Gerald Wallace for Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham, Sean Marks, 2011 First Round Pick (conditional, via New Orleans), 2013 First Round Pick (conditional)
As I've said before, this is a hard trade to swallow. Not because the Bobcats are getting shafted or anything (we're not), but because we're trading away the face of our franchise for basically the past seven years.
A guy who said this: "I love the city of Charlotte. I love the fans. I feel like I owe the city. The city doesn't owe me anything"
Gerald Wallace is truly atypical in today's NBA - in the best way possible. He won't tip-toe around tough questions in the locker room and he worked his way up from expansion pick to all-star through hard work and effort that he built around his talent.
However, the team still has to make this move. The Bobcats have been drifting around the 7th-8th seed in the Eastern Conference for the past few years now. There hasn't been much of any room to improve either as the team was built around veterans. As such, the Bobcats had to deal one of their veteran players for young talent and/or draft picks to initiate the rebuilding process. And as heartbreaking as it was, Wallace obviously got the best value from other teams, so the Bobcats felt they had to make the move.
And I don't blame them in the least. I love Crash, but getting two first round draft picks and decent young talent in Cunningham is a good deal. I don't have any clue what the conditions are on the draft picks but it looks like the 2011 one will be around 20th overall. The 2013 pick is an unknown at this point. While we didn't get to fleece Minnesota for a top pick, two first round picks around 20th overall is pretty nice. Couple that with our sure-to-be lottery pick, and the Bobcats could be looking at a very solid young core - if they draft well.
As for the players we got in this trade, Joel Przybilla is a decent center that gives the Bobcats a big man with an expiring contract to back up Kwame. Dante Cunningham is an exciting young forward with great energy and leaping ability. Dave, one of the editors at BlazersEdge, tells me that Cunningham has a nice 18-foot jumper and can slash and sky for impressive dunks. I look forward to seeing him play. Sean Marks will probably be waived, as Mike Cranston reports. I don't really know much about him besides that he's the only NBA player from New Zealand.
Trade grade: A-
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Nazr Mohammed for D.J. White and Morris Peterson
I can't say I really get this trade. It's not a salary dump (the Bobcats actually take on money). I guess we just really wanted D.J. White, especially since the Bobcats are reportedly going to buy out Mo Pete. From what I understand about D.J. White, he's a high energy rebounder. That's cool, I guess. Ridiculous Upside's Scott Schroeder told me White is "a beast" so I guess he's got that going for him.
Trade grade: C
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Overwhelming effect
Obviously the people most affected by this are Gerald Henderson and Stephen Jackson. Jackson is going to move to the small forward position and Gerald Henderson will take over the starting spot at the shooting guard. Matt Carroll will see an uptick in his minutes. Cunningham will likely be the back up SF (even though he's more of a power forward) and White will be the backup PF until Tyrus Thomas returns, at which point White will become the third PF. The center position will remain quite thin with Kwame and Przybilla holding down the front court. Wowzers.