Courtesy of Jonathon Givony of Draft Express:
"With the Detroit Pistons looking to get as far under the salary cap as they can this summer, and the Oklahoma City Thunder being one of the few teams who are able to help them shed salary, the two teams have emerged as natural trade partners, multiple NBA sources told DraftExpress this past weekend.
With very few teams projected to have cap space this summer (Oklahoma City, Memphis, Portland, Sacramento and Atlanta being the main ones), it appears that Detroit could be in great position to take advantage of the strength of this free agent class and nab a couple of pieces that would put them right back in the mix to compete for the Eastern conference finals. Detroit is currently slated to be around 20 million dollars underneath the cap, but could shed another five million or so by unloading the contracts of Amir Johnson and their first round pick (#15).
Enter the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are reportedly high on B.J. Mullens (as is Milwaukee), and likely would be able to nab him with the 15th pick. Considering how far under the cap they’ll be this summer, they would have no problem taking on Amir Johnson’s expiring 3.66 million dollar contract. They should be able to find a suitor for their late first round pick if they choose to do so, as teams like San Antonio, Houston, Toronto and Orlando are all in the market for a draft choice in that range.
With the money Detroit frees up, they could go after their top two free agent targets, rumored to be Paul Millsap and Ben Gordon."
According to
basketball-reference.com, Johnson averages 9.9 rebounds, 9.9 points and 3.1 blocks per 36 minutes of court time over his career. It appears he has a cult following, as evidenced
here.
Johnson is an athletic freak who has spent the first three years of his career filling his body out and learning the game.
So leave it to Sam Presti to come out smelling like roses if this thing pans out. You swap this year's 25 pick and some cash for this year's 15 pick, a guy who was barely out of that 25 pick range three years ago, is only 21, appears to be poised to blossom into a double-double type player with more playing time and has a small expiring contract.
Pick 15 gives the Thunder a shot at Terrence Williams, B.J. Mullens (who the Thunder are rumoured to be intrigued by) or Gerald Henderson. Choices at pick 25 could include Gani Lawal, Chase Budinger or Marcus Thornton. Maybe not a massive upgrade but an upgrade.
If you get Johnson then you can take a chance on a project Center like Mullens and take the risk out of selecting Hasheem Thabeet with the 3rd pick. Common sense and my detective skills tells me that if this rumour is true then the Thunder are much more interested in James Harden, Stephen Curry or possibly Ricky Rubio.
