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Rumor: Jason Richardson + #18 Pick for Bucks' #6 Pick (Yi Jianlian)

By Atma Brother ONE

The last year and a half of Troy Murphy's time with the Warriors he was in the trade rumors daily. It got to the point that we nicknamed him Troy "Trade Rumor" Murphy in our 2006-2007 Golden State Warriors preview for Dime magazine. I never thought I'd see the day, but it looks like fan favorite Jason Richardson has supplanted Murph in that uncomfortable title of Mr. Trade Rumor. This morning Gery Woelfel of the The Journal Times notes that the Bucks and Warriors could be doing business on his blog The Woelfel World of Sports:

The Warriors reportedly have more than a passing interest in moving up in the draft with the object of their affection apparently being Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian. ...

One of the rumors making the rounds is the Warriors would be willing to give the Bucks a couple of players and their top pick. One of the players would allegedly be shooting guard/small forward Jason Richardson.

As a big JRich fan I have to say I'm starting to worry about his name being in the trade rumors so often. It does seem like the Warriors are seriously shopping him around this summer. I'm all for moving up in this draft to get Yi, but not if it costs JRich or Die Flying. He is a big, big reason for this team's success down the stretch in that clutch finish to the regular season and that wildly entertaining upset over the Dallas Mavericks. Without JRich NONE of that would have happened.

The Warriors are a poor rebounding team, but one of the main reasons they were able to get away with it was having a big guard like JRich be such a force nightly on the glass. You aren't going to find many swingmen in this league that can score like JRich and rebound the rock like he does. Don't forget JR averaged nearly 7 rodmans a game in the playoffs.

Practically speaking trading Jason Richardson to Milwaukee for a higher pick in the draft would be a pretty big deal involving several current big money Buck players. The problem is the Bucks' roster isn't exactly saturated with talent or players that are as good of a fit for Nellieball as JRich. Use ESPN's Trade Machine and see what you can come up with. Aside from Michael Redd (who the Bucks will never trade) I just don't see how JRich's roughly $10+ mill a year nets anything useful in return


Another point worth paying attention to in Woelfel's post is that Yi's crew is feeling four teams:

According to several NBA officials I've spoken to in the last week, Yi and his posse -- i.e. agent Dan Fegan and the Chinese government -- would love nothing more than to see Yi wind up a major market, preferably one with a significant Chinese population. The scuttlebutt is the Yi group has targeted four teams: Atlanta, Boston, Golden State and Chicago.

Also, it was noted yesterday that Yi was in town for a workout with the Dubs. Yi did in fact workout for the Warriors, but Chris Mullin and Don Nelson actually went down to LA to check him out [see Warriors watch Yi: Is Golden State ready to jump into the Yi Jianlian sweepstakes? on SFGate].


Would you be unhappy if the Warriors traded Jason Richardson this offseason?


99% of rumors never happen, but 99% of them are fun to talk about!

 

Jason Richardson trade rumors from the GSoM vault:


The Yi Movement Retrospective:

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