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A few notes on today's big NBA news, the Miwaukee Bucks trade of Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and Kurt Thomas.
As I tweeted this morning and you might have read on True Hoop, I spoke with Blazers assistant and former Spurs assistant Monty Williams after the pre-draft workouts today. In between shagging basketballs for his two young daughters (who, according to their dad, need to work on their shot selection), Monty gave his informed opinion of the Jefferson trade. His take was that the time was right for the Spurs to make a move but that the overall success of the deal might hinge on who (if anyone) the Spurs re-acquired.
Monty stated pretty firmly that he felt the Spurs were more likely to re-acquire Fabricio Oberto than Bruce Bowen. He also seemed to believe that this trade could be a signal for the end of Ime Udoka's tenure in San Antonio.
From all appearances, Monty and Bowen are close friends so I consider his take on how the trade fallout might shake out to be very reliable. Indeed, Bowen's later statement seems to almost instantly confirm Monty's take.
Kevin Pritchard also briefly addressed the trade, stating, "The West is an arms race. It feels like it gets better every summer. The Spurs are a great team and they are going to be a team to contend with."
He went on to say, "I feel like this draft is like an audible -- you've got to be prepared for everything and you've got to be thinking on your feet." Pritchard noted that the team has its targets in sight, "We know who we like. but how it plays out, we have no idea." He said the next two days will involve "a lot of debating. A lot of looking out there and seeing what's truly real and what's just playing around... now it's not about fluff."
Pritchard spoke for roughly 2 minutes before returning to his office. So you know that means it's go time.
Tomorrow, I will post the final Draft Prospect Board, which will include thoughts and notes regarding Nando De Colo, the forgotten man of today's workouts.
Update: Use this thread for confirmed trade discussion as apparently deals are breaking left and right.
Trade #1: Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for #5 Pick, Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov
Trade #2: Looks like Oberto's path just took another turn. Oberto has been traded to Detroit for Amir Johnson. The Pistons will apparently clear nearly 2 million dollars by waiving Oberto.
If other deals break tonight, this thread will be updated.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)