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I don't know about that one.
Isn't Bogut always hurt?
Official 2012 NBA Trade Deadline Thread: The Dwightmare is Over.
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by pmatic,
- Start date
Isn't Bogut always hurt?
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I don't think he's as injury-prone as someone like Andrew Bynum or Kevin Martin. That time he broke his elbow or something in the playoffs a few years ago was just unlucky.
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That's a big problem too
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bill simmons says carlos boozer sprays paints his own hairline in that article, lol
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Ha I peeped that too.
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i bet dwight n crew makes the move right after the miami orlando game next week and before the san antonio orlando game the day after.
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Sources say that the Washington Wizards are among the teams to express the strongest interest in Bogut, which might be another indication that the Wiz are prepared to part with the enigmatic JaVale McGee, if not before the deadline than during the offseason.
http://www.bulletsforever...rumors-2012-andrew-bogut
Teams have contacted the Wizards about McGee for some time, but the team has been unwilling to consider offers for him. Last summer, Minnesota discussed sending the No. 2 overall pick (which turned out to be Derrick Williams) in exchange for the sixth pick and McGee but the Wizards declined. Oklahoma City reportedly offered the No. 3 pick (which turned out to be James Harden) for McGee and the fifth overall pick before the 2009 draft.
http://www.washingtonpost.../09/gIQAHmoZ1R_blog.html
The Wizards....
*edit*
dacomeup
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If D12 goes to OKC and play's with Durant it's a wrap. They'd win for the next 6 years, therefor disallowing LeBron James ever getting a ring. I'm all for it. Go all in OKC!
I'd legit trade Westbrook and Ibaka for D12. Westbrook, Durant, and Howard can get tricky since Westbrook loves to shoot so much. Keep Harden and just use a regular PG like the Miami Heat.
I'd legit trade Westbrook and Ibaka for D12. Westbrook, Durant, and Howard can get tricky since Westbrook loves to shoot so much. Keep Harden and just use a regular PG like the Miami Heat.
Deadline trades that should happen.
Spoiler [+]
And now, we get to the bad side of the amnesty rule for fans.
Like I said the other day, it's probably going to be a quiet trade season. We've been fooled before, but the likes of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Deron Williams are likely to stay put.
But there's another big reason we won't see as much trade action: A lot of players who would have been traded have already been amnestied. And a lot of teams that would have been deep in the luxury tax, and thus more inclined to deal, are not because of their amnestied players.
Take Stephen Jackson, for instance. He makes $10 million this year and next and has been largely worthless for Milwaukee. Normally in that situation, teams will basically pay a team to take the guy off their hands.
With the amnesty? Not so much. Why give a first-round pick to another team to take a player when you can just amnesty him yourself this summer? The Bucks don't need to dump Jacko via trade; they can get the same effect (minus the hit to owner Herb Kohl's wallet) via the amnesty rule.
This impact will gradually diminish as more and more teams use their amnesty and as the luxury tax becomes more punitive, but for this season it's taken the sting out of a lot of bad contracts that otherwise would be daily trade rumor fodder.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of deals out there that make sense. Today, I have eight that I think would be logical for all parties to pursue. That doesn't mean that they'll do them, or even that anyone has talked about them. Some are big, some are small, but they all achieve some goals for each side and are cap-legal:
Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson to Portland; Jamal Crawford and Greg Oden to Minnesota; Luke Ridnour, Anthony Tolliver and $3 million to Cleveland
There's been a lot of talk about trading Crawford for Ridnour, and that makes a lot of sense, but I like this one a little better. Sessions is a better player with a shorter contract, and his ability to play the pick-and-roll would help a Blazers offense that's had some troubles under Raymond Felton's leadership.
Crawford would be perfect in Minnesota, where he can play mostly off the ball but take turns running the point with the second unit. He can opt out after the season, and probably will, but he'd help the Wolves' playoff run and they'd have a shot at re-signing him if it goes well.
