Trade Deadline thrills n spills

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Time for the most exciting ten days of speculation and terrible decisions the NBA has to offer!

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:01 (twenty years ago)

Pretty minor trades so far, but looks like the Sonics and Clippers just swapped Radmanovic for Wilcox. Rad seems like a good acquisition for the Clips right now, given that their outside shooting more or less boils down to Sam (usually ice cold, occasionally streaky) and Cuttino (streaky generally) and Brand has been seeing lots of double-and-triple teams.

Wilcox is a good dude off the bench though, he's incredibly inconsistent and foul-prone but he's a total sparkplug guy off the bench.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:05 (twenty years ago)

Meaning he's not a bad acquisition for Seattle- he's certainly tougher than Rad and fills the Danny Fortson role pretty well. Except wait, they still have Fortson don't they? I wouldn't want to see those two checking into the game at the same time. Yikes.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:06 (twenty years ago)

best unsubstantiated rumor of the day is that the knicks want lamar odom, who just seems perfect: underachieving, overpaid, undersized power forward or excessively tall small forward who doesn't use his frame to the fullest, depending on how you look at him

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:07 (twenty years ago)

it's like a match made in heaven

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:08 (twenty years ago)

I can't believe the Lakers would give him up just for Penny's expiring contract, though. That would mean they basically traded Shaq for cap space, Kwame Brown and the right to pay Brian Grant to not play for them. That doesn't look so good.

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 02:59 (twenty years ago)

The trade didn't look good even the day it went down.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 08:28 (twenty years ago)

Steve Francis is being strongly sought by the desperate New York Knicks, who want to pair him in the backcourt with Stephon Marbury in a bid to save their season.

Oh man, imagine a Knicks team with a starting five of Marbury, Francis, Jalen Rose, Lamar Odom and Curry.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 08:38 (twenty years ago)

Looks like the Darko era is about to end in Detroit.... Detroit gets Kelvin Cato's expiring contract plus a draft pick (they're arguing over how much it's protected) for Darko and Carlos Arroyo. On the plus side, this pretty much guarantees that the Pistons will be able to re-sign Ben Wallace and Chauncey, meaning the starting 5 will be together for another 3-4 years.

Arroyo has been inconsistent but I'm not sure if it makes sense to dump him though, given that Lindsey Hunter is about 50 years old.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 15:23 (twenty years ago)

yeah that seems like a pretty crummy deal! it probably makes sense in cap space terms though, and as an admission that darko is either a bust or just isn't ever going to work in detroit. kelvin cato is a little underrated though, he can give good spot minutes and maybe a little mcdyess shine will rub off on him.

the arroyo thing seems like a dump though. he seems to have trouble fitting in anywhere.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 16:52 (twenty years ago)

but frankly if i were joe d, i'd probably keep doing exactly what he's doing: anything it takes to keep the starting 5 together; pick up not-half-bad veterans to fill ten minutes a game, and on the down low look for rookies to develop to the next level. fuck a blockbuster type trade if you're detroit, your blockbuster was signing FLIPMODE

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

So is Darko the worst bust in the history of the draft? I'm trying to think of a #2 pick who has done as little as this guy (I have to assume he's not that good or he'd play at least a little) and who was surrounded by so much talent. At least when Sam Bowie was healthy he could play, ya know?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 17:02 (twenty years ago)

I still feel like Darko can contribute. The players who he is failing to beat out are not exactly chopped liver and he has played halfway decent when he's been on the floor in the last year.

Kwame Brown at #1 over Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Joe Johnson and Richard Jefferson.

Olowokandi #1 over Bibby, Jamison, Carter, JWill, Hughes, Nowitzki, and Bonzi.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 17:39 (twenty years ago)

Olo is the second-worst #1 pick. The worst:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/1877/cards/larue.jpg
Rarely played for the Blazers, and when he scored it was a rare event and we all yelled "TWO FOR LARUE!!!"

