Re: Francis trade

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> >Speculation is the Pistons have offered Vaught and guard Jerry Stackhouse to
> >Vancouver for Francis, Lee Mayberry, Michael Smith, Doug West and
> >Rodrick Rhodes. Detroit would also return a draft pick it received from 
> >Vancouver in the trade for Otis Thorpe. 
> 
> I may have posted this before, but this strikes me as such a one-sided deal.
> Stackhouse hasn't amounted to anything and Vaught may not be able to play
> again. Meanwhile, Detroit would get a potential star in Francis, a solid 
> young rebounder in Smith, a young  swingman who has shown some promise 
> (Rhodes, who the Rockets were very high on for a while), a decent veteran 
> backup PG in Mayberry and another veteran guard (West) who has a reputation 
> as a good locker-room guy and a better than 48% career FG percentage.

My first thought was also that Vancouver was getting ripped off on this deal,
but you kind of expect that because Francis sounds pretty disgruntled. On
second thought though, I think that Stackhouse may actually have more value
than has typically been assumed. He has a low shooting percentage but goes
to the line a ton. In fact, I calculate his career "scoring efficiency" as 
51.2% vs Mercer's 47.5%. He's been criticized for being unable to defend
shooting guards I think, but Mercer wasn't exactly a star in this department
either. And I would bet that Francis isn't going to excel defending shooting
guards. Anyways, given that Stackhouse has already been signed to a long
term extension, I wouldn't be surprised if his trade value is somewhat higher
than Mercer's.

As for all the guys that Vancouver is giving up, I think you are painting
them a little too favorably. They are role players on a terrible team.