Ridnour makes some sense in Cleveland, where he makes less money per year than Sessions and could slide in nicely as a steady backup to Kyrie Irving. The Cavs would also get paid, and they would accomplish that by dumping Gibson (owed $2.5 million guaranteed next year) on the Blazers, taking back the expiring deal of Tolliver and getting $3 million from the Wolves to pay the final year of Ridnour's deal.
Craig Brackins and a second-round pick to Sacramento for J.J. Hickson
The Sixers need post scoring in the worst way, and Hickson fairly accurately fits that definition. While one could bust this into a larger deal using Andres Nocioni's expiring contract, let's focus on the basics here: The Kings want to get a halfway decent draft pick for Hickson after trading a first-rounder to Cleveland in the offseason to get him, and would probably swallow a high second-rounder along with a bit of their pride to be rid of him now.
Philly just happens to have a 2013 second-rounder from New Orleans lying around, which is likely to be in the low 30s, and could use that to complete the deal. The Kings would also get a free look at Brackins, who is basically an unknown quantity after hardly playing for two seasons.
If they wanted, the Kings could do it without Brackins, as Hickson fits into the Sixers' $2.7 million trade exception from the Marreese Speights deal earlier this season.
Boris Diaw for Lamar Odom and $2 million cash
A simple problem with a simple solution. Odom has worn out his welcome in record time in Dallas, while Diaw has done similar work in his fourth year in Charlotte. For the Mavs, this at least brings in somebody with a pulse for the playoffs, and Diaw is especially helpful since he can take shifts at center with Dirk at the 4. Also, Diaw's adorable little habit of passing up open layups to kick out to jump shooters won't be as problematic in Dallas as it would in, oh, say, Charlotte.
As for Odom, the cash in the deal allows Charlotte to pay his buyout and removes $2 million from the Mavs' salary-cap tab next summer when they go free-agent shopping. For their trouble, the Bobcats pocket whatever they can from Odom's buyout amount for the rest of the season. The only lingering problem would be Dallas wanting a handshake agreement that Odom would go someplace in the East (i.e., New York) once he's bought out and not haunt them in the Western Conference playoffs.
Rajon Rondo and Brandon Bass to Indiana; Darren Collison and Josh Smith to Boston; Jermaine O'Neal and Roy Hibbert to Atlanta
Indiana is a great destination for Rondo; all the Pacers need is a point guard who can pass and their offense will match their fierce defense. Losing Hibbert is a high price to pay, but the Pacers were going to have to pay a pretty penny to keep him this summer and Collison the year after. With this deal, they would get some cost certainty, and adding Bass shores up the frontcourt loss of Hibbert.
Meanwhile, the Celtics slash over $6 million from their luxury tax bill by dumping O'Neal, who is unlikely to play again this season, on Atlanta, and get an inexpensive short-term replacement for Rondo in Collison. Most notably, Boston also gets Smith as a successor to Kevin Garnett at power forward, with Smith's ability to shift down to the 3 at times preserving some lineup flexibility.
As for Atlanta, adding Hibbert (and presumably re-signing him this summer) gives them a real center and allows the long hoped-for move of Al Horford to power forward. The trade also gets the money-starved Hawks under the luxury-tax line.
Ray Allen and Trevor Ariza to the Clippers; Chris Kaman and Eric Bledsoe to Boston; Chris Wilcox, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Chauncey Billups, and Brian Cook to New Orleans
While we're breaking up the Celtics, here's another good one to ponder -- either in conjunction with the deal above or on its own. The Clippers certainly become rather potent in the wake of this trade; by agreeing to swallow Ariza's contract from the Hornets and part with the promising Bledsoe, they get a deadly wing shooter in Allen to replace the injured Billups. Additionally, Ariza gives them the wing defender they've sorely needed all season.
For New Orleans, this is a straight salary dump of Ariza, with Kaman the lure. The Hornets would have to pay Gomes one more year, but otherwise get four expiring contracts. New Orleans also would have to waive Solomon Jones and Lance Thomas to make this deal work; let's just say I don't see that as a show-stopper.
