[ESPN] Heat close to deal with Wolves for Davis, Blount

I don't see how this isn't a win for Minnesota. Miami's going to be mediocre for the forseeable future, so the pick is going to be in the middle of the 1st round. Minnesota gets garbage for garbage, but at least they got younger(Simeon) and worse in the process and add pick that should contribute. Add that to the fact that they play in the western conference, and you got to think they have a good shot at the #1 pick.

Apparently Miami still thinks they're contenders in the East. But even in the JV league, there are still 4 teams with more talent than Miami. Their chances at another run is virtually nil.

 

Well it is sort of hard to forget someone who thinks highly of Antoine Walker as a basketball player.

The only way you could win that argument is if you consider 36% FG as gooooood! ....

Nice attempt to change the subject too....

You would think that for someone who you consider "good", teams wouldn't be so desperate to get rid off....Yes, Walker who 2 days ago you were claiming to be good..2 days later you incurred the wrath of basketball gods who said...

Behold for he shall be treated like a piece of dog meat...

Dallas didn't want him
Celtics were desperate to get rid of him
Heat were begging Minnesota to take him
Minnesota of all teams balking at the idea until the deal was sweetened...

My God dude....

I think its about time I asked... What is your criteria for a "good" player? Seriously, I really do want to know now.

 

Does anyone remember that we wanted Simien in the draft?..

 

Can't fault Minnesota for the deal. Ideally, they'd have been able to use Davis as bait to pawn off Jaric (who is worse than any point-guard on the Rockets' roster, believe me) on some team seduced by his height. The deal as it is simplifies their rotation, clears space for their young bigs and sheds salary-length. And draft-picks are always fun.

Miami still thinks it can make a run. A Davis/Wade back-court can score but is liable to both player's extreme streak shooting -- add Jason Williams to the mix and they'll struggle to put together wins consistently. (There is no reason why Ricky can't be an all-star. He just needs to learn to pace himself on the basketball court). I'm not sure how Blount's jump-shooting helps since they already had bigs who can do what he does.

Miami looks pretty cooked -- unless they sit Shaq the whole season, make the playoffs and unleash him then.

 

When Kevin McHale calls, any GM should run, not walk, to pick up the phone. McHale is Santa Claus.

 

But Doleac and Simien are expiring contracts and Walker's contract is a year shorter than Blount's. Plus, they got a first round pick that'll probably be in the 15-20 range. I really don't understand why this is a bad trade for Minnesota.

They were going to be the worst team in the league regardless. Now they're still the worst team in the league, but they have another future first round pick and they may be a bit more flexible with the cap a bit sooner.

 

My first thought was lose-lose, a trade of problem/flawed players.

In the end it is OK for Miami. Davis does bring them a well rounded athlete with decent efficiency.

Still think they would have been better off with Pietrus or Barnes though. This moves their D+ offseason to maybe a C+.

 

In general good deal for Miami, as they needed perimeter scoring and athleticism and Davis gives them just that.
HOWEVER!
Mark Blount? He's a Center. They trade away three players who can play PF (Walker, Doleac, Simien) and get back a fourth center (Sahq, Zo, Baron, Blount). Now they have nobody, I mean nobody behind Haslem. Will they be playing with two Cs at times? That doesn't work very well with today's rules...

I'm surprised that Riley couldn't prawl Juwon from McHale. He's the guy who gave him that $120M contract in 1996 (crazy money even for today), remember?

 

Is something wrong with Wade?

 

I think it happened like this:

Miami gives their trade offer

Mchale looks at his squad.

Mchale looks at the rest of the Western conference.

McHale: F*#& it! Why not? DEAL

 

He's recovering from shoulder surgery and could be out until December.

 

A. Walker amongst the young players that the Wolves received in the trade with Boston is not a good thing.

McHale needs to move Walker and he will have to add some juice to it. I haven't seen the exact details if it was an all at once trade or many small trades done in series. If it was all at once, then it becomes more problematic to move Walker in the near future in a multi player package from the Wolves side. How many players are on the Wolves payroll? A sharper GM would have involved at least another team in this trade so that the Wolves wouldn't have added so many players.

Then again, R Davis amongst the young players wasn't going to be a very good situation either.

 

Wolves were the ones who dumped salary.

 

I feel the cap aspect and mentioned it.
Walker's got two years before the team can nix him with a team option, but my concern with this is letting Walker into the locker room at all.

Maybe they buy him out. Maybe they trade him elsewhere asap in a 1 for 1. Maybe Ricky Davis demanded a trade behind closed doors and assured them he was going to make trouble come the regular season. I don't know, but I DO know that Antoine Walker is going to be an absolute cancer on this team. He will act out all he can until he gets traded to a contender. He's the absolute last type of guy you want a youth movement team.

Evan

 

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but do you really think he's that much worse than Ricky Davis? I wouldn't want Antoine Walker anywhere near my young team either, but if I had to choose between his influence + 1st round pick or the influence of Ricky Davis, I think I go with Toine + 1st rounder.

 

Wolves trade two horrible overpaid players to the Heat for two horrible overpaid players, a mediocre young big who's battling injuries, and a draft pick. I voted that it's lose-lose, but the Wolves might have come out a little ahead. Both teams should start playing for ping-pong balls now.

 

Timberwolves Roster

They have more than enough people to man the frontcourt without A Walker.
J Howard will accept the playing time and whatever pecking order he is slotted in. Not sure if Walker will be as agreeable.

Let us move on to the next question since we seem to have some agreement about Walker amongst the young players.................

What will it take to move Walker and is there a team that would take him?

 

I think that trading for Antoine Walker is something too stupid even for Isiah Thomas to consider.

A contract buyout would be more likely.

 

Lord have mercy on the Timberwolves team.

Walker and Juwan on the same team. Each with abysmal FG% and both playing in front court. *gasp*

Too bad there's no mathematical law which would let you add their FG% so that the combination of the two would crack the 50% mark.

Someone should just take Walker away from the Wolves and then cut him out of mercy for their fans.

 

If they're both unhappy about being on a non-contending team? Yes, I do consider Walker worse, though not by leaps and bounds. Like I mentioned, I don't know if Davis was making noise to management behind closed doors.

With Ricky, you've got a chance that he'll just enjoy taking all the shots he wants and will dope up enough that he won't get out of hand. With Antoine....he's pouty and whiny even when he's in a good situation and he does nothing but teach guys the wrong way to play.

Walker goes to.....?????

Nets?
Cleveland?
Denver?

Trying to think of non-joke teams that have bad contracts to unload....