ESPN Reports: Richardson, Dudley to PHX for Diaw, Bell

one thing you do get with diaw and bell is a lot of experience winning nba games and making the playoffs.

diaw can be a really nice player, but his game is kind of odd. he's a bit like lamar odom in that he shows what he can do and then doesn't do it.

bell is a total larry brown player. in fact, i believe he was with the sixers when they went to the finals with brown as the coach in 2000.

it's a tough sell, tho, trying to build a larry brown contender from the ground up at the same time you're trying to sell a team that has a serious lack of fan interest. larry brown does not coach fan-friendly ball and it's a definite blow to attendence to lose your top scorer and replace him with offensive non-factors.

i think the move makes reasonable sense from the standpoint of trying to build something that might work down the road with a few more moves, but makes lousy sense in terms of trying to create a team that might not make the playoffs any time soon, but is at least interesting to watch.

 

blay.

 

That's true but attendance was horrible as it was. This isn't really a salary dump, it's trying to do something new.

 

If they can keep getting decent performances out of Okafor, the team is actually going to start winning. 27/17 against the Mavs tonight.

 

Oh, I understand what it is. The only explanation necessary is: "Head Coach Larry Brown." He likes defense and versatile role players, while he's not very interested in athletic slashers like Richardson. And if Bell were 22 instead of 32, it might even be a good move, but even if it did work it would still make them less appealing to potential fans.

 

Didn't Diaw look reasonably decent last year when Amare was out? Maybe with some more minutes he can bring some more offense?

 

I'd say that unless Gerald starts averaging 30 points a game, or Morrison starts averaging 20, this trade will be viewed as a failure by the fans no matter what the new guys do.

 

Diaw's numbers don't factor in that he was behind Stoudamire and was only getting 24 min a game. That and with the scorers on that team, its not exactly easy to get your shots. He'll average a lot more here, and he's entering with a 56 fg percentage. That will go down, but it won't be nearly as bad as Richardson's 44 along with a refusal to drive and use his athletic ability to get to the charity stripe. Bell is a very good defensive player and can hit a three, so he's not a terrible player to get in a trade. Bobcats also desperately needed another pf, albeit Diaw is undersized.

As far as what the Bobcats gave up, Richardson may be exciting but he really was a terrible team player here. He didn't play defense, and much like Wallace, although skilled, hasn't every helped cultivate a rhythm on offense. Good Riddance. We won't see 40 pt explosions out of either of the new guys, but we also won't see them sit in the corner waiting for the ball. Dudley is a blue collar guy, much like a better offensive George Lynch without quite the footwork on defense, but you had a longjam and a half at the sf position, so its not like you lose a lot there. Now Morrison (who's improved), Wallace, and Carroll can get more minutes there.

It's not a great trade, but it was a fair trade, and it certainly makes them a bit more balanced. Though they lost scoring, they gained a little defense and I expect more scoring from the two than what they've averaged in the past.

 

Ehh what they need is a true center so Emeka can slide out to the 4. And by center I don't mean Eddie Curry

 

they need size in general, so yeah, they could absolutely use a center, but centers are at a premiun unless they have a last name of Diop or Curry, and undersized, underwhelming Okafor is better than those chumps. In the NBA today you don't have to have a true big man center to win regular season games, there really isn't that many anyway, so until they have chance at the playoffs, its a piece that can wait, unless they can sucker a team into trading a decent center.