As for the Celtics, they get a promising guard in Bledsoe and the Bird rights to a big low-post center, Kaman. That actually has value for the C's, who unlike New Orleans actually have a prayer of re-signing Kaman. They do take on $2.6 million in luxury tax in this deal, but if they don't do the one above, they can eliminate that expense by sending O'Neal to the Hornets instead of Wilcox.
Pau Gasol, Steve Blake, Jason Kapono and Troy Murphy to Houston for Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, Hasheem Thabeet, Marcus Morris, Chase Budinger and New York's 2012 first-rounder.
This is the type of deal L.A. needs to look at if it wants to trade Gasol, one that fills a bunch of holes in one shot. Dragic, Budinger and Scola would start immediately next to Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum, while Morris would come off the bench and play regularly. With that lineup, the Lakers would have a real rotation instead of three stars and nine fringe players.
Obviously, the Lakers would prefer to get Kyle Lowry rather than Dragic, but the Rockets would have a big problem giving up all the other assets and Lowry; the Lakers would be looking at Lowry, Scola and not much else if they went in that direction. Normally, going for the blue-chippers is a better route, but a team's second unit isn't usually as insanely bad as this year's Lakers, who would save about $4.7 million in luxury tax with this deal.
As for Houston, it gets a chance to right its listing playoff ship with Gasol as the focal point in the frontcourt and Blake would take over for Dragic at backup point guard. It's something of a do-over on the Gasol trade they made in December, except that trading Kevin Martin to the Lakers doesn't make any sense so that portion had to be replaced with Budinger, Morris and Thabeet.
Jeremy Pargo, Sam Young and $1 million to Boston for Keyon Dooling
Wait, we haven't traded all the Celtics yet! This is hardly a blockbuster but it's another deal that makes some sense, in the process giving the Grizzlies a halfway decent backup point guard who can play their ballhawking style and hit a spot-up jumper. That's the single most glaring weakness on the roster heading into the playoff run.
In return, Boston gets the restricted free-agent rights to Young, a hard-nosed wing who has fallen out of favor in Memphis this season, and another year to look at Pargo. The $1 million is to pay Pargo's salary next year. Incidentally, this trade also works with Dante Cunningham, Quincy Pondexter, Marreese Speights or Hamed Haddadi; it's really just a matter of preference between the two sides as to which players they value.
Michael Beasley, Daniel Orton, Justin Harper, Anthony Randolph and Orlando's first-round pick to Milwaukee; J.J. Redick, Beno Udrih and the rights of Fran Vazquez to Minnesota; Jon Brockman, J.J. Barea and Ersan Ilyasova to Orlando
Orlando is looking for pieces to add around Dwight Howard, rather than trade Howard, and this is one way to do it. The key is whether Milwaukee is ready to say uncle and give up on making the playoffs. If so, using Ilyasova as the lure to dump bad contracts makes a lot of sense.
The key to the deal is Ilyasova, who has been crushing for Milwaukee lately (including 32 against the Bulls on Wednesday, a 29-25 against the Nets and seven double-doubles in his past 10 starts); unfortunately, he also has an expiring contract and may very well return to Europe before next season.
To get his rights, the Magic send a couple of low-level prospects to the Bucks and then Redick and Vazquez to Minnesota. Why Minnesota? Redick gives the Wolves a real NBA shooting guard who can space the floor for Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, and Vazquez might be more tempted to come over from Spain if he can link up with former teammate and fellow Spaniard Rubio.
To get those players, the Wolves give the Bucks a free look at two prospects they won't be inviting back, Beasley and Randolph; additionally, Minnesota takes on the more onerous contract of Udrih from Milwaukee.
Completing the circle, Minnesota sends Barea back to Orlando -- a true pick-and-roll point guard who would be very effective in the Magic's system, and could replace the miserable Chris Duhon.
If Milwaukee was really looking to dump dollars, it could add another component to this trade by sending Drew Gooden to Orlando for Earl Clark; the rest of it would be cap kosher because Ilyasova and Brockman fit into the Brandon Bass trade exception worth $4.2 million.
