Mings done, now can we trade #15 to Miami for #10?

Aldridge said the Knicks want to trade down, but I doubt they want to go all they way down to 15.

 

If Butler is available at 10 then the Rockets should defenately try to pull that one off.

 

I'd be shocked if Miami did that with Butler on the board. How could Miami possibly take on any more salary anyway?

I certainly wouldnt trade Butler for KT and the #15 if I were them

 

The last thing I would do now is trade Cato. While he's been a pain, he is a capable back up. I'm 100% Ming but you always want insurance.

Cato gave the team what I expected from him and I think he's mature enough to handle the role. Anyway, I think Cato's value days in a trade will be a year or so down the line as this contract is in the final two years and we need cap room and another team needs to take on salary for two years.

 

We cannot trade Cato because we cannot take the risk. But, next year at this time I could foresee a possible trade. If you think about it, we will have another valuable commodity in Rice because it will be the last year of his contract. WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO A DYNASTY!

 

I don't think there's anyway the Heat make that trade for KT and the 15 and give up Butler.

 

I would love to see Butler fall to #10, but I don't think that would happen.

Houston http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/salaries?team=hou
Cato - 6.7 million
KT - 1.56 million
#15 - ???

So houston has 8.3 million plus the #15's salary

Miami http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/salaries?team=mia
It looks like Miami has 10 contracts that expired? 2 that have team options. They don't really have anyone to trade back. We don't want/need Mourning, Jones, Grant. We would have to take some guys like Chris Gatling (not that bad), Laphonso Ellis, and maybe Jim Jackson?

Ellis - 32 - injury plagued - contract expires 2003 - 3.3 million
Gatling - 34 - Miami has team option for 2003 - 2.8 million
Jackson - 31 - his contract is up, so it would have to be a s/t
#10 - ???

It could work - the contracts will be up after this season and these guys could come off the bench for us. #10 would be nice but I don't know if Miami would go for it.

On a side note:
Someone tell me where our second round pick (#37) is on this page? It says we traded the #34 to Milwaukee? Is this right? Was this for the Collier deal?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nbadraft/tracker/round?round=2

 

Its the #38 that says Miami next to it. That belongs to us. Its really #37 because Minny doesn't have a 1st rounder

 

First, it is very likely that the team goes with Ming Cato and Collier. That kind of size and depth is what you will need as protection against injuries and ammo to beat Shaq. The beautiful thing is that we can afford to do that based on cost and the absence of a fundamental weakness elsewhere, especially if MoT and Rice comes back strong.

One of those insiders had said that KT would not be traded for a reason which they cannot share. My speculation is that he may not be traded during the draft but could be traded in a deal for Lewis. On the other hand, he may be just too good to give up.

At the end of all this I still cannot understand why they would let a 6-11 shooter like Langhi go.

 

Look, I am psyched to get Ming, and I think he will be great, but this year Cato is still the starter on day 1.

If Ming needs an adjustment period (and he will) do you want to have Collier as our starting C?

We keep Cato, he starts, and he hears the giant's footsteps behind him all season.

 

So Miami, who already has one of the best 4/5 combos in the league, is going to trade their #10 pick in a very deep draft...for Kelvin Cato and Kenny Thomas? How does that benefit them again?

And how does it benefit the Rockets to start the season with their only centers being Jason Collier and a player who has never played an NBA game, AND missed training camp?

 

Hey, instead of a deal w/ Miami, would ya'll trade with Indiana, with the players being: Cato, KT and the 15th...maybe even Collier for salary purposes if needed, for a resigned Jeff Foster and Ron Artest?

Croshere may also be substituted for Artest but it would cost more salary from us though. Reason being is I think Foster would come in and perform much better as a backup to Ming. He does the intangibles which is something that Cato lacks big time. With Artest, he is our veteran SF that we want, who is an all around player who put up very nice numbers around the last month of the season.