Since we're so close to the Luxury Tax threshhold, a trade appears to be the only way to improve the team. CD stated that we're set at the PF position. As a fan, I disagree. We also need to get rid of Moochie, add more defense to the team, & bring in some players that can score when called upon, but not have to have the ball in their hands to be effective. It would also be nice if we could reduce next year's team salary as well. So, here goes. Houston sends Cato/Griffin to Memphis. Houston sends Mobley/Moochie/the Chicago Drew obligation(#1 pick or 2 second round picks) to Atlanta. Memphis sends Battier/Knight to Houston. Memphis sends Swift to Atlanta. Atlanta sends Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Houston. Atlanta sends a future #1 draft pick to Memphis. Memphis gets a defensive, starting center in Cato, a young player in Griffin with a huge upside, great athleticism, & the versatility to play the 3/4/5, & a future #1 pick from Atlanta. Atlanta gets to move SAR, whom they've been trying to get off their books, for an up & coming young PF in Swift & a solid young veteran SG in Mobley. Pairing Mobley with a resigned Terry will give them a very good guard tandem to go along with Swift, Robinson, & T-Ratliff. If nothing else, they'll be an offensive juggernaut. Ratliff & Swift will give them some solid defense on the front line. They also pick up what amounts to 2 very high second round picks from Chicago. Houston gets 3 young players that I believe will fill need positions, provide some quality depth at PG(Knight), reduce next year's team salary by ~$2.5 million, & give us a player that doesn't have to have the ball in his hands to be effective(Battier). We could then plug SAR into the starting PF spot & after we resign Posey, we put Posey/Battier into the SG/SF spots. Posey/Battier have both shown the ability to light it up when called upon, but don't have to have the ball in their hands to be effective. We then sign a veteran, like Elden Campbell, to play the 17+mpg that Cato played as the backup center & offer a one year minimum contract to one of the veteran SG's that are still available. Thus, our new lineup would be: C: Yao/Campbell/Collier? PF: SAR/Taylor SF: Battier/Nachbar/Rice SG: Posey/FA/Hawkins PG: Francis/Knight I like it. Do you?
i like the trade with atlanta but griffin and cato are a lot more valuable than battier and brevin in return. the only potential trade i see happening is with miami for brian grant.
It takes all the players involved to make the trade work. Everyone has to get something out of the deal.
So Atlanta is going to add on Moochie's horrible contract when they are in ownership flux? And why add Mobley - a SG - when they want to play Terry at his natural position? They just drafted Diaw to play the point... Nothing is going to happen involving Atlanta until the transfer of ownership and financial picture is completed and cleared, respectively, so any trade speculation isn't worthwhile at this point.
Diaw is not a natural point, and he's a rookie. Aside from this, he's from Europe. Do you seriously think he'll be the starting point guard this season? Aside from this, nothing is concrete with Terry. He may be on his way out. ASIDE from that, a Terry/Moblye backcourt backed up by Diaw and Moochie would be pretty solid. Besides, they're trying to dump SAR's contract, and getting Mobley in return would be great for them. They may ven ship Terry off for Arenas, Andre Miller, or some disgruntled PG somewhere. I think it's a great trade. However, can we really keep 2 MAX contracts, as well as an impending MAX contract (Yao)? We would still have MoT's contracts on the books. Now that I think about it, I think SAR's contract expires the season before Yao's new contract would kick in right? I'm more open to acquiring Reef now that Van Gundy is our coach simply because Van Gundy forces defense. I was worried that SAR's poor defense would be magnified with Rudy's style of coaching. How about a follow up Mo Taylor and future pick for Jason Caffey and Desmond Mason trade?
They would also be breaking up SAR's large contract into 3 smaller ones & acquiring 2 starters & a backup PG. I never said it would happen now. Besides, the ownership issue is real close to being settled. http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/0703/18mcdavid.html McDavid, AOL closing in on deal AOL Time Warner and Texas businessman David McDavid continued Thursday to negotiate the final points of his long-pursued purchase of the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena operating rights. "We are continuing our conversations, making progress and feel confident a deal will be reached," Greg Hughes, a Turner Broadcasting spokesman, said Thursday. Turner Broadcasting is the AOL Time Warner division that includes the teams. McDavid, who signed a letter of intent on April 30 to buy the teams, and his negotiators have been meeting with AOL officials at CNN Center the past two days. A deal between AOL and McDavid wouldn't be the last step in the process, with approval by the NBA and NHL still required before the transaction's closing. However, both sides expect McDavid would begin to have input into Hawks and Thrashers decisions once he has a full agreement with AOL. Uhhh, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Diaw a 6'8" SG/SF? In fact, hasn't he been playing the SF position for Atlanta, during the summer league games? His BIO indicates that his game is more of a cross between Posey & Odom. So, if he's going to play a point forward type of role, wouldn't adding Mobley with Terry make them a much more lethal combination with dual SG's? Just because trade speculation's not worthwhile to you, doesn't mean it's not worthwhile to someone else. As the article above indicates, the deal is real close to being done. But hey, what do I know? I'm just bored with the inactivity of the team, the lack of insider information, & I believe that the team as it's currently made up will just barely squeak into the playoffs. JVG's not enough to get me real excited.
I like this alot for Houston. Memphis gets screwed on the cap. They need to dump Lo Wright or Jdub b4 they take on the Cato.
