Warriors Trade Exception Tournament Group B: Dewayne Dedmon, Domantas Sabonis, Evan Fournier, Josh Richardson
You decide who advances.
The 2020 Warriors Trade Exception
The Trade Exception technically expires on July 7. However, Anthony Slater writes:
Everybody I’ve chatted with about the subject said they’d expect the new expiration date to land a day or two after the free-agent moratorium, even if it’s in September, since that’s where it was initially planted, for strategic purposes. Which brings us to the next question.
This trade exception was created in the Andre Iguodala trade to the Memphis Grizzlies, and is worth $17.2 million. It’s fair to say that I am no expert at how to use it. Here’s Larry Coon’s FAQ about it. But roughly speaking,
it needs to be used to acquire players under contract (technically there could be a sign-and-trade, but the Warriors want no part of that again after this year’s experience);
it can’t be combined with other exceptions or players to make it bigger;
it can most simply used to acquire a single player (and while there seem to be technical ways to acquire more than one, I don’t understand exactly how)
So we’re looking for players under contract for less than $17.2m, and which teams might trade to the Warriors for (possibly extremely protected) draft picks.
Local writers have come up with some excellent ideas for possible targets:
It’s time to settle this, tournament style. I’ve combined all the ideas from the local writers and added two of my own, to make a list of 16 possible targets. I will break them into four groups for a Group Stage, and the winners of each group will have a final showdown. The groups have been determined by straight alphabetical order.
The question that will be put forward to you is simply: which of these players should the Warriors most want to acquire for the trade exception?
Let’s ignore details of whether to throw in certain draft picks or whether their contracts are worth it or whether their team would even want to trade them. These are unknowable. The Warriors championship window is closing, and the time to win is now.
Group A update
Our full write-up and scouting report was posted a couple of days ago, and the results are in:
45% Andre Iguodala
26% Danny Green
21% Dennis Schroder
7% Cody Zeller
Andre Iguodala took a plurality of the vote (Twitter votes + 10 x LGW comment votes) and coasts into the Final Round. I was surprised that sentiment didn’t drive his victory to greater heights. I guess everyone is rightfully wary of his age.
Group B
Dewayne Dedmon
Domantas Sabonis
Evan Fournier
Josh Richardson
I’ve written brief scouting reports below. All stats below are from Cleaning The Glass.
Dewayne Dedmon
7'0" BIG, 30.7 YEARS OLD
2020-21: $13,333,333
It seems like the Warriors have been dreaming of having this guy in the big leagues for years. In 2013 and 2014, Dedmon bounced around the Santa Cruz Warriors, but never got a long chance with GSW and he’s played himself into a healthy contract.
He generally has a neutral effect on offense and a very positive effect on defense.
He’s most effective as a rim-runner, as his jumper generally is quite below average.
His last two teams have actually had him chucking quite a lot of jumpers, but not to much effect (see above).He’s probably best served shooting fewer jumpers.
He is a good blocker, stealer and defensive rebounder. In ORL he was a terror on the offensive boards, and that aspect might yet be unlocked.
Domantas Sabonis
6'11" BIG, 24.0 YEARS OLD
2020-21: $17,187,500
Previously known as part of Russell Westbrook’s Help So Poor That We Give Russ an MVP For Even Tolerating Their Sorry Asses On His Court, he and Victor Oladipo were dumped off to the Indiana Pacers, and both immediately showed that when allowed oxygen and a fair chance to touch the ball, they were pretty excellent players.
I mean look at him bloom from a nothingburger into a high-usage, excellent passer and decent scorer.
He is mildly positive on offense and very good on defense.
When allowed to touch the ball, he flashed an above average midrange jumper (no range to 3 though). His finishing seems average, though up and down statistically.
His block and steal rate is actually quite poor. But he shows excellent rebounding once he didn’t have to tithe over all his rebounds to the Church of Westbrook’s Triple Doubles. (LOL at the Defensive Rebound Rate in OKC, fgDR% and most incriminating, defensive rebounds on free throws, ftDR%. I mean, come on.)
Evan Fournier
6'7" WING, 27.5 YEARS OLD
2020-21: $17,000,000
Evan Fournier has quietly been a big plus on offense for years, offset by being a negative on defense. But overall his on-off stats are positive.
Fournier has been been an excellent scorer at high usage for years, and a fine assist man as well.
Fournier has shown steady improvement from the start of his career, where he was a decent 3 point shooter but quite poor in the midrange. Last year, he was an excellent shooter from every part of the court.
His defense still looks below average, but his steal rate has been ticking up and his foul rate has been ticking down.
Josh Richardson
6'6" COMBO, 26.6 YEARS OLD
$10,800,000
He’s been a consistent plus on defense for three years, and mostly below-average on offense but he seemed to be putting it together in 2018-19 in MIA.
Richardson’s role on offense seemed to change in PHI. In MIA, he was a high-usage assist machine who handled the ball well. In PHI, he was a high-usage inefficient low-assist machine.
His jumper has been generally average, but up and down. Average from three, except for the peculiar year in PHI.
Richardson has consistently been at the top of the league in block rate for wings with some promise at steals. His defensive rebounding has been relatively poor.
Which of these four would you MOST want the Warriors to add for the trade exception?
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Toss up between Sabonis and Richardson, though I think I'll give it to Richardson b/c we're so thin on the wing. Richardson's got length, versatility, solid D, decent shooter, willing to pass -- exactly the type of player we lost in Iggy/Livingston. Sabonis would be an awesome addition on offense, but we've already got Chriss, Dray, Smiley, and hopefully Looney picking up minutes at the 5.. I'll take the position of need.
Sabonis would be my choice, but he's not even available, so scratch that. Fournier is more likely, but his D would be a negative asset. The Warriors need to improve defensively if they want to get back to competing for titles.