Thunder acquires Eric Maynor from Jazz, waives Livingston and Wilks
Per a press release:
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has acquired guard Eric Maynor from the Utah Jazz in exchange for the draft rights to Peter Fehse. To consummate the transaction the Thunder also assumes the contract of forward Matt Harpring. Harpring will not report to Oklahoma City. “We are pleased to add Eric Maynor to our organization,” said Presti. “Eric possesses a work ethic and team first mentality that we feel will help us in our continued growth.”
Maynor was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round (20th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft. The 6-3 guard is averaging 5.2 points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 26 games with the Jazz this season. The Raeford, N.C. native currently ranks fourth in assists, 19th in steals and 24th in scoring among NBA Rookies.
The Thunder organization originally drafted Fehse in the second round (49th overall) in the 2002 NBA Draft. In order to complete the transaction the Thunder has waived guards Shaun Livingston and Mike Wilks. “This was a difficult decision as we appreciate Shaun and Mike’s contributions to this basketball team on and off the floor,” added Presti. “We wish them nothing but continued success.”
Wow. I’m a little stunned. But let me say, I LOVE this deal. Love it in every way. I loved Eric Maynor before the draft and I love him today. Did I say love yet? I’m completely convinced that he’s going to be a solid role playing backup point guard at some point. I had actually hoped OKC would take him with its second pick last June. And to acquire him for virtually nothing, well, that makes me happy. (Maynor’s season stats)
Taking on Harpring’s contract is actually something to not be overlooked, especially if Presti decides to hold on to it. Combine Harpring’s $6.5M with Etan Thomas’s nearly $8M and the Thunder has some SERIOUS trade bait for the deadline. (Harpring’s contract can be traded before the deadline still because he hasn’t officially retired yet.) In the trade, Utah saved around $9 million. That’s why they did it.
I’m sad to see Shaun Livingston go though. I truly am. A total class act and a guy that’s fighting to come back from a devastating injury. I really hoped he would work out. But with a mind toward what’s best for the Oklahoma City Thunder, this is a home run.
By the way, Maynor apparently already has a nickname – EM3
@justin
Haha, deal. I’m not saying you’re wrong necessarily. I would just rather not look this gift horse in the mouth. I’m ridiculously impressed that we could get Maynor for nothing, I think it was a steal. Maybe I’m overvaluing Maynor, but I really like the deal.
Just to add another cliche: A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
I’m on a roll: The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Haha, sorry, I couldn’t help it. You could be right, maybe that elusive big man was out there if Preti was more patient with the cap space. I don’t know that he was, at least not in the form that I’m looking for. But if Presti screwed up, there are a lot of worse ways to screw up than getting Eric Maynor, who’s being paid peanuts, for the draft rights to a guy that I don’t think any of us even knew existed.
@justin
Seriously?! I had Oden on a fantasy league (not the DT league) and was annoyed when he went down. Then I picked up Pryzbilla to replace him. I don’t think there’s any more Portland centers to pick up, haha.
Yes he had to be helped off the court, couldn’t put weight on the knee.
Juwon Howard is now the Blazers center..
@nick
Obviously it’s a moot point of Eric Maynor eclipses expectations. I am excited about having a true young PG on the roster with upside. Not since Luke Ridnour have I had this feeling.
well their goes portlands playoffs hopes, looks like our chances just improved a lot today.
I think we will cross the luxery tax threshold if it was to resign durant but that would be the only way and we were a championship contender
@justin
Yeah … I’m not gonna go pick him up.
I think Portland can still make the playoffs. They will probably be more aggressive in trying to trade Miller or Blake.. not sure who they could get at this point.
I hear Robert Swift might be available.
http://dimemag.com/2009/11/eric-maynor-is-quietly-dominating-in-utah/
I found this gem on Maynor. I’m to that point where I enjoy reading any kind of crap I can find on our newest player.
Someone here said Maynor couldn’t shoot are you kidding me?! Did you get a look at him when he was in college?!! I say, give him some time in this system and I bet he’ll out shoot westbrook with his eyes closed.
