Nope, if we traded him for a player with one year under his deal (like Ben Gordon, who has an Etan-equivalent contract with the one-year qualifying offer) we’d get out from under the contract one year early and pick up a volume scorer in a year when Gil is out.

Granted, we may stunt the growth of Nick Young, and all the other arguments that applied on the Juan Dixon pick-up. But if Juan Dixon was our stop-gap for Gilbert’s absence, Ben Gordon is a better player. And in this offense he’d be really nasty, hard to stop.

The real question is how he’d co-exist with Gil for even a brief time, considering Gil badmouthed him on the contract deal — and worse yet turned out to be right. But fellow UConn product Caron would be a fine Big Brother for lil’ Ben.

Not that this is the only deal possible. Just saying: I’m pretty sure Etan will show enough that his contract isn’t the impediment for a deal that it used to have been. And I’m pretty sure there will be decent offers this year for it. Ernie may have the luxury of turning down deals instead of trying to include him in various packages.

And again, I’m not trying to sell the guy myself, just saying since that’s what the buzz was in the past (dealing Etan) it occurs to me that Big Poet will begin to attract attention if he plays well, and may make Ernie consider the good deals he can get.

Etan has played well against:
Miami.
Chicago (a 20 pt game in that post-season series win, IIRC — which led to the blow-up/protest/bellyache/benching by the KFB).
Houston (once blocking Yao 3 or 4 times in a game)

Other teams that need a burly center, or whose playstyle fits Etan’s metier:
Atlanta
San Antonio

And the only reason why I consider the question, instead of advocating against it, is that Etan lacks a handle/passing/face-up game which mean that his utility in the offense is lowered. No big deal, but it means about half the playbook is eliminated, and guards/mids/wing players who thrive with nobody in the paint have slightly reduced effectiveness.

Like neal, I’m also a huge D-Song supporter…he’s just fun to watch and (in my opinion) his defense is SOLID; best on the team – people just don’t notice because he’s not out there as much. It’s just like Pech – how would we really be able to judge him as a player before seeing what he’s really about? But yeah, D-Song supporter here and proud to be…

Jamison committed 3.0 PF per 48 minutes last year. That surely is below average. Songaila committed 6.3. That surely is above average. Blatche committed 7.4. That must be the most in the league. I presume that will improve this year. If not, he’s a very iffy presence to have out there at critical times.

On a one-year rental, as chuckers go, he’s a waaay better version of Juan Dixon.

We drop Etan’s salary a year early and duck salary cap woes that have hampered us in free agency.

We lose a surplus Big, ensuring that our Best Big (Haywood) gets closer to the optimal ~30 mins a game. Interior defense is protected. Youngsters have a chance to earn minutes. Etan’s game is a net positive, but ultimately sub-optimal for the offense.

Not a strong argument, but there were a ton of interesting offseason players this year that I would love if the Wiz could have bid on. if we’d had that 6 million dollars, maybe we could have landed Josh Childress for instance (perfect Princeton role-player, fills in at 2 and three for us). One example, only. The question being, is back-up Big our most pressing need? If no, how do we free space to land that need…

1) Andray’s maturity. Everyone is quick to gripe about his concentration lapses and youthful exuberance. But let’s not forget he is younger than Nick Young. He came into the league at 18 yrs old. I think all he really needed was to gain some upper body strength. It looks like he is developing in that area. I think consistency will be there this season and the Wiz absolutely need it.

2) Songaila is a solid pro. But his contract is bigger than his game is. So is Etan’s for that matter, but until he proves he is healthy, I think Songaila is the better trade bait. I don’s see any long term benefit to keep Songaila on the Wiz given the slew of young talent. But I can imagine other teams that would like to add him to their rosters. Songaila for Posey? Or a similar player would be my choice.

Javale is a project. It will be great once he pans out, but– three years in– Dray is right there, right now. He played pretty well as Big Wood’s back-up last year (foul rate notwithstanding). Once they develop to the point where they’re sharing the frontcourt, that will be insanely great. But I think Dray helps to blaze the way once he finally ‘gets it’.

I love Etan, but yes he could be trade bait. Eddie likes him, however.

Actually (I know I’ll get grief for this) Michael Ruffin is a much better player than Darius. No, he can’t shoot — but we have *lots* of guys who can score. Everything else he does much better than Songaila.

I hope we don’t trade for Ben Gordon — he is a gunner and that’s all. We don’t have any need for him. Indeed, the fact that he hasn’t raised any suitors or gotten any offers should indicate that the rest of the league sees him t his same way. His qual. offer is $6.5m for this year. He doesn’t bring anywhere near that kind of value.

Much as it pains me (*) I suspect Etan is the most useful trade bait — if he demonstrates the ability to shut down Dwight Howard like he did the last couple times they played.

That version of Etan will attract interest around the league. And his trade kicker, combined with a contract that expires next year is a good way for a team to dump 7 million dollars worth of Salary in time for the 2010 free agent market.

I also had a brief daydream that, with Gil temporarily grounded, an Etan for Ben Gordon swap might work. Ben would get the same one-year audition that earned large money for DeSteve and Roger (and Jared Jeffries and Larry –every 2-guard who ever played in this offense).

Anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear mid-year rumors that Big Poet is collecting interest.

(* ‘Pains me’: fellow poet, outspoken politically, he’s been at rallies where my son marched and was a good guy to him, and you hear great things in the community)

Having said that, Jordan has a real dilemma, as doclinkin says. I presume that the 15 guys with guaranteed money will be the ones on the final roster. And I presume that McGuire will be the backup to Butler. If Blatche continues to mature he’ll be the primary backup to Songaila, I suppose, in spite of occasional youthful mistakes, and in spite of what I said about Songaila.

That leaves Songaila and Pecherov as potential trade bait. But I would be greatly surprised if Grunfeld could get equal or better value. And what position would he be looking to improve? PG?

I hear what you’re saying doclinkin, but I think McGee is seen as the C of the future. He could likely fill the role you’re talking about, although we haven’t yet seen whether he has the court vision to pass like we’ve seen Blatche do at times.