Sunday, August 12, 2007

Grizzlies Trading for Juan Carlos Navarro

Though not official yet, it seems like the Grizzlies are going to add Spanish guard, Juan Carlos Navarro. Reports from the Commercial Appeal claim the Grizzlies are going to trade a lottery-protected first round draft pick for Gasol's friend.

This confirms what Wallace and Iavaroni have already insisted, that the Grizzlies don't plan on trading Gasol.

While I don't know much about Navarro's game, it seems like he may do more than placate Gasol. He was a top contributor on the World Champion Spanish National Team. He's been a strong three-point shooter, and presumably Gasol and Navarro have strong chemistry together.
This deal is a no-brainer.

However, there are two issues I see. One, the Grizzlies just signed Casey Jacobson as a back-up three-point shooter. Now, it seems like he'll be fourth string shooting guard.

Two, Navarro isn't Kevin Garnett. Trading for Garnett is risky. His contract is huge and he's approaching the end of his career. The Celtics traded a good amount of future insurance for Garnett. Still, The Grizzlies consistently acquire mid-level role players while their peers (Two games separated the Celtics' and Grizzlies' records.) take chances on players who the sports writers say will get them to the finals...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find this to be good news, plus I don't think having a wealth of 2 guards in a run and fun style system that coach seems to be ready to implement is really a problem. Plus, most of those 2 guards can play small forward if their not expected to play in the post.

bkatz said...

as long as the 1st round pick we are giving up is lottery protected, i see no issues with this trade