Vasquez isn't a long term keeper, but he's on the cheap for one more year and we have the option for the QO after that. So as everyone's been saying, cap space, cap space and cap space.
I have a lot of issues with Vasquez, but we'll start with what everyone knows him to be: he's an oversized PG--6'6"--and is a really, really good passer who could get within 10 feet of the basket and wheel and deal. Also, he was playing for the slog of slogs offensively in Monty Williams' uber-slow paced offense. Malone's more known for his defensive turnarounds as an assistant, though, so I'm not sure we'd be getting as fast as we were under Keith Smart. But two things: New Orleans' habitually inflates the assist numbers of their players (Chris Paul, Darren Collison, now Vasquez)--now I'm not doubting that Vasquez can't pass, but just a footnote. Also, something tells me if all other things were constant, and Vasquez were 6'2", he'd be out of the league. Why? Let's talk about it below:
Vasquez is already 26 years and played nearly 35 minutes a game for 78 games this season, and...he had 0 dunks. That's almost blasphemy. If we had a below the rim finisher in Evans, Vasquez is probably 1000x worse. Probably the worst 6'5" and above guy in dunking since Toronto's Alvin Williams. Not that he gets all the way to the basket. He's so unathletic that most of the time he stops short of the basket and has to go for runners, which to his credit, he does a good job of converting, but he never draws fouls, so tradeoffs and all that. He was also the fourth worst at defending shots in New Orleans, but to his credit he's a really good rebounder for a PG, and between the rebounding and the passing there's some triple double ability with this guy.
Vasquez just appears to me to be more sizzle than steak. He's deceptively quick and can get to his spots and stuff the stats, but he's completely unathletic particularly for his size and his defense sucks. I don't think it's to the point where he's hemorrhaging, and he'll have uses organizing our team, but we will probably do better for our long term solution. I hope we only have him for this one year and then let him go afterwards.
As for Evans, I've always thought he needed a change of scenery, with what's perceived as a downward trajectory after supposedly peaking in his rookie year, but we provided that this season with the whole front office/coach re-make, but if the reports are true it's a real shame we alienated him. To be honest, I'm not sure if that's New Orleans. I like their whole young guns dynamic with Holiday-Gordon-Evans, but their coach as mentioned played at a slog's pace last year, so he'll severely ramp up the pace to generate more offensive possessions for their young alpha dogs. Also, none of the three are sharpshooters, and although Holiday and Gordon have showed some potential on that front, both of them are more decent to good than great, so there might be a few spacing issues. All three of them prefer to get into the painted area to create for themselves or others, by and large.
Defensively, Evans was really packing the rebounding and was comparatively lacking at guarding shots, but Evans has fared better on defense in past seasons and is significantly better at disrupting in general, so there's a lot more defensive hope from him than from Vasquez. Evans is truly unique as well--among PGs this year, and most likely in other years, he gets to the basket the most per possession, and draws fouls well. Sure, nothing compares to how he was drawing fouls in his rookie year, because he's lost a step, but still, he's insanely good at this--he led the league in layups made last year, and was close this year (Greg Monroe !!!). Yeah, he's decidedly below the rim, even compared to PGs who are likely three or four inches below him in height, but he's a layup and foul drawing machine. Yeah, he's not much of a jumpshooter and a worse passer than Vasquez for sure, but Evans niche as a layup rim-attacking monster with defensive tools is so unique compared to Vasquez's passing, that even with the payday you almost have to take Evans. It's not often that you discover these players, and you surround them with shooters to cover up for weaknesses. We didn't quite do that with the personnel, so hopefully we won't pay the price in future years.