February 26, 2011

Oklahoma City shone this week, shoring up their weakest position and picking up a quality backup guard in the process, all for spare parts. D.J. White (a power forward who was never going to crack the rotation), Jeff Green (a talented sixth man type caught on entirely the wrong team), Nenad Krstic (who was a good candidate to leave this summer anyway) and Mo Peterson (who was definitely going to leave this summer anyway), combined with a future protected first round pick from the Clippers, saw them land two starting calibre centres in Kenny Perkins and Nazr Mohammed who should greatly improve their defense, along with Nathan Robinson, who won't.

Even when looking at those numbers, the Mohammed trade was also good for Charlotte, who picked up a solid power forward prospect in White in exchange for a veteran who was expiring anyway. If they really want Nazr back, they can sign him back in 2 years, when the lockout ends. And the Gerald Wallace trade was not bad either - two first round picks, a potentially useful backup small forward and complete salary absolution from a struggling and expensive player who seems to have already peaked is a pretty good return in any deadline deal. Gerald Wallace isn't Pau Gasol; this trade wasn't that trade. It's a good deal for Portland, but not a fleecing.

Read full article

July 5, 2010

D.J. White

Due to injuries, illness and a depth chart that hates him, D.J. White has not had the opportunity to do anything in his first two NBA seasons. He has played only 232 NBA minutes, although he rocks a sizzling 22.5 PER in that time, shooting 56%. White is a very good jumpshooter, which both a blessing and a curse; he scores a lot but does not get to the foul line, and does not have three point range. He can also finish around the basket, and rebounds pretty well. If he could get more range on that jumpshot, he might help with the aforementioned outside shooting problems. But as things stand, Ibaka is firmly ahead of him in the depth chart.

If one of the two had centre size, then an opportunity would present itself next summer, when both Nenad Krstic and Nick Collison are unrestricted free agents. But since they don't, it's probably not possible. Therein lies the problem that Oklahoma City has with all this depth, the same problem Portland has had; you can't get what you might consider fair returns for certain players if you don't give yourself the opportunities to prove how good they are. It's an unfortunate side effect of good management, and it sucks for White personally.

Read full article