Josh Smith takes a whirl on the trade machine
I can't remember a time when the San Antonio Spurs have been involved in trade rumors around the trade deadline. Last year's trade swap of Richard Jefferson and Stephen Jackson was reported out of nowhere. Now the Spurs have been mentioned in two rumors for two big names in less than a week. First it was Al Jefferson and yesterday it was Josh Smith. It's important to say that these are just rumors and probably aren't going anywhere, but in an attempt to keep an open mind about the roster flaws of the league's number one team (record wise anyway) and have a little fun. Here goes nothing!
Josh Smith for Stephen Jackson and Tiago Splitter: Look, if any deal involving Josh Smith and the Spurs goes down, I'd be stunned if it didn't involve both Jack and Splitter. The numbers make sense, the Hawks keep the bulk of their cap flexibility and get a talented center in Splitter that allows Al Horford to move to power forward.
Is it worth it for the Spurs?
Short term it probably would be, because Josh Smith is clearly a better player than Tiago Splitter. He's a better defender and is able to play both forward positions on both sides of the ball. Having said that, he's at worst the third best free agent available this summer. If we assume Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are staying in LA, then he's the best free agent most likely to sign with another team. That means teams with cap space could give Smith a max offer and it's not clear he'd re-sign with the Spurs even if they decided to give him a max deal.
Smith for Jackson, Matt Bonner and Nando De Colo: This would be the no brainer of no brainer deals. It would also take Danny Ferry giving the Spurs a Pau Gasol, Lakers-Grizzlies deal. Keeping Splitter and picking up Smith would give the Spurs one of the most dynamic and versatile front courts in the league. Still, from a basketball perspective it doesn't make a ton of sense for Atlanta unless someone like Davis Bertans is also involved in the deal (and yeah, I'd still do that).
Three way deal between the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks: He he he he.
i don't think it worked... it was wishful thinking we, we get josh smith and paul george and give up stephen jackson, dejuan blair, nando de colo, and corey joseph..... and get to keep timmy and tiago with josh smith and paul george for one run for the playoffs!!
It's time for RC/Pop to be aggressive at the Trade deadline. The window is closing for Tim, Manu, and maybe Tony to get another championship.
It's been a long time since the Spurs had someone who could defend the paint like Josh Smith. I think I would give up Tiago, Jackson, Mills, and a 1st round pick this year and next year for Josh Smith. Parker has needed a a post defender for five years now and RC/Pop have not been aggressive enough.
No way I'm giving up Leonard though! No way the Spurs make it through the WC playoffs without a post defender or a better post scorer. This team is not built for the playoffs with Duncan our best post scorer and post defender aging!
@prjSpurRon You want to give up our 1st round pick for this year and next year?????!?!? That's crazy!! We need to draft some great young talent to help rebuild our team for crying out loud. Josh Smith would be help, no doubt, but he isn't the LONG TERM option. Sure if we were to get him, we'd probably be the favorite to win it all, but what about 2-3 years down the road, when Duncan and Manu retire, and Parker is getting past his prime? We need some good first round talent to help rebuild our team so we can at least stay competitive for a title down the road. There are at least three pretty good big men we can draft in late first round this summer alone. Adding some youth and energy and a first round talent is borderline necessary! Wanting to give up a first round pick in consecutive years is just stupid.
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"I can't remember a time when the San Antonio Spurs have been involved in trade rumors around the trade deadline."
Tony Parker, RJ, Blair... past 3 yrs have been filled with them
As we all know if there is a lot of buzz about a trades nothing happens. So the spurs are not going to do anything I even expect blair to here after the 21st.
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Maybe it's just me, but the trade I see in the bottom solves none of our problems (rebounding, rim defending, pick and roll defense) and gives us a log jam at SF with George and Kawhi. We already have fairly good perimeter defense and Paul George is just a more athletic version of Kawhi, so I see 0 reason to make that trade. The whole point of getting a Josh Smith is his versatility and defensive abilities. The more and more I review such large trades, the more unnecessary they become. Unless Splitter is intent on testing his worth in FA, I say no deal involving him.
Hopefully if we do trade, we don't give up our draft pick this summer there are at least three big men we can grab at the tail end of the first round. Jeff Withey of Kansas who is average on offense but a MONSTER shot blocker and an excellent rim protector. Gorgui Dieng of Louisville who is pretty good (not extraordinary) but balanced on both ends of the court. There is also Patric Young of Florida who is also pretty good. Young is an athlete, and has great athleticism. So, there are a few guys we can choose from who can help rebuild our squad, if only we don't give up a draft pick. If we do trade, hopefully it's a rather decent big guy (SF or PF) who has SOME playoff experience. I don't know, maybe I'm asking for too much.
nope, he might be a better player on other teams, but on our team with the way we run our offense, splitter is the better fit, and tiago is bigger, everyone's always complaining about size just like 28 other teams in the league, josh smith would make us smaller, so why would this make sense?
@isaacd35 Because Josh Smith is one of the better defenders in the league and a great PnR defender. not to mention he is a better rebounder than Splitter and has a much more expanded offensive game. Yeah Splitter is great catching on the PnR, but Smith would be just as deadly rolling to the basket in our system.
Josh smith is lazy who has an overrated offensive game whos putting up good stats on a bad team,its gonna take some time to learn our system and hes not the brightest star in the sky, theres one thing we have right now and its chemistry and you can't underestimate that. Josh smith doesn't even play pick n roll ball, he likes standing at the 3 point line and launch bricks at the rim and I don't think hes the passer that he needs to be in our system to be succesful@JimmyPriour
Holy poop. That last trade would never happen probably, but it certainly would be interesting.
@avelarde2 I think Indy would take back Jack's expiring contract in a deal, though at this point I think there's no chance they let go of PG
@24writer @yowhatupT when was the last time the spurs were rumoured to be involved in a trade and a trade remotely resembling it went down?
