FanPost

Atlanta's Josh Smith

To start off I would just like to apologize to everyone for yet another post about trades (hopefully not another idiotic post).

There has been much news lately with regards to Atlanta's Josh Smith requesting a trade. In fact the latest rumors revolve around Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu to Atlanta for Smith and Al Horford. This would be a bad move for us. The major reason being is that we are shipping off the best center in the league since Shaq (in his prime) to a division rival when we already have to compete with the likes of a star studded Miami. I think that Horford has proven very well over the past 3 years that he simply can not compete one-on-one with Dwight. Atlanta regularly opts to have him shift to PF and Smith shift to SF so that they can stay away from Dwight. And lets not forget about Horford's season ending torn pectoral muscle (he is just now about to begin rehab).

I do NOT want to trade Dwight, even though his laziness and attitude have begun to get on my last nerve. Lets face it, he flips more than your usual presidential candidate. I am advocating a trade for Josh Smith. Smith to Orlando would be huge for the organization in more ways than just keeping Dwight satisfied. Yes we all know that Dwight wants to play with a star and that he and Smith grew up together in Atlanta. I would propose a trade somewhat like this: Orlando receiving Smith and Atlanta receiving Ryan Anderson, JJ Redick, and Earl Clark. Perhaps even throwing in a draft pick to sweeten the deal. Maybe get T-Mac back as well (trade).

From Atlanta's point of view this is a pretty good trade. The Atlanta owners have made it well known that they do not want to spend into the luxury tax. In fact, the group just sold off the Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets) over a lack of money. Joe Johnson's contract has become too toxic and if something is not done for them to get more talent cheaper within the next year or 2 they will be forced into a new rebuilding mode. This trade would improve an already extremely weak Hawks bench. While giving them future cap flexibility and potential trade pieces to unload the toxicness that is Joe Johnson. They could also just use the amnesty clause and get rid of him all together. This trade would allow them to do such a thing and still remain competitive while rebuilding around a core of Jeff Teague, Redick, Anderson, and Horford.

From Orlando's perspective their bench gets weaker but over the long haul could improve drastically, especially next year. This years team would show something like this:

PG: Jameer Nelson, Chris Duhon, Ish Smith (T-Mac also possible)

SG: Jason Richardson, Tracy McGrady, Von Wafer, Deandre Liggins

SF: Hedo Turkoglu, Quentin Richardson, (Liggins, Harper, and Richardson also possible)

PF: Josh Smith, Glen Davis, Justin Harper

C: Dwight Howard, Daniel Orton (Glen Davis also possible)

The 2012-2013 season is where it really gets interesting (Especially if the world comes to an end). Nobody of extreme importance hits unrestricted free agency outright except for Ish and T-Mac. The last two years of Wafer's contract are also not guaranteed. Nelson has an option, which I'm pretty sure he would pick up as a 30 year old PG probably wont make a big splash. The major point that has been left out till now is Fran Vazquez. He was originally drafted to play PF and be paired with Dwight. Had it not been for the lockout he most likely would have finally made his NBA debut this year. I give it about an 80% chance he makes it next year. This would allow Smith to move to the SF spot and Hedo to assume the role of the 6th Man. Next year's roster would look something like this:

PG: Nelson, Duhon

SG: J-Richardson, Liggins, Wafer

SF: Smith, Hedo, Q-Rich (With Liggins, Harper, and J-Rich possible)

PF: Vazquez, Davis, Harper (With Smith possible)

C: Howard, Orton (With Davis and Vazquez possible)

Now lets see if Otis could pull this off. I think with such a trade we would not only keep Howard but be very competitive for at least the next 2 years. If Dwight leaves we would still have a fairly capable roster, especially if Vazquez finally crosses the ocean. Thank you for hearing my idea and sorry for perhaps having wasted 5-10 minutes of your life.

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.