Darko worst #2, sure.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

Kwame Brown and Olowokandi are def. busts, but at least they've ya know been out on the floor. I mean Darko justs warms the bench. Even Larue Martin got more playing time!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 20:51 (twenty years ago)

The Wizards and Clippers didn't have Ben Wallace or even Elden Campbell though. They had nothing.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 20:55 (twenty years ago)

MAN I loved the old Blazers font. When they went to all-caps and rotated the logo 45 degrees, a little piece of me died.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

Darko will be fine... He's only 20 and really needs a change of scenery. I can almost guarantee that he'll have a better career than either Kwame or Olowokandi.

That said, I dunno if Cato will even get a Pistons jersey, since I'm pretty sure he's injured. I'm guessing he's just gonna be cap space, nothing more. And, if Darko doesn't stop pouting he really will be a bust.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 21:23 (twenty years ago)

I still have faith Darko can contribute in the right situation, though I'm not sure Orlando is that right situation. I could see him getting a decent shot in Indiana, Minnesota, Washington or even Toronto. Even if he ended up playing horribly for the raps, they could have some sort of bustravaganza with him and Araujo.

Any chance he or Arroyo gets flipped as part of a Stevie Francis trade?

― Jeff Reguilon (Talent Explosion), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

I don't think players can get traded right away under the CBA.... But it's weird because the deal for Francis supposedly included Kelvin Cato going to the Knicks to make the salaries work. I could maybe see a three-way Pistons-Magic-Knicks with Penny Hardaway's expiring contract in play.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 22:39 (twenty years ago)

worst #2, on the left:
http://www.asiansportsnet.com/images/bradley_block.jpg

― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 16 February 2006 06:50 (twenty years ago)

Right now Shawn Bradley has had a more impressive NBA career than Darko, but I will concede that Darko is still young.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:27 (twenty years ago)

Dude, Bradley played 12 seasons! Of course his career will seem "better" than Darko's.

― c(''c) (Leee), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:26 (twenty years ago)

Shawn Bradley put up 12 pts, 8 boards and 3 blocks a game for a portion of his career (and came in and played immediately!) He looked TERRIBLE doing it, but he still did it. If at any point Darko gets on the floor LONG enough to put up those kind of #s 1) he won't be doing it for the Pistons anyway and 2) he'll be able to say "I was only as big a bust as Shawn Bradley who should never have been taken before Penny Hardaway anyway just like I should never have been taken before Anthony, Bosh or Wayne", but currently he's a LOT worse of a pick than Bradley was (and Bradley was a pretty crappy.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:30 (twenty years ago)

Is Darko starting tonight or will the Magic work him in slowly?

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 23:39 (twenty years ago)

He's not starting and hasn't played a minute yet.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Steve Francis is a Knick, confirming that Isiah really is going to go down with the ship. I think the Knick payroll is around $140mil next year, and they seem to have now cornered the market on over-priced guards (Marbury, Francis, Rose, Richardson, Crawford). What a joke!

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Deadspin said the same thing I did, but much more with teh funny:

I’ll say this for Isiah: He has corrected the Knicks long-standing philosophy of stockpiling undersized power forwards. His new vision of stockpoling selfish point guards should be much more effective in crippling the Knicks for years and years to come.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

Haha!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 23 February 2006 00:36 (twenty years ago)

the frarbury backcourt should totally take a wondertwin-powers-activate approach and NEVER infight. they should just make sure they take every single solitary knicks shot. they should accessorize with matching black headbands and wristbands and those weird calf wrap thingies. in other words they should turn into the highest-paid wrestling bad guys duo in history!

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Thursday, 23 February 2006 22:42 (twenty years ago)

larry brown seriously would drop dead by the end of the year if he really appeared to care about this team. i think he must have just gotten bored after winning with detroit and took the knicks job ironically.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Thursday, 23 February 2006 22:43 (twenty years ago)

oh and the trade deadline looks like a total bore so far, whoop de ding, sonics swapped out flip murray to the cavs and scored earl watson and denver landed ruben "kobe stopper" patterson and marc jackson went somewhere and derek anderson makes the heat even older. kinda boring.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Thursday, 23 February 2006 22:45 (twenty years ago)

zeke won me 20 bucks, my friend said 'no way he's stupid enough to add francis' but i knew destiny had something in store. thx ny!