That article is cool … only problem is it reminded me that if we were trading with Utah, we should have grabbed Korver! Haha, now I’m sounding like justin.
@GAP
I said Maynor couldn’t shoot.. I later said he was a good shooter in college so hopefully this is a case of limited sample size or rookie jitters.
@nick
Or Kosta Koufos! Now you’re getting the idea.
@justin
Kosta Koufos? No thanks. We already have a one-and-done Ohio State center, and that is plenty enough for me.
Maynor just summed up this trade on his Twitter:
“me and matt harpring for some dude”
hahaha… I hope he plays with a chip on his back after being essentially given away for monies.
wow, I stop paying attention for a few hours and this goes down. This made my day and now I won’t mind as much if we fall under .500 in a few hours.
Over on the Westbrook split thead someone pointed out how Westbrook’s stats differed from the first 13 and the second 13 games. While reading this thread I thought about when Ollie went down, and it turns out Ollie played the first 14 games. Coincidence?
Przybilla has a ruptured patellar tendon and dislocated kneecap..
Ouch.
@Tapdog72
I already have a note written down to watch that very thing. It may be coincidence, it may be Russ waking up a bit. We’ll see.
I wish Maynor could play tonight, but he is too busy retweeting the love from OKC. lol
One thing I have not considered is the fact that by doing this kind of trade now, it allows OKC to flip Matt Harpring (or any other expiring they acquire) right before the trade deadline with other players. They have to wait 60 days from the date of the trade to be able to trade Harpring in a deal with another player (i.e. Etan Thomas). So by doing this today they will barely make that cutoff.
So now we have two huge expirings, one partially covered by insurance. Should be interesting to see what’s out there we could acquire..
@justin
Oh, I didn’t read it too many for me to catch up on right now, but I agree that it could be rookie jitters and playing for a coach that demands a lot out of his PG’s.
@MartzMimic
That’s interesting about Big Red Rob. Thanks.
E is a great player! We VCU fans know this and we will support him where ever he goes. You OK fans are in for a treat.
Dang, it’s too bad we had to give up Peter Fehse though….:O)
I just can’t believe this actually happened…I’m still in a little bit of denial.
Maynor hasn’t had any toe injuries or failed physicals…right?
Hollingers take: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11675/implications-of-maynor-deal-far-reaching
ROFL!!
@J.G.
Zing!
@Joe
This is exactly who I wanted the Thunder to take with their second pick in the 2009 draft…this kind of stuff never happens!
I think this is twice in 2009 that we’ve uttered that (obviously the other being the Tyson Chandler deal).
I just can’t emphasize how great of a trade this is. Maynor is as pure and true of a point guard as it gets. That’s all he’s ever played.
I mean…just wow.
Royce… this Maynor kid is going to jack up the tat-ratio.
@AD
Crap. That’s no good.
Russ is already pulling up and shooting and we’re not losing yet.
ROFL!! He already has 10 assists and we have the largest…Pause… half that the Lakers have given up this season!
@Joe
If Hollinger is correct, and I’m assuming he is, then Matt Harpring can be traded at any time since we are still a tiny bit under the cap.
Matt Harpring + pick for Brendan Haywood??
This trade is only good because of need for a backup point. Westbrook can’t handle the point. He and Green want to be like Durant and shoot the ball the time. We need to keep Etan and trade Scott Brooks. OKC needs a big man that can bang. When Etan is in the game the other players can shoot and he will rebound. Brooks has the best low post players on the bench and will not let them off. He has been reading to much hype on Westbrook and Green. Move Westbrook to the two and trade Green for a banger.
I love this trade as well. Livingston was a feel good story. An opportunity to see if he could make it and while we all rooted for him, it just hasn’t come about yet. I was already looking at Collins from KU as a possibility to give us something like Lawson for denver.
Anyone remember AK trying to include Fehse in trade thoughts? That was funny back in the day. Now it is for real! I can’t be the only one!
