If the NBA had an expansion draft which players would you protect?

wizards:

Protect:

Caron Butler - underpaid for his stats, great scorer, passer, and rebounder

Gilbert Arenas - one of the best shooters in the NBA, knee is an issue, but he is the franchise player. This team could by a long shot win a championship if he plays lights out the whole year, but it will suck if he isn't close to 100%.

Antawn Jamison - the team leader, one of the biggest bang for your buck players in the NBA by consistently scoring 20, grabbing 9 rebounds, and is one of the best stealing power forwards in the NBA, people say he sucks on defense, but rebounding is defense, and his steals come more often than not from passes he intercepts, which is a big part of his court vision on defense.

Brendan Haywood - The only physical banging big man for the Wiz, though he hasn't always been consistent at times, so he is a must keep.

JaVale McGee - Still not a polished player but has upside if coached correctly, he has great footspeed and leaping ability

Randy Foye - solid combo guard with three point shooting and passing ability. He is Gilbert's gecko, if you know what I mean

Mike Miller - sharpshooter who also is underrated as a rebounder and playmaker, from last season in Minny.

The rest (Nick Young, D-Mac, Stevenson, Blatche, Crittenton, Oberto, and James) are open for grabs.

WHY THEY ARE AVAILABLE AND CAN BE ASSETS FOR A TEAM

Nick Young would be fighting for minutes on the Wiz anyway, and being on an expansion will give him starter's minutes

Dominic McGuire is a decent defender, but at the same time he provides no offense besides a thunderous dunk here and there. With Saunders' zone defense, his one on one abilities aren't needed as much though having them will help us.

DeShawn Stevenson may have trouble fighting for minutes against Foye and Miller, and he will be a decent pickup for an expansion team because he has the ability to play both SG and PG when needed, as well as an ability to shoot spot 3's and play decent man to man defense. Like McGuire, the zone defense for the Wiz will make a man to man defensive specialist more expendable.

Andray Blatche still is believed to have tremendous upside to some teams. With Washington however, I think that Jamison is a solid enough PF for at least the remainder of his contract, and that he just won't be a suitable enough successor for him given his erraticness for the last four seasons. He also is still very skinny, sure, he won't be like Dwight, but he could at least be a bit more toned and have a little more muscle.

Javaris Crittenton is a big PG with the ability to play SG, but is too raw to be a truly suitable backup PG or SG to Arenas and Miller/Butler, especially when you have Foye who can do everything Javaris can except better though he is Gil's height if not a little shorter. By going to an expansion team, he will have a chance to truly be a backup PG with significant PT, which was why he even improved this year.

Fabricio Oberto is a decent defender and can make a bucket here or two in limited minutes, however he will not play much here. I don't think an expansion team will take him because he's old, but if they do, it's because he's a veteran who has started for a championship team.

Mike James is a solid PG, with decent three point shooting ability and at the pick and roll. Problem with him is his age, and he is streaky. I doubt an expansion team will pick him up from us, but if they do, it's because he is a veteran who can drop 20 any night, run an offense from the get go, and also because he has one year left on his deal and can be trade bait for another team. James would have been the 8th player to stay if I could make it 8 because of the trade value, but if I have to drop him I will given the perimeter guys I already have with Arenas, Miller, Butler, and Foye.

You're right Corey it is 8 players they can protect, at least in the 1996 expansion draft that's the way it was. But these are the 7 I'd protect, I think the Pistons are not far from being good and these guys I would want to keep around. I'd want to keep the young good players first and foremost. Ben Wallace is on the verge of retirement any and the rest are either older players or unproven. Detroit Pistons Protected: Brandon Knight Tayshaun Prince Greg Monroe Andre Drummond Rodney Stuckey Jonas Jerebko Will Bynum Pistons Available: Austin Daye Kim English Corey Maggette Charlie Villanueva Ben Wallace Kyle Singler Khris Middleton Slava Kravtsov

This is an interesting thought.

