Thank you very much New Orleans. The Hornets with today's aquisition of Stephen Hunter have over the last couple of days given significant trade exceptions to Toronto and Philadelphia, both of whom could be dealing with the Sonics sometime soon.
New Orleans has been my dark horse candidate to aquire Reggie Evans for a while. I am stunned that they would choose to offer 2 2nd round draft picks for Aaron Williams over making a similar offer for Evans. It may be a good indication of where Evans value lies because Reggie is a better player with a better contract than Williams.
Now that Toronto and Philly have trade exceptions sufficient to aquire Vitaly Potapenko it sets up a deal with either of those two teams. Philly in particular has a gaping hole at backup PF and made great use of Evansesque Kenny Thomas last year. Given that he has a role there and Philly has been known to shell out big dollars it is likely Evans would approve a trade.
With the new trade exceptions a move of Evans and Potapenko for PG Kevin Ollie and a couple of picks would make a lot of sense for Seattle. The Sonics would get a guy with the same contract as Potapenko, but filling a more necessary role at backup PG. Philly may also have some interest in local product Flip Murray as well.
The Raptors could use Vitaly Potapenko to play center for them. There is a need for backup big men and despite his uselessness on this roster Potapenko will find a home.
In a lot of ways management has been really vindicated by their moves to fill the C position. They allowed Jerome James to leave which was a great move and provided Robert Swift, Johan Petro, and Mikki Moore as replacements. I strongly wanted them to bring in Stephen Hunter but the overpaid big man has already been traded after averaging 4 & 5. Any of the three bigs we banked on have provided equal or better contributions at lower price tags.
I wish I could say the same about backup PG. Rick Brunson hasn't exactly panned out.
GO MATEEN!!!! In the rotation tonight