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 23 February 2006 22:47 (twenty years ago)

i think he must have just gotten bored after winning with detroit and took the knicks job ironically.

Or maybe he wanted a huge pile o' cash.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 23 February 2006 23:06 (twenty years ago)

if he really wants the dough he should rip off the suit, leap onto the court in a knicks uni and start hogging the ball! guaranteed max contract from zeke

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Thursday, 23 February 2006 23:18 (twenty years ago)

he did get francis for practically nothing, so it's possible it's not THAT horrible of a move. if i already owned a perfectly good, say, set of tires, but someone offered me a great deal on another, nearly identical set, i'd probably take it. try both of them out, see which i prefer, and then sell the other at a price higher than i paid for the at-the-time superfluous set. whichever one i choose, i'll have made out. assuming that neither of them don't burst into flames and total my car.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 24 February 2006 04:22 (twenty years ago)

aka stockpiling. i don't read italicized stuff.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 24 February 2006 04:24 (twenty years ago)

But ooops, this nearly identical new set will cost you $100mln over the next three years (including luxury tax). You gave up an expiring contract and a young guy. So you're effectively sitting at -$94mln over three years for your backup set of tires.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 24 February 2006 05:15 (twenty years ago)

And I don't think they can deal either Francis or Marbury anytime soon. What GM would be stupid enough to want either at their price? Selfish PGs with a reputation for being clubhouse cancers do not have a lot of demand.

The new SLAM (AI on the cover) ranks the class of '96 and puts Marbury third, just behind Kobe and ahead of Nash and some other real players. Crazy.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 24 February 2006 05:17 (twenty years ago)

you can't really use money as an negative if the team can afford to pay it, and the knicks can afford it. But the team as currently constructed is a disaster. I mean, Nate Robinson, Franchise, Marbury, Crawford, Rose, and QRich are all basically shooting guards (some sway toward PG, some sway toward SF, but none of them can really defend a SF or run an offense).

I wouldn't mind Isiah stockpiling the team with bad contracts if the guys were actually good and filled the holes. That's why I didn't mind the Malik Rose trade so much. Sure, Nazr was a better player, but Malik is a great role player. He winds up being something akin to a relief pitcher who makes 5 million for the Yankees but would make 500k for the Royals. You pay a premium, but the guy still provides a service.

But the guys he keeps getting are not only overrated and overpaid, but they have the same goddamn skill set. And they're ALL signed long-term. I mean, all of them.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 24 February 2006 06:21 (twenty years ago)

I watched a bit of the NY-Miami game the other night, and in a foreshadowing of disasters to come LB had Nate Robinson at the point and Fartbury at shooting guard. Fact of the matter is that both Francis and Stephon need the ball in their hands to be effective, and last time I checked basketball is only played with one ball.

The thing is, it's cool if you have an owner who's willing to spend the GDP of a small country on salary, but you better AT LEAST be able to field a team capable of winning more than 30 games. I can't see how Marbury-Francis-Rose-Frye-Curry is ever getting into the playoffs.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 24 February 2006 16:45 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure the Knicks CAN afford it. Steinbrenner has been a hundred times more successful, has twice as many home games (with triple the number of seats), his own television network - and he's still losing money in New York.

But money is a factor, even if the team can 'afford it' - lengthy, high-dollar contracts can hamstring a team from ever moving forward in terms of the cap and luxury tax or simply having an owner who doesn't give up.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 24 February 2006 17:21 (twenty years ago)

Right, but lengthy, high-dollar contracts aren't so bad if you have a winning team, is my point. If you wind up with a team of like Shaq, Kobe, Marbury, Jalen Rose, and Carlos Boozer, you're probably going to win a ton of games and lose a decent amount of money and flexibility. To me, that's worth it.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 24 February 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

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