(1) Scola would need to consent to the trade. (2) Toronto would need to negotiate a long-term deal with Scola. (3) The Scola negotiations would need to be completed before Bosh gets impatient and leaves for another team. (4) Due to Base Year Compensation issues, the Rockets could take back only half of Scola's new salary. This will mean that several other players will need to be added (possibly on both sides) for a trade to work under the salary cap. Other than that, it'll be easy!
I know. It's too bad we don't have a brilliant general manager who's capable of pulling off a highly complex trade involving multiple variables. Oh wait....
I didn't imply that it would be hard to FIGURE OUT how to do it. I'm saying that outside factors may make such a deal difficult to pull off. Even if you're a wizard like "you-know-who".
For sign and trades, the skill of the negotiators is a big factor, in addition to the market. Player X can play hardball and say I'm leaving, along with 20 million on the table, because I want to play here and you will get nothing. Here's some sign and trade history that illustrates how differently these things can play out: The Orlando Magic have acquired forward Rashard Lewis from the Seattle SuperSonics in a sign-and-trade deal in exchange for a future conditional second round draft pick, General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Gaining the services of their most talented free agent acquisition since Dikembe Mutombo (’96), the Atlanta Hawks have obtained Joe Johnson from the Phoenix Suns for Boris Diaw and two conditional first round picks, it was announced today by Executive Vice President/General Manager Billy Knight.
"Player X" needs to force the issue in order for any no-brainer type deal to present itself otherwise you're just a name on the caller ID flooding that GM with offers for that particular player. Battier/Jeffries + Hill + the NY pick is borderline highway robbery on our part and will only be a realistic possibility if Bosh does indeed try to play hardball with Colangelo, IMO. As for your examples, nobody in their right mind except Orlando was prepared to give Rashard $110 million except Orlando. In that case, sure...it's better to get something as opposed to nothing. That was an EXTREME example, though. Bosh will be worth every penny he's offered, whereas Orlando was apparently blind to Rashard's limitations as a player. Speaking of being worth every penny, the Joe Johnson example is a more accurate portrayal of how a blockbuster S&T should go down. Young talent (Diaw) + seemingly valuable draft picks. Unfortunately for Phoenix, (and as a Hawks fan I can assure you) they struck out completely on the conditional Hawks pick. It was lottery protected in 2006 (Shelden Williams at 5) and top three protected in 2007 (Al Horford at 3) meaning the best they could do was take Robin Lopez 15th overall in 2008. Normally, that kind of thing doesn't happen and LUCKY for the rest of the NBA it didn't. After all, did you really want to see that 61-win Phoenix team add Horford or only one pick away from moving up to acquire Durant or Oden?
Joe Johnson, I believe, was a restricted FA. As such, PHX had a more leverage than they would have had Johnson been unrestricted. At the same time, Atlanta also had actual cap room ro sign Johnson straight up. So, I don't think the situation offers much guidance as to what can happen for the Rockets offseason.
You might be right. I should know this considering how I only really started following Atlanta once JJ signed there and the subsequent youth movement that ensued thereafter. In any event, in theory Phoenix received relatively good value for JJ in that S&T example and that any package for Bosh should be something along those lines or better. Restricted or unrestricted, that really doesn't matter in our case since we don't have the cap space available to sign him outright. Clearly, a S&T will be necessary and my point is I have hard time picturing Colangelo not trying to saddle us with Calderon's contract and/or asking for more (Brooks?) than Bosh may be worth, all things considered. Definitely an interesting idea, though. Should be an interesting summer.
The Joe Johnson situation was actually a travesty on Atlanta's part at the time, IMHO. Phoenix was cash-strapped (surprise, surprise) and would never have been able to afford to match Atlanta's proposed "front-loaded" offer sheet for JJ. But the Hawks' ownership group was in the middle of a heated power struggle, and decisions were being fought over left and right. Rather than just call Phoenix's bluff and sign JJ to the offer sheet, the Hawks traded Boris Diaw and two first rounders to the Suns in order to pay Johnson MORE money! Sure, JJ turned out to be a great player for the Hawks, but there was no guarantee that he'd be that good at the time. Meanwhile, the Hawks could have been even better with Diaw and those picks in the fold. On a more general note, finding a proper comparison for what the Rockets hope to accomplish this summer in a sign-and-trade for Chris Bosh will be difficult. As far as I can tell, there has never been a sign-and-trade for a major (max or near-max) free agent where an over-the-cap team traded fully guaranteed salaries in exchange for the re-signed free agent. Here's hoping that Morey can pull off the first one!
You bring up a good point in hindsight, however I was speaking more to what I view as an acceptable trade return for JJ than I was about anything Atlanta did on their end. In any event, restricted free agency is quite the risky business for any team attempting to sign a player simply because you don't have the last say over what ultimately happens. My guess is after Atlanta's management was done quarreling, they figured it's best to execute a S&T in a deal that would guarantee JJ's acquisition rather than playing with chance by signing him to the offer sheet and daring Phoenix to match. In all fairness, this was way back before knowledge of Robert Sarver's penny-pinching ways became common knowledge. He could have simply extended JJ mid-season for $50M but instead decided to take his chances during the offseason thinking JJ's value at the time was distorted. If only the Hawks knew of Sarver's ways then. They definitely could have spared Diaw and the Robin Lopez draft pick.
And wasn't the Atlanta GM who opposed that deal forced out by ownership? Didn't it end up going to court?
The Rox aren't screwed at this time. If they sign him to a large (if not max) contract next year, for several years, and then his injuries are as bad or worse than we think they are, then they'll be screwed. If all that happens is that he misses a bunch of 2010-11, no big deal. We'll be better this season than in 2009-10, plus we're in position to maybe trade his expiring contract in February, at the deadline. Even if we just let his deal expire, we can add an MLE FA next season, and we're looking good going forward. Except for Yao, there is no big hurry to win the championship right away.
Not using the MLE this year: we may have to use it, if we trade away someone like Brooks in some other deal. If one upgrade costs us at another position, we might have a hole to fill.
Even though I'd rather see us trade up in the draft, if we don't, I can imagine one scenario in which we should trade down: if it gets to our pick, and DM sees 2 players he likes about the same, it would make sense to move down 2-3 positions. Thus, we can get one of those two players, plus something else, maybe a late 1st-rounder.
i think there needs to be more Wade talk....the guy is in his prime and that team isn't scaring anyone in the near future. I think he realistically may demand a sign and trade after opting out this year. He could leave directly to NY, for example, but that team still wouldnt be complete. I think morey will be offering a package around brooks and ariza, possibly even including Hill or NY's picks, to get Wade.
I forgot about chicago...i guess that could be his first choice, not a bad lineup at all...rose/wade/deng/gibson/noah...but it would depend on how bad Wade wants a ring. That team is solid, but still too young to deal with the top contenders and they'd only be 5 or 6 deep. Their frontcourt is especially young and doesnt have a lot of offense. Can't see them getting by LA. I was thinking morey would offer Martin over brooks, but i'm still not convinced they're not just developing brooks to increase his value and use him as trade bait. As good as he is, i dont think they honestly believe he'll improve much more and his size will be an issue at times. Martin fits the offense much better and he can play off of wade much better than brooks could. lowry/wade/martin/scola/yao ???/taylor/bud/chuck/???? They would just need to make some moves to acquire a back up PG and C
Wade also just filed for full custody of his kids, and they are in Chicago. Supposely the ex wife is being a b to him and won't let him see them. I think once he knows if he'll get full custody, he'll have an easier time deciding what to do. Its sad that his ex is using their children against him.