@ATR
I remember this.
Anyone wanting more draft picks also has to think of where will they fit? Who will we get rid of? We already have more picks than we can fit on the roster. I know we can trade them and move up/down. But do you have a realistic idea of how we could fit more picks on this team?
Ha ha. Thanks justin! I knew I wasn’t the only one!
@ATR
We trade picks + expirings for something.
@ATR
I also remember AK comparing Kevin Durant to Thaddeus Young.
Hahaha that’s absolutely hysterical.
If you had enough time this is the kind of trade that you could probably smoke out, piece together and predict.
Utah needs to cut cap. Harpring is covered by insurance but still counts against the cap. Presti can take Harpring and not actually pay out much and could trade him again.
Utah likes Price and have others who can play PG. It is rare to see a team give up a PG this quickly but I don’t think they struggled with it that much. His early numbers are generally not good. With him at PG Utah won 23% of the time. Backup PG isn’t a strong immediate need and they wanted the cap / luxury tax relief more.
To get a steal you have to act before everybody knows. Maynor could be a steal, ok or not much.
He’ll need to develop NBA 3 range.
He actually performed much better at SG in virtually every way. Something to maybe keep in the back of your mind. Might be able to play with Westbrook. Especially if Harden was out. Or with Harden they could even traded the PG duties around occasionally if there was any reason to.
Draft express compared him briefly to both AC Law and Sam Cassell. Obviously very different outcomes.
His size / speed is interesting.
Should be interesting to watch.
It needed to be done. As I mentioned yesterday 1 assist per game out of backup PG isn’t enough contribution or enough protection.
The NBA comparison of Maynor’s stats to Westbrook was generally close.
A bit odd that Presti would go for another PG so similar- at least on the stats so far, but it might not stay that way- but I guess he wants aggressive, believes the shot-making will improve.
Now you can play a pretty similar way without playing Russell.
If they are different and will become more different does Maynor become the Aaron Brooks and Westbrook become the Kyle Lowry? Do they both want to be Aaron Brooks? I’m not a big fan of Brooks but he can shoot, well half to 2/3rds the time.
It may be different for these 2 but that other duo came to mind.
Could do worse than Brooks-Lowry but you could do better.
One quick take would put Houston’s duo at about the 10th best fill of the PG spot. Using the same tool OKC was at about 18th before the trade. We’ll see where they are by season’s end or season’s end next season or the one after, etc.
If Maynor works out. Westbrook loses major leverage in that future 2nd contract negotiation.
I said this was a draft to get a PG from, in addition to Harden. And Presti’s done that. I would have traded up for Lawson if any way possible but at least he got one.
At first I was livid…getting rid of Livingston (it’s always hard to see your man crush go..pause) but it is a huge trade for OKC so I will bite my lip and high five my fellow Thunderers…
Maynor looks like another great guard who can play multiple positions(wait am I starting to see a pattern here?)
Harpring will look great on a plate of expiring contracts beside Etan Thomas(not a man crush but we casually dated a few weeks ago).
christmas came early
Here’s a question. These guys are only valuable as expiring contracts until February. I’ve been a fan of Bosh, but Toronto won’t want expiring contracts, they’ll want some good players and pieces. The question then becomes, who is available that A) can be had for expiring contracts and B) is good enough to bump the team up a notch in the West?
Guys that fit B:
Andrew Bynum
Marc Gasol
Al Jefferson
Guys that fit A:
Chris Kaman
Emeka Okafor
Mehmet Okur
Guys that fit both:
???
@Keith
Keith, the only guy I could see on your list being available is Chris Kaman, and that’s only if the Clippers are out of playoff contention. I think I would pee my pants if we were able to swing a deal for Kaman. A legit post presence? Are you kidding me? Do it Presti!
Their respective teams would never trade Bynum, Gasol or Jefferson. Okafor’s contract is ridiculous and Okur really isn’t much different from Krstic. I’d gladly take Kaman though.