http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/pros/clippers/article_1562277.php clips fan's perspective http://www.clipsnation.com/story/2007/2/2/135737/2421
1) I'd take Brian Cook over Luther Head any day. Wells' return, the fact that Snyder is better (taller, more athletic) in an Adelman uptempo game and the fact Luther doesn't finish well are more than enough reasons to pull the trigger. Anyone who watched closely enough would have noticed Luther's stats were run of the mill vs taller, better defensive teams that rotated well. Cook is an inch shorter than Novak but nearly 30# heavier. He can play some spot 5. I don't think their times overlapped but Cook and Head both played at Illinois. The trade only works prior to July 1 since Cook for some reason has a large salary bump for 2007-08. Back-end loaded contract to have have Kobe re-signing $ perhaps. EDIT: Cook is coming off of Rookie Scale and was re-signed for a higher amount. Not sure if there are also BYC complications but this has to happen pre-July 1 to match salaries. 2) I like JLIII...but his size and skillset are relatively easy to replace. If there's an upgrade of size and/or athleticism...take the gamble. My hunch is an Adelman offense won't need a 3rd string PG. I base that on Bibby's assist per game during the Vlade/Webber years. 3) On the fence about trading VSpan. Especially if he could be used as part of a larger deal. But it seems someone unexpectedly drops into the 2nd round every draft. IMO, you do it for the right risk. All 2nd rounders have "warts"...just get a skill (or potential skill) you really need...lock down D, passing, great transition, or quick catch and shoot, etc.
Looks like Luther Head can't be traded for Brian Cook straight up before or after July 1. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap99.htm#72 Cook's trade value is either 2.84M or 3M depending on whether his last year (player option) is counted or not. After July 1 it jumps up to 3.5M. Head's contract is 1.05M now, 1.12M after July 1.
I would do the deal with Dallas for the 34th pick where we could take a potential risk like Sean Williams or even find a player like Almond or PG Session who is projected to go 34th over at nbadraft.net. This way we have 2 draft picks and we already have Rafer and James at the point guard position we need more help at PF now. In the 1st round we take either Rudy Fernandez or Marco Belinelli and Sean Williams in the 2nd round.
http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t=43640&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 You guys need to read the responses above from laker fans about Cook-Head trade. If ALL FANS of the other trading party want to make the deal in a heartbeat, I guess more than likely the original party is getting raped. Cook cant rebound, cant defend and cant block shot. The only thing he can do is shooting wide open jumper with quick release. He's considered garbage by laker fans. Novak can do whatever cook can. On the other head, Head's a very valuable rotation player for us. So hell nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo for this trade.
Yay Singleton! Living in Hawaii, with no pro sports and a 5 or 6 hour time difference from the East Coast depending on Daylight Savings Time (you have no idea how annoying it was to have the 4th quarter score for Monday Night Football during the 6:00 evening news), I've always been forced to watch lots of LA basketball, as we get Fox Sports West. I picked up on the Clippers as they got good, noticing they had a skinny pogo stick that came off the bench named James Singleton who always got the crowd excited, threw down some truly highlight worthy dunks, and had that Ryan Bowen "hustle everywhere and get your hand on loose balls" quality that any fan of basketball should appreciate. Anyway, although no one reads my posts anyway, mainly because I don't post often, and when I do, I'm a bit "longwinded", I've been campaigning for acquiring Singleton for two offseasons now; almost as long as the Rockets have been interested in Mike James. If the trade goes down, it actually seems fairly logical, as Singleton wants out, and JLIII might get some burn with the Clippers, as Livingston is out, Cassell will miss some time with injury, and Daniel Ewing and Jason Hart aren't exactly names that are clearly better than Lil' John. Spanoulis for any 2nd is a terrible idea in my opinion; I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll at the very least develop into a backup that allows management to trade Rafer at the deadline for more frontcourt help. In addition, unless he specifically requests a trade, how two-faced does it look to woo him back to play for the team, then trade him? And people wonder why the Rockets aren't ever on the wishlists of the major European free agents? Head for Cook doesn't seem like it's possible straight up without some 3rd team under