This just in from NOLA.com:
The New Orleans Hornets are close to finalizing a three-team trade deal this morning that will send Mike James to the Washington Wizards in exchange for guard Antonio Daniels.
The trade deal also includes the Memphis Grizzlies. Since Tuesday, the Wizards with the Grizzlies have been trade negotiations.
The Grizzlies are trying to obtain a conditional draft pick from the Wizards.
Initial thoughts: This is a great trade for us. James and Daniels have almost identical contracts (about $6.5 million owed to both this season and next), so we're not losing much there. Meanwhile, the 6-4 Daniels should be able to come in and give us reliable minutes at point guard, his natural position. He has career averages of 7.9 points and 3.5 assists, and was averaging 5.1 and 3.6 in 22 minutes a night for the Wiz this season.
Relevant linkage as I find it:
- Daniels' career stats
- Hornets Salaries | Wizards Salaries
- Hornets Report thread
- Hometown Hornets
- At The Hive
- Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
- Hornets Asylum thread
- John DeShazier's take
UPDATE: From the Washington Post...
The Wizards will acquire guards Javaris Crittenton (Memphis) and Mike James (New Orleans). The Hornets will get Antonio Daniels from the Wizards and possibly a conditional draft pick from Memphis. The Grizzlies would get the conditional first round pick they sent to Washington for Juan Carlos Navarro before last season.
Image credit: Dariusz Ejkiewicz.
32 inspiring comments post your own
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 10:33 AM
Notes on PER: Daniels comes in at 50th among point guards this season, with a PER of 11.22. Bobby Jackson is right below him. Mike James doesn't appear on Hollinger's PG list (off the scale?), but apparently his PER this season is 6.14.
www.ndoherty.com #1
ticktock6
12/10/08 10:43 AM
Whoa. Whoa. Pulling the trigger!
hornetshype.com #2
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 11:14 AM
Much respect to louisianagyrl, who suggested this very trade in the Journals three weeks ago:
http://www.hornets247.com/journals/2008/11/20/trades-anyone-anyone-1st-edition
You'll see from my comment there that I never thought it would happen. Apologies for the skepticism, louisianagyrl.
www.ndoherty.com #3
Ryan Schwan
12/10/08 11:18 AM
You beat me to it Ron. This trade is awesome. If I made a list of my top five back up point guards in the league, Antonio Daniels would be in it easily.
His PER is only 11 because he doesn't shoot a tremendous amount and isn't a strong rebounder. Otherwise his True Shooting percentage, Assist rate, and turnover rate are all excellent. He's also always been a pretty intelligent defender.
I LOVE this. The trade makes no sense for the Wizards: Mike James for Antonio Daniels and a 1st round pick for Crittenton? Crittenton couldn't crack the GRIZZLIES rotation.
Oh well - it's good for us.
www.hornets247.com #4
stormsurge
12/10/08 11:22 AM
YAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
*does the happy dance*
Our bench just improved....our bench just improved!
www.stormsurgephoto.com #5
ticktock6
12/10/08 11:29 AM
Per the Official, we're also getting a 2nd rounder from the Grizz.
http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/HORNETS_ACQUIRE_ANTONIO_DANIEL-292646-31.html
hornetshype.com #6
Ryan Schwan
12/10/08 11:53 AM
According to one of my other Pet sites out there, Antonio Daniels is rated as good by Wages of Wins, coming in at .155 in 06-07 and .153 in 07-08. .100 is average, and Daniels has been consistently good throughout his career.
By the Wages measure - which is all about efficiency, Daniels would become our third or fourth best player.
www.hornets247.com #7
Juncti
12/10/08 11:54 AM
Wow, I have no idea how they pull this off. Managing to get rid of James while at the same time bringing in what should be a productive PG backup is awesome.
At least if we're still paying around the same money we should be getting something for those dollars.
I can't wait to see how the bench rotations will look now.
That draft pick is just icing on the cake. Hopefully we can get this guy up to speed quick and see him playing sometime soon.
#8
stormsurge
12/10/08 12:05 PM
Daniels, Posey, Armstrong, Juju, and Devin Brown.
Thats not a bad backup group.
www.stormsurgephoto.com #9
At the Hive
12/10/08 12:17 PM
Have you guys seen any corroboration on the 2nd rounder being a 2015 draft pick? That's what Yahoo! sez and it seems strange...
www.atthehive.com #10
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 12:19 PM
@ At the Hive: Yeah, I just caught that on your site and linked up the Yahoo! article above. That's real strange. 7 years!? Maybe they'd already traded their earlier second-round picks away?
www.ndoherty.com #11
Mikey
12/10/08 12:23 PM
Mike James doesn't appear on the PER stats because you have to average 6 minutes a game... which he obviously does not.
#12
stormsurge
12/10/08 12:31 PM
I detect a new theme for the game watch party :D
www.stormsurgephoto.com #13
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 12:42 PM
From the updated NOLA.com article:
Daniels is expected to arrive in New Orleans on Thursday to take his physical examination. It's uncertain if will be available to play by Friday's road game against the Boston Celtics.
www.ndoherty.com #14
At the Hive
12/10/08 12:42 PM
Then again it's odd that we even get a pick out of this deal. We're already upgrading significantly at point guard with no real salary ramifications. Good on Bower for getting the pick.
www.atthehive.com #15
Ryan Schwan
12/10/08 01:06 PM
Think of the trade this way, too: The Hornets turned "good-once-out-of-every-four-games" Bobby Jackson into Bonzi, who was better than Bobby and helped us at the end of last year, and Antonio Daniels, who is better than Bobby and will help us this year.
