The move from Memphis' point of view is a complete salary dump trade, which allows them to save about $6 million in the off season. Both Toronto and Detroit added to their salary caps, most notably the Raptors acquiring $17.8 million in Gay/Haddadi versus $12.8 million in Davis/Calderon. The Raptors net themselves a semi-star player to combine with young, but frustrating Kyle Lowry, Andrea Bargnani, Demar Derozan, Amir Johnson and rookies Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas. The Pistons add a true pg that they haven't had since Chauncey Billups. Both Rodney Stuckey and Brandon Knight are combo guards, displaying more 2 guard traits than pure point guard traits. Calderon solves this problem and they don't take on a lot of money to acquire him (roughly $800,000). The Pistons realize it's time to move Prince's contract and the move allows others, most notably Andre Drummond and Kyle Singler, to get more playing time and evolve their games. The presence of Calderon should have a big effect on Detroit's big men, Greg Monroe, Drummond, and Jason Maxiell. As noted above, the Grizzlies make this trade because it saves them a lot of money and nets them 2 young players, plus a more than serviceable SF to replace Gay in the lineup in Prince. Davis (23) and Daye (24) gives Memphis two young bigs with cheap contracts who can provide excellent depth behind starters Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. Behind those two, Memphis only has Darrel Arthur, so adding PF depth makes sense. They save money and get a veteran in Prince who can step in right away without the Grizzlies missing a beat. Both Davis and Daye give Memphis an increase in size, rebounding and post defense, all things they could certainly use.
I personally like this trade for Detroit, adding Calderon was something they desperately needed. I don't think the Grizzlies will win the title this year, so they hold on to Davis and Prince for next year and can maybe resign Daye who will be a free agent. Their future isn't really brighter without Gay but perhaps the flexibility they get by cutting Gay's cash can allow them to make more moves in the off season. At worst, Davis is an ok return for Gay but nothing to really smile about. The plan was to cut cash and they did that. Toronto trades away Davis, a guy I liked there, and Calderon, a huge trade piece, to land Gay and hopefully convince fans that the team is going in the right direction. They got better, slightly. I don't think it pans out long term as Gay is due a nice deal of money, Davis was only 23 and was their best pure big. I hope I'm wrong because Toronto deserves a better basketball team. But overall I think the Pistons came out on top, followed by the Grizzlies, and the Raptors come in last despite acquiring the best player in the deal.
Follow me on twitter: @jaym12391
or email me at jaym12391@comcast.net
No comments:
Post a Comment