Hottoddie - articles such as the one you posted have been circulating for weeks. The ownership group in Atlanta isn't likely to make any major moves anyway. And in all major sports - yet alone the NBA - you never trade one bad contract for three smaller yet equally lengthy contract. Why? Because, in general, you are trading a really good player for three much lesser players. Atlanta traded for SAR to rebuild around him, not deal him. If they deal anyone, it's much more likely to be Glenn Robinson or Alan Henderson (who I believe they picked up the option year on). They drafted Diaw to play the point, and he's done a lot of that in the summer league (along with Dickau). They desire to play Terry at SG, and to do that requires a big point guard - thus, Diaw. Another shoot-first player is not what they need (or want), not with Robinson and Terry around.
Awesome trade! For Houston...it's very nice. For Atlanta...it's very very very nice. For Memphis...it's just FINE (instead of OK). They give up Swift and Battier and Knight...and all they get is Cato and Griffin...plus a #1 pick. Would they really do that? But man! Our team would be great. Grizzlies won't be getting Kobe...does anyone know David McDavid? Offer this to him now! C: Yao 36/Campbell 12 (would be great mentor if he doesn't mind not playing much)/NO THANKS to Collier PF: SAR 36/Taylor 12 (he won't be very happy) SF: Battier 24/Posey 12/Nachbar 12/Rice 0 SG: Posey 24/Francis 12/Battier 12/Hawkins 0 PG: Francis 30/Knight 18/Moochie 0 With this lineup.....we would seriously be very close to luxury tax or maybe over. But the good thing is Brevin Knight and Glen Rice's contracts expire after the season is over. Maybe then we could find a way to trade Maurice Taylor and Moochie somehow for someone less talented and whose contract expires after the season. He won't like playing behind SAR for 12 minutes. This is a great lineup because we have Yao...the true, tall center. We have SAR...who will play defense and can rebound and also score. We have Battier...who is a good defender and a good post player who can also make 3's. Posey is our slasher and dunker and hustle player along with Battier. Posey and Battier would be awesome together...Francis would be our point guard and All Star!
The article I posted was dated yesterday. As for Diaw playing the point, he must be playing the point forward position, because in all 4 box scores he's listed as the SF. Dickau,Smith, Adams, & Hansen have been starting & playing the majority of the minutes at the guard positions. See for yourself. http://www.nba.com/hawks/news/Hawks_at_2003_Reebok_Pro_Summe-80034-33.html
Keep them coming, Hottoddie. I think the idea is very intriguing and the Rocks need to make a move, imo. JVG doesn't have me jumping up and down in an excited lather either. I'm waiting to see how the team plays under him when it counts. I'm pondering and I enjoy your efforts, unlike some of the lame ideas that seem to come here from message boards which will remain nameless. (just got back from vacation and your thread was one of the first I checked)
Thanks for the kind words Deckard. I'll keep plodding along, in spite of those that keep complaining about having to read trade threads, but keep reading them anyway. Talk about insanity. I think the trade would give us a nice starting 5, with all but Yao & Battier being seasoned young veterans. However, both Yao & Battier carry themselves in a very mature & confident manner, so they should blend in nicely. If we're able to sign Piatkowski or Voshon Lenard as the backup SG & Campbell as the backup center, we'd have a nice second team core of veteran players as well. In the end, nothing may happen at all. However, I believe that Rudy was/is a very good coach, so I have a hard time believing that just getting a new coach is going to suddenly & miraculously turn a team around that has floundered for the last 4 years. As the team stands now, they have enough talent to squeak into the playoffs, but they've had the majority of that same talent for the last 4 years & have missed the playoffs each of those 4 years.
Hottoddie - I saw the article. Not to sound harsh or anything, because I don't intend it, but it's been held up in the Atlanta press with similar articles for awhile now. It's just more of a cautionary "I'll believe it when I see it" type of deal. As for Diaw - it was my understanding they were going to play him at PG to be able to move Terry to shooting guard. Looks like I might've been a bit off there, opting instead for more of a point forward role. Same effect, just different position nomenclature. He's filled the boxscores (of the games I've seen them for...which, admittedly, isn't many) with assists, points, and rebounds, so I think he'll be able to handle that role. I'm just not sure why they'd trade SAR. He's not their worst contract - Puppy Dog is - and he's one of the more underrated players in the game. They already have enough scorers, so I'm not sure why they'd trade for Mobley and then add on Moochie's bad contract. I must say, though, that a lot more thought goes into your trades than all of the others on the board. Despite the fact I don't think any of them will get done )), there's at least a good deal of thought put into them, so I must commend you for that. Beats having to read the other trade threads on the board.
mfclark, aren't you really a Magic fan??? Why do you continue with your misleading posts here? Don't you need to rally some support for your own hero " Darrell Armstrong" on you own board.... damn trolls
drpepper: with all due respect, mfclark is honest about his fealties and provides lucid commentary. Let's trash the obnoxious trolls, not the reasoned posters. Hottoddie, your trade proposals are always plausible and thought-provoking. I am wondering about the feasibility of some form of a Cato for LaFrenz swap.
At least Hottoddie trades are realistic they are not the trades where we trade sub-par players and get back a star for each player we trade. I do not know how he has the time to research and plot out his trades but they are damned good reading and make you think what if!
I , for one, like the trade idea and never suggested otherwise. I think alot of posters, including myself, are harder on our own players and sometimes may see things through very thick glasses. Grass is always greener ...............yadada
Dang, all these compliments. I'm starting to get the big head. j/k Thanks guys. I'll continue to try keeping 'em real. Now, if only 1 of them would really happen, I'd be considered a wise prognosticator (In laymans terms; a lucky guess).
