Jeff Teague to Detroit is the obvious trade waiting to happen
Jeff Teague was supposed to add steady point guard play and increase the team’s ceiling, but injuries and inconsistent play have led to some speculation about Tyus Jones being just as effective as the starter. There is a trade that can hand the starting guard spot to Jones and get Teague to a team that would run more offense through him.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been the fourth seed in the Western Conference standings for most of the season. But in the last 10 games, Minnesota has been able to get closer to the San Antonio Spurs, and sit tied for the third seed.
The offense has been great for Tom Thibodeau’s squad all season long, but is making vast improvements on the defensive side of the ball. Surrounding the young yet immensely talented Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns with two-way players is still the path to legitimacy, but the problem is one of Minnesota’s best two-way players is limited to less than 20 minutes per game behind Jeff Teague.
If you haven’t caught on by now, Tyus Jones is the two-way player I was referring to, the man backing up Teague. Thibodeau brought in Teague on a three-year, $57 million deal, and has already made it clear that when healthy, he is the starter.
But just because Thibodeau recently signed Teague doesn’t mean he can’t rectify his mistake. Teague is a competent lead guard. But the Timberwolves don’t have to pay $19 million a year for competent play. Now is Thibodeau’s chance to parlay Teague’s contract into depth in a trade with the Detroit Pistons.
The reasoning for Detroit:
Only the Sacramento Kings have a worse winning percentage than Detroit since Reggie Jackson went down in late December. The Pistons have played decent defense — their calling card — in Jackson’s absence. Their offense has dropped dramatically. In the time frame since Jackson’s absence, Detroit has an offensive rating of 102.7 points per 100 possessions, which would be 25th in the league.
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The offensive drop-off can be traced to Reggie Jackson being the person that stirs the pot for Stan Van Gundy’s offense. Detroit’s top two scorers (Tobias Harris and Avery Bradley) both get a large share of their buckets off of assists. Bradley has seen his field goal percentage drop to 38 percent over the last 10 games. His cuts off ball aren’t as effective with the current floor-spacing.
Jackson was only shooting 33.9 percent from 3-point range, but that is better than Ish Smith, who is currently shooting 19.4 percent and presents no threat offensive threat from deep. Teague is shooting 35.9 percent from the 3-point line this year, while dishing out just over seven assists per game.
In this trade, Van Gundy would have to give up multiple players for Teague to make salaries match. The fit would be simple for Van Gundy to figure out. Teague would be the starting point guard until Jackson’s return. Once Jackson is back, Van Gundy can bring him along slowly off the bench. He would also have the luxury of trying out lineups with both Jackson and Teague on the floor, providing a ton of space for Andre Drummond pick-and-rolls.
As for the trade itself? Jeff Teague for Langston Galloway, Ish Smith and Stanley Johnson might work.
The reasoning for Minnesota:
The Timberwolves are trending up. They are one of the hottest teams in the league, and have two 2018 NBA All-Stars as they look to end a 13-year playoff drought. So why change anything at all? Long-term outlook.
Jimmy Butler is currently 28 years old, and his window for winning a championship is much bigger than ever before in his career. That is because he plays next to Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Bringing in Teague was a big improvement over former point man Ricky Rubio, but it was an unneeded one. As of right now, Tyus Jones has been a defensive ace, especially when starting. As the starting point guard (10 games) he has averaged 2.8 steals per game this season. He has done everything you want your starting point guard to do in today’s NBA.
The heart of this trade is the fact that Jones is subtly outplaying Teague. Jones is currently Teague’s backup, so of course the raw numbers are in his favor. Teague still out-produces Jones in points and assists when you look at their numbers per 100 possessions.
But Minnesota does not need his points for their offense to be successful. Jones is currently ahead of Teague in assist ratio, rebound percentage and effective field goal percentage, and perhaps most important, net rating.
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This deal would net Tom Thibodeau Stanley Johnson, a young forward with tremendous defensive upside. Johnson is exactly the type of player Butler was very early on in his career, and there is reason to think Thibodeau could work well with Johnson. Langston Galloway and Ish Smith simply provide guard depth that will allow even more rest during the regular season for Butler.