The crawler on ESPN said that a deal is in the preliminary stages. We'll see what happens here. I don't think Morey is pursuing Amare anymore (knee, eye, attitude) b/c if he were, there is no way that Phoenix would prefer the pieces that Cleveland will be sending over compared to what the Rockets could send over. Draft night is going to be fun.
talk about too little, too late. ferry's decision to sit on sczerbiak's contract at the deadline this year was one of the more puzzling managerial decisions i've seen in a very long time.
I understand not wanting to add that contract when you're not a contender, but when that window is open you got to jump
i don't know if they necessarily would have won the title, or even gotten past orlando for that matter - we saw in the conf. finals that that team had some other very serious underlying issues. but i just can't comprehend the sense of complacency to sit on that contract merely to avoid paying the tax. it was basically a foregone conclusion throughout the year that they would/and needed to upgrade with one more option, yet they inexplicably deemed it unnecessary. the in defensibility of this decision is compounded in that it was not only the title that was on the line, but much, much more importantly lebron's future and patience with the team. how do you blow that? correct me if i'm wrong, unless there's some financial considerations of existential nature going on there that i'm overlooking, i just can't understand the decision. hell, you might even argue that ultimately losing lebron is worse overall for the franchise than the loss they would have taken on, though i'm not clear on the immediacy of their circumstances so i won't go that far. i even started a "cleveland cavaliers trade deadline thread." if there was some sort of existential financial concern at work there, i could empathize with the decision, but i think i recall danny ferry remark that they were "happy with their team and what wally brought blah blah" (or something of that nature). if that statement was actually indicative of the motivation to not deal, he should have been fired on the spot.
That seems to make sense. Pavlovic's salary is only partially guaranteed for $1.5M, and Wallace has been talking retirement, meaning the Suns could probably talk Big Ben into taking less than the $14M he is owed (let's say, $11M?) to just walk away. While the Suns would basically be getting NOTHING from a basketball standpoint for its aging All-Star center (unless the Cavs throw in some future draft picks, which I would hold out for if I were Steve Kerr), it could save the Suns upwards of $15 million or more. For a team in dire financial straits as the Suns are, this is probably more important for Robert Sarver than getting a near All-Star in return. What will be interesting to see if this trade goes down is how the Cavaliers' center rotation will work. The team will have two massive, plodding centers in Shaq and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, plus they may have Anderson Varajeo back for another year if he doesn't opt out of his deal. Even if Shaq is a one-year rental, I just can't see the Cavs re-signing Varajeo to a long-term deal with so much money already locked up in the center position (Shaq will make $20M and Big Z will make $11.5M). But who knows? Big Z's contract is also up after next year, so the Cavs may be forced to pay up for Varajeo, even with the other big salaries, or risk losing ALL of its centers next summer. The bad news about this deal (if it happens) is that it would likely signal an end to the Amare Stoudemire trade talks. That is, unless Amare makes it apparent as the summer wears on that he has no intention of re-signing with Phoenix.
Weren't the Cavs also interested in signing Rasheed Wallace? He's supposedly one of the best at defending Dwight Howard.
Of course, Wally wouldn't be involved, he's a free agent NOW. The deal at the deadline had him as a major expiring. If Phoenix does let Shaq go, I don't see why either Nash/Amare would want to stay. As they wouldn't be winning with that team as constructed. Wallace, if he plays, would give Amare more room to operate. But Wallace talks about Law School and Retirement, so he might not even play. I think Phoenix should take the route Portland did when they traded away their Jail Blazers roster and started fresh with Roy/LMA.
From Rasheed's ESPN Player Page: Status Alert: The Cavaliers will consider offering Wallace a two-year contract for $10 million per this offseason, according to Slam Online reports. (Jun 9) Kind of unrelated, but kind of not since you can't have both Shaq and Sheed.
I'm thinking it's 2 years for a total of 10 mil, which would be in line of what the MLE would be. Otherwise, it would have to be the mythical S&T option
its really not hard. Shaq and Richardson for Big Z,Wallace, and gipson. They suns get 26m worth of expirings and dump richardson 11m per and Shaq's expiring. Willams,richardson,james and shaq is pretty good.
Didn't want to start a new thread, but it looks like Suns are trying to trade both, Shaq and Amare. http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/59811/20090614/suns_trying_to_deal_shaq_and_amare/
