Rumor: Skita for Diaw(ESPN Insider excerpt)

[Admin]

You are judging not trading for a 7' 21 year old player based on 1 summer league that you saw him play in? Considering that he hasnt been given a chance to play in the NBA yet and by many was considered the best player in the summer league, I would damn sure trade for him. Granted if I could get him for a 2nd rounder or something of course I would rather do that....but unless Diaw becomes our PG of the future he will never be our answer at SF with Josh Smith being on the team.

[Plainview1981]

Considering that he hasnt been given a chance to play in the NBA yet and by many was considered the best player in the summer league"

WHo cares? Dion Glover won a summer league. How is his

career going? I've seen Skita play a handful of times

and failed to see anything impressive about a guy that

lacks a shot and lacks defense.

He is 7 foot but he weighs only 225 pounds.

[Lascar78]

Yes well I would consider one full game of seeing his game as a better basis than a summer league's worth of 2nd hand accounts. You can tell alot about a player by watching him play. Alot that is not shown in stats

He has no desire to be inside. No desire to rebound. Most of the shots I saw him get were either wide open shots or layups. The fact that he got decent stats overall against scrubs means nothing more than he was their #1 option. that's all.

Boris has shown to basically be good at everything except scoring. He knows how to score and has good shooting form, he just hasn't wanted to score that much. There will always be scorers on the team. 99% of the players in the league only want to score. If I have to choose between a player who only wants to shoot and a player who wants to do everything but, I'll take that latter. You can't teach a desire for rebounds, defense etc... Boris will score more, and more importantly he will help all of his teammates score.

Why do you dismiss everything "experts" say about the hawks, yet embrace what those same people say about other players as fact?

like we all know, Glover was MVP last year on an undefeated hawks team. Did that mean anything? Even with more experience under his belt would you trade Diaw for Glover? I wouldn't

[Admin]

What have I dismissed about the Hawks? Please clarify that statement. Where did I embrace anything as fact.....you clearly arent reading my posts as I have never made reference to either of those above statements you made.

If you are referring at all to Diaw, you can read back all of my posts since the 1st time I saw him play and you will see nothing but praise for the guy while MOST here put him down.

Also, no I wouldnt trade Diaw for Dion......because Diaw isnt 7' tall with a sweet jumper. Dion isnt 21 years old with very limited experience in pro basketball. Dion also has been surgically reparied.

[Sage11]

I have to agree with hotlanta, let us stick with what we have for now..... I would not do this trade.

[nugzfan]

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Yep, with our glut of 2/3 type players this would be a low risk/high reward type deal we should make. Skita would get the PT to see if he is a ready for prime time player at the 4 spot. If he fails then we lose little. If he becomes a player then we really win big in this deal.

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oddly enough that might be the same reasoning for denver.

with kmart on board, skita now becomes our 3rd stringer at best...whereas we need a sg/sf swingman type player. if the deal went through and diaw helped us out, we come out big time on our end. something for nothing.

maybe a win-win for both teams?

[nugzfan]

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I think if BK holds out, he may be able to talk them into a Hansen for Skita trade

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LOL! dont even bother.

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if we give them boris for skita, we better get back at least a pick or something to make up for the 2mil in cap space

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again...lol. you would be giving up DIAW. not iverson or vince carter here.

[Lascar78]

I didn't realize we had the nuggets' GM in the house. How nice to have you in here sir.

[Plainview1981]

Skita IS a nugget....

It's not good to build your team with soft players and

7 footers that don't rebound.

[MoonKnight]

I think that I read on some Nuggets boards recently that a good perimeter defender is your biggest need. If so then Diaw is a good fit. He has great athleticism and long arms to defend ourside and inside. He is a very good shot blocker. He also plays very aggressively on D though he is very very passive on the O side (which is not a huge need for the Nuggets IMO). This deal might work for both teams. I have read where Skita has bulked up to around 245 lbs and is 7'1". Is he as soft in the paint as others have said?

[MoonKnight]

some articles I have read recently (sorry I don't remember where on the web I read them). Those articles claimed he is now 7'1" and 245-250 lbs. and still as athletic. I remember reading in a NBA preseason mag from two years ago that Skita himself claimed he needed to bulk up to play the 4 spot exclusively. With "big" 3s on the roster like Harrington, CC, and Josh Smith we can afford to take Skita and play him at the 4 until he consistantly plays big in the paint.

