i wouldn't trade kt, unless it was for vince. but i don't see that happening... so i hope we don't lose kenny.
You guys keep saying that KT can be used as a backup at 3. I don't see him being a contributor there unless he improves his shooting skill significantly. KT has the speed to slash and the strength to post. But if your opponent doesn't respect your outside shot, you can't successfully slash with any regularity. So, KT is still most effective as a 4, where we have 3 very good players. Trading KT/MoT for a upgraded backup SG/SF swingman makes sense to me. But if we stayed put, I'd be happy too. We are deep enough in every position as of now.
I think KT is much more valuable per $ over the long run than Morris Peterson. KT's 'tweener' size should be looked at as an asset.
1) Chris Jefferies has officially been signed. Count him out of any trades.Press Release Here 2) Do not expect a multiplayer, multiteam deal with guys like Alvin or Jerome Williams. 3) The GSW rumors are just that. Apparently when the Raptors acquired Lamond Murray the phones lit up with questions of MoPete's possible availablity. It's easy to see how someone can turn an inquiring phone call by St Jean into a trade rumor. 4) Grunwald is 99% thrilled to have Vince, MoPete and Murray and his 2/3 rotation. These 3 averagd a combined 55 ppg last year. 5) Yes the Raptors need some depth at PF/C but they are also very high on Michael Bradley. He pretty much abused the rest of our frontcourt players during practice but was buried behind impact players like Antonio Davis and Keon Clark last year -- and rightfully so. There have also been suggestions that maybe the Rox would be getting "less than equal value" in exchange for KT of they do deal with Toronto. Grunwald and Dawson seem pretty tight and there was "talk" that maybe Grunwald was helping the Rockets by not getting Wang from Dallas, thereby moving things forward with Yao Ming and the Rox. Also, you clearly raped us on the Hakeem deal and it's possible that Dawson may "make good" by letting go of an un-needed KT for less than equal value. That said - I can't really see a deal happening between the 2 teams atleast until training camp is up and both teams can better assess their rosters. A lot of people think Toronto's frontcourt is weak. Well - it's not deep, that's for sure - but it's comparable with anything in the East and Jelani McCoy is attending training camp and may be added as a reserve C (just as good as Montross or Yogi). Huffman is apparently bigger and better than Rebraca who had a nice season last year in Detroit. Jerome Williams is also much bigger than the 206 he's listed at from his rookie year. He's in the 225-230 range now while Davis is likely 240-245. I can see the minutes breaking down like this: C: Antonio (22), Huffman (16), McCoy/N'Diaye/Montross (10) PF: JYD (20), Antonio (15), Bradley (15) SF: MoPete (16), Murray (20), JYD (6), Jefferies (6) SG: Carter (38), MoPete (6), Jefferies/Alvin (4) PG: Alvin (30), Hunter (16), Jackson (2) Those rotations and/or minutes will obviously fluctuate depending on the health of guys like Montross, Jefferies, Carter and Alvin. Lamond Murray easily replaces the scoring lost in Keon Clark while Huffman can likely replace Hakeem's paltry 7/6 contribution. It's not as bad as people are making it sound. The team has solved it's scoring depth problem and should have 5 guys averaging double figures (Carter, MoPete, Antonio, Murray, Alvin) with other guys pushing 8+ points as well (Jerome, Bradley, Huffman, Hunter, Jefferies). There's a decent balance of scoring and defence - and the lack of size/depth in the frontcourt is not out of whack for the current Eastern Conference. I don't think Kenny Thomas would help that much - to be honest - especially not at the expense of MoPete. Don't anyone hold their breath.
