(DEEP BREATH FOR AIR)
Okay.
Gah, where to start. Uh…
(SLAMS COFFEE)
(SLAMS REDBULL)
Okay.
Uh…CLEVELAND!
TRADE BREAKDOWNS AFTER THE JUMP.
TRADE ALPHA:
CLEVELAND GETS: ANTAWN JAMISON, LEBRON JAMES, ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS IN ABOUT 30 DAYS
WASHINGTON GETS: AL THORNTON, CLEVELAND’S FIRST ROUNDER, CAP-SPACE TO DO NOTHING WITH THIS SUMMER
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS GET: SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, DREW GOODEN FOR ABOUT 30 DAYS, CAP SPACE TO THINK THEY WILL DO SOMETHING WITH THIS SUMMER WHEN IN ACTUALITY THEY WILL DO POSITIVELY NOTHING WITH.
You can catch my thoughts for Cleveland at FanHouse, but here’s the gist: CLEVELAND FTW. I’ve been saying this for a while. And while I totally get that getting Amar’e had the most potential for the franchise, I look at it this way. The Suns have had ample opportunity to take advantage of trading Amar’e. They were given a good offer. The deal was on the table. And they waffled. The Suns wobble-wobble on moves like this and pull the trigger immediately on ditching picks for cash, when they should do the opposite. And the Cavs had to ask themselves, “Are the Suns going to get themselves together before 3PM tomorrow or the Wizards pull Jamison off the table, or before someone else comes in and crashes the party and grabs Jamison?” And the answer was probably not. The Suns felt they were in the bargaining chair. They put Amar’e out on the block, have undermined his position with the team for two seasons, and then when people said “Well, if he’s available, yeah we can talk…” the Suns jumped up from the table, stormed out of the room saying “You want him, so OBVIOUSLY he’s worth way more than what you’re offering!” even though the only reason teams were talking to them is because they lowered his value. If I’m Danny Ferry I’m looking at the Suns and saying, “No way these geniuses figure out what they want in 24 hours. Pull the trigger, let’s get Jamison and call it a day.” And that looks to me like what they did. They got the guy they knew they could get, for less. No Hickson gone, Z’s probably back in 30 days, and the pick was useless anyway. Meanwhile, the Cavs now have Lebon James and Antawn Jamison running the pick and roll with Shaq cleaning up the mess. We’re talking a devastating combo, and now all of a sudden the Cavs have someone they can throw out at Orlando and say “spread this.” Lakers fans aren’t scared of this move, because, well, in 05 and06 they weren’t scared of anyone else, either. But this does drive another splinter in the wooden oracle the Lakers have erected around themselves. Kobe’s hurt. He gets a pass. But the rest of that team better recognize they can no longer just out-talent their way to a title.
For the Wizards? Good for them. Two years ago, I posited the following in a piece about rebuilding. You MUST ditch your biggest contracts, filled by your best players, to truly rebuild. You can’t really rebuild around a component that was central to your failure, even if it was by no means his fault. The examples are everywhere. Orlando ditches Tracy McGrady. The Grizzlies dump Pau. It goes on. The Wizards had an even bigger hill to climb, with three players that were essential to that failed model. Now they’ve released two of them into the wild, and gotten back, essentially, to zero, so to speak. If they can void Arenas, they’ll be a long way to complete zero, and from there they can start over. Next year will be rough, as will the end of this season (BIG WIN LAST NIGHT), but in the midst of it, they’ll find some things to build around, potentially land a game-changing draft pick (Evan Turner?), and there will be brighter days ahead. The key is to be willing to flood the chamber when it’s clear the experiment is over. Otherwise you’re just throwing together elements that have never been proven to work, hoping they’ll magically come together. The Arenas disaster was the impetus they needed to scrap the plans and go back to the drawing board. That takes guts, and it’s the right move.
Clippers. Everyone’s all “oooh, ahh!” today for the Clips who are now FREE AGENCY PLAYERS IN THE SUMMER OF 2010! AND IN LA! EVERYONE WANTS TO PLAY IN LA! WOO! Stop.
