The Bobcats were one of the worst offenses in the league last season. Once you account for differences in minutes and pace, Diaw's stats were significantly worse last season than they were in 2005-2006.
05-06: 15.0 p/40, 7.8 r/40, 7.0 a/40, 52.6% FG, 30.5 assist rate, 11.5 TO rate, 10.8 rebound rate
09-10: 12.7 p/40, 5.8 r/40, 4.5 a/40, 48.3% FG, 24.2 assist rate, 13.3 TO rate, 8.8 rebound rate
So yes, I looked up his stats and your conclusion is wrong.
FWIW, AK outperformed Diaw in every one of thsoe metrics except for a/40 and assist rate.
This is why AK had a PER of 18.25 and Diaw had one of 12.8. That delta of 5.4 is massive. It's the difference between Deron Williams and Raymond Felton or between Carlos Boozer and Charlie Villanueva.
PER is largely a measure of offensive achievement. For those you saying that Diaw is an upgrade or even with AK on the offensive end, you're simply mistaken. He hasn't been that player in five years.
That I love AK is no secret. Last season I came home from work early and ordered league pass before a game against the Sixers only because it had been announced that Deron and Price wouldn't play and there was a legitimate chance that AK would play some point guard.
He is the only player on the team, including Fesenko and Williams, who could have gotten a LP subscription out of me singlehandedly. If we move him solely for money then it entirely undoes all the goodwill the Millers got for the Jefferson deal as it is obvious that the team is designed to be profitable over winning. For all the credit the Millers got last season for "opening their wallets" the reality is that the Jazz did not appear on the list of teams that lost money in 2008-2009 and are not expected to appear on that list of teams in 2009-2010.
If this is the way they plan on running the team they should just sell it. Let the Huntsmans buy it or whomever else could step up.
The factor you all have not discussed yet but which makes deferring salary (because that's what the deal really does, since Diaw has roughly as much in aggregate value remaining on his contract as AK does it pushes those payments into a future date) particularly dumb in this scenario is the spectre of a new CBA in 2011. It's entirely possible that having cleared $17 million could be amazingly advantageous for that offseason. It's far less likely that clearing only $8 million for that season will be as competitively advantageous. It is extremely difficult, from the perspective of next year, to imagine a scenario in which it is more advantageous under a new CBA to be carrying a $9 million figure into next year.
It's a bad deal in the short term and it's a bad deal in the long term. If this happens, don't be shocked if one of Greg's off-road vehicles has its brake lines mysteriously cut.
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