Hey guys, I've been looking at players that could fit the Orlando Magic's style and see if I could make a sensible trade for both sides. Unfotunately, this particular player does not fit with the TPE acquired from S/T'ing Turkoglu (something I would prefer to use, so as to not lose player assets). That's ok in this instance however, because this particular player is very much worth it and this trade idea will likely be my best even if I write up a few more trade ideas in the future.

My criteria for the Magic in a trade is to come out with a defensive wing presence. Mickael Pietrus is such a player, but he's been left solo after Courtney Lee was traded last summer. I believe the Magic have gotten weaker defensively in the backcourt (understandibly with CLee, Alston gone, the injury to Jameer this season, new players still trying to get into a good groove with the team). I believe JJ Redick and Matt Barnes are either simply ok defenders or slightly above average.  

And finally, the trade and my reasoning follows after the jump:

Detroit Pistons will trade:

Tayshaun Prince

Chucky Atkins

3 million Cash and an unprotected 1st Round Pick

Orlando Magic will trade:  

Anthony Johnson

JJ Redick

Brandon Bass

Small part of Turkoglu's TPE for acquiring Atkins

How:

In the RealGM and ESPN trade machines, it works. Here's the link to the RealGM trade:

http://www.realgm.com/src_checktrade.php?tradeid=5334785

The first thing to note is that I had to put Will Bynum instead of Chucky Atkins for trade checking purposes only (They both have the exact same salary). This is not a problem to doing the potential trade however. Chucky Atkins is simply trade restricted until Dec. 28th, and he does not have trade veto power. It also seems the TPE is not needed to add Chucky Atkins to the trade. It's awfully close to the difference allowed in trades with just Prince for the 3 Orlando Magic players so I was surprised by that. That just means the Magic have the option to use part of that TPE for Atkins if they wish to. Not sure it makes a difference if they use the TPE or not however, and if it is used, the trade would be constructed as technically two trades. One as Atkins for a small part of the TPE; then the Prince and nice fillers (cash, pick) for the 3 Orlando players.

Why for Orlando:

I really think Tayshaun Prince and the Orlando Magic is a perfect match. I am hoping the Magic will trade for a defensive wingman worthy of starting at SF for the Magic right now, and Prince is absolutely such a player. Slotting him in the starting lineup would make for a highly effective starting group, giving the wings and backcourt some much needed defensive presence and toughness. His offense also fits in very well. He hit 3's at 39% last season and has a career 36% 3-point mark. He is also a very low turnover and foul guy, something SVG has been looking for in his lineup.

The link to Hollinger's Scouting page for Tayshaun Prince is here:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/players/hollinger?playerId=1724

Some excerpts:

• Scouting report: A long, wiry guy with Inspector Gadget arms, Prince can play farther off his man than any perimeter player in the league and still challenge a shot. That enables him to defend very effectively even when it looks like he's not doing much. He also has a low foul rate and rarely gambles, relying on his length to do most of the damage. Prince was a second-team All-Defensive selection for three straight seasons before fizzling out last season, and if he's healthy and motivated he'll probably make it back.
• Offensively, Prince handles the ball well for his size and rarely forces the action, so he provides a low-turnover initiator on a Pistons team with a lot of scorers that think shoot-first. He can shoot the ball well from outside when open and has the size to get off contested shots at the end of the shot clock. Unfortunately, he rarely winds up with easy looks because he doesn't have much explosion or deception and is far too thin to post up effectively. However, he is an explosive finisher in transition.
• He maintained his other unique trait of rarely fouling, as his rate of 1.36 fouls per 40 minutes ranked second-lowest in the league (see chart). (for 2008-'09 season)

• Offensively, Prince shot more jumpers last year but made a career-high 39.76 percent of his 3s. He has quietly become one of the better "point forwards" in the league, finishing third among small forwards in Pure Point Rating. (for 2008-'09 season)

What I love about this trade too is that we are leaving the immediate rotation completely alone. AJ and Bass are currently 3rd stringers/matchups-specific when the team is at full health and JJ would'nt be missed with Prince in the fold. Magic retain Gortat, the defensive minded C who gives very valueable minutes when Dwight is resting or battling the typical foul trouble.

Why I included Chucky Atkins is a two-fold reason. The first is that Detroit has 14 players right now. Trading Prince for 3 players leaves Detroit at an illegal roster size of 16 players. They also have quite a few rookies and important low salary players. Chucky is not really one of them, as Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum are younger and have done very well at the PG. By receiving Anthony Johnson in trade, Detroit's need for Chucky will be even lower, so the two teams will simply swap the solid vet PGs and it will leave Detroit at a legal 15 player roster size.

The other reason is that the Magic have reported interest in trading for Atkins almost exactly one year ago as a backup PG. There is some familiarity with the Orlando Magic and Chucky Atkins as he played in Orlando 82 games in the 2000 season. Here's the link the reported by John Denton and analyzed brilliantly by our OPP's Ben Q. Rock:

http://www.orlandopinstripedpost.com/2008/12/7/683735/if-the-rumors-are-true-the

I would also force Detroit's hand to give up 3 million cash to help Orlando's tax situation and then a 1st round, unprotected pick so Orlando can also add a cheap but also young and full of potential player from the draft.

