KG scrawny? Ropey muscles. The Kid is a man. (I'd take his scrawny arse on the Rox in a nooyawkminute!).
Eh? He "won" with Houston as a backup, I guess... Mil had 1 good playoff run. Other than that, how is he a winner? Maybe coaches don't like him because he has to have the ball in his hands at all times, and refuses to play defense. Moreover, he's complained about his contract for the last 3-4 years. Cassell is a whiner, who isn't worth the headache.
I thought Michael Redd was their future 2 guard. I really don't see Payton sticking with the Bucks. I think he'll bail on them.
How is this deal so good for Minnesota, because Sam Cassell played for Houston. He's an older Troy Hudson and Ervin No Magic let alone Skills Johnson has managed to have a worse career than Joe Smith. Now that's impressive.
Ervin is a decent backup and Cassell is a playmaker. Losing Joe Smith and Peeler is no significant loss to the Wolves. The Bucks lose Cassell and Ervin and should be officially declared as a rebuilding team.
Joe Smith>Ervin Johnson The T'Wolves now have two of the biggest ballhogs in the NBA in Wally and Sammy.
Payton will be the starting PG. Ford will be his backup. At the two, they have Desmond Mason. Tim Thomas can play the 2 or the 3. Kukoc can play 3. It is their power positions that are weak.
It's a good deal for both teams. Cassell is not an older Troy Hudson. Hudson is a younger Vinne Johnson. They both like to shoot, but aside from that Cassell and Hudson are different players. Cassell is a truer point than Hudson. Hudson is really a SG in a PG's body. He did a great job last year filling the role, but they did have Rod Strickland there to be more of a true ball distributor. Hudson is an explosive, in-your-face player who will jack up shots indiscriminately. Cassell has always been smooth... just look at the way he moves... kills you with the mid-range game usually in the flow of the offense. Cassell also instantly becomes the 3rd best post up player the Wolves have (behind KG and Gary Trent). Hudson has no post up skills whatsoever. Cassell has a scorer's mentality, but he will get plenty of assists passing to Wally and KG. Ervin is crap, no doubt. But the Wolves gave up their best backcourt defender in Peeler. I can see how the deal works for both teams. It's not always directly about the players involved... it's often times about how moving players indirectly affects the rest of the team. Addition by subtraction. pgabriel is right - they don't need Cassell. If the Bucks don't move some of their SG/SFs for front court help during the summer, then I'll question the trade. Not now. Looks good to me.
I don't remember AP passing up a shot either and he isn't the player Cassell is. Hudson isn't the player Cassell is either--it has just been masked because KG and to some degree Wally are what the opponents have to worry about. Minnesota needs more potent scores, they got one big time in Cassell, who also happens to be a good playmaker. Very smart move for them. W/O Smith it becomes more imperative the Wolves resign Rasha though. On other matters.... I would have thought Miwl could do better, but maybe Joe Smith, as mediocre as he is, is substantially better than any 4 they have. Right now there is zero room for PT for AP--with GP maybe playing some off guard with TJ there, and Redd, Mason, Thomas and Kukoc all competing for 2 and 3 minutes. Seems to me the Bucks really should try to move some of the plethoria of quality swingmen (Thomas or Mason more likely, Redd is a BYC player and too hard to trade) for a C (Cato? ).
Personally, i don't think Payton will resign. Why play for a team like the bucks who have no froontcourt players worth a damn and management who don't know what they're doing. If I'm Payton, i would rather play for at home for the Warriors as opposed to playing for a bucks team. At least Warriors have Jamison, a double-doble player in Murphy and some other players. If I'm GS, I would do what it took to get Payton home instead of waiting to see what Arenas wants to do. One thing they do have is tradeable assets.
The Milwaukee Bucks are hoping that Tim Thomas will have an offensive explosion. With Desmond Mason and Michael Redd (3-pt specialist extraordinaire) at the 2, they will have plenty of shots going up. What they need was a true PG, hence TJ Ford, even with his shooting problems, and a PG who, if called upon to be the man, will rise to the occasion (GP). If they don't keep GP, they're probably going to try to get another source of offense from someone; getting rid of Ervin Johnson was a stellar move. For Minnesota, they picked up a stiff to backup Rasho Nesterovic, if he stays; if he doesn't, that's a horrible pickup at the 5. But Sam Cassell, with all the complaints about him, is a playmaker. He can be the go-to scorer behind KG, maybe even Troy Hudson. Plus, he's smarter than Hudson, who seemed to believe that he should jack up Minnesota's last second playoff shots instead of their marquee player, KG. A good trade for both parties.
Is it just me... I want the Rockets to enter into a trade so I can feel better about the lull in the action right now. I don't care who the players are, I just want some ACTION. It's killing me right now. I am also jealous of Minn and Milw fans since they at least have something to talk about this Summer...
When you "break up" a group, don't you usually keep part of the group? Milwaukee just flushed them all away.
Minn got the better of the trade. 1. Cassell - player with best value. He is simply an offensive threat. 2. E. Johnson. - decent defender, expecially against slow lumbering centers in the West. Prone to foul trouble. Will, benifit actually by playing in the West 1. J. Smith - this guy is overrated, but is a big man who can defended and move his feet. He will help the Bucks 2. Peeler - hustle player but not much more. Suprise move by Bucks but I guess they will do anything to keep Payton. But, I wonder where their offense is going to come from.
Michael Redd, TJ Ford, Desmond Mason, Gary Payton, Tim Thomas, Toni Kukoc, Anthony Mason. Aside from Payton, Desmond Mason, and maybe Anthony Mason, all those guys would probably be considered "plus" offensive players, and liabilities on defense.
I think it's a good deal for Minnesota, but people are being too harsh on the Bucks. This is a team that's going nowhere. Looks like they just wanted to make more room for Ford. You don't know what the market was for Cassell. After all, he's old anyway. Joe Smith could start for the Rockets, so I wouldn't be railing too much on that pickup. He could be pretty good in the East, especially if Ford plays big minutes his first year.
All the words out of Payton's mouth is he wants to compete for a ring. The Bucks, a ec finalist 3yrs ago, has gotten rid of every majore player from that team. They messed up by trading Robinson 1st, they did themselves another favor by dumping Allen, not they drop the tri fecta by dumping Cassell and will lose Payton. Karl and company is still trying to justify giving Tim Thomas nearly max money and he hasn't come close to getting where he needs to be. Yes they have nice players like Redd,Mason and Thomas, but that team is going no where fast. Payton, i believe will leave and go to either Indy, or even sign for less to go to La or GS. They may think they're clearing room for Payton, but I don't think he'll even look at that team with the rebuilding they have going on. Payton, like DD have said is outta there!
