Reaction to the Wizards trade

Well, some reaction to the Wizards trade of the fifth overall pick and flotsam with undesirable contracts to the Timberwolves for combo guard Randy Foye and swing-man bomber Mike Miller is starting to come in. John Hollinger, a noted Wizards-basher who nevertheless writes must-read columns came down thusly:It cost the team a high pick, but Washington traded more than $13 million in deadweight contracts for two players ready to contribute in the backcourt immediately. Shooting guard has been Washington's Achilles' heel ever since Larry Hughes left (did that feel as funny to you reading it as it did to me writing it?), but now it has a deadly ace shooter in Miller and a quality combo guard in Foye to back up both guard spots. No, they aren't great payers, but they're a heck of a lot better than Dominic McGuire and Mike James.The trade also tips the Wizards' hand in other respects. No, they aren't trading Antawn Jamison, and no, they won't be holding a fire sale to get under the tax. They're on the 2007 Boston Celtics model, and they're going for it. It's a very risky strategy, given how much depends on the recovery of Gilbert Arenas from two seasons lost to knee problems, and the Wizards still didn't solve their biggest problem (a glaring lack of defensive ability). Also, did I mention they won 19 games last season?But by adding these two players, the Wizards certainly have made themselves a fearsome offensive team. If Arenas is healthy, they could very well lead the league in offensive efficiency, and if that happens, new coach Flip Saunders just needs to coax an average defensive effort from them to win a ton of games. Neither is likely, I should point out, but both are certainly possible, so as long as they're painted into a corner anyway by the foolish contracts they gave Arenas and Jamison a year ago, that appears to be where the Wizards will focus.The trade also appears to make Deshawn Stevenson (owed more than $4 million) utterly expendable and Nick Young fairly portable, too, so there could be other deals coming down the pike later this offseason. Certainly, Washington would like to have another veteran in the frontcourt -- youngsters Andray Blatche and Javale McGee would have to play heavy minutes in the present setup.The cost here is the fifth overall pick, and it speaks to the undesirability of the contracts the Wizards unloaded that the Wolves could obtain such a coveted pick for two average players.Rotoworld editorialized:Assuming this deal is finalized on Wednesday, the Wizards instantly become a credible playoff team in the East. They also manage to shed three bad contracts without taking any back -- Miller's deal ends after 2009-2010 and Foye becomes a restricted free agent.This deal leaves the Wizards loaded up in the back court, but a bit think in the front court. The 4 and 5 position players now on the roster are:C Brendan HaywoodC Javale McGeeF/C Andray BlatcheF Antawn JamisonThat's it. I suppose you could give Dominic McGuire a few minutes at power forward in a pinch, but that's not really a solution to the front court depth issue. The over-loaded back court now looks like this:G Gilbert ArenasG Randy FoyeG Deshawn StevensonG Javaris CrittentonG Mike JamesG Nick YoungG/F Mike MillerWhew, that's a lot of smalls on one team. Ideally, the team would move Deshawn Stevenson and Mike James, who can make no real contributions to this team anymore [and made absolutely none last season] for front court depth with expiring contracts. We will see what is possible there. The addition of Foye and Miller means that Nick Young is now expendable, though the team may try to hold on to him due to Miller's contract expiring at the end of this season. In other words, I have to think Ernie Grunfeld isn't done yet; he does not intend to go into the season with 7 guards and only 4 bigs. The team will probably use the 34th overall pick on a front court player now, but that's hardly a solution. Another trade should must be in the offing. As I wrote last night, I don't have a problem with this trade. I think the odds of Randy Foye and Mike Miller putting this team into Finals contention are greater than the odds of anyone we take at 5 doing the same thing. Still another reason I approve of the trade is that I never put any stock in these rumors that the team was millimeters away from putting Amare Stoudemire or Chris Bosh in Wizards uniform. I never saw any evidence that these rumors were more than just a player talking too much and a leak from one front office or another to put pressure on another team or deceive others about draft night intentions. We should remember that only an infintesimally small percentage of trade rumors turn out to be accurate and there is nothing to suggest that the Wizards were at all close to pulling off the sort of blockbuster deal that turned the Celtics into NBA champs two seasons ago. Once I gave up on the idea that this team could transform itself through a one-sided trade and reconciled myself to the fact that Dwyane Wade would not be the fifth pick in THIS draft, I began to consider more kindly the possibility of a smaller trade that would move undesirable contracts, address at least one team weakness immediately, and provide incremental improvement to the overall roster. In addition, I favor moves that make it more likely the team has enough financial flexibility in 2010 to re-sign Brendan Haywood. This trade does all those things. I can understand why people who were looking for the sort of trade that turned the Celtics into a champion the year before last would be disappointed. If those were my expectations, I would be pretty crestfallen, too. However, since I never considered that possibility to be more than a fanboy daydream, I'm considerably less suicidal today than I otherwise might be. As an added bonus, I am now relieved of the possibility of watching yet another Wizards coach play Darius Songaila 20 minutes per game at center. You may think Flip Saunders unlikely to do that, but I'm not willing to take that chance anymore. Happily, I won't have to.