Alternative 3: we could have kept him.
It really is a weird situation. Milwaukee, being over the salary cap, couldn't have even given Brockman an offer sheet if I've got it right. (Veteran's minimum, yes, but the QO was over vet minimum.) But instead they propose a sign-and-trade, sending back an unguaranteed contract and a second-rounder (practically nothing) when we have no risk of losing him. This seems to imply one of three things:
1. We regret giving Brockman the QO and are now trying to pawn him off. Seems unlikely to me. Now we will probably have to sign an emergency big man, and I don't think there's anybody that stands head and shoulders above Brockman. We may as well have kept him.
2. We are trying to "do the right thing" for Brockman, sending him somewhere he's going to play. Well, he was the #6 big man in our rotation, and I would guess he's going to be the #6 big man in Milwaukee's rotation behind Bogut, Gooden, Ilyasova, Mbah a Moute and Sanders. And Tiny Gallon (unsigned) may be in the mix there as well. I don't think he's going to see much more floor time in Milwaukee than he would have here. So are we really helping him out?
3. We really believe the package we are getting is preferable to Brockman. I don't think the mid-second-rounder is better than Brockman, so do we actually value Jackson? If we end up cutting his unguaranteed money, apparently not.
So, if (as seems likely to me) we could have kept him, we would have been perfectly happy keeping him, we're not really helping his career, and we're not getting good value back...why?