If I were R.C.: The sign and trade edition
It's been a while but Project Spurs is back with another installment of "If I Were R.C.," where we put together some trades you love, but mostly trades you hate. We've done four of these now and we actually got one right! During the first edition of "If I Were R.C." we suggested the San Antonio Spurs trade Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee for Stephen Jackson. Well we almost nailed it. You'll recall, Jefferson and this year's first round draft pick were traded to Golden State for Jackson, who was a member of the Warriors for about two hours. This edition focuses on some free agent sign and trade acquisitions because outside of a couple Marcus Camby rumors, the Spurs 2012 free agency period has been pretty dead. Here goes nothing.
1. Danny Green for Kevin Seraphin and Shelvin Mack: With Nando De Colo apparently coming over something in the Spurs' guard rotation has to give. Yes, the Wizards drafted Bradley Beal, but they still need some shooters. Green would provide just that for the Wiz. Seraphin, while slightly undersized (6'9") is a super long, athletic big man. ESPN's John Hollinger called Seraphin a "wildly aggressive defender" which isn't completely a bad thing. Last season, Seraphin averaged 15.5 ppg, 7 rpg and 1.7 bpg in the month of April. Plus he's French, so the Spurs are probably already interested in him, right?
2. Danny Green for Ed Davis: You're probably noticing a pattern at this point. Spurs use Green to get a young big from a team short of shooters and heavy on big men. Davis rebounds, he can block shots and can score around the basket. He doesn't score a ton, but he does rebound and he doesn't foul, which is impressive for a young power forward. His skill set suggests he could play with Duncan or back him up. With Jonas Valenciunas heading to Toronto next season, the Raptors will have a need for shooters and Davis will be a luxury. Chances are Toronto would want to get rid of Amir Johnson before any other big guy, so this trade might be a no.
3. Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal for Courtney Lee, Shawn Livingston and Terrence Jones: Switching it up a bit, Splitter becomes expendable because it seems his game doesn't mesh with Duncan. Or the Spurs haven't had a full training camp to figure out how their games mesh. Either way, Splitter is a center and not a power forward and that's already something Daryl Morey might be interested in. Did you know Courtney Lee was the number one corner three point shooter in the league last season? Combine that with his defense and he's the perfect Spurs wing player. Jones would be an excellent pick and roll defender and rim protector for the Spurs. Livingston provides a veteran back up point guard, which is the other specific need for the Spurs. Then again, Houston may not do this because they're about to sign Omer Asik to a massive offer sheet and as of right now Livingston's literally their best point guard.
4. Danny Green and Tiago Splitter for Derrick Williams and Darko Milicic: On talent alone this not a very fair trade. However Milicic fell out of Rick Adelman's rotation last season and Derrick Williams is stuck playing behind Kevin Love, so unless he can transition to small forward, he's going to struggle to find a role with the Timberwolves. On the flip side, Green would fit in perfectly next to Ricky Rubio in the T'Wolves backcourt. Splitter could either start or back up Nikola Pecovic. Either way, he'd be great setting screens for Ricky Rubio and then diving to the basket. On the Spurs side, Williams in the Spurs system could be the perfect guy to play next to Duncan. He's got range so he won't clog the lane, he's athletic, he can put the ball on the floor, he can rebound and in the Spurs' system he could become a leader on and off the court. We're entering an era in the NBA where the stretch power forward is in vogue and Williams has the tools to be the prototypical stretch four, especially when he can learn the finer points of the game from Duncan. Darko can go be Darko, play defense, block some shots, make some decent passes out of the post. This trade comes at a price though. Darko has two years and $10 million left on his contract, which is a tough pill to swallow cause it's Darko. Fake R.C. Buford would also accept Luke Ridnour as a back up point guard in this deal instead of Darko.
These trade ideas were designed to acquire some interior defense, but keep the offense flowing as much as possible. If you can get past the name Darko, the T'Wolves deal without question has the most upside because of Williams' incredible talent. Here's hoping one of these trades makes me 2/25 in pretending to be R.C. Buford.
I think the spurs should trade Blair cuz he fell out of rotation to Cleveland for tristan Thompson
is it possible for the spurs to sign javale mcgee & pehaps a sign-n-trade for a guy like iguodala
Danny Green for Kevin Seraphin and Shelvin Mack? REALLY? Don't think Seraphin is a French then he whatever will come here sort of REUNION with TP! Why on earth the Wiz will even do that? Not to mention Mack, don't think the Wiz will even consider a Green for Seraphin straight up. You're living in a different world buddy. The Wiz now are strongly developing Seraphin and Booker as their front court duo in the future, why would they want a role player who disappeared completely in the Playoff last year? Same thing goes to Davis from the Raptors, he and Bargnani, and probably Derozan, too, are in their rebuilding plan, why bother? Your logic of sending Neal and Tiago for Terrence Jones is also laughable. Terrence Jones is a first-rounder in this year's very deep draft, could become a star in years, and Courtney Lee, for christ's sake, is an UFA! If the Rockets are gonna do a sign-N-trade the partner won't be the Spurs! This is common sense OK? As for Derrick Williams, it's more laughable; now the T-Wolves are in talk with the Lakers for a trade involving D.Williams and Gasol as primary trading chips. Throwing a deal like this level is.... LMFAO!!!!!
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@WOW I finally found someone who undervalues the Spurs role players more than I do...
@yowhatupT When did you see last time the Spurs role players were traded for a valuable player or so? I'm not trying to be negative here, but based on truth in the past.