[h3]And now, on to the Harbingers ...[/h3]
• When the Memphis Grizzlies were 3-7 and looking at 30 more games without Zach Randolph, it was hard to imagine they'd be the third seed in the West today. Z-Bo is due back any day now, and with Memphis having won nine of 10 heading into Friday's visit to Phoenix, the Griz suddenly find themselves in great shape.
That's where we get to the more impressive part -- not only are the Griz third right now, but we expect them to hang on to that spot. Memphis currently projects to land at 40 wins, two games ahead of the Lakers and Clippers, and that would be more than enough to guarantee the No. 3 position in the conference. What's amazing is that the Playoff Odds have no idea Z-Bo is coming back -- they're rating Memphis based solely on its play in his absence, and it's still impressive enough to snag the third spot.
Catching San Antonio for second remains a tall order -- the Spurs are three games ahead and own the tiebreaker -- but if the Grizzlies can hold down the third slot while missing Randolph for more than half the season, that would be an eye-opening accomplishment. And if Z-Bo comes back as his old self, Memphis is going to be a very popular bracket-buster pick in the playoffs.
• The Bulls and Heat both enter Friday's play outscoring their opponents by more than nine points per game, easily the two highest figures in the league. What's amazing is that each is accomplishing a pretty rare feat; in the past 15 years only one team, the 2007-08 Celtics, has finished a season with an average scoring margin of greater than plus-9.0.
Michael Jordan's Bulls did it four times in the 1990s, but the only other team in the past quarter century to do so is the 1993-94 Sonics ... who amazingly flamed out in five games in the first round of the payoffs against Denver, in arguably the greatest upset in league annals.
But as for two teams doing this? That's happened only twice in history and once since the merger. In 1985-86, both Milwaukee and Boston had scoring margins greater than 9.0. The Celtics went on to win the title, eviscerating the Bucks in four games in the Eastern Conference finals along the way. (Despite its scoring margin, Milwaukee somehow went only 57-25 that season.)
The other occasion also involved Milwaukee, in 1971-72. The Lakers had the top margin of all time at plus-12.28 points per game, and the Bucks were again no match at a mere plus-11.16; they were in the West back then, and lost to the Lakers in six games in the conference finals.
So the Bulls and Heat are on their way to a rare double. And for the third time, it would appear that the two teams posting a plus-9 or better mark in a season will meet in the conference finals rather than the Finals.
• One other interesting note in the West is how vulnerable a few supposedly ironclad playoff teams have looked. The Clippers are 3-6 in their past nine games and 9-9 in their past 18; the Lakers are 14-12 since a strong start to the season and just dropped contests to bottom-feeders Washington and Detroit; and Dallas limped out of the break with six losses in nine games.
While all three are struggling at the moment, the bigger picture suggests that each will probably make the postseason -- all have Playoff Odds well north of 80 percent. Nonetheless, these teams weren't constructed with the idea of merely making the playoffs, and if they get a low seed and are steamrolled in the first round, it will be seen as a failure. The other issue is that the two L.A. teams are particularly vulnerable if an injury strikes a key player, as neither has the depth to survive the loss of a star for any length of time.
We may welcome that, of course, if the result is that the two L.A. teams meet in the first round and Dallas plays San Antonio. But these teams were hoping to be in the title hunt, not in the heap of teams on pace for the mid-to-high 30s in wins. One wonders if the recent struggles of each will increase their urgency at the trade deadline.
• Boston is 5½ games ahead of Milwaukee, is ahead of the Bucks in the Power Rankings, and owns the tiebreak. So it's sealed and delivered then, right? We can safely put the Celtics in the playoffs?
Er, not quite. Boston has played 23 home games against just 15 road games, while the Bucks have played only 18 times at home against 21 on the road. Additionally, Milwaukee has played a much harder schedule thus far, something that's about to change dramatically. In April in particular, the Celtics face off against several elite teams while the Bucks skate through a series of bottom-feeders.
Also, the two teams play each other twice, including the last day of the season; if the Bucks win both, they'll have the lead down to 3½ and will own the tiebreaker.