He also got a second round pick.
Not bad, in the end.
www.hornets247.com #16
Mark
12/10/08 01:34 PM
BIG ups to louisianagyrl337. An exact call for the trade. I'm rather surprised. The Official Mike James Watch has now been deterred to the Wizards. Best of luck to James.
Let's not put too much hopes on Daniels; he doesn't seem to give us much statistically, although any production is better than coach Scott not having a third option 1 (can he play a 2 for small ball?).
Next trade at bat: Money Mike Miller. We can do it!
www.dogpile.com/ #17
ticktock6
12/10/08 01:46 PM
I'm not pinning any championship hopes on him. But you gotta be happy about something for nothing. That is, if he plays AT ALL, he will be more worth $6mil than Mike James was.
hornetshype.com #18
Kamo
12/10/08 01:49 PM
That's a great trade! Only a good back up big man and we're really there!
#19
ChocolateThunder
12/10/08 02:02 PM
YEEEEESSSSSSSSSS I hate Mike James. Since we're under new username, my real name is Saunak Shah.
I bitches for three weeks last year on how much I hated that trade. Even though, some of you liked the trade. I still think that it's the worst move that Bower made as a general manager. However, now he's gone and no complaints. Daniels is a legitimate back up and the could be streak scorer that Pargo was. I'm so happy.
Anyway, I'll pay good money to someone who goes to the game and can get me a Chris Paul bobble head.
#20
ChrisTrew.com
12/10/08 02:11 PM
Happy about this, always liked Ant Daniels.
www.christrew.com #21
Mark
12/10/08 02:15 PM
Right ticktock. I didn't mean pinning hopes and dreams, but somewhat similar expectations as Mike James (read: none). Honestly, Devin Brown has done relatively well for us (blindingly attacking the basket and all), and for our team to really step up, our whole team really needs to just play with more consistency. Predrag, DX, Ceiling Fan esp. as starters. I feel the excitement but realistically, I would expect a few weeks before Daniels actually should be analyzed. Y'know, learning plays and all (and not throwing the ball to former teammates on the 30th).
Like Kamo says, we really just need a back-up big and we'll be on our way. I've always been more worried about the 4 spot than 5, honestly, but that's a story for another day. Looking forward to checking how Antonio Daniels fits our squad.
And Chocolate, I think most of us were happy with the trade for the versatility the Bonz provided, as well as *potential* with James (noted, Jackson was good, but Pargo-esque). As we have noted, it really wasn't the best trade for our squad, but the talent was there. And that's all trades really hinge upon.
www.dogpile.com/ #22
Mikey
12/10/08 02:22 PM
Its important to have a backup PG that can take care of the ball, and AD has a very good assist-to-turnover ratio. This will also allow Devin Brown to do his "bull in a china closet" thing. Main thing is for him to be a distributor.
#23
LSUhornet
12/10/08 02:41 PM
Wow, I feel like we got away with a steal. If we land a decent back-up big for one of our swingmen (not Julian), I'll go apeshit.
#24
Andrea
12/10/08 02:55 PM
No biggie, Niall. The trade options I posted in my blog were just wishful thinking. I'm really surprised that Washington would be willing to give up their best PG. Getting Crittenton is what probably made Washington OK the trade. Either way, I think its a pretty good trade for us.
#25
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 02:59 PM
@ louisianagyrl: Might be an idea to explore those precognitive abilities of yours and play the lottery this week. If you win $285 million you could buy the Hornets!
www.ndoherty.com #26
Kamo
12/10/08 03:10 PM
Ok if they could trade mike james i want peterson traded for an ok big man now, this should be quite easy! Let's say for joe smith ok? Cmon bower, do that! xD
#27
NOH_Domination
12/10/08 03:12 PM
becy hammon are u from south dakota or something? u seem to like the players (becky hammon and mike miller). anyway nice trade for the bees. it should buy scott some bench time for cp.
#28
Mikey
12/10/08 04:16 PM
Good point NOH! If the Hornets really want to make some noise in the playoffs, they are going to need a well-rested Chris Paul to do it. At this point in the season, Chris is averaging 37.5 mpg. That is WAY too high, but necessary because we have no one who can handle the offense in the 2nd unit. So far in Chris's career, he averages about 36.5 MPG. Ideally, you want Chris's minutes to be down around 35 a game. If AD can make that kind of impact, that saves CP 123 game minutes throughout the season. That means that over the course of a season, Chris will play in at least 2.5 LESS games than he usually does, which translates into less wear and tear, and fresher legs come April/May/June. That is the true value of a reliable backup PG on this team; to spare CP for when it matters.
#29
mW
12/10/08 05:28 PM
I heard Bowers is trying to swing Marks for Garnett. And giving up a 2047 first round pick. No confirmation yet.
www.hornetshype.com #30
Niall Doherty
12/10/08 05:31 PM
I don't know if I'd be happy with that trade. LeBron James could have a grandkid or two declaring for the 2047 draft. We should keep that pick just in case.
Maybe Garnett for Marks and two second rounders in 2019 and 2031?
www.ndoherty.com #31
Andrea
12/10/08 08:22 PM
lol @Niall..Wish I could get a ticket, but unfortunately I'm only 19. I wonder who (if anyone) would be the next to possibly be traded?
#32