Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Chicago Bulls have reportedly offered to swap draft picks with Washington if the Wizards also include Jarvis Hayes. In exchange, the Bulls would offer Chris Jefferies and salary-cap filler. The Wizards are seemingly uninterested in the deal in its current form, though it's not completely off the table.
The Bulls were interested in Hayes as early as last year when they passed on him to select Kirk Hinrich instead. It seems that Chicago, in its elusive search for a small forward, is looking to pick up where they left off in last year's draft. Washington also likes Hayes, however, and is not willing to give him up.
Now if the Bulls were interested in Jerry Stackhouse on the other hand...
Hayes had a solid rookie campaign, averaging nearly 10 points, four rebounds, and 1.5 assists in about 30 minutes a game over 70 games, including 42 starts. He was named to the 2004 All-Rookie Second Team. Confirming the theory that franchises like opposing players who do well against their team, Hayes notched career highs in offensive and total rebounds in a game against the Bulls on January 19, 2004, when he pulled down five offensive and 14 total rebounds. (He set his career record of 11 defensive rebounds two days earlier when he grabbed 11 defensive rebounds against Seattle.)
In terms of net team points, he was neither the greatest contributor nor the worst contributor. According to 82games.com, his net plus/minus was -2.9 points, meaning that on a per-minute basis the team did better when Hayes was on the bench. Still, even by this measure, he was a more valuable contributor than Christian Laettner, Etan Thomas, or Jerry Stackhouse.
Indeed, if the Bulls were willing to consider Stackhouse's contract, and could offer some filler to the Wizards in return, then a deal almost certainly would work out.
TEAM NOTES
Clickhereto see a list of players that have worked out for the Wizards so far.
Steve Wyche ofThe Washington Postwrites: The Chicago Bulls have approached the Washington Wizards about trading the No. 3 pick in the June 24 draft and a lesser-salaried player for second-year forward Jarvis Hayes and Washington's fifth overall draft selection, according to sources in Washington and Chicago, who did not want to be named.The sources said the deal is unlikely to transpire because the Wizards do not plan on moving Hayes, last year's No. 10 pick and a member of the all-star rookie team this season. However, an employee with the Bulls has been doing background checks on Hayes, the source in Washington said. Chicago would have to include a lower-salaried player to make such a deal work under the NBA's trade rules that require salaries be of equal or near-equal value... The Wizards have had trade talks with several teams with a source claiming Washington has inquired about Indiana Pacers forward Al Harrington. However, no deals are imminent.
K.C. Johnson ofThe Chicago Tribunewrites: The Bulls have inquired about the availability of Washington Wizards small forward Jarvis Hayes, according to league sources.Before taking Kirk Hinrich in last June's NBA draft, the Bulls seriously considered drafting the 6-foot-7-inch, 220-pound Hayes, who went to Washington as the No. 10 pick and averaged 9.6 points in 70 games. The Bulls initiated the talks, sources said, which in one scenario had the teams swapping first-round picks and Hayes coming to Chicago in exchange for Chris Jefferies and salary-cap filler, likely Paul Shirley or Jannero Pargo... The talks haven't advanced past the initial stages because Washington is said to be less than enamored of the idea of losing Hayes just for the chance to leapfrog two spots in this year's draft. Like the Bulls, the Wizards like Duke forward Luol Deng, Arizona guard Andre Iguodala and Stanford forward Josh Childress, who played with Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld's son, Danny, in college.
Rick Bozich ofThe Louisville Courier Journalwrites: TWO YEARS AGO he was drafted long after Chris Wilcox, Marcus Haislip and Ryan Humphrey. Washington had two chances to call his name.The Wizards never considered it — not with Jared Jeffries and Juan Dixon available. Now Prince is giving Bryant more trouble than his legal bills... Richard "Rip" Hamilton is Detroit's best player. He's also the guy Michael Jordan shipped out of Washington for Jerry Stackhouse. Hamilton was no sleeper. He led Connecticut to the 1999 NCAA title — and then fell behind Jonathan Bender and Wally Szczerbiak in the draft. Nobody rips Rip today.
Steve Wyche ofThe Washington Postwrites: Jordan has strong feelings about those involved in this series but foremost he wanted to explain his rationale for trading Hamilton, his teammate in 2001-02. Hamilton, Jordan said, wanted a contract extension, for around $8 million per year. "It became a money issue," said Jordan, who ran the front office from January 2000 to September 2001 before playing for two seasons. "I took it to [Wizards owner] Abe Pollin and all the people involved and nobody felt comfortable about paying what he was asking. We told him that and he suggested we explore trades. We looked at the flip side of getting value back and figured if we trade this guy, we'd get value from Stackhouse, him being a mature player, a hop and skip from being an all-star player. Stackhouse had an opt-out in his contract and if he did, we were very flexible in the free agent department." So flexible, they would have had enough room to try to lure Bryant or Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, Jordan said.But Pollin fired Jordan last spring and added two years onto Stackhouse's contract.
Warren Blatt ofThe Sports Network writes: Washington's roster is full of guards, who can also play small forward. The Wizards need to get stronger down low and could use some players who can rebound and score in the low post.With the fifth overall selection the Wizards will have a chance to get a player that they think can have a bright future in the league for years to come. This year's draft is crucial for the direction of the Washington franchise, as it cannot afford to make any mistakes.