Ranking the 6 Best Buy-Low Candidates on the NBA Trade Market
Not every player on the NBA's ever-churning trade market comes neatly wrapped with a ribbon. Some players require plenty of assembly, needing touch-ups and tuning before they can maximize their talents in a new location.
They're the project players, if you will. And they're also guys who can normally be had for lower asking prices, as the negativity surrounding them has fueled a decrease in the expected return.
These buy-low players may be busts in their new locations as well (assuming they're even moved), but the intrigue around them exists because they can be so much better. Again, there are no guarantees. When you buy low on a player, you hope he's going to make for a worthwhile purchase, but you have to go into the deal knowing full well that he can still burn you.
The six candidates featured here have all taken a turn for the worse in recent years (with one notable exception that we'll get to).
Now that their teams' asking prices have presumably dropped, will any of them actually be moved?
6. J.R. Smith
1 of 6
Team: New York Knicks
Age: 29
Position: SG/SF
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 10.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.2 blocks, 11.6 PER
Every member of the New York Knicks is available, other than Carmelo Anthony. No, seriously. A fire sale of that magnitude might actually take place, assuming Phil Jackson can find reasonable buyers for the limited talent he has at his disposal.
According to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck, Anthony is literally the only player who's untouchable following the franchise-worst start in 2014-15: "Rival executives say that everyone else [other than Anthony] at the Garden is available, possibly even the ball boys."
Obviously, that includes J.R. Smith.
He's been a bit of a toxic player over the last calendar year, making more headlines for ill-advised shots and shoelace stunts than positive plays on the basketball court. However, he's still only two years removed from winning Sixth Man of the Year and possesses the tools necessary to make a big offensive impact on the right squad.
That squad just clearly isn't the Knicks.
The athletic bursts might be tougher to come by now that he's 29. His shot selection is poor, and that's being nice on some nights. But Smith can put the ball in the basket and remains a highly confident player, one who's well worth taking a shot on for a competitive team in dire need of a scoring spark plug off the bench.
5. David Lee
2 of 6
Team: Golden State Warriors
Age: 31
Position: PF
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 6.0 points, 22.0 PER
First of all, let's look past the stats here.
The 31-year-old power forward has only spent seven minutes on the court during the 2014-15 season, scoring six points on 3-of-4 shooting before heading back to the bench. It's tough to draw many conclusions from that type of sample.
Throughout the rest of the year, Lee has sat out with a strained hamstring, and the Golden State Warriors haven't exactly missed his contributions. Draymond Green has stepped up remarkably well, and the Dubs have flat-out rolled through their admittedly easy schedule, storming their way to an incredible winning streak and posting the best record in the NBA.
Lee is just no longer needed, but it's not like he's devoid of any and all value.
The veteran big man is still a valuable rebounder and scorer, even if those characteristics just aren't necessary in Golden State. The team is just that strong, and that's most assuredly not a knock on Lee.
Of course, there are concerns. He's an atrocious defender operating on an excessively large contract ($15,012,000 this season, $15,493,680 next season), and his injury history isn't exactly stellar. But if some team is willing to give him a tabula rasa and understands that the good comes with some bad, he can still make a big impact.
It's not as though the Warriors need to shake up their rotations right now, especially with Marreese Speights thriving in his role as a backup big. The asking price is likely lower than it's ever been.
4. Dion Waiters
3 of 6
Team: Cleveland Cavaliers
Age: 23
Position: SG
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 9.8 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.2 blocks, 11.6 PER
Dion Waiters has sullied his reputation during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He loves to shoot and can occasionally hinder the flow of an offense by stopping the ball and forcing an isolation set. He's not entirely receptive to coming off the bench, even if that's the move that's in the best interest of his team. None of this is groundbreaking information to anyone who's followed Cleveland basketball over the last few years.
But while Waiters' talents aren't particularly useful in Cleveland any longer, not since LeBron James and Kevin Love joined Kyrie Irving, that's not saying they can't make a positive impact in a different location. The 2-guard is still a gifted player on the offensive end, capable of dominating the ball and creating looks for both himself and his teammates.
Let's not forget how he's thrived when given opportunities to excel. Opposing general managers certainly haven't, though they're probably still a bit hesitant to take the gamble on the struggling Waiters.
Once he moved into the starting lineup for the last 15 games of the 2013-14 campaign, he averaged 21.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Something tells me there are plenty of offensively inept teams who would love to get that type of production without sending Cleveland too much in return.
3. Jeff Green
4 of 6
Team: Boston Celtics
Age: 28
Position: SF/PF
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 16.2 PER
Jeff Green is a weird buy-low candidate.