For all those reasons, we still give the Celtics a reasonable chance of missing the playoffs (75.4 percent they get in, 24.6 percent they don't), and Milwaukee decent odds of making it at 40.2 percent. The standings make the situation look grim for the Bucks, but the schedule is about to turn dramatically in their favor right as Andrew Bogut seems ready to return. Don't write those East playoff teams in ink just yet.
Like I said the other day, it's probably going to be a quiet trade season. We've been fooled before, but the likes of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Deron Williams are likely to stay put.
But there's another big reason we won't see as much trade action: A lot of players who would have been traded have already been amnestied. And a lot of teams that would have been deep in the luxury tax, and thus more inclined to deal, are not because of their amnestied players.
Take Stephen Jackson, for instance. He makes $10 million this year and next and has been largely worthless for Milwaukee. Normally in that situation, teams will basically pay a team to take the guy off their hands.
With the amnesty? Not so much. Why give a first-round pick to another team to take a player when you can just amnesty him yourself this summer? The Bucks don't need to dump Jacko via trade; they can get the same effect (minus the hit to owner Herb Kohl's wallet) via the amnesty rule.
This impact will gradually diminish as more and more teams use their amnesty and as the luxury tax becomes more punitive, but for this season it's taken the sting out of a lot of bad contracts that otherwise would be daily trade rumor fodder.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of deals out there that make sense. Today, I have eight that I think would be logical for all parties to pursue. That doesn't mean that they'll do them, or even that anyone has talked about them. Some are big, some are small, but they all achieve some goals for each side and are cap-legal:
Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson to Portland; Jamal Crawford and Greg Oden to Minnesota; Luke Ridnour, Anthony Tolliver and $3 million to Cleveland
Ridnour
Oden
Sessions
There's been a lot of talk about trading Crawford for Ridnour, and that makes a lot of sense, but I like this one a little better. Sessions is a better player with a shorter contract, and his ability to play the pick-and-roll would help a Blazers offense that's had some troubles under Raymond Felton's leadership.
Crawford would be perfect in Minnesota, where he can play mostly off the ball but take turns running the point with the second unit. He can opt out after the season, and probably will, but he'd help the Wolves' playoff run and they'd have a shot at re-signing him if it goes well.
Ridnour makes some sense in Cleveland, where he makes less money per year than Sessions and could slide in nicely as a steady backup to Kyrie Irving. The Cavs would also get paid, and they would accomplish that by dumping Gibson (owed $2.5 million guaranteed next year) on the Blazers, taking back the expiring deal of Tolliver and getting $3 million from the Wolves to pay the final year of Ridnour's deal.
76ers
Hickson
The Sixers need post scoring in the worst way, and Hickson fairly accurately fits that definition. While one could bust this into a larger deal using Andres Nocioni's expiring contract, let's focus on the basics here: The Kings want to get a halfway decent draft pick for Hickson after trading a first-rounder to Cleveland in the offseason to get him, and would probably swallow a high second-rounder along with a bit of their pride to be rid of him now.
Philly just happens to have a 2013 second-rounder from New Orleans lying around, which is likely to be in the low 30s, and could use that to complete the deal. The Kings would also get a free look at Brackins, who is basically an unknown quantity after hardly playing for two seasons.
If they wanted, the Kings could do it without Brackins, as Hickson fits into the Sixers' $2.7 million trade exception from the Marreese Speights deal earlier this season.
Odom
Diaw
A simple problem with a simple solution. Odom has worn out his welcome in record time in Dallas, while Diaw has done similar work in his fourth year in Charlotte. For the Mavs, this at least brings in somebody with a pulse for the playoffs, and Diaw is especially helpful since he can take shifts at center with Dirk at the 4. Also, Diaw's adorable little habit of passing up open layups to kick out to jump shooters won't be as problematic in Dallas as it would in, oh, say, Charlotte.
