NBA Trade Deadline: Iggy Go Quickly?
Foiled in its longstanding attempts to move Samuel Dalembert and/or Elton Brand, Philly has apparently come to realize that its best shot at a shake-it-up move is convincing one of the risk-taking/big-spending teams out there – such Houston, Dallas and Cleveland – to absorb the four years and $56.3 million remaining on Iguodala’s contract after this season.
via Nets pulling brakes on Harris trade talk? – TrueHoop Blog – ESPN.
I objected to the size of Iguoadala’s contract when it was pushed, but he really has become quite the productive player. That’s what’s so baffling about the Sixers. They should be good. Maybe not great, or even ‘good’ but good enough to compete for the playoffs at least. But man, they’re really not.
Dalembert and Iguodala for Tracy’s expiring is a dream deal for both sides. The Rockets get a center, one who’s been killing it this season, an actual, real life, not-Chuck-Hayes-pretending-he’s-tall-enough-to-ride-this-ride, center. And they get an impact scorer at the three spot, meaning Battier moves to the bench as a defensive expert some nights, and on tougher nights, Ariza comes off the bench as scoring specialist. It loads up the Rockets. It wouldn’t make them a title contender, but it pushes them past the rest of the Western middle, and might mean home-floor in the first round. Their advanced numbers are good outside of the plus/minus from this year; Dalembert ha his highest PER’s in the last four years, and a 21% TRR, while Iguodala’s slipped a bit on all fronts, he also hasn’t had a point guard to work with.
For Philadelphia, you get another guy to put buckets in seats, and more money off the cap next year. You’re back to a rebuilding squad, still have some young assets, and can commit to a new approach versus trying to hiccup your way back into just being mediocre instead of bad.
HP Trade Proposal Rating: 4 Rick Bucher tanning sessions out of five.
Oster-Tags: Andre Iguodala, Houston Rockets, Iggy Be Bad, Philadelphia 76ers, Samuel Dalembert, Tracy McGrady