Unlike the other players populating this list, he's actually playing some solid basketball. Not only is he averaging 19.6 points per game, but he's doing so with an above-average player efficiency rating and while shooting 45.4 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from beyond the arc and 83.2 percent at the charity stripe.
But we're talking about the Boston Celtics.
Trading away Jeff Green is the logical next move after the team dealt Rajon Rondo, as it gives Danny Ainge more financial flexibility to work with next summer. Teams might be able to buy low here, simply because the C's would be glad to rid themselves of Green's expensive contract, one that has two years remaining on it ($9.2 million each year).
"Boston has been consistently shopping forward Jeff Green, trying to acquire a package that includes a first-round draft pick, sources said. Rondo being available would suggest Ainge is prepared to undergo a deeper rebuilding project and push harder for the highest possible draft position in the 2015 NBA draft," Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski wrote before the point guard was sent to the Dallas Mavericks, thereby confirming his claims of a rebuild.
Green is only 28 years old and remains a solid two-way player, one who's at his best when serving as a tertiary offensive option and focusing his efforts on the less glamorous end of the court. Surely that's worth a package that centers around a first-round pick, especially if Ainge will accept one in the tail end of the opening 30 picks.
2. Lance Stephenson
5 of 6
Team: Charlotte Hornets
Age: 24
Position: SG
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.1 blocks, 10.4 PER
To say that Lance Stephenson has struggled in his new digs would be selling his overall futility quite a bit short.
Not only has he failed to help the Charlotte Hornets play the type of defense they did during the 2013-14 campaign, back when they were still the Bobcats, but he's been atrocious on offense. Rather than providing a spark, he's clanked one jumper after another off the rim, shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 15.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Ouch.
But Stephenson is still an intriguing player, as he's only 24 years old and still possesses plenty of two-way upside. If the Hornets are already willing to give up on this experiment—and according to Grantland.com's Zach Lowe, they were weeks ago—it should be possible to find a team willing to give him another chance and hope that the regression is due more to location than anything else.
"But while sources say as many as seven teams registered interest, including Miami and Brooklyn," ESPN.com's Chris Broussard and Ramona Shelburne reported more recently, "No offers intrigued Charlotte, and several teams that called did not make trade proposals."
Don't expect every offer to remain underwhelming all the way through the deadline.
1. Josh Smith
6 of 6
Team: Detroit Pistons
Age: 29
Position: SF/PF
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 13.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.7 blocks, 14.2 PER
Josh Smith can still be a good player.
We're only a few years removed from him putting his athletic tools on display for the Atlanta Hawks and actually looking like he deserved to at least be in the All-Star conversation. Smith is just 29 years old and can still turn back the clock with his jumping exploits, dominating on offense when he puts the ball on the floor or backs down his man in the post and thriving on defense by scurrying frantically all over the court.
He just doesn't play that way for the Detroit Pistons.
Instead, he lofts up ill-advised jumpers and seems completely lost, almost as though he has no idea what he's supposed to be doing to help out his squad. Couple that with a large contract ($13.5 million for the next three seasons), and you can see why it's tough to convince anyone that Smith still has the potential to make a big impact.
But he does, so long as he's handled the right way. Going into the season, Detroit head coach Stan Van Gundy said the following about Smith, courtesy of Detroit Free Press' Perry A. Farrell:
"I think Josh has a very good understanding of the shots he needs to shoot that are not only best for him, but best for our team. He's one of the elite guys in the league around the basket. Last year, stuff inside, right at the rim, in two straight years, he has been 71 percent and 77 percent. There's very few guys at that level. So he needs to get more of those. He knows that. He also understands he really doesn't need to shoot threes for this team. ...
... He knew right away that he's really good around the basket, and the numbers would say he's elite there. I gave him one, and I honestly believe this: He's got everything he needs to be an all-defensive type guy. With that being said, he takes too many possessions off. We watched clips from the first two games. Like I said, he's not a guy who has a problem dealing with reality. You show him eight or nine clips of him jogging back defensively.
What I understand and he understands (is) that's habit that has been built over time. It's not going to change tomorrow. I have to stay on him, and he understands I have to stay on him.
"
Obviously, that hasn't worked out well for the reeling Pistons.
But now, Smith can presumably be had for cheap, and in a system that isn't going to ask him to space out the court, he can still follow that same plan that Van Gundy presented.
It may be hard to believe at this point, but stranger things have happened.
Note: All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com and are current heading into Dec. 19's games.
