Wally World Moving East
And the NBA trading floodgates have opened! After the Artest-Stojakovic deal finally went through officially yesterday, a huge trade has gone through between the Timberwolves and Celtics. Here's the whole trade:
Celtics get:
SF Wally Szczerbiak
C Michael Olowokandi
C Dwayne Jones
Future 1st Round Draft Pick
Timberwolves get:
SG Ricky Davis
C Mark Blount
PG Marcus Banks
F Justin Reed
2 Conditional 2nd Round Draft Picks
In fantasy terms, the players that matter in this deal are Szczerbiak, Davis and Olowokandi (barely). Szczerbiak is a sharp-shooting former All-Star filling it up at a career pace this season. However, I don't expect that to continue once he starts suiting up alongside fellow gunner Paul Pierce. Look for a drop of about 2 points per game from the 20.1 he has averaged up to this point. All other numbers are unlikely to change much. He's a scorer, plain and simple, so other categories aren't worth talking about much, anyway.
Davis is an interesting case. He is also scoring at a higher level than normal at 19.7 per game. He may not be regarded as an elite player, but he's exactly the type of slashing, athletic player that could thrive playing alongside Kevin Garnett. What the Wolves need is a guy that can take over a game scoring (Garnett simply won't; he's not that type of guy), and given Davis's propensity for selfishness in his Cavalier days (who can forget shooting at his own basket to get the last rebound for a triple-double?), it would seem that he is more than capable of filling that need. Of course, the Davis Minnesota is getting is much more mature than the one that chafed at the thought of playing a supporting role to then-rookie LeBron James in Cleveland. He willingly accepted a sixth-man role with the Celtics for a year and a half before starting all 42 games he played for them this season. So, it appears that the Wolves are getting the best of both worlds here, although I would expect his 5.3 AST and 4.5 REB per game averages to come down a bit by virtue of playing next to an all-world stat sheet filler in KG. However, he should make up for this with increased scoring, perhaps as much as 3 points per game depending on how well he meshes with the Big Ticket.
Olowokandi has slight relevance to the discussion only because he is a center, and fantasy-worthy centers are in short supply. Of course, the term "fantasy-worthy" can only be applied very loosely to the Kandi Man. He may grab a few extra rebounds here or there since KG won't be around to gobble them up anymore, but that's about it. Otherwise, he's still the same putrid player he's always been.
Any other thoughts out there about this deal? Let me know.
Celtics get:
SF Wally Szczerbiak
C Michael Olowokandi
C Dwayne Jones
Future 1st Round Draft Pick
Timberwolves get:
SG Ricky Davis
C Mark Blount
PG Marcus Banks
F Justin Reed
2 Conditional 2nd Round Draft Picks
In fantasy terms, the players that matter in this deal are Szczerbiak, Davis and Olowokandi (barely). Szczerbiak is a sharp-shooting former All-Star filling it up at a career pace this season. However, I don't expect that to continue once he starts suiting up alongside fellow gunner Paul Pierce. Look for a drop of about 2 points per game from the 20.1 he has averaged up to this point. All other numbers are unlikely to change much. He's a scorer, plain and simple, so other categories aren't worth talking about much, anyway.
Davis is an interesting case. He is also scoring at a higher level than normal at 19.7 per game. He may not be regarded as an elite player, but he's exactly the type of slashing, athletic player that could thrive playing alongside Kevin Garnett. What the Wolves need is a guy that can take over a game scoring (Garnett simply won't; he's not that type of guy), and given Davis's propensity for selfishness in his Cavalier days (who can forget shooting at his own basket to get the last rebound for a triple-double?), it would seem that he is more than capable of filling that need. Of course, the Davis Minnesota is getting is much more mature than the one that chafed at the thought of playing a supporting role to then-rookie LeBron James in Cleveland. He willingly accepted a sixth-man role with the Celtics for a year and a half before starting all 42 games he played for them this season. So, it appears that the Wolves are getting the best of both worlds here, although I would expect his 5.3 AST and 4.5 REB per game averages to come down a bit by virtue of playing next to an all-world stat sheet filler in KG. However, he should make up for this with increased scoring, perhaps as much as 3 points per game depending on how well he meshes with the Big Ticket.
Olowokandi has slight relevance to the discussion only because he is a center, and fantasy-worthy centers are in short supply. Of course, the term "fantasy-worthy" can only be applied very loosely to the Kandi Man. He may grab a few extra rebounds here or there since KG won't be around to gobble them up anymore, but that's about it. Otherwise, he's still the same putrid player he's always been.
Any other thoughts out there about this deal? Let me know.
posted by Lock Ness Monster at 9:52 AM
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