So you trade away a great player who is in his prime, for a draft pick. Then you HOPE that player one day becomes as good as Wallace (which will most likely not happen). Then what do you do once that player enters his prime? Trade him for a younger pick, because he won't play forever?
If you are constantly preparing for the future, and sacrifice for the present, you could be constantly chasing wins. Like maybe we shouldn't have signed Thomas/Crawford and let our rookies stink it up out there to develop them "for the future". I think you should only do that if you totally suck anyway and are not putting a good product on the court. But I think it's better to try and put the best team possible on the court each year.
A) Wallace is not in his "prime." His "prime" was two years ago when he was an All-Star. This, by definition, is the downside of his career. I'm happy he's here, and I don't want to trade him for an exception (like Lamar Odom, who's arguably a better player).
A1) But to say that he's untouchable is laughable. LOL that we needed him to beat the Kings at home by 22. Even if it's true, what does
that say about the talent level overall of this team?
B) Wallace has been in the league since 2001. How many times has he played 72 games in a season?
C) I'm wondering why LMA got 5 years to shed the LaMarshmallow label, but Batum (in his 4th now) is considered chopped liver.
D) Wallace could potentially be gone this summer. Isn't it sacrificing a bunch of wins (next year and going forward) to get
absolutely nothing for him just walking away?
E) There is an enormous chasm between "putting the rookies out there to let them stink it up" and "getting value from an all-star on the downside of his career who may walk in July." To not acknowledge that is beyond homerific.
F) The player we pick with the draft doesn't have to be as good as Wallace. He has to be as good as the difference b/w Wallace and Batum, at a position of need. There are only 240 minutes a game to go around.
G) I understand that many don't have the capacity or don't like to think strategically about basketball (and that's fine), but I'm pretty sure that the 9.5M in space that GW's contract is taking up (maybe coupled with some picks?) combined with the rest of our roster makes us not only prime trading partners (for players as good or better than Crash) but also a FA destination you have to look at. Hypothetical pipe dream...would you rather have LMA, Matthews and Wallace or LMA, Batum, Deron Williams and Dwight Howard?