Wally World for Slick Rick: The ho-hummest big trade ever

It took seven players and three draft picks for Wally Szczerbiak and Ricky Davis to swap teams. What the f*** for? One guy's a max-contract spot-up shooter who doesn't play well with teammates, the other is a ball-hogging streak-shooter who kills you on the defensive end. If there were ever two players stuck in their one-dimensional, hurt-you-as-much-as-help-you games, it would be Ricky and Wally. A change of scenery won't improve either guy at this point, and trading one headache for another seems remarkably short-sighted.

Hilariously, the Sports Guy sounds fired up about the deal. He sees the 29-year-old Szczerbiak as a scorer "in his prime." That sounds an awful lot like a guy who's "as good as he's going to get," so, um, why the hell would you want him around? He shoots 50%, yes. He also moves his feet like Dikembe Mutombo, but without the long arms to make up for it. He doesn't pass well, he doesn't play the break very well, and he rebounds poorly for a player his size.

But forget his game. He regularly pissed off the most likeable guy in the league, and doesn't Paul Pierce seem just a little grumpier than Kevin Garnett to you? What happens when Wally starts jacking up the contested 3-balls instead of finding Pierce cutting to the hoop for what would be an easy deuce?

The Boston media loves it when a big name rolls into town. This is the same group that lavished praise on Antoine Walker when he joined them for a second stint, immediately forgetting how many dozens of times he shot them out of a game or got burned on defense in the prior 8 years. Naturally, once he began doing those things again, they couldn't wait to ship him *back* out of town. Szczerbiak may hit a few more shots than Walker did, but when he can't box his guy out, stop the other guy from strolling to the hoop, or pass to Pierce, they'll turn on him, too. Stupid move.

Ricky to the T-Wolves isn't much better. Thinking about Rashad McCants and Ricky Davis playing together and/or going at it in practice thrills me to no end. The Sports Guy claims Ricky's a better guy and teammate now than in years past, but I predict it won't take long for McCants to bring out the worst in Ricky again -- especially when they share the floor. I can see the train(s) of thought now:

McCants: "1 in a row! I'm on fire! Heat check from 28 feet!"
Clang.
Ricky: "Damn it, I was open on the wing. That should've been my shot!"
While Ricky's distracted, his man takes it to the hoop.
Ricky: "My turn, now, rook!"
McCants comes open off a screen, Ricky ignores him and goes up with a hand in his face.
Ricky: "Money ball!"
Clang.
McCants: "I'm gonna eat your children."

...and so on.

The best part: the Daily Dime informs us Minnesota could have had Steve Francis instead of Davis. Now, I would never advocate the acquisition of Francis, but to value Davis over Francis seems flat-out wrong. I suppose this tells you how far Francis' stock has dropped, but I have to believe he'll be easier to move than Davis when everything falls apart next year.

Neither team got better. Neither player is likely to get better. Next, please.