1. Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz
An All-Star caliber player over the last four seasons, Kirilenko has suddenly turned into a mediocre role player. Kirilenko seems utterly lost in the Jazz offense, mostly relying on his very shaky jump shot, and has been a far less capable shot blocker than in previous seasons -- perhaps because he has to play on the perimeter more with Carlos Boozer back in the fray.
His woes aren't lessening any as the season goes on -- he's cleared 11 points exactly once in his last 16 games. His struggles have brought up trade rumors, but as our Marc Stein pointed out recently, who'd take him right now?
Isiah, of course. Just his type of "big news" trade that he craves. But what do you guys think? If it was something like Frye + Francis + Malik for Kirilenko, would you guys want it done? Would we be getting the shot blocker and defender to put next to curry that we need? I believe so. Sure, we'd be losing the outside scoring of Frye, which I don't like but he is the big chip in this trade. Utah would love a kid like Frye, as he seems to fit the mold of player that they like. If Kirilenko is only shooting form the outside, Frye would be a major upgrade over there. Utah would probably justify that Malik is a good veteran type for their playoff run, while Stevie gets his chance to be a piece and of course evens out the salaries.
Kirilenko is shooting a career low but we wouldn't need him to score that much. We have Curry, Steph, Jamal and Q to put the ball in the hole enough for now (67 pts/gm), plus Nate, Balkman, Jeffries, etc. for a scrappy other 12-15 or so, while he and Lee can get there 10-13 points a game to make us happy. If he can improve our defense, especially in the area of the shot block, that would be tremendous. He's only pulling down 5.3 rebs/gm but that's down a full rebound a game from his career numbers. And with Lee getting that many more minutes, he will be pulling down 12-13 a game before we know it.
Andrei is just about to turn 26 and seems to need a change of scenery all of a sudden. I think coming to New York would energize him. He already thinks he's a big pimp and he'd have even more face time if he comes to New York. I would probably worry about his partying more than anything
But I'd make the move. It gets Malik gone, it ships out Francis and his unmovable contract and unfortunatley, we'd have to give up on Frye, but you have to give to get. Now, I realize that Kirilenko's contract is 5 years, which is longer than everyone else in the trades, so he better just be in a funk, otherwise...
May the rippings begin
...
"It was good," Curry said. "I killed Malik, Jerome. The usual suspects. It felt good."
