FanPost

In the case of Diaw v. West & Anderson: Boris becomes a valuable trade asset.



In the pursuit of Lamarcus Aldridge, the San Antonio Spurs had to give up several players to make room for the All-Star and franchise player. The first player named to be given up was Tiago Splitter. Splitter played along side Tim Duncan forming a big frontline a role that the team wanted Aldridge to play in (as well as be one of the cornerstones for the Spurs over the next few years). As Tiago also had the highest payroll at $9.5 million among frontliners and was coming off an injury, which ruined his production last season, this made perfect sense.

A few people wondered whether it should be Boris Diaw, another power forward, as he was older than Splitter and had enough salary to bring losing him into serious consideration. But because he brought a versatility to the Spurs that Splitter didn’t have,Tiago seemed the easier choice to go. However, the discussion became academic when Splitter was traded (to the Atlanta Hawks who wanted him and perhaps did not want Boris who played for the Hawks at a time when they were kind of unorganized.)

But then the sudden and unexpected acquisition of David West happened and the power forward/center position is loaded with players of note, experience but also age while the other positions are not as deep as they were last year in talent and experience. Trading Diaw can open up salaries and possibilities but only if the players on contract can match his production. West and Kyle Anderson (who many called a Diaw clone during the 2014 draft) seem to have the versatility of Boris. Can West and Anderson replace Diaw is the question put before us.

In the upcoming season, the Spurs will have, Tim Duncan, Aldridge, Diaw, West, Matt Bonner, Boban Marjanovic and Anderson (his lack speed won’t be much of a problem at the 4 position) manning the power forward or center positions. Furthermore, not counting Anderson (for some), the players are exclusively 4 and 5 position players who have a combined salary of approximately $37.5 million. And when, as Michael Erler says, "the Spurs are gonna play small most of the time anyway with Duncan or Aldridge as their centers", and probablyplace Kawhi Leonard at power forward, it essentially means that they are paying that much salary for the one position!

Among those signed to contracts, only Diaw would seem a prime candidate for a trade as the rest have just signed their contracts this summer (not counting Anderson). But that would mean being able to make up for his production.

This brings us to Diaw v. West & Anderson

Statistically, comparing Boris and West is the place to start, as they are players with better data and a history that brings fewer surprises.

Boris’ statistics per 36 minutes last season, stats by Basketball-Reference, shows that he was marginally better than West in the following categories 2pt FG% (51% to 48%) and free throw % (77% to 74%). The former is also significantly better than the later in 3pt FG% (32% to 20%). Although surprisingly, due to the number of 3-point shots Diaw takes, the better overall field goal percentage belongs to West 47% to 46%.

West though is, per 36 minutes, significantly better than Diaw in several areas. His total rebounding (better by more than 2 at 8.5 to 6.3), blocks (more than double .9 to .4) and Free throw attempts (3.1 to 1.7). He also has a slight advantage in steals (.9 to .7).

The area that Boris is famous for is his assists. The creative big man averages a nice 4.2 assists per 36 minutes as a secondary ball handler for the Spurs. So its not that this rate is a testament that brings him praises as a passer that surprises but that West isn’t lauded as much as him. The new Spur has the same assist rate as the fantastic Frenchman!

There are some things though that are a concern such as age and injury and that aforementioned 3-point shooting. Last year West played 66 games to 81 by Diaw. Yet the counter to that is that West did play more minutes per game (28 to 24) and was only less than 100 minutes short of Diaw’s total (1895 to 1984). And while the former is also two years older at 34, this is where Anderson can come in and play power forward minutes. West can be rested and have less chance of injury and Anderson can prove he is truly a Diaw clone (but slimmer, at least for now).

The low 3-point shooting percentage of West is something that could be a concern but upon closer examination it might be overcome. West took only 0.1 attempts per game a tenth of the attempts Diaw took. Therefore, if the play is specifically designed for West to take threes his percentage could go up dramatically. This is a great possibility because he is still a great floor spacer with a fantastic field goal percentage of over 50% on shots less than 3-point distance but greater than 15 feet which comprised 46% of his shots. Diaw’s shooting is only 37% from that shorter range.

The statistics seem to point out that West, with some Anderson playing time, can more than make up for the Diaw’s production assuming he adapts quickly to the team.

But does it make sense to trade Diaw other than players could take up the slack?

A Diaw trade could save money and open up a position to bring in a player for backcourt or small forward depth and might also get them draft picks. Diaw is guaranteed to make $7.5 million next season and $7 million the following year.

Diaw is still a valuable player. He could be traded to a playoff-team that needs depth or a young team that can make use of his veteran presence and his passing. A team like the Orlando Magic can make use of him as they did Hedo Torkoglu years ago to complement center Dwight Howard and point guard Jameer Nelson. That team made the NBA finals. This time around Diaw would be complementing current center Nikola Vucevic and point guard Elfrid Payton among other very young players. He would replace Channing Frye who was supposed to bring that veteran presence, which did not show, and who needs to shoot to show value (something that Diaw doesn’t need to do). The Spurs could simply ask for picks from Orlando because the team, as of this writing, is far from the salary cap line and can simply absorb Diaw’s contract.

Keeping Diaw for depth is always an option as the frontcourt is one of the oldest in the league. But knowing there are people that can duplicate his production and that he can bring the team something of value in player’s and salary is an asset that’s great to have.

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