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Posted by Anji:^^^ I would like to hear. AB is the only defensive BIg that can run on that team and we have to move the whole 2005 draft to get him???? Horrible
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Horrible huh? OK, first of all in your original reply, you said both "why would Mullin make this trade?" and "why would Isiah make this deal?" OK, so which is it pal?? Make up your mind on who you think is getting the short end of the stick here. Have an opinion one way or another man, come on.... And furthermore, your 2nd replay makes even less sense. Yeah AB's their only defensive big that can run. I agree with you. Glad you're starting to see the light. The kid's good. Damn good. But then you suddenly switch gears in a flash mid-sentence and say that we shouldn't trade all of our 2005 picks to get him? Well I got news for ya, for Biedrins AND Pietrus together (I want both, that was always my proposal) - THAT MIGHT NOT EVEN BE ENOUGH. I think it is, but who knows what Mullin would try and hold out for if Isiah came callin' (I already said in my original post they probably wouldn't be interested in Nate - he's all too similar to Monta Ellis). Word to the wise Anji - slow down, think about what you want to say, then start typing. I never understand what you're trying to say half the time dude. OK? Great. Let's move on....
Second, I thought I kinda explained already (as I try to do with every trade idea that comes to mind rather than just foolishly throw names around w/o any thought behind it for the clubs involved) what Mullin might be thinking regarding his roster as the deadline approaches. But for you buddy, I'll go over it again. Regarding his big men, they have Adonal Foyle firmly in place - he's probably not going anywhere because of the big contract. Yes? OK. And they have Patrick O'Bryant who's been playing well for them in the D-league and is clearly their center for the future. Right? OK then. So based on that I posed the question: Might Biedrins become available in the right deal? Answer: Sure. Why not? Makes sense to me. You deal from your areas of strength and surplus to fill voids and areas of weakness. You with me so far Anji? Not rocket science here pal. In the Warriors case, regarding strength, that would be the center position with O'Bryant biding his time/ready to take over soon and at the wing, where they have a ton of talent in excess when everyone's healthy (which is where I came up with Pietrus a few months ago). And regarding the Knicks weaknesses, everyone knows they're clearly in need of a potent and consistent offensive threat and an interior defensive-mind bigman to play next to and cover for Eddy Curry.
Third, don't for one second underestimate Biedrins' talent. If right now I had to choose between
"career backup center" or a "player who isn't allstar/superstar caliber" --OR--
star in the making, gun to my head, I'm sorry - I choose the latter. It's all about evaluating talent and potential and seeing what pieces fit better to the overall puzzle for your team (an area I thought was a strength of Zeke's but with such horrible, misguided signings as Jerome James and Jared Jeffries I'm not so sure anymore). And I think this kid Biedrins has a boatload of potential and would fit nicely with the Knicks next to Curry moving forward. Better than Lee in fact. Bottom line. The guy is putting up a double-double with 2 BLOCKS A NIGHT in under 30 mins. per. Very nice. In only his 3rd year in the league. By comparison, how long did it take Jermaine O'Neal to show what he could do? Answer: Not until his 5th season and second team. And I don't want to hear that O'Neal never got the burn early on for Portland. We all know that. The point is that by comparison, O'Neal was late to develop whereas this kid Biedrins is showing much more at a similar stage in their respective careers. Now I'm not trying to say that Biedrins is as good as O'Neal right now. Obviously, he's not. Granted O'Neal's one of the best in the business. But when comparing the start of their careers, I ask you - does Biedrins have the potential to be as good one day? Based on what he's shown so far, why the hell not??? Very impressive when you think about it....
Comparing him to Lee, they have similar numbers. Except for the blocks and defense that is. Not trying to bash Lee. Would never do that. I love Lee. He's my favorite Knick. I think that Biedrins would be a much better fit next to Curry than Lee though moving forward. Go back to the Utah game a few games ago. Remember the last few minutes of that game when Okur went off? Now suppose we had Biedrins covering Okur instead of Lee. Think about it. Bottom line with that matchup is the Knicks win that game. And, again, not trying to rip Lee here. To be fair, that's actually Curry's man to cover if you ask me but because he's such a piss-poor defensive player that challenge went to Lee. Plus Lee was going with 5 fouls for a while in the end there and couldn't really body him up like he normally would've. But the fact remains, talented as he is, Lee gives up too much size and strength in certain matchups and too much quickness in others.
To cut this short, this is a pretty good trade for both teams. With O'Bryant on the rise, Biedrins might be expendable. Maybe not for Frye. But with Lee involved, maybe. Just maybe. And with Frye plus some minor filler, that's enough to fetch Pietrus too, a talented young wing with great upside that would fit nicely with us considering Crawford's inconsistent play, Q's injuries and Balkman's inexperience. Look, for us, losing Nate and Frye in the right trade really isn't a big deal. They're both expendable. I like both, but they're really both novelty-type players rather than down and dirty, consistent/steady regular rotation contributors anyway. Just look at how Isiah's using both of them now - AND HE BROUGHT BOTH OF THEM HERE!!! I've already said in prior posts that I'd much rather have a defensive-minded backup PG like a Chris Rodgers (who we could get for nothing right now) over Nate and would rather go with a guy like Sean Williams with our 2nd rounder in the next draft (kudos again to TMS for coming up with this guy - I love it!) over Frye. And for the Warriors, a future frontcourt rotation of O'Bryant and Lee with Frye off the bench would look awfully nice on paper for them don't you think? Mullin just might.
If you disagree Anji, fine. But for God's sake, man up and articulate bro. Tell me why I'm out to lunch? That's what the damn message board is for.
[Edited by - finestrg on 02-18-2007 4:16 PM]
