I'd like to share an excellent post on realgm by vinnievegas69:
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Example 1) People have been bitching all year for Isiah to make trades for our future that will help us.
Then they complain that he didn't get high enough picks when he trades for two more 1st round picks with garbage.
Example 2) People have been saying that we should tank the season and try to get as high a pick as possible.
The two picks were acquired in trades that made the team significantly worse, which will equal more losses, which will equal a higher pick, yet people still complain that the trades left us without a starting center or backup PG. I don't WANT a starting center or backup PG on the team, because we won't win games without them.
Example 3) People claim Isiah is great at drafting players, many even using his nickname "The Eye", saying that he even turned pick#43 into Trevor Ariza, a great young player.
Yet people complain that the draft picks he got were too late in the draft... I don't know about you guys, but if he managed to pick up more guys that were on the skill level and maturity of Ariza at 19 years of age, I'd be happy, let alone the possibility, even the likelihood that he'll get better players with higher picks.
Example 4) People want Isiah to let the contracts expire so we can lower our cap number.
Yet, they also complain when he trades them away because they were valuable trade bait for the future.
Here's a news flash: Maurice Taylor's contract expires the same year Houston's does, and while Rose's goes a year longer, we'll already be paying $20 million to Marbury and $8 million to Crawford, plus will have given Ariza a reasonable contract, Sweetney will be getting $3.5 million and there's likely to be other contracted players on the roster who will end up putting us over the cap anyway. So stop complaining about contracts, because until the Marbury contract clears, and we don't actually add any more long term salaries, including what we may have to pay at least one of our draft picks (you'd assume), then being under the cap is not an option.
Example 5) People claim that they want to use the expiring contracts of Nazr, Vin and Moochie along with those of Penny Hardaway and Tim Thomas to trade for ELTON BRAND, which I'm sure the Clippers were bending over for...
And then they have the nerve to accuse Isiah of making bad trades...
In short, all I'm saying is, there are two sides to every coin, and from where I stand, the trades have a considerable upside for us. I'm assuming KT will be moved in the offseason, and that Isiah will look for significant help at center, at which point we should be looking reasonably good.
People just need to stop complaining about every move that is or isn't made. Isiah Thomas is making a young core out of this train wreck. This is the roster he took over with.
About.Com 2003-2004 preview wrote:
Depth Chart
C: Dikembe Mutombo | Michael Doleac | Slavko Vranes
PF: Antonio McDyess | Kurt Thomas | Othella Harrington | Mike Sweetney
SF: Keith Van Horn | Maciej Lampe
SG: Allan Houston | Shandon Anderson
PG: Howard Eisley | Charlie Ward | Frank Williams
Franchise Player: Allan Houston
Breakout: Mmmmmm ... no
Our franchise player was Allan Houston, and a breakout from anyone seemed ludicrous.
Now, our roster only holds over Houston and Thomas, whom Isiah was unable to trade, and Sweetney, who Isiah finally pulled of the IR and got on the court.
Looking back at that roster, there was no one on it as good as marbury for sure, and I'd say that there was no one as good as Crawford on there either, considering Houston's injury had already occurred. Barring Sweetney, none of those young players have the promise of Trevor Ariza, and while Van Horn's numbers were decent, he was never the difference between winning and losing.
There's still work to be done, but adding 3 first round picks to the core of Marbury, Crawford, Ariza, Sweetney cannot be a bad thing.
Remember the one year that Golden State drafted Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy and Gilbert Arenas, and it was starting to look like they'd set themselves up for the future, only to screw it up by not giving Arenas a 3 year deal. It could be like that for us this year; a top 7 pick like Richardson was. A non-lottery teens pick like Murphy was, and a pick in the 30's like Arenas was, with the one difference being that the 30th pick is a 1st rounder now, with all of the benefits of restricted free agency that that provides, rather than facing an Arenas-style situation.
I know this post has been really long, but I really like these moves for our future, and so I wanted to post something stating that, and hey, this is a lot shorter than the pages and pages of bitching in the official thread...
