02-19-2021, 11:23 AM
(02-19-2021, 11:17 AM)ThisIStheYear Wrote: Lots of possibilities, but the one thing that’s certain is that James Johnson will be traded. He must be traded. The Mavs moved Wright for him in the offseason. Wright has a Raptor score of +3 (excellent) while Johnson is -4 (atrocious). The story is the same for every statistical model. Wright is a pretty good role player, while Johnson has already given his all and has no remaining basketball value. Obviously, the trade was not made based on expected on court contributions. But, Johnson does have a valuable expiring contract. Thus, he must be moved by the deadline or that trade becomes a complete fail. The only question is for who? I like the idea of pairing him with Powell to get Drummond and would do that, but I don’t love it. For a roster reset, I’d suggest moving him with Zinger to Boston for Kemba, Pritchard, Williams III, and a couple of firsts. The Celtics want to add shooting with size after all. Or, maybe there’s something better out there, but in the end, Johnson has to be traded.
I get this sentiment, but technically Wright was guaranteed $8.5mm in 2021. So, the deadline for knowing if this was a complete fail or not is this summer when the extra $8.5mm becomes (or doesn’t) a player more useful than Wright.
Obviously such a move could happen sooner, but there isn’t a requirement it occur sooner if the goal is to judge whether it was a good move or not.