As for Odom, the cash in the deal allows Charlotte to pay his buyout and removes $2 million from the Mavs' salary-cap tab next summer when they go free-agent shopping. For their trouble, the Bobcats pocket whatever they can from Odom's buyout amount for the rest of the season. The only lingering problem would be Dallas wanting a handshake agreement that Odom would go someplace in the East (i.e., New York) once he's bought out and not haunt them in the Western Conference playoffs.
Hibbert
Smith
Rondo
Indiana is a great destination for Rondo; all the Pacers need is a point guard who can pass and their offense will match their fierce defense. Losing Hibbert is a high price to pay, but the Pacers were going to have to pay a pretty penny to keep him this summer and Collison the year after. With this deal, they would get some cost certainty, and adding Bass shores up the frontcourt loss of Hibbert.
Meanwhile, the Celtics slash over $6 million from their luxury tax bill by dumping O'Neal, who is unlikely to play again this season, on Atlanta, and get an inexpensive short-term replacement for Rondo in Collison. Most notably, Boston also gets Smith as a successor to Kevin Garnett at power forward, with Smith's ability to shift down to the 3 at times preserving some lineup flexibility.
As for Atlanta, adding Hibbert (and presumably re-signing him this summer) gives them a real center and allows the long hoped-for move of Al Horford to power forward. The trade also gets the money-starved Hawks under the luxury-tax line.
Billups
Kaman
Allen
While we're breaking up the Celtics, here's another good one to ponder -- either in conjunction with the deal above or on its own. The Clippers certainly become rather potent in the wake of this trade; by agreeing to swallow Ariza's contract from the Hornets and part with the promising Bledsoe, they get a deadly wing shooter in Allen to replace the injured Billups. Additionally, Ariza gives them the wing defender they've sorely needed all season.
For New Orleans, this is a straight salary dump of Ariza, with Kaman the lure. The Hornets would have to pay Gomes one more year, but otherwise get four expiring contracts. New Orleans also would have to waive Solomon Jones and Lance Thomas to make this deal work; let's just say I don't see that as a show-stopper.
As for the Celtics, they get a promising guard in Bledsoe and the Bird rights to a big low-post center, Kaman. That actually has value for the C's, who unlike New Orleans actually have a prayer of re-signing Kaman. They do take on $2.6 million in luxury tax in this deal, but if they don't do the one above, they can eliminate that expense by sending O'Neal to the Hornets instead of Wilcox.
Rockets
Gasol
This is the type of deal L.A. needs to look at if it wants to trade Gasol, one that fills a bunch of holes in one shot. Dragic, Budinger and Scola would start immediately next to Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum, while Morris would come off the bench and play regularly. With that lineup, the Lakers would have a real rotation instead of three stars and nine fringe players.
Obviously, the Lakers would prefer to get Kyle Lowry rather than Dragic, but the Rockets would have a big problem giving up all the other assets and Lowry; the Lakers would be looking at Lowry, Scola and not much else if they went in that direction. Normally, going for the blue-chippers is a better route, but a team's second unit isn't usually as insanely bad as this year's Lakers, who would save about $4.7 million in luxury tax with this deal.
As for Houston, it gets a chance to right its listing playoff ship with Gasol as the focal point in the frontcourt and Blake would take over for Dragic at backup point guard. It's something of a do-over on the Gasol trade they made in December, except that trading Kevin Martin to the Lakers doesn't make any sense so that portion had to be replaced with Budinger, Morris and Thabeet.
Dooling
Young
Wait, we haven't traded all the Celtics yet! This is hardly a blockbuster but it's another deal that makes some sense, in the process giving the Grizzlies a halfway decent backup point guard who can play their ballhawking style and hit a spot-up jumper. That's the single most glaring weakness on the roster heading into the playoff run.
In return, Boston gets the restricted free-agent rights to Young, a hard-nosed wing who has fallen out of favor in Memphis this season, and another year to look at Pargo. The $1 million is to pay Pargo's salary next year. Incidentally, this trade also works with Dante Cunningham, Quincy Pondexter, Marreese Speights or Hamed Haddadi; it's really just a matter of preference between the two sides as to which players they value.
