Go Colangelo: My Thoughts on the Rudy Gay Trade

After months/years of talks, Rudy Gay has finally been traded.  The good old Memphis Grizzlies managed to dump this inefficient scorer on the once-again suspecting Bryan Colangelo-led Toronto Raptors.  Here’s what happened:

• MEM receives:
• PF Ed Davis (TOR-.191 WP48, .139 WS48, .124 EzPM48)
• SF Austin Daye (DET-.137 WP48, .124 WS48, .102 EzPM48)
• SF Tayshaun Prince (DET-.087 WP48, .074 WS48, .049 EzPM48)
• 2013 2nd round pick (TOR)

• TOR receives:
• SF Rudy Gay (MEM-.040 WP48, .085 WS48, .110 EzPM48)
• C Hamed Haddadi (MEM-(-.002) WP48, .040 Ws48, (-.122) EzPM48)

• DET receives:
• PG Jose Calderon (TOR-.234 WP48, .156 WS48, .162 EzPM48)

Except for the scrub Haddadi, Gay is probably the worst acquisition in this deal, as Prince is much cheaper.  This is not the first time in recent memory that the Raptors have been suckered into making a play for an inefficient volume scorer; look no further than the monster extensions for DeMar DeRozan and the epically terrible Andrea Bargnani.  Earlier today, I told a fellow basketball fan that, “The Pistons will make the play-offs if Andre Drummond plays twenty-five minutes a game unless Andrea Bargnani is traded.”  Well, let’s amend that to, “The Pistons will make the play-offs,” because Toronto has sabotaged its season and the Pistons have made a massive upgrade at the point guard position which was previously staffed by Will Bynum and Brandon Knight.

Quick bullet points:

• With the acquisition of a breaking-out Daye, the Grizzlies have massively upgraded at the 3.  Not only have they jettisoned the massively overrated Rudy, they replaced him with a guy who finally looks like he’s getting his act together at a new position.  Furthermore, Tayshaun Prince is not awful, so they upgrade their bench.
• The fact that they acquired those two means that they had to give up Jose Calderon though.  Normally, I would not approve, but Memphis already has this guy named Mike Conley, Jr.  Besides, trading away the UConn alum left a hole at small forward that would have been filled by either Tony Allen or Quincy Pondexter.  While both are good players, (although EzPM hates Quincy), Allen is really a guard and Pondexter is a shooter.  Daye is a better alternative.
• Ed Davis is a great third big man for Memphis.  This guy is young, on his rookie deal, and solid.  The trade of Marreese Speights left Darrell Arthur in that role, and neither Wins Produced nor EzPM is fond of Arthur at all.  Upgrade.
• Receiving Calderon is great for Detroit both short-term and long-term.  Right now, he is a very productive point guard who can lead the Pistons back to the postseason.  This summer, he’s an expiring contract.  Provided that Joe Dumars can do something relatively intelligent with the freed-up cap space, this is going to look really amazing.
• Calderon+Andre Drummond+Greg Monroe=nightmare.  Honestly, I think that this Detroit team could give anyone a run for its money in the play-offs, which it will reach if Lawrence Frank has any sense at all.  I think that they could even give the Heat some trouble as their three stars align with Miami’s greatest weaknesses (point guard and center).
• While it may look like Dumars gutted his team at the 3-which he sort of did-he did not do it hopelessly so.  I seem to remember that Kyle Singler was mostly a forward in college, and while Rodney Stuckey is hardly anyone’s idea of a good starter, he will not cost his team wins.  Furthermore, Brandon Knight might be able to slide to the 2, which is a position that better fits his play style.  Also of note is the fact that the historically productive Jonas Jerebko had a major shooting slump at the beginning of the year and as a result has played very little.  I suspect him to both play more and revert to form.
• All of us Wins Produced people thought that Toronto could make some noise in, or at least reach, the play-offs if they failed to do something stupid.  They failed to fail that.  (Sorry if that made no sense.)  Currently, Toronto has a trio of swingmen who are high-volume and inefficient (Gay, DeRozan, and Alan Anderson), plus another terrible wing who will probably play some (Linas Kleiza), plus the ever-present Bargnani.  They also managed to wreck their young, potentialy extremely imposing big man trio of Davis, Amir Johnson, and Jonas Valanciunas.  If the big Italian ever leaves Canada, I will be thoroughly surprised.  If Colangelo ever does something remotely intelligent again, I will be shocked.  Did I mention that Landry Fields is struggling?  Train.  Wreck.

To rehash, the Pistons will make the play-offs, the Raptors will not, and I would also like to state that the Wizards will not finish with the worst record this year-I chalk many of their struggles to bad luck/strange slumps.  Thank you for reading, please comment, and please come back.