From the Pistons I would protect:

Charlie Villanueva

Rodney Stuckey

Will Bynum

Ben Gordon

Richard Hamilton

Austin Daye

Tayshaun Prince

The players I would leave available are:

Kwame Brown - His negatives outweigh his positives, and with Ben Wallace in town now it's highly unlikely that they would take Ben because of his age.

Jason Maxiell - Jason's a decent player but I don't think his value is higher than any of the guys I protected.

Chris Wilcox - He and Kwame are about the same, and expansion drafts only allow one player to be taken. If they take Kwame I still have Chris and vice versa.

DaJuan Summers - Looks good but I can't keep him over Austin Daye.

Jonas Jerebko - He's ery raw and needs developement, which is something most expansion teams don't want.

Washington Wizards

Gilbert Arenas

Caron Butler

Randy Foye

Javale McGee

Nick Young

Mike Miller

Brendan Haywood

I really don't care about the others. We overpaid Antawn Jamison and Gilbert, but at least Gilbert isn't 33 years old. Jamison is a horrible defender too. Andray Blatche plays out of position and will never realize his true potential if he continues to do so. If I had an 8th I'd probably say Blatche though. Dominic McGuire is a talented defender, but nothing special yet and his offensive game seems years behind.

Edit: To the other Wizards fan. Jamison doesn't play the passing lanes. He swats and scrambles for balls. Which is a show of good effort but not good defense. Steals aren't the "it" factor of defense, and neither is rebounding. It's a common misconception that people think Chris Paul is a superstar defender just because he racks up steals. He's not. Neither is Jamison.

Protect:

1. Ray Allen

2. Tracy McGrady

3. Dwayne Wade

4. Kobe Bryant

5. Dwight Howard

6. Dirk Nowitzki

7. Chris Paul

Anyone else is free to go.

Sacramento Kings.

Tyreke Evans

Kevin Martin

Jason Thompson

Spencer Hawes

Francisco Garcia

Omri Casspi

Sergio Rodriguez

The guys i'd leave unprotected are:

Sean May: Tough decision between him, Sergio, and Donte, but I would want to keep at least one pure pg, and I think Sergio has more upside than May.

Donte Greene- also tough, but he was awful in summer league, and I really doubt he ever becomes the player I am hoping.

Andres Nocioni- Nice player, but he has a long contract and doesnt really fit into the "youth movement.'

Beno Udrih- He blows and has a huge contract. Enough said.

BTW to the Clipper fan, they already waived Mike Taylor.

Wizards

Caron Butler

Gilbert Arenas

JaVale McGee

Randy Foye

Antawn Jamison

Javaris Crittenton

Nick Young

Great Question, not hard as a Celtics fan though

Pierce, Allen, Garnett, Rondo, and Perkins are all obvious.

Then I would protect JR Giddens and Eddie House

House means too much to the Celtics right now to let him go, he is a huge spark plug off the bench and one of the most vocal guys in the locker room.

Giddens has the potential to start next year if Ray Allen leaves. He is a different type of player but is a great rebounder and defender at the SG position.

Dont be surprised to see Giddens putting up numbers like:

14.6 Pts 6.8 Rbs 3.4 Assists

Next year in a starters role, the guy is a good player.

If I'm the GM of the Sixers, do I really have to protect 7?

I'd protect:

Thaddeus Young

Andre Iguodala

Jrue Holliday

Unsure: Jason Smith (need to see his sophmore year.)

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Available:

Elton Brand

Samuel Dalembert

Willie Green

Louis Williams

Primo Brezec

Royal Ivey

Because I'd rather rebuild then be stuck in mediocrity.

Phoenix Suns,

Steve Nash

Amar'e Stoudemire

Jason RIchardson

Grant Hill

Leandro Barbosa

Earl Clark

Robin Lopez

Why?

For obvious reasons