The Memphis Grizzlies' longest-tenured player in franchise history is moving on.
As reported by ESPN's Marc Stein, the Grizzlies have agreed upon a deal that will send small forward Rudy Gay and backup center Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for point guard Jose Calderon and power forward Ed Davis, according to league sources. Calderon will be sent to Detroit for forwards Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye. The Grizzlies are also said to be receiving a second-round pick from Toronto.
How did each team do? Here are the grades.
Toronto Raptors: C-
Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo must really, really like Haddadi. That's the immediate reaction to the Raptors sending their starting point guard and a promising young forward in exchange for one of the least productive "max contract" players in the league.
Gay remains the "Exhibit A" counterexample to the argument that LeBron James is all athleticism and zero skill. A freak athlete, Gay scrapes the rafters on dunks, but he's not a reliable shooter, doesn't move the needle defensively and doesn't attack the rim like someone at his level of athleticism.
And at 26, this is pretty much what we're going to get.
Advanced stats are pretty "meh" on Gay. His player efficiency rating this season is a slightly below-average 14.3, but he's being paid like someone rated in the 20s. However, his numbers aren't just lukewarm by the standards of current Memphis VP of Basketball Ops and former ESPN Insider John Hollinger's metrics. Regularized adjusted-plus minus (RAPM) considers Gay to be an average player in the league and ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton's system sees Gay as being worth just 1.2 wins above replacement (WARP) this season, despite playing almost 36.7 minutes per game.
(It's worth pointing out that Davis, whom Colangelo sent to Memphis, has been worth twice as many wins this season -- 2.5 WARP -- than Gay in significantly less playing time.)
It's no surprise that Colangelo targeted Gay, seeing how the Raptors' decision-maker debated whether to draft Gay or Andrea Bargnani No. 1 overall in the 2006 draft, as mentioned in Chad Ford's chat on Wednesday. Now he has both on his squad, and that's probably not a good thing.
In Colangelo's defense, this could be seen as a buy-low opportunity, since Gay has been shooting well below his career rate this season. Perhaps all Gay needs is a change of scenery after hearing his name swirl in trade rumors for most of the season. Raptors fans may not want to hear this but if you put Michael Beasley and Gay's per-minute numbers next to each other, you'll barely be able to tell the difference outside the turnover column.
Looking ahead, the Raptors likely will have about $54 million wrapped up in Gay, Bargnani, Landry Fields, DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson for 2014-15. Neither of those five players are good bets to sniff the All-Star team any time soon so big picture, it's hard to see the Raptors climbing out of the lottery anytime soon.
Still, you'd like to see more return for Calderon and Davis than a high-volume shooter who scores just 17.2 points per game.
Memphis Grizzlies: B
Though a potential Gay deal has been whispered about for weeks, this still comes as something of a surprise. The Grizzlies executed a deal last week to shed enough payroll to stay under the luxury tax for this season, which seemed to make Gay a safe bet to stick around through the trade deadline.
Apparently, the luxury tax penalties going forward for the small-market Grizzlies organization were prohibitive enough that the revamped front office decided they must move Gay's big-time salary now rather than risk fielding lesser offers this summer.
It's a pretty big leap of faith by the Grizzlies since we just don't really know what life is like without Gay around. With 631 minutes together, the Grizzlies' starting lineup with Gay, Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol is the fourth most-played 5-man lineup in the NBA. And they've won by 8.3 points every 100 possessions with that lineup, so they've seen great results.
But Tayshaun Prince, 32, should fill in nicely as a superior defender and comes at half the cost of Gay over the next two seasons. For a team starving for floor-spacers, Prince is a much more reliable, if less frequent, shooter from 3-point land, hitting 43.4 percent of his tries from downtown this season. But he's not capable of shouldering the scoring load like Gay did, which will put more pressure on Conley to create from the perimeter.
But the real haul here is Davis, who could be a Carl Landry-type player off the bench for Memphis this season and the successor for Randolph down the road. Though considerably raw at age 23, Davis comes cheaply on a rookie deal and is coming into his own in his third season with a 18.1 PER as a promising scorer and rebounder. With Gay leaving and Darrell Arthur's rising presence off the bench, you have to wonder if Randolph's days in Memphis are numbered.
Though it sheds $8 million next season, it's not a home run because the haul doesn't pack enough punch to insert them in the title conversation this season. The Grizzlies needed to upgrade their offense in a big way if they wanted to contend for the title and they received two efficient players in Davis and Prince.
But rest assured, they'll be tested down the stretch without a clear go-to scorer on the perimeter. It feels like Memphis' new regime isn't done dealing.
Detroit Pistons: A-
Calderon's a solid return for Detroit and they did well to unload Prince's swollen contract that will pay him $15 million over the next two seasons. Their depth chart is a little more balanced now with Prince and Daye heading south, freeing up more minutes for veteran wing Corey Maggette and Kyle Singler, who feels more like a 3 than a 2.
As an elite shooter and passer, Calderon has always been a poor man's Steve Nash and should help Detroit's 29th ranking in assist-to-turnover ratio right away (Calderon leads the league in that category).
Calderon is an expiring contract, but doesn't figure to have a long-term home in Detroit with Knight and Rodney Stuckey in the picture through next season. However, Stuckey could be waived in the offseason as he is owed just $4 million of his $8.5 million due in 2013-14. If nothing else, Detroit hopes that Knight can learn a thing or two from Calderon about how to control the ball.
Getting out of Prince's deal should free up some cap space this offseason, but overpaying mid-tier players to come to Detroit is precisly how GM Joe Dumars got into this mess in the first place.