A lot of us (myself included) are infatuated with a defensive force (ala Hasheem Thabeet). I have been up on Thabeet for a couple years now (hey blocked shots and clogging the lane are an important part of todays NBA game what with all the dribble penetration these days) the value of altering/blocking shots has become and invaluable skill (with the death of the bask-to-the-basket bigman and the re-birth of the do everything PG). However, I would warn against Thabeet (just as I warn against Marcus Camby) everything i have read suggest that Thabeet is a great shot-blocker/alterer but that his man-to-man defense is lacking (much like Camby) Yes. They can control the glass and yes they control the pain against guards but who is going to stop Aldridge/Oden Gasol/Bynum Stoudamire and the like?

All that being said I like the idea of drafting a guy like Thabeet who could help us control the paint a bit. However, I think that this year is going to be awash in solid point guards who could help us control the ball (even if Rubio does not declare for the draft this year Jennings/Mills/Lawson etc. will still be in play) and that Thabeet will go higher than we want him to. Unless we burn our (what i figure will be a top 5 pick) and pick up a PG later in the draft or trade up to the late lottery (like mills/lawson)

I reccomend this trade though.
It helps short and long term.

Trade Prop.

I would actually like to break this into two different ideas.

One we send Douby to the Nets and get Sean Williams in return. While we also trade Moore and get Redick/Cook from the Magic.

Why we do it? Well we want an active "above the rim" Defender and Williams fits the bill (reminds me of a poormans Tyson Chandler) and we are all (well some of us) Enamored with Thabeet that this trade could provide some of the shot blocking ability that Thabeet has with an NBA player who is still young (I think Williams is 22?). Personally i am a fan of williams i think he can be a game changer defensively and provide the hustle points for us that Moore does not to mention that in his minutes (and with a bit of confidence) he is better on the boards than Moore. The Nets would possibly do this trade because Williams is NOT in their plans and has become a bit disgruntled as a result although it would still be a bad situation for Douby.

The trade with the Magic would give us another backup/spotup shooter with a high basketball IQ who I think could still develop into a solid backup at the NBA level. Although I am not convinced that the Magic would part with Cook/Redick for moore because he doubles a lot of what Battie does for them already. Cook would be the sort of odd man out in the situation. He obviously would not be in our long-term plans (he is only 28 though). He would probably come on board and then be moved again as part of a larger trade during the summer perhaps.

Let me know what you think.

Peace.Blessings.Love

-Kellen