Ilyasova
Redick
Beasley
Orlando is looking for pieces to add around Dwight Howard, rather than trade Howard, and this is one way to do it. The key is whether Milwaukee is ready to say uncle and give up on making the playoffs. If so, using Ilyasova as the lure to dump bad contracts makes a lot of sense.
The key to the deal is Ilyasova, who has been crushing for Milwaukee lately (including 32 against the Bulls on Wednesday, a 29-25 against the Nets and seven double-doubles in his past 10 starts); unfortunately, he also has an expiring contract and may very well return to Europe before next season.
To get his rights, the Magic send a couple of low-level prospects to the Bucks and then Redick and Vazquez to Minnesota. Why Minnesota? Redick gives the Wolves a real NBA shooting guard who can space the floor for Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, and Vazquez might be more tempted to come over from Spain if he can link up with former teammate and fellow Spaniard Rubio.
To get those players, the Wolves give the Bucks a free look at two prospects they won't be inviting back, Beasley and Randolph; additionally, Minnesota takes on the more onerous contract of Udrih from Milwaukee.
Completing the circle, Minnesota sends Barea back to Orlando -- a true pick-and-roll point guard who would be very effective in the Magic's system, and could replace the miserable Chris Duhon.
If Milwaukee was really looking to dump dollars, it could add another component to this trade by sending Drew Gooden to Orlando for Earl Clark; the rest of it would be cap kosher because Ilyasova and Brockman fit into the Brandon Bass trade exception worth $4.2 million.
• When the Memphis Grizzlies were 3-7 and looking at 30 more games without Zach Randolph, it was hard to imagine they'd be the third seed in the West today. Z-Bo is due back any day now, and with Memphis having won nine of 10 heading into Friday's visit to Phoenix, the Griz suddenly find themselves in great shape.
That's where we get to the more impressive part -- not only are the Griz third right now, but we expect them to hang on to that spot. Memphis currently projects to land at 40 wins, two games ahead of the Lakers and Clippers, and that would be more than enough to guarantee the No. 3 position in the conference. What's amazing is that the Playoff Odds have no idea Z-Bo is coming back -- they're rating Memphis based solely on its play in his absence, and it's still impressive enough to snag the third spot.
Catching San Antonio for second remains a tall order -- the Spurs are three games ahead and own the tiebreaker -- but if the Grizzlies can hold down the third slot while missing Randolph for more than half the season, that would be an eye-opening accomplishment. And if Z-Bo comes back as his old self, Memphis is going to be a very popular bracket-buster pick in the playoffs.
• The Bulls and Heat both enter Friday's play outscoring their opponents by more than nine points per game, easily the two highest figures in the league. What's amazing is that each is accomplishing a pretty rare feat; in the past 15 years only one team, the 2007-08 Celtics, has finished a season with an average scoring margin of greater than plus-9.0.
Michael Jordan's Bulls did it four times in the 1990s, but the only other team in the past quarter century to do so is the 1993-94 Sonics ... who amazingly flamed out in five games in the first round of the payoffs against Denver, in arguably the greatest upset in league annals.
But as for two teams doing this? That's happened only twice in history and once since the merger. In 1985-86, both Milwaukee and Boston had scoring margins greater than 9.0. The Celtics went on to win the title, eviscerating the Bucks in four games in the Eastern Conference finals along the way. (Despite its scoring margin, Milwaukee somehow went only 57-25 that season.)
The other occasion also involved Milwaukee, in 1971-72. The Lakers had the top margin of all time at plus-12.28 points per game, and the Bucks were again no match at a mere plus-11.16; they were in the West back then, and lost to the Lakers in six games in the conference finals.
So the Bulls and Heat are on their way to a rare double. And for the third time, it would appear that the two teams posting a plus-9 or better mark in a season will meet in the conference finals rather than the Finals.
• One other interesting note in the West is how vulnerable a few supposedly ironclad playoff teams have looked. The Clippers are 3-6 in their past nine games and 9-9 in their past 18; the Lakers are 14-12 since a strong start to the season and just dropped contests to bottom-feeders Washington and Detroit; and Dallas limped out of the break with six losses in nine games.
