Although his reputation as one of the most aggressive players in the league proceeds him, Quincy Acy has done more harm than good this season. The Brooklyn Nets need to get rid of him.
Quincy Acy has turned into mid-to-late career Josh Smith. For those of you that do not remember Smith in his later years, he was awful. All he did was waste precious spacing on a Detroit team that needed it. Oh, and he nearly chucked as many threes as Antoine Walker.
Acy is in a similar boat. He does nothing for the Nets spacing and oftentimes lives at the top of the three-point arc. When he’s there, he suddenly believes he has become Joe Harris or Allen Crabbe and chucks threes. A career-high 4.1 attempts per contest is a little high for a 34.4 percent long-range shooter. While it is not quite at Smith’s level, it still is a little much.
He has regressed severely since last season, despite an increase in minutes. In fact, his scoring averaging per-36 minutes is the third-lowest in his career, at a paltry 11.3 points per game.
With Jarrett Allen, DeMarre Carroll, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and even James Webb III fighting for minutes at the four, there is no reason Acy needs to be in the conversation. Brooklyn needs to get rid of him.
With the trade deadline just a little over a month away, it is the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling. What Acy lacks in shooting, he makes up for with his aggressive style of play and tenacity on the defensive boards.
He would make a great third or fourth forward off the bench for a competing team. However, many of those competing teams lack assets that the Nets would want. One of the precious few competing teams with favorable draft picks is the Milwaukee Bucks. While they only have one second round pick in 2018, they have one first rounder and two seconds in the year after.
For comparison, the Brooklyn Nets only have their first rounder and a second round pick.
Acy has what the Bucks need. He brings rebounding and aggression to a team that is last in total rebounding in the NBA. Best of all, the Nets could sell him for cheap.
Since they are under the cap, the Bucks would need to match Acy’s $1.7 million contract. Luckily, they have Rashad Vaughn. For those of you unfamiliar, Vaughn was the 17th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. During his days running with UNLV, Vaughn showed the ability to score in various ways from the perimeter. He had great range and shot 38 percent.
However, that number fell since his transition to the profession level. But, he is shooting a career-high 36.4 percent this season. With a little help from Kenny Atkinson and crew, he can be the Nets’ next Nik Stauskas-project.
Next: Could Joe Harris be traded?
A future second and Vaughn is a fair price to pay for the tenacity that Acy brings. Both teams win, with Brooklyn getting potential and Milwaukee getting rebounding.