Jeremy Pargo

Whatever you may feel about Jeremy Pargo - personally, I'm quite shocked at how poor his rookie season was and firmly believe he could do considerably better given a faster paced team with better spacing - it is only important to know that in today's trade featuring him, he was merely a salary. So too was D.J. Kennedy. In trading Pargo, his $1 million guaranteed 2012/13 salary and a second round pick for Kennedy (whose minimum salary of $762,195 is fully unguaranteed), Memphis does a salary dump and nothing else. Even the $1 million TPE they open up in doing so (created as Kennedy's salary is absorbable via the minimum salary exception) is of little use, being so small.

Atlanta’s bizarre insistence on keeping Jerry Stackhouse all year has pushed them into the tax territory, despite sorely needing better point guard play and size to offset the loss of/compliment a healthy Al Horford. Meanwhile, Memphis also has on-court needs to fill as Jeremy Pargo has struggled mightily at backup point guard and the team also ranks amongst the league’s worst in three point shooting percentage.

The Grizzlies are good, but they are built weirdly. Huge amounts of money are invested in a frontcourt that is not up for sale, point guard Mike Conley also pulls in an entirely justified $8 million a year, and his backcourt teammate Tony Allen is too valuable to be expendable (while also being a large part of why the team has shooting problems). In terms of contracts for trade assets, they have scant little, particularly when they also need to be concurrently dumping salary. The perennially available O.J. Mayo is perennially available, and perennially sought over, but he’s also the team’s only shooter, even if he is also their only significant trade asset. The formerly valuable Sam Young is now out of the rotation due to his defensive rotations. A salary dump of him would sort out the luxury tax issue, but Memphis needs to be buying as well.

The primary playmakers in the backcourt and on the wings are Pargo, Doron Perkins and Chuck Eidson. Eidson has worked his way up the ladder, going from D-League benches to Euroleague starting spots via a stint as the best player on a Eurocup champion. He struggles to score at the Euroleague level more than he ever did at Lietuvos Rytas, yet his ball handling and playmaking at the wing spots open up Pargo and Perkins for scoring opportunities using their superior physical tools, with both also playing aggressive, hounding defense. All three of them are willing and capable ball handlers and passers, and the three of them combine for 11.5 assists per game, which is almost unheard of at the Euroleague level. Problematically, all three of them also lack for a pure outside shooting touch - Pargo's 32.8% three point shooting is the best of the three, while Perkins and Eidson are both recording marks below 30% in this Euroleague season. Nonetheless, despite both this flaw and Eidson's less than stellar defense, the backcourt consistently make plays.

Jeremy Pargo

Pargo was covered in the Bobcats summer league roster round-up of last week. He averaged 8.0 points and 5.3 assists for them in only 19 minutes per game.

Jeremy Pargo

Pargo has been a target of the Bobcats for a while, and with at least one point guard vacancy open right now, he has a chance of making the team. He spent his first professional season in Israel, where he averaged 14.1 points and 4.5 assists (fifth in the league) for Galil Gilboa. Jeremy is nothing like Jannero, which is his best quality; he's a ball handler, a point guard, an athlete and a creator, a non-shooter but a strong slasher, who doesn't always make the right decision but who can always make something happen. With the Bobcats targetting him for over a year now, and with their need for at least two new point guards, a good showing here might get him a training camp contract.

- Jeremy Pargo

Jannero's brother went to summer league with the Orlando Magic, but failed to get a contract offer. He has since spent the entire year in Israel playing for Galil Gilboa. In 20 games, Pargo has averaged 14.9 points and 4.7 assists per game (tied for 6th in the league), shooting 36% from three point range and (just about) taking more threes than twos. In that respect, he's just like Jannero.