[Lascar78]

mark my words he will never play big in the paint. He might become a good player, but it won't be in the paint

[CBAreject]

It's hard to make a player 'toughen up'. How many times have coaches tried. Mahorn did a little bit with Lo, but he was already a good rebounder to start with.

I think Skita might get incrementally better in the paint, but we're not going to make him a thug in the paint. It just won't happen. It's not in his personality. He'd have to not only relearn the game, but also reprogram his brain.

That said, he still may be a very good player down the road. I think he's more of a 3, though. 7 feet doesn't mean all that much if you can't bang.

[cyman3]

yea i think 'toughen up' is something thats INSIDE u... something u cant teach.

kinda like the 6th sense INSTINCT that very few PGs have.

[Derek]

Why? We already have Josh Smith to develop and Al Harrington to play the 3 and/or 4. We really don't need another developmental player here. If we get anyone, it should be an established player.

Another thing to consider: Diaw can do all the little things. He can rebound, pass, and play excelelnt defense. All he needs is to contnue to find his offensive game and he will be a complete player and a valuable asset to the team. He's only 22.

[GST]

I've got to come out of lurk mode for this one. If you want to have a strong defensive team, you have got to have strong defensive players at the 4 and 5, it's mandatory. I think when Skita came into the league, he was envisioned as a 7 ft. small forward. We've got a glut of small forwards, and even at the 3, I think Skita would be a defensive liability. Smaller, quicker guys could drive past him with ease if he had to defend out on the perimeter.

[TheDude]

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I've got to come out of lurk mode for this one. If you want to have a strong defensive team, you have got to have strong defensive players at the 4 and 5, it's mandatory. I think when Skita came into the league, he was envisioned as a 7 ft. small forward. We've got a glut of small forwards, and even at the 3, I think Skita would be a defensive liability. Smaller, quicker guys could drive past him with ease if he had to defend out on the perimeter.

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i agree with CST on this one with one added note.. Diaw can play several positions which is important when having young players and depth issues. Also you don't know if Josh Smith will be a SF or develop into a PF so Diaw versatality comes in again.

[ATLien_]

Totally agree if you want a great defensive team 4 and 5 have to be strong defensive players. Look at how bad are defense was with Sar out of postion all the time.

This is a terrible trade for the hawks. If the hawks do this I'm out of BK's corner. Here is my reasoning.

1. We just got rid of a team full of players that didn't match each other. Why would we put ourselves back in postion to have a poor defensive 4 again, while preaching defense?

2. Even if Sitka scores 30 pts a game, if he gives up 25+ and only gets 5 rebounds whats the point? Atleast Sar got his rebounds along with his points.

3. Even if sitka becomes the next Nowitzki what has Dirk done? Dallas has had talent wise one of the best teams in the NBA and they havent even made it to the conference championship. I don't know how many times it has to be proven, but defense wins championships. Once coaches have time to gameplan for one specific team, they can cut down on scoring considerably.

4. Im totally against soft big men that stay on the perimeter. I had enough with Sar and I don't want to go that route again. I would rather have a guy like Ben wallace that can barely score, than one guy like Sitka. Trust me we will get more than enough scoring from JT, J-Chill,Diaw and J-Smooth, once they develop.

5. I just love Diaws game. It would take someone better than sitka for me. For nene I would defnitley do it. Then your trading two players that have showed they can do it on the NBA court. Both aren't very good scorers and both fill the box score everywhere else.

[Nicholasp27]

yeah, al has great post moves, so will be fine at pf (where he spent most of his time on a 60 win team)...skita would just be a perimeter player and hurt our defense

[Traceman]

Guys with Dirk's skills just don't come along very often. I attribute at least a portion of Dirk's lack of D to Nellie's coaching style. Would Dirk be a better defender if he played for Larry Brown, Greg Poppovich or Jerry Sloan? I don't think Dirk would be a great defender playing for one of those guys but I think he would be better. What team has Nellie EVER coached that was known for it's D? I don't remember GS playing ANY D when they had Run TMC. Even Finley's D slipped playing for Nellie. I remember Nellie's teams being uptempo and trying to beat you by outscoring you. At least his good teams.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if Skita could be taught to be a decent defender/rebounder while being anywhere near Dirk on offense, I'd take him over Boris. Boris brings a versatile game to the table and he is a valuable role player but I don't think he will ever be a star. I haven't seen him enough to know but if Skita does have star potential, I'd make the deal. I'm sure there would be times to bench Skita in favor of a more defensive minded guy and that is fine but it is a lot easier to replace what Boris brings to the table than it is to replace a 7 footer who can make J's from ANYWHERE.