No 5 – Trade idea sending Wayne Ellington to the Houston Rockets
In this final trade idea, the Miami Heat would send Wayne Ellington and Dion Waiters to the Houston Rockets, hopefully enforcing this team’s 3-point shooting mentality and to find themselves once James Harden’s insane streak ends.
While a lot of Heat fans are excited to see Waiters’ comeback this season, in this deal, Miami reinforces their belief in their young (small contract) players. Waiters’ contract has been one that has stood out around the league as most likely a mistake, even with his offensive potential. But he should be able to be a solid facilitator off the bench, as well as a nice iso-scorer. As for Ellington, he’s an immediate spark on any team, but Mike D’Antoni’s offense should utilize him to the best of his abilities.
Miami gets a point guard that will never see the floor in Brandon Knight, who’s insane contract will be up this summer. However, the player that would see the floor, would be the swingman James Ennis, who is a utility knife wing that can be used a lot like James Johnson off the bench (2-year deal worth 3.5 million – cheap).
As for the draft pick, I can see Houston throwing in a first to try and get a more complete offensive team since they are stuck in their current cap situation due to that massive Chris Paul contract.
As stated previously, none of these moves really move the bar too much for either team, but all deals do give each team more of a chance to do well in the near future, maybe just not immediately.
Ultimately, I would trade Ellington, if and only if, Miami stays healthy (besides Dragic) until February 7th.
Time will tell for the man with the golden arm in South Florida.