How the Rudy Gay trade effects the Jazz

Apr 14, 2012; Memphis, TN, USA; Utah Jazz shooting guard Gordon Hayward (20) drives to the basket against Memphis Grizzlies small forward Rudy Gay (22) during the second half at the FedEx Forum. Memphis Grizzlies defeated Utah Jazz 103-98. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Today Memphis agreed in principal to send Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors for Ed Davis, Jose Calderon and a 2nd round pick. The Grizzlies will then send Jose Calderon and Hamed Haddadi to the Detroit Pistons for Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to complete the deal. First look this makes Memphis worse. Rudy Gay lead Memphis in scoring at 17.2 points per game and is a huge threat to every team. Bringing in Tayshaun Prince does not fill this roll for Memphis and he will in no way be able to fill the shoes of Rudy Gay. Below are comparisons of the two players this year via www.nba.com.

To me no matter what way you look at this Memphis is a worse team making this trade. They may have needed to do this for financial reasons but they won’t be as strong as they were prior to the trade. For Toronto, they got a high usage player who is a definite threat and a great basketball player. He’s not a guy I would necessarily build a franchise around but Toronto wanted Gay and they went out and got their guy. Detroit’s part of this deal is very interesting. I’m a little confused at why they made this deal for Jose Calderon when they already have Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum on the roster. Also I don’t understand how you can have 4 point guard on your roster and paying them as much as you are. Below are each players contracts (information via Hoopshype.com).

Player

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

Rodney Stuckey

$8,500,000

Will Bynum

$3,500,000

Brandon Knight

$2,755,560

$2,947,800

$3,749,601

$5,054,462

Jose Manuel Calderon

$10,561,985

Detroit is going to have 4 point guards on their roster making a total of $25,317,545. It looks to me like Detroit is going to need to move one of these guys and that may be where the Jazz come in. Everyone knows the Jazz are looking for their point guard of the future. Now even though the Pistons probably don’t want to give up Brandon Knight this may make it more possible to acquire him from Detroit.

Besides the fact that the Jazz may want to acquire Brandon Knight, Detroit is still a team that is another player in the trade market that could give the Jazz options if they needed to bring in a third team on a trade. We don’t know if the Jazz are going to look at a player like Pau Gasol who is reportedly upset with his roll in LA but if the Jazz did want to go after him they could bring Detroit in as that third team to make the deal work. No matter which way this goes this trade just gives the Jazz more options on the trade market if they did finally decide to make a move.

The opportunity for a trade isn’t the only way that this trade effects the Jazz. Memphis took a step back in a stacked Western Conference. No team can afford to step back with how competitive it’s going to be to make the playoffs. I expect the Jazz to be somewhere around 10 games above .500 by the first week in March. If the Jazz do play well enough to get there then they could very well be in position to pass Memphis by the end of the year. The Jazz need to take advantage of the home schedule and this move by Memphis to make a major push into the playoffs. This trade is great for the Jazz in a bunch of ways, all the Jazz need to do is take advantage of what has been dealt to them.

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