Another 3 team trade proposal: Don't read if you don't like trades

Just kidding. Here goes:

Houston sends Cato/Moochie to NY.
Houston sends Taylor/Mobley to Minnesota.

NY sends Thomas/Sprewell/Ward to Houston.
NY sends Knight/rights to Sweetney to Minnesota.

Minnesota sends Szcerzbiak/Brandon/rights to Ndudi Ebi to NY.

NY gets a legitimate starting center in Cato, a starting SF in Szcerzbiak (He's been wanting to go there for some time), Brandon (He's reportedly going to retire), whose retirement will give them some significant ($11.1 mill) cap relief, a HS phenom that could help them in the future, & a backup PG that comes cheaper than their other PG's. With McDyess, Sweetney, Thomas, Lampe, Othella, & Weatherspoon, NY is overloaded at PF. Somebody has to go.

Minnesota gets a starting PF in Taylor or Sweetney, with the other one providing good depth. They get a SG in Mobley, whom they can rotate with Cassell, Hudson, & Strickland (if they resign him), which gives them a lethal guard combination, & they get Knight's expiring $4.4 million contract. This trade eliminates NY as a bidder for Nesterovic's services, gets Brandon's salary off the books, while netting them some replacement talent that can help them now. They can then move Garnett to SF & have a much improved team with depth at every position.

Houston gets a legitimate starting PF in KT (talk about the irony ) while moving Taylor's contract, a solid starting & defensive minded SG in Sprewell, & a very good/tough backup PG in Ward. Ward's contract expires after this upcoming year & both Sprewell(player option after this upcoming year)/Thomas's(team option after this upcoming year) contracts expire in 2 years. Thus, making us a serious contender in the 05/06 FA market. I know that Spree's been a headcase, but he plays tough & I believe that some of his actions show a strong desire to win & a lot of frustration with those that don't play with the same intensity. However, that's just my opinion.

So, our new lineup would be:

C: Ming/FA(Elden Campbell, Drobnjak, Zo, Stepania)/Collier?
PF: Thomas/Griffin
SF: Posey/Nachbar/Rice
SG: Sprewell/Piatkowski and/or Barry/Hawkins
PG: Francis/Ward

Or, we could try a more simple trade like this:

Houston sends Cato/Moochie to NY.

NY sends Thomas/Knight to Houston.

 

Brian Grant for Terrell Brandon would shock the world. That trade would give Minnesota a legitimate starting PF & Brandon's pending retirement would give Miami even more cap space to pursue FA's. Hmmmm.....

 

Perhaps he was hinting that Juwan Howard is going to sign with them. Here's an article that lends validity to that line of thinking.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/511/3971189.html

Dan Barreiro: Wolves, Howard would make a nice fit
Dan Barreiro, Star Tribune

Published July 4, 2003 DANB04

Like a late-arriving tornado, Sam Cassell eventually hit town Wednesday, and quickly bent a few trees.

In the space of about 45 minutes, he pontificated, flexed, lobbied, analyzed and cajoled.

He expected to start. He expected the structured Wolves to let Sammy be Sammy. He not only wants to please Kevin Garnett by getting him the ball, he wants to challenge him.

He believes the Wolves could use an athletic shooting guard or swingman, not exactly news in these parts, but hardly a ringing endorsement of Wally Szczerbiak.

And he apparently believes it would be nice to have Juwan Howard as a new teammate. Before blowing back out of town, Cassell placed at least one recruiting call to Howard, the free agent power forward, saying Howard's future should be in the Upper Midwest.

Wolves fans soon might have to become reacquainted with one of the least flashy, but most dependable, members of the University of Michigan's Fab Five. The Wolves are seriously wooing Howard, who is listening intently. Three other teams -- the Lakers, Magic and Pistons -- reportedly are also in the mix.

Howard's wife is from Florida. The Pistons play in Michigan, where Howard played in college. The Lakers are, of course, the Lakers.

Though the Wolves do not have any of those obvious advantages, they also reportedly are very much in the mix, and might even have the inside track. Sources say Howard is still very interested in Minnesota, and not just because Cassell is working the phones.

Howard is intrigued by the possibility of playing alongside Garnett. That means every night, Howard could enjoy the luxury of being guarded by the other team's second-best defender.

Last season, as a member of the woeful Denver Nuggets, Howard averaged 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. Go to any of several hundred Web sites devoted to NBA gossip, and Howard's name is often viewed as on of the most attractive. ESPN's Web site refers to him as "one of the most coveted free-agent bargains of 2003."

This is amazing stuff for a fellow who through most of his career has been known as one of the league's biggest busts.

It's all about perception.

As long as Howard was making the kind of contract the Wizards gave him seven years ago -- $105 million over seven years -- he was always going to be classified as vastly overrated. He was getting star money, yet most assuredly was not a star.

Yet, with a contract with the Wolves that would start at less than $5 million a season, the very same player suddenly is viewed as an overachiever and a bargain.

That's why this dramatic cut in pay could be the best thing that ever happened to him. It could allow Howard to transform his image, and more importantly allow him to be what he probably was all along on a good team: An unusually skilled, top-drawer role player.

Any team that tries to make him a first or second option is going to be sorely disappointed. Howard is not dazzling nor particularly athletic, yet the Wolves are convinced that within a team concept in which the burden is not on him, his fundamentally sound game could flourish.

He is only 30 years old. Unlike Joe Smith, he is durable, having missed only seven games over the past four seasons. Most experts would classify Smith as a better defender, though the Wolves believe Howard to be the superior rebounder who could take some of the heat off Garnett in that area.

The Wolves also believe Howard could force opponents to pay if they devote too much attention to Garnett. Howard has a good shooting touch, can score with his back to the basket, and is known as a solid, no-nonsense team player who will not chafe in a complementary role.

That hardly befits a player who averaged $15 million a season in his last contract.

Howard is the perfect example of a how a player can hit the jackpot in a lucrative NBA market, yet take a pounding as a result. During the 1994 draft, Howard was taken with the fifth pick in round one. (The Wolves selected Donyell Marshall just ahead of Howard.)

A couple years later, after exercising an escape clause in his contract, Howard was the object of an escalating bidding war between the Wizards and Heat. After the Heat deal was ruled illegal by the league, Howard ended up with a seven-year deal for $105 million.

At the time, it was the kind of signing that suggested Howard was a savior. He wasn't, as Wizards fans reminded him through most of seven seasons. He was then traded to the Mavericks, who then dealt him to the Nuggets. By then, his value was in the high salary cap number his contract represented.

What the Wolves now hope is that if they can sign him to a much more reasonable deal, Howard can be viewed once again as a player, not a commodity.

 

Who do you want?