Sheldon Williams/ Bobby Brown for Rashard McCants/Calvin Booth Trade Analysis

Sheldon Williams and Bobby Brown got sent to Minnesota for Rashard McCants and Calvin Booth.

This trade is pretty minor so we will focus on Sheldon Williams and Rashard McCants.

The trade is a neutral move for both teams. Sheldon Williams was the 5th pick in the draft, and has never lived up to expectations after a standout college career at Duke. Sheldon is limited by his athletic ability, and his lack of post presence. In college, Williams was able to out muscle inferior defenders, and get a lot of clean-up baskets. In the NBA, it is obviously a different story. Williams has not started any games this season, and averaged 10.2 minutes for the the Kings. His stats are minimal this season, and have been throughout his career. Williams is averaging 3.7 ppg and 2.6 rebs. Don't let Kevin McHale fool you. They have articulated that Al Jefferson's injury prompted this trade for Williams, but this is another financial move. Williaims is due about $3.3 million this season and has an option for next season. I don't know if the Timberwolves will pick it up. I suspect that they won't, and will use it to go after another player. It is worth noting that Calvin Booth averages 5.2 ppg and 1.9 assts and only makes the minimum (for his experience) at $442,144. All-in-all, the impact for the Wolves will be virtually nil.

The Kings have been pretty active in the trade market. This is their 3rd trade that they have been involved in throughout this trade season. Again, they have acquired all of these players for financial reasons (with the exception of Andres Nocioni). Rashard McCants, the former TarHeel star, never quite lived up to his expectations. McCants and Booth are both expiring contracts. They will have a combined $3.7 million in expiring contracts (McCants has a qualifying option at $3.4 next season). McCants is averaging 9.1ppg and .9 assts. Outside of some scoring, he is largely ineffective. Like I said in the Nocioni/Miller analysis, Sacramento is cutting costs. These small market team fans must get used to this because the small market teams can't afford to incur the luxury tax penalty like big market teams can. It makes financial sense for the Kings. They have the worst record in the league so I guess at this point acquiring minimal impact players is a good thing. Calvin Booth has played in 1 game this season, and will probably see double that action, at most, for the rest of this season. The Kings are in a good position financially going into the 2009-2010 season.

Izzy