- I like all these incoming players a lot but let's face it: none of these guys are sure things, starting with Evans who, outside of the last 15 games or so, has played poorly for New Orleans all year. Forget Chandler for a sec. -- for the $20mm in cap room and THJ alone (not to mention a willingness to keep their draft pick out of it), I'd need a little more than just Evans by himself. They'd have to sweeten the deal up for us somehow. I think this is a fair deal -- if we can get Evans at least back up to his rookie year production-wise, he's worth the 10-11mm over the next several years easy plus I like the potential upside of the other 3.
Aside from the last stretch, I think that Evans has always been a very bad basketball player. I would be pretty hesitant to take on his contract since we do not have a large enough sample that shows consistent good play. So, I would not jump on this at all. Phil likes big guards so who knows if he would want him.
All that said, I still don't see N.O. making this deal. If Tyreke is so great, why not keep him and pay him?
I tend to agree with you -- if I'm Demps, I'd probably pass on this deal too but who really knows how they'd look at this proposal --
I don't know if their opinion has changed on Evans over the last few weeks or so since he began playing better after being inserted into their starting lineup -- but I do remember reading he was on the block at the deadline. Don't remember hearing anyone interested in him at the time. Deadline came and went and he remained a Pelican. Now that he's played better for them, do they still wanna dump him? Has their outlook on him changed? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they consider the past couple of weeks fools gold or maybe they think they finally found the player they thought they were acquiring...Hard to say. Maybe they think he'll resume being the poor fit he seemed to be most of the year once Jrue Holiday returns next year....Fact: they could clear out over $20mm in total salary for the 2015/16 & 2016/17 seasons if they dealt him for an expiring contract that matched up with Tyreke's 2014/15 salary this off-season (give or take $3mm either way I believe---doesn't have to be an exact match). That's a lot of motivation to unload someone if you suddenly decide to go in a different direction. It's an opportunity to hit the 'do-over' button and wipe the slate clean, something that's not easy to do in the NBA...Huge potential cap relief if they indeed think they made a mistake with this guy. Enter the NY Knicks -- we could give them the opportunity to turn the page and get out from under that contract and also bring in 2 players they may think fit their plans much better: Tyson Chandler and Tim Hardaway Jr...This is how the Pelicans very well may look at Evans: with the glass half empty.
Here's the flip side, the glass half full perspective: I think he could be an asset for the Knicks; a big guard that can do a lot of things including handle the ball, make others better and score the ball himself when needed. Dude can flat out make plays when he's right. Rebounds and tallies big assist numbers. A real triple-double threat whenever he takes the floor and is featured in a main role armed with starter-type minutes...Still very young & very talented -- if we can get him back to the level of play he showed his rookie year in Sacramento (or better -- who even says that was his ceiling?), the $10-11mm he makes per season over the next several years would be a bargain, money well spent. You start thinking in these terms and then in terms of some of these other pieces we could hopefully get the Pels to kick into this deal (Luke Babbitt, Alexis Ajinca, Pierre Jackson -- again glass half full for me all the way with these players as well -- the Pelicans may not really know what they have with these guys), it's hard not to get excited thinking about the possibilities here:
Luke Babbitt vs. James Harden on the road:
Alexis Ajinca vs. DeAndre Jordan and the Clippers:
And here's Ajinca more than holding his own against Roy Hibbert and the Pacers:
Pierre Jackson doing his thing in spectacular fashion this year:
4/14/2014 2:01 AM