While all three are struggling at the moment, the bigger picture suggests that each will probably make the postseason -- all have Playoff Odds well north of 80 percent. Nonetheless, these teams weren't constructed with the idea of merely making the playoffs, and if they get a low seed and are steamrolled in the first round, it will be seen as a failure. The other issue is that the two L.A. teams are particularly vulnerable if an injury strikes a key player, as neither has the depth to survive the loss of a star for any length of time.
We may welcome that, of course, if the result is that the two L.A. teams meet in the first round and Dallas plays San Antonio. But these teams were hoping to be in the title hunt, not in the heap of teams on pace for the mid-to-high 30s in wins. One wonders if the recent struggles of each will increase their urgency at the trade deadline.
• Boston is 5½ games ahead of Milwaukee, is ahead of the Bucks in the Power Rankings, and owns the tiebreak. So it's sealed and delivered then, right? We can safely put the Celtics in the playoffs?
Er, not quite. Boston has played 23 home games against just 15 road games, while the Bucks have played only 18 times at home against 21 on the road. Additionally, Milwaukee has played a much harder schedule thus far, something that's about to change dramatically. In April in particular, the Celtics face off against several elite teams while the Bucks skate through a series of bottom-feeders.
Also, the two teams play each other twice, including the last day of the season; if the Bucks win both, they'll have the lead down to 3½ and will own the tiebreaker.
For all those reasons, we still give the Celtics a reasonable chance of missing the playoffs (75.4 percent they get in, 24.6 percent they don't), and Milwaukee decent odds of making it at 40.2 percent. The standings make the situation look grim for the Bucks, but the schedule is about to turn dramatically in their favor right as Andrew Bogut seems ready to return. Don't write those East playoff teams in ink just yet.
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If the Wizards turned that down
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spurs should make a play for javale mcgee. pretty sure pop could straighten him up, but not sure if they got pieces to move
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^^Boris Diaw for Odom would be the final emotional blow for Odom
Paul Gasol and 3 briefcases of doo-doo to Houston again? Sounds like the Rockets would basically be called the Houston Lakers.
I'm waiting on some changes though.
Paul Gasol and 3 briefcases of doo-doo to Houston again? Sounds like the Rockets would basically be called the Houston Lakers.
I'm waiting on some changes though.
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People acting like they knew James Harden was going to be a sure thing coming out of the draft. At the time, they may have felt a big man with McGee's upside would've been better to keep. I'm thinking this is the deal people are talking about...
BTW...I like that deal for Dooling for the Grizz
BTW...I like that deal for Dooling for the Grizz
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Randy Foye and Mike Miller for that 5th pick. Amazing.
Between that...the aforementioned deal in the 2011 draft...the Arenas deal (which was really Abe's idea)...the Blatche deal...and drafting Jan Vesley (who I like actually but adding a project to that team wasn't the best of moves)...I have no clue how Ernie Grunfeld still has a job.
Between that...the aforementioned deal in the 2011 draft...the Arenas deal (which was really Abe's idea)...the Blatche deal...and drafting Jan Vesley (who I like actually but adding a project to that team wasn't the best of moves)...I have no clue how Ernie Grunfeld still has a job.
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gasol is gone
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proof, source, or ban.
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Woj just tweeted Houston continues to "aggresively probe" (pause) but no deal is close. I hate you.
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Breaking: @ericnus reports that Gasol trade is for Raymond Felton and a second-round pick.
from the lakers' thread
from the lakers' thread
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This has to be a joke.
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mjshoefanatic
Banned
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Ray Allen and Trevor Ariza to the Clippers; Chris Kaman and Eric Bledsoe to Boston; Chris Wilcox, Randy Foye, Ryan Gomes, Chauncey Billups, and Brian Cook to New Orleans
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If the Felton for Gasol trade is true
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The Hornets would continue to turn into a sesspool
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Stoudemire and Toney Douglas for Gasol > Felton for Gasol
