Hornets Trade Okafor, Ariza to Wizards for Rashard Lewis

[A Tasty Burgerr]

No Wall hasn't taken the Wizards to the playoffs but before we start comparing him to Rose let's not forget the situation he stepped into vs Rose. To say Wall's ceiling isn't as high as Rose is beyond ignorant.The guy is a phenomenal athlete who, with the right coaching, has the potential to battle for the top PG spot in the league. He just needs the team around him to do so. In fact, other than scoring, Wall has Rose beat in every single category, and he was able to do so without a single consistent jump shooter on the wizards roster any year he's been there. I love how under rated Wall is apparently just for playing for the Wizards. If he were on any playoff team (Hawks, Lakers, Knicks, Heat etc) I guarantee he would be in considered a top10, if not top5 PG in the league. It's a team sport people and Wall plays the position which is most reliant on the play of his team.

Isn't that exactly what you're doing? There is no denying he has a high ceiling but to suggest he is vastly underrated and a potentially a top 5 PG is ridiculous. He is an absolutely awful jump-shooter in every way and takes way too many of them. The assist figure is impressive for a young player on a bad team but he also had the most turnovers in the league last year. Even in an absolutely ideal situation he is no where close to being a top tier point guard.

As a Wizards fan, the only thing I'm a little upset about with this trade is why the fuck was the #10 pick not included? The whole post season NO has been saying they'll give the #10 pick to any team who takes Okafor and Ariza's contract. Instead we give up a second (which I doubt we would have gotten anyone decent anyways). Still, live up to your word Monty and give up the pick. Rumors around Washington are that the Wizards want to acquire another first in this years draft and are willing to part with Jordan Crawford and Andray Blatche. I could see a team such as Boston doing this with one of their picks just in case Bass doesn't decide to resign in Boston or he wants more money than Boston is willing to give.

You can't blame the Hornets for not wanting to give up a top 10 pick when they are getting literally no talent in return. The Wizards wanted the talent of Ariza and Okafor badly enough that they definitely saw it as more than they were absorbing bad deals.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I don't think this is a bad deal, in regard to the players they are getting, for Washington. Obviously, the idea is to build around John Wall and the #3 pick. They also have Jordan Crawford and Jan Vesely as young guys. Nene and Okafor is a nice defensive front court pairing and Ariza is a nice bench guy. All indications are they are going with Bradley Beal over guys like Thomas Robinson and Co. in the draft, making their front court need less.

But, it does give them less salary flexibility going forward.