People want to play for the Lakers. The-uh-lay-kurs. They want to play for the team with the cool jerseys, with all the banners, with Kobe, with the fame. They don’t want to play for the other team. It would be like a stage star going to Hollywood to be in a B-Side Cinemax flick just to be in the movies. That ownership group is a cancer, and it rots that franchise’s capabilities to the core. Meanwhile, Mike Dunleavy is still pulling strings, there, people. Certain people are going to talk about LeBron going to LA, but why, in the name of all that is Holy, would LeBron want to share a town with Kobe, that Kobe already owns? Why would he want to compete with the LAKERS dynasty, tradition, and ownership? He can build his empire in any city in America, so why would he set up a parlor in Kobe’s city? It’s ridiculous. Congrats, Clippers. You’ve put yourselves in position to sign Tracy McGrady or Carlos Boozer. Get excited.
TRADE BETA:
SACRAMENTO GETS: TRACY MCGRADY’S MOVABLE PARTS, JOEY DORSEY, CARL LANDRY
HOUSTON GETS: KEVIN MARTIN, KENNY THOMAS (WOOF), RODRIGUEZ
First, go read the carnage at Sactown Royalty. Here’s the gist of what Kings fans think (commenters, not Tom): OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING, WE HAVE LOST THE SAVIOR! CARL LANDRY?! WHO IS CARL LANDRY?! CARL LANDRY SUCKS! OH, WOE! WOE IS US! NOT KEVIN!
Now, go read Cowbell Kingdom. Kevin Martin was not the savior for this team. He wasn’t. He was a good-to-great player, that got them a lot of points during a time when they lost a ton of games. An absurd number of games. And if the reports are true, he was having trouble adapting to deferring to Evans. EVEN THOUGH EVANS IS BETTER. That’s key here, hence the caps. Evans is a better player, right now, than Kevin martin, even with Martin’s scoring ability. Because Evans’ impact is felt not only in points, and in assists, and in rebounds, and in steals, and in defense, but in the overall flow of the offense. Evans makes things happen. He’s a game-changer. Martin? He’s a shooter. A scorer. A nice little gunner that’s going to add a lot to Houston, because that’s what they need. But he’s not the savior. Evans is the savior. And if Martin had even an itch of uncomfortableness about that being the case? Gotta go. I expect Petrie to turn this into either a deal with Chicago or New York by the end of the day that will get them more cap space and more assets. And in the meantime? They’re going to be running the pick and roll with Evans and Landry. Ye Gods. Landry will be a revelation for Kings fans, who are going to learn it’s nice to have a guy who, you know, stays on the floor and will kill anyone that gets in his way. Landry’s a machine/dog/beast. A Robo-dogbeast, if you will.
The Kings turned lemons into peaches, and may end up with wine by the end of the day.
For Houston? Whoo. I hate giving up Landry. That’s just a huge low-scoring component. Morey must have had a long-long talk with Yao’s doctor’s before this one. Because if Ming doesn’t come back at 70%, they’ve got almost no low-scoring option. However, simply looking at the facts, a Brooks-Martin-Ariza 1-2-3 combo is devastating. You know all that talk I’ve put out there about how you need players who can volume-shoot and turn bad possessions into good ones? Martin is perfect for that role, and that means Ariza can go back to taking a more measured role in the offense. Throw in Scola and Hayes’ defense, along with the rest of the youth movement, and the Rockets are still loaded and that’s before they get Ming back. This was a huge gamble for Morey, but it’s hard to say he’s been wrong before. He did trade a guy who came back from getting shot and losing his teeth in Dirk’s arm for a guy who seems to need bandaids for the wind, though.
TRADE OMEGA:
NEW YORK GETS: BRIAN CARDINAL
MINNESOTA GETS: DARKO MILICIC
Oh, Kahn. Halfway there, buddy. Joe Alexander’s on the market! Do it! Do it!
