Sekou Smith goes against the conventional wisdom Monday in saying Billy King was right to trade the Nets (lightly protected) first round pick to the Blazers for an established player like Gerald Wallace, citing the experience of the team that may get the pick, the Trail Blazers.
Smith points to the release of Greg Oden as an example of what happens when a team makes too big of a bet on the draft.
King is right, high draft picks don’t guarantee a thing. And that’s why we don’t see a problem with the Nets snagging a starting small forward (Gerald Wallace) for a draft pick that in most cases will not produce a player of comparable ability in time for the Nets to make a case for Williams to stick around for this rebuilding process.
Smith closes by noting that in a league where the "future is always now ... you sometimes have to trust what you already know as opposed to betting on what might be."
- The Future Is Always Now - Sekou Smith - NBA.com