Why for Detroit:

I'm not going to get as detailed with Detroit's reasoning but it will also stand to make much sense for them too. They will drop Prince's high 2 year contract for a talented, young big man by the name of Brandon Bass. How do I know Detroit could probably want Bass? Because according to Bass' agent, Detroit was on his short list of teams to sign with this summer along with Orlando and Portland. The link:

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/2009/07/detroit_pistons_will_target_br.html

Also, the Pistons are hurting up in the frontcourt. Charlie Villanueva is kind of alone there, and the Pistons are using less efficient players than Bass is; Wilcox, Brown, Maxiell, Wallace, etc. (Atleast Ben Wallace is having a sort of comeback season with the rebounds and hustle, but almost literally zero offense).

The Pistons could make use of a highly accurate shooter such as JJ Redick, who can also play point and facilitate a little and is a decent defender now. JJ is expiring tho, but the Pistons will have his rights and they may relish the expiring money coming off the books (along with Prince).

The Pistons can't get the trade to work without adding a player, giving up Chucky Atkins does not mean much to them and he is replaced by another solid vet backup PG, Anthony Johnson. His 2 million plus contract is also expiring, thus giving Detroit more salary cap relief/room.

The salary situation for Detroit after this trade is huge. They will have somewhere around 48.66 million in salaries this summer as opposed to 55.71 million they are currently slated to have. (*Both have Bynum coming off the books, someone they may want to resign cheaply. Kwame Brown, Ben Wallace, Anthony Johnson, JJ Redick are the others and they would let them drop or resign after spending FA money).

A Few Possible Barriers to a Trade:

• Orlando will have a hefty payroll, as they are receving more money in trade, and AJ and JJ will expire off the books this summer and Prince will not (and even if JJ were resigned/extended at a low rate). The only positive is that Prince's contract is for only 2 more years; this season and next season; which fits in nicely with Vince Carter's 2 more years until his partially garantueed 3rd year option in the same summer that Prince is off the books (I'd resign them both then, but having options are nice). Orlando already did make a commitment to pay tax for our current and great team and go for the championship now. This would only be a 2 year commitment too.
• Prince is one of the iron men of the league, who like our Dwight, had an extremely large consecutive streak of games played in good health. However, he has only played 3 games thus far this season with lower back problems that started late last season (ruptured disc in his back). Hollinger thinks Prince's defense had dropped a little bit from it but in good health, many suspect Prince will return to an elite level defensively. Detroit has not set a timetable of return for Prince yet, but he's listed day-to-day reportedly as opposed to out. They have been taking it very slow with him I think, which is very good for his health and for making sure his return is healthy consistently. I suspect if the Magic do have any interest in Prince, they will wait to see if he is playing healthy first which is perfectly fine, the Magic have more than two months before the trade deadline to see where Prince is at and make the deal happen. Atkins can't be traded for 7 more days anyways (written on Dec.21).
• JJ Redick is among the fan favorites, counting Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith. He's also been playing well this season. He doesn't have the body type of a Pietrus or a Prince to defend great, but he's defending ok and is hustling out there and hitting a high percentage of shots. I'm in murky waters with the technicalities of JJ's situations after this season. The Magic are faced with possibly losing JJ in the summer tho, as he is expiring and has a QO this summer, meaning another team can bid for JJ, Orlando can match the high QO or build some kind of new deal to JJ's liking. Trading him to Detroit would allow Detroit to match the QO and new deals, but if they drop JJ, Orlando can come back in the picture for JJ's services or bid for him at risk of Detroit matching. I've tried trading Matt Barnes instead of JJ and the numbers were about 700k off. Barnes also has a cheaper 1.6-1.7 PO next season to return to Orlando that would be nice value for a good player for the Magic to hope he picks up the option and Orlando keeps him another year. If the Magic saw JJ as a deal breaker in such a deal (I don't, not for Prince), they could put Barnes in the deal instead of JJ and add Adonal Foyle or a s/t minimum contract player from the FA (Foyle can veto a trade he's in if he wants to). The only problem is that Detroit has to cut atleast 1 player, and I'm not sure there's anyone there they might do. They still need to package Atkins in such a deal. Maybe they can waive/buyout Ben Wallace or Kwame Brown? Permanent send down to a D league team for D. Summers? It will basically take a lot of creativity to put Barnes in instead of JJ Redick. I also like the depth chart much more with Barnes and Prince.   

Depth Chart for Orlando:

PG-  Jameer Nelson / Jason Williams / Chucky Atkins

SG-  Vince Carter      /  Mickael Pietrus

SF-  Tayshaun Prince / Matt Barnes

PF-  Rashard Lewis  /  Ryan Anderson

C-    Dwight Howard /   Marcin Gortat