Dec 26, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Jared Dudley (9) is defended by Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap (4) and center Al Horford (15) in the first quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
1 – Trading Jared Dudley, 2017 first-rounder to Milwaukee
It takes a LOT to top trading Bledsoe (and Caron Butler) for Redick and Dudley, but Doc Rivers did it this past summer when he traded Dudley and the Clippers’ 2017 first-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks in order to “clear space”.
Unlike the Bledsoe deal, this one never made sense. Dudley was bad last year, but if his career averages tell us anything, 2013-14 was a statistical anomaly for Dudley, skewed mostly by the forwards inability to remain healthy. By keeping Dudley you do two things: 1) it gives Dudley a chance to redeem himself (he has, averaging 7.2 points on 47-39-80 shooting splits in Milwaukee) and 2) if he does redeem himself and bounces back, he and his expiring deal become trade asset the following season to acquire a better small forward.
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Most importantly, you keep the best asset you have in the treasure chest. It’s no secret good teams don’t value picks the way potential lottery teams do. Good drafting nullifies that thought process, but the worst-case scenario is you draft a player who is one or two years away from breaking into the rotation.
What the Clippers did was throw away a pick to get rid of Jared Dudley — in no world does that make sense as Dudley wasn’t a player who was destroying the locker room from the inside nor was his contract ($4.25 million) a hinderance to the teams ability to build around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin (Doc Rivers contributed a lot to the at).
You know who was acquired with a first-round pick? Jeff Green, a player the Clippers were interested in.
You know who else was acquired for a first-round pick? Dion Waiters. And essentially the duo of Iman Shumpert + J.R. Smith, as was Omer Asik, Thaddeus Young, and Brandon Wright (BOS).
That Wilson Chandler guy the Clippers have coveted? He’s available and could be moved for a first-round pick and the same goes for his teammate Arron Afflalo.
As the trade deadline nears and the Clippers struggle to pry away a difference maker because they don’t want to strip down team depth, it’ll come back to this trade. Everything the team does comes back to this trade and if this isn’t sign enough from the front office to go and find a suitable GM, the Clippers could be in a bad position for the next four or five years (a.k.a. until Doc Rivers’ deal is up and he leaves as the team prepares for a rebuild — sound familiar?).