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Trade rumors swirling again: John Salmons to OKC?

By Mr Pappagiorgio

Salmonstothunder_medium

So what do you think? Does Salmons look good in a Thunder uniform? When I first heard the trade rumors today, I'll admit, I was intrigued, but not enthused about it. After thinking on it for awhile and breaking it down, it really doesn't seem like such a bad deal. Essentially the rumored deal is the Thunder sending Joe Smith packaged with possibly the pick the Thunder recieved in the Petro deal with the Nuggets. So when you look at that deal, plus this deal, it essentially would work out to being Joe Smith/Johan Petro for Chucky Atkins/John Salmons, and I think that's a pretty good value for the Thunder.

Nearly all Kings' men available at this point
By Sam Amick
samick@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 04, 2009

Swingman John Salmons is believed to be drawing the most interest among the players who are potentially available. Two league sources said in recent days that Oklahoma City has expressed a strong interest in the seventh-year player. The Thunder has offered the $4.8 million expiring contract of veteran forward Joe Smith in the deal, although it is not known if Oklahoma City is willing to part with draft picks or perhaps a younger player in return.

So lets take a statistical look at the deal (from the way we broke it down in the opener):

These are the two guys the Thunder gave up in the two deals:

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2008 - Joe Smith 32 19.5 2.8 6.1 45.6 0.1 0.1 50.0 1.1 1.4 75.6 1.4 3.1 4.4 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.7 2.1 6.7

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2008 - Johan Petro 6 4.0 0.7 2.2 30.8 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.7 50.0 0.5 0.8 1.3 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.3 1.5 1.7

These are the guys the Thunder would receive in the two deals:

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2008 - Chucky Atkins 4 13.8 1.5 4.0 37.5 0.8 2.0 37.5 1.3 1.5 83.3 0.0 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.0 1.3 5.0

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2008 - John Salmons 49 37.4 6.7 14.1 47.9 1.4 3.4 41.9 3.8 4.6 82.4 0.8 3.4 4.2 3.5 2.3 1.1 0.2 2.3 18.7


All in all, I think thats a pretty good deal, considering. Salmons is under contract this season, plus two more, and I think Atkins through next year if I remember right. So that would keep Salmons here to help the young guys develop and provide that veteran presence that is missing now that Mason is done for the year.

It also gives the Thunder another guy who can shoot the longball and open up the court, the guy averages 18 points per game this season. It can't hurt KD, RW0, and JG22 if other teams have to pay more attention to another prolific scoring threat, and if you put him out there with those three, plus Krstic, you have a lot of scorers to pay attention to. It remains to be seen how good that same group would play together both offensively and defensively. The possiblities are interesting to thikn about.

Theres a lot of discussion going on about this potential deal all over, and I'm excited to hear what Thunderheads think about it.

Do you think Salmons looks good in a Thunder Jersey?

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