In the fallout from the 2010 NBA Draft, the reaction to the Wizards' draft has been rather mixed on SB Nation's BulletsForever. Many believe that the draft was a coup for Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld, who not only added potential superstar John Wall, but also gained grit and toughness through the acquisitions of Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker and Hamady N'Diaye. Others, however, are perplexed that the acquisition of Seraphin came at the cost of taking back Kirk Hinrich from the Bulls, a player who will be paid $17 million over the next two years. This, to many, seems like a high price to pay for someone who is going to act as little more than a glorified caddy to John Wall.
Quick reactions:
Mike Prada (Founder of BulletsForever):
The Kirk Hinrich trade was really bad, and for that, I blame EG, not Ted. Why? Because in theory, the Kirk Hinrich trade accomplishes the bare bones of Ted's philosophy. Ted's not afraid to take on salary in order to get more picks, and he probably told Ernie so. But at that point, it's on the general manager to fulfill the owner's philosophy in such a way to maintain proper cap flexibility and team building. The Kirk Hinrich trade does not accomplish that. Hinrich is okay, but he's also 29, and has not had a good season since 2007. He's slipping on defense, which was once his calling card. More importantly, he's owed $9 million next season and $8 million in 2011/12, one year after a new collective bargaining agreement is put in place.
User zeke5123:
And this trade gets worse. For the 11th pick, the Hornets traded to OKC Mo Pete (BOYD), for the cap space plus what, the 21st and 28th? Are you telling me they wouldn’t have done Peja for our late first rounder? We could’ve added Xavier Henry. And had a valuable chip come trade deadline.
User seewhite:
I’m a litle confused about all of the anger. I think Prada’s take was pretty much spot on. We got Wall, a couple of raw but talented bruisers, a ready to go bruiser, and a back up combo guard that we probably overpaid for. I think that they did everything they set out to do. And again, we may have overpaid for Heinrich, but by the time we know what time of team we have in two-three years he will be gone. He is a little expensive but it’s not as if we broke the bank for this guy. The team is going to be extremely young and extremely athletic next year, and I don’t think that is such a bad thing. We aren’t getting anyone from this free agent class and we aren’t getting anyone next year either, so using some space on Heinrich, especially if we can somehow dump Arenas, isn’t such a bad move, especially if the Frenchman pans out. He’s got a lot of hype behind him.
User JonathanJoseph:
Hinrich trade: This is where we’ve sort of “over-educated” ourselves. This is a bad trade if you look at it through the lens of a BOYD trade but it was NOT a BOYD trade. Grunfeld has wanted Hinrich for years and got the player he was targeting (Seraphin) and $3M cash for taking him.
Grunfeld had a very specific agenda in mind and very specific players in mind and he got them. Adding tough front court prospects and a mean, defensive atitude to the Wizards seems like a smart play to me
BOYD assumes that you are adding any washed-up or extraneous player to your roster until his contract expires. Grunfeld acquired the backup PG he needed regardless AND set the tone for adding players known for TOUGHNESS and DEFENSE. Yes $9M per is too much for Hinrich but the Wiz can easily absorb the cap hit for 2 years. It’s not a long term contract.
Seraphin: Yes, an unknown, but an TOUGH, PHYSICAL athletic big man. If he turns into a poor man’s Nene, which is what he’s been described as, then great addition.
Booker: Known for being TOUGH. Ernie said in the post game that he had targeted Booker at 30 or 35 and he thought someone else was going to pick him.
Personally, I have had my fill of project big men. Grunfeld has yet to prove to me that he is an adept horse trader on draft night. I hope that he works some of his magic over the next few weeks.