Brooklyn Nets: The case against trading Spencer Dinwiddie

Here’s a look at why it’s disadvantageous for the Brooklyn Nets to trade Spencer Dinwiddie.

With #TradeSZN contaminating the minds of NBA followers near and far, the Brooklyn Nets have become a popular trade partner in hypothetical deals.

Trade season is wonderful in that sense. People can imagine various possibilities for their team’s future.

The downside to these mock trades, however, is when people blow said possibilities out of proportion. One day, the Nets are shipping off a low-cost veteran like Joe Harris for a small return. But the next day, someone like Spencer Dinwiddie is included in an enormous reshuffling of pieces.

Shipping off a player like Dinwiddie is the exact opposite of what the Nets need to do.

The context

In the stage the Nets are at in the rebuild, there are specific tasks that need to be carried out: acquire as many young players and assets as possible, try to develop them to see who is capable of sticking around for the long haul, and keep said players on low-cost deals as long as possible.

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Trading a young, upside-laden prospect on a bargain-bin deal for middling assets is reverse-course. That’s the type of move a franchise makes when it doesn’t like a player, or when his value must be salvaged before it evaporates.

With full confidence, it can be assumed that the Nets like Dinwiddie. In addition, his flight risk is minimal due to his market value. Dinwiddie loves playing for Brooklyn, and he very well should.

Players who get unearthed from the scrap heap are seldom in a position to lobby for more money than they’re worth. The exceptions, like fellow Net Allen Crabbe, are byproducts of the unprecedented salary cap spike of 2016. That will not happen again for quite some time, and if it does, it will be generations after the current team-building cycle is done.

None of those points are slights against Dinwiddie as a player either. He is a legitimate point guard running a legitimate offense. He’s certainly not in the Michael Carter-Williams class, also known as the group of players who get inflated stats from playing for a bad team. He is real, and he’s here to stay.

The actuality

At 6’6″, Dinwiddie has great size for a guard. Paired with D’Angelo Russell, who is 6’5″, the Nets backcourt can be virtually interchangeable. I described their fit more in-depth earlier in the week, and the status of said coexistence is still positive.

Dinwiddie is also only 24. He has copious room to grow, as does Russell. The two can only get better. With a basketball IQ as high as WINwiddie’s, the foundation to be the conductor of Kenny Atkinson’s quicker-than-lightning offense is there.

His ball security is phenomenal; he currently owns the second-best assist-turnover ratio in the association. In an offense that uses the sixth-most possessions per game, such precision adds up. Once Brooklyn is good enough to start making their 3-point shots, watch out.

Additionally, his contract is a steal. For his age, a veteran’s minimum deal at his talent level is criminally cheap. Why give up great value when most of the cap is tied up in bad contracts?

It was a great move to take a flier on Dinwiddie, and it worked. There’s no incentive to get rid of one of the best bang-for-your-buck contracts in the NBA, especially when he fits the team’s timeline.

Next: 2017-18 Week 15 NBA Power Rankings

When pieces thrown at the proverbial wall end up sticking, you don’t rip them off the wall. You keep them.