Yes, I absolutely believe that if you're going to trade one of the best players on your team, you should get back a better player. If the team isn't better after the trade is over, you shouldn't make the trade, generally speaking. .
All that would be OK if the said player has a reasonable contract. What if the player is unreasonably overpaid?
You expect a team to help us take AK's contract off our hands and also give a better player in return?
It is a bit too late now. But 2-3 yrs back Jazz should have jumped at any offer that gave them back a lesser(but solid) player provided they were getting rid of AK's contract. They did'nt. And they are still paying the price for it.
I mean, teams do it all the time, for a variety of reasons -- salary dumps, etc. But I prefer trades to be basketball decisions, not financial decisions. The owners of many NBA teams clearly disagree with me.
You have to realize that trading AK for a lesser player 2-3 years back(although Marion and T-Mac at that time werent any lesser) would have ultimately helped the Jazz go after a better player eventually. It shouldnt be viewed in isolation. It should be viewed as just cutting your losses and in the process gaining some flexibility to go after something better. Of course teams do this all the time and for a good reason.
And regarding Murphy, I know he is Okur-lite. But as a throw-in in a trade for Morrow and as a half-season rental to sub for Okur(who looks more hobbled than ever) he cant be that bad. Last year he averaged 15 and 10 while shooting 38% from 3-pt land. Not too bad for bench production.
But I just looked up and it seems like he is also coming back from an injury and putting up messed up numbers this season. Only relief here is that he is an expiring contract