"12. Deron Williams A Utah fan sarcastically e-mailed this week, "I can't wait for your Trade Value...

"12. Deron Williams
A Utah fan sarcastically e-mailed this week, "I can't wait for your Trade Value column, you haven't come up with a way to pump up Chris Paul at Deron Williams' expense in weeks." I'm taking the high road."

Bill Simmons puts Deron Williams at #12 in his trade value rankings list. But he has Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose above him. Wouldn't both Chicago & OKC pull the trigger on a one-for-one trade involving those players and Williams? IN a second.

Boozer didn't get put on the list because he's been out all year. And Millsap would have been in the top 30 but there's no way the Jazz would ever trade him because of how ridiculously low his contract is. Doesn't that make him more valuable? That seems to be why Rose is so high amongst others.

Comments

hmmm

I agree with you about Rose, but not so sure about Durant. I don’t think that OKC would trade Durant for Williams at all, let alone in a second. A lot of people don’t rate Durant that highly, or think of him as a player that just scores and does little else, but that’s not the case.

If you look at the numbers that he has been putting up this year, he has been a monster, far more impressive than what he did last year. Not to mention the fact that they are currently playing Westbrook at the point and he has also been playing quite well. But even if the trade is based on pure talent alone, I don’t think OKC would trade Durant to get Williams.

Having said that, Simmons is still an idiot….

by sherbs on Feb 12, 2009 5:40 PM MST reply actions

He said that about Millsap

Because his low contract doesn’t give him legitimate value.

by mcjazzman32 on Feb 12, 2009 5:41 PM MST reply actions

It's kind of a one time thing. Millsap was on the list last year.

Simmons didn’t include him this year, because of his inevitable pay raise. And I have to agree with him. “I love Millsap at 4 years/ $32 million, but not so much at 5 years/ $60 million.”

And I think Durant is going to be better than Williams, no offense. Durant is becoming the player everyone thought he would be. He is a scoring machine, he defends well, and he is starting to rebound well. And he is 4 years younger than Deron.

But I do take offense at Brandon Roy being in front of Deron. I like Roy and I think he has really improved. But for me, Deron is as unstoppable as Roy, but also a much better passer. And Roy isn’t a significantly better leader or defender than Deron.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Feb 12, 2009 9:41 PM MST up reply actions

A Utah fan sarcastically e-mailed this week, “I can’t wait for your Trade Value column, you haven’t come up with a way to pump up Chris Paul at Deron Williams’ expense in weeks.” I’m taking the high road.

There’s a first.

Uh, do you think you could draw me like a ninja?

by Shums on Feb 12, 2009 5:43 PM MST reply actions

he makes up all the emails from utah

by moni on Feb 13, 2009 1:29 AM MST up reply actions

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being ranked number 12

As much as I love Deron, Durant is going to be a lot better and could be one of the top 5 players in the league very soon. There’s no way OKC would ever trade him for Williams, and I would make the opposite trade in a second. There’s a better argument for him over Rose, but Rose is younger, is very similar to Deron in terms of his physical tools and skill set, and is having a better rookie year than Deron did, so I can see the argument. Rose is a really good player.

I have no idea how you guys have decided that being named one of the 12 most untouchable players in the league is somehow a slight.

by NorseHawk on Feb 14, 2009 11:29 AM MST reply actions

we don't feel slighted

in fact, two of the commenters said that they agree (with your stance) that okc would not trade durant for dwill.

we just 1) disagree with the rankings (i’m sure every fan disagrees to some extent) and/or 2) don’t like simmons.

by moni on Feb 14, 2009 4:29 PM MST up reply actions

I don't

disagree with the rankings, necessarily. And I don’t dislike Simmons, for the most part — I’ve been a fan of his writing for a long time.

What I dislike is that people keep writing angry e-mails to him and taking him so seriously when he’s just making jokes, and I dislike that he responds by slamming our state and telling us we don’t deserve to be fans because we have weak beer.

Uh, do you think you could draw me like a ninja?

by Shums on Feb 14, 2009 7:04 PM MST up reply actions

He's a good writer...

but he’s guilty of what many Basketball reporters are guilty of. He over-values the PPG statistic. As one of the younger basketball writers, he should be more up-to-date with his statistical analysis. In no way was Isiah Thomas a better point guard than John Stockton, yet Simmons only considers Stockton to be in the lower half of his top-ten point guards of all time. LeBron James is a much better player than Kobe. I could go on and on, but he makes the same stupid arguments that I’ve been hearing about since the ‘80s. He’s entertaining, but if I want to be informed about the game of basketball, I’ll look elsewhere.

"Taking offense is a cottage industry in this country" --Bill James

by Patrick517 on Feb 14, 2009 11:12 PM MST up reply actions