Via David Aldridge:The New York continued to spend for quality depth before the end of the July Moratorium, agreeing to terms with veteran center Marcus Camby on a three-year, $13 million contract Monday in a sign-and-trade deal with Houston that will send Toney Douglas, Josh Harrelson and Jerome Jordan to the Rockets, along with two future second-round picks.
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So the writer seems to bend towards trading Green, Splitter, Neal. Sometime in the past I presented this propostiion to include Blair, Bonner and Mills and yes, Anderson (sign and trade). I was called idiot and my comments not good enough for some Spurs fans. Now somebody else seems to validate my stand. Here I go again. If there is something permanent in this world, it is change. I say again, change means challenge and challenge may mean success. I know the Spurs are in a bind. They have NO money to sign some of the better free agents, NOT to mention their inclination to love their pennies. Splitter for one is seen to succeed TD but alas re failed miserably. Green is a failed commodity in that western conference, Blair sad to say is an undersized pf/c, Bonner can't see the rim. What MUST the Spurs do to improve the lineup? Trade these players if they can or amnesty them. But it seems there are no takers. The ONLY open option is to sign free agents to improve their interior defense. But it seems they are not cheap by Spurs' standard who are known to pinch the penny. I think the $ value of a player is equal to what he can give the team. Small market? But to be relevant, they MUST spend. It is NOT a luxury they can afford. I wonder how much the Knicks spent to lure Anthony, Stoudemire and Chandler, or the Heat in having James, Wade and Bosh, or the Lakers signing Bryant, Bynum and Gasol to name a few. Now the Brooklyn Nets have Johnson, Williams and soon Howard. They MUST be spending beyond the alloted budget and paying the luxury tax. I don't hear them complaining. Small Market? Big Market. Sometimes GM Buford, Mr. Holt, you have to bite the bullet and spend beyond the threshold of the mandated budget and pay luxury tax. Its the ONLY way. Please DON'T give the reason of Small Market. We know and you know if will NOT stand. If you continue to pinch your $ then, TAKE WHAT YOU GET!
@rtesoro440 And you want to get rid of somebody who's putting on performances like that? The reason he's doing well in the Olympics is because his coach knows what to do with him. He play's him! And more than 5 minutes. You still don't get it. He has more BBIQ and talent than some of the stones your turning over.
@rtesoro440 Splitter failed because Pop doesn't know what to do with Splitter when Timmy is the focus. Read this: http://airalamo.com/2012/07/12/tiago-splitter-leads-brazil-in-route-over-argentina/
@rtesoro440 Yeah there are no takers for them. In other words, the role players on the Spurs would be no use for other team cuz they can only be used in certain SYSTEM. An all-around player would be asked to be a spot-up shooter ONLY. If you don't have any skills to survive in the NBA but can shoot a little bit you will find a job from the Spurs, but at really cheap price. Pop is still living in the past when TD was at his prime and "everything is so easy, just find pieces around TD then it would work." The scenario changed but Pop still don't wanna wake up. After Sam Presti, Dell Demps, Danny Ferry left the FO then suddenly Pop and RC. became DUMB, whatever on Draft or FA. WHY?
The wolves have been real active and have a gaping hole at the 2, to go a long with a glut of tweeners and bigs that havent lived up to expectations. If we could pry williams away from them without giving up tiago I'd be all over it, but tiago does things off the bench that we NEED and that neither williams or anyone on the wolves roster has proven to be able to do as consistently as tiago. Darko looks lost 90% of the time, same with ant-rand, maybe pop could work his magic, but I don't think I'd be comfortable giving up the only big on our roster younger than 30 close to 7 foot that knows what the word defense is
Are you kidding me? Who is that crazy GM to give up D. Williams for crumbs? NOT even a straight swap between Splitter and Williams! What did Splitter do in the western conference finals?
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Are you kidding me? Who is that crazy GM to give up D. Williams for crumbs? NOT even a straight swap between Splitter and Williams! What did Splitter do in the western conference finals? He faded man!
@rtesoro440 what has derrick williams done? less than tiago. he had a hard time staying on the court over beasley who was always hurt and/or in adelmans doghouse. tiago isn't the best, but he is an above average defender who is easily in the top 10 pf/c at running the pick and roll which is pretty much our entire offense. tell me where else we are gonna get a 6' 10" guy that can do this for $3 mill a year. He showed massive defense improvement from the memphis series to this year even after flaming out. He hasn't even had a full offseason yet. he needs atleast 1-2 more years before we cut bait. Hes no spring chicken but hes not even in his prime yet.
Good post Jimmy. Some Xbox players seem to think they have the answers. For the money and the BBIQ and footwork, defense Tiago brings we have a decent player at that spot.
Deals 1,2, and 4 make the Spurs worse defensively at the 2 guard spot.
Deal 3 is still flawed because Terrence Jones is rather soft. I much rather get Royce White, even if it meant Livingston stayed a Rocket. So, Splitter/Neal for Courtney Lee/Royce White, absolutely.
Matt Bonner & James Anderson for Derrick Williams? Keep DeJuan Blair, Danny Green, Gary Neal & Tiago Splitter.
Bonner and Anderson for Williams? Are you out of your mind? Crumbs for a future elite player? Come on!
@rtesoro440 @koshwayne @ rtesoro440 Did you come to that conclusion by reading another blog?
@LincolnKreifels Tiago's value is appreciated now huh? If he's that valued why trade him? No thanks I'll keep Tiago. But then again I'd like to see what Tiago could do playing with Rubio. He deserves better.
