The New Orleans Hornets and the Philadelphia 76ers completed a curious four player trade earlier today, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Hornets sent forwards Darius Songaila and rookie Craig Brackins to the 76ers for guard Willie Green and center Jason Smith.
The trade is a curious one because there is no clear cut reason as to why this deal took place. The Hornets most likely made this deal because Darius Songaila has a $4.8 million expiring contract but they are actually getting more than that back with Green’s $3.9 million deal and Smith’s $2.2 million contract.
Songaila might be the best player in this deal as of now. He brought some value to the Hornets last season as a big man that could stretch the floor. Other than that, he wasn’t an effective rebounder or defender, but his 43% shooting from 16-23 feet was a useful part of the Hornets offense as it mimicked David West‘s production when he was on the bench.
Not only did the Hornets give up the best player in the deal, which again, is Songaila, no matter how hard that is to believe, but they also gave up the player with the most potential in Brackins. Craig is a 22-year old rookie that is very versatile on the offensive end. He is similar to David West in that way and I thought playing the pick and roll with Chris Paul and being able to grow with the second unit would be an effective way for the Hornets to develop some more size.
Instead, the Sixers get a versatile young player that, when is all is said and done, could be just as good as Derrick Favors, a player that Sixers coach Doug Collins wanted to draft instead of Evan Turner. Brackins is a little more polished right now and he should be the a nice rotation piece for Philadelphia.
In return, the Hornets got a below average seven footer that doesn’t like to go inside or take advantage of his height. That makes him a primarily pick and pop big man, which would make him a good fit with Chris Paul. The caveat? He shot 33% from mid-range last season.
And Green, well he’s an undersized shooting guard that can’t rebound, draw fouls or shoot particularly well. The Hornets have never had a picture perfect scenario at the two guard spot but if he takes more than five minutes a game away from Marcus Thornton I think that’s a mistake.
To summarize: this deal came out of the blue but the Sixers did a nice job of grabbing a rookie power forward with potential for next to nothing.
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