the cap to absorb salary flotsam; prior to July 1st, Cook is a Poison Pill Provision Player due to the 3-year, $10.5 Million extension he signed prior to the 2007 season. Because of this, his outgoing salary is treated as the last year of his rookie scale contract, while his incoming salary is treated as the average between his final rookie year salary and the average of his new extension, or (~1.5+3.5)/2 = 2.5 Million. After July 1st, Cook is a BYC player with an outgoing value of $1.75MM and an incoming value of $3.5MM. Luther's salary is approximately $1.1M for both 2007 and 2008, which doesn't match up well at all using the 125%+100K rule. One possibility would be simultaneously trading Vassilis to Dallas for a 2nd as well as doing the Cook and Head trade; this would create enough salary to cover the provisions, and Dallas has a trade exemption to cover Spanoulis's salary (from the Anthony Johnson trade? I can't recall at the moment and am too lazy to look it up). I absolutely hate Brian Cook, however; he's a sweet shooter to be sure, but a piss poor defender and rebounder, with no intangibles to speak of who's maxed out on potential. At least with Head, you have a guy who's entering the "leap year" for many guards, who's already hit a ton of clutch 3s, and plays pretty well off of Yao and Tracy, and also picks up his game considerably when Tracy's out, which will likely be around 10 games per season from here on out. Nevertheless, if these rumors are true, which is highly questionable; they're so minor most decently informed NBA fans with access to a trade checker program could figure them out, they represent very good Moneyball theory; targeting underutilized pieces on the cheap, hoping for a steal somewhere along the line, or at the very least putting together small, moveable salaried players for future trades. I'm a huge fan of this kind of GMing, as it relies on scouting and player evaluation rather than juggling problem children or gambling big on rentals. To use a poker metaphor, Moneyball should be like stealing lots of little pots; finding value where others don't see it, squeezing an extra value bet when possible; traditional backseat-GMing on bbs message boards is like using Spirit Rock's strategy of big bets and big bluffs; making big moves all the time, high risk, high reward.
it would suck the big one for Span to go anywhere for 2nd rd pick, but Dallas? How could we live with ourselves if Billy became a player for those A holes? the Singleton one is great - I think the Clippers would be mad. If they are willing lets roll with it.
a lot of you people forget V-Span was a 2nd round pick by the Mavs and traded to Houston for our 2nd round pick. Anyway you look at it we can probably get a better player than him at 34th pick in this year's much deeper draft. We have stockpiled PG's and could afford to trade one especially if we can land a guy like Sean Williams or Morris Almond for it. Look please don't overstate his value right now. I mean he basically told Rockets this week that he won't join the summer league and wants to stay in Greece. Everyone from coach Adelman to Morey called him and left messages. All this baggage coming from what a 2nd rounder? I think we already have our share of headcases on this team we don't need one more diva. Depending on who is available on draft night at 34th pick, I say Morey should make the call to Dallas and get it done. Sean Williams would be my preference even Glen Davis would serve us better than SpanGrady.
I'm with Gater on this one. Head is a undersized spot up 2 guard. When head is in the game, the rox have to keep Rafer or tracy in because he cant run a offense to save his life. Cook is a good player. He's a really good outside/3pt shooter and he's decent in the post. He's 6'10 which also help. I think if that deal staright up for luther is on the table, they should pull that trigger.i would also still like to see tham make the trade for Artest. I think if you have artest along with yao,tracy,james and cook as starters and off the bech is rafer,bonzi,shane, hayes and whoever, thats a pretty versitile and deep team. Luther is easily replaced by a similar spot-up shooting type.
Yeah but at this point he might just hold out in Greece and we can do nothing and his value will decrease. If you take the 34th pick there is about 5-6 players with more upside than him right now. Sean Williams Marcus Williams Morris Almond Aron Affalo Ramon Sessions Glen Davis Depending of which one of these players slides in the draft we could have ourself a much better player than V-Span especially since we already 3 pgs in the rotation Rafer, James and Head. If not to Dallas then let's try with Seattle they have early 2nd picks as well. We need depth at PF and no better way to do it than in the draft. If Sean Williams pans out than he would be complete steal. Time to take a risk it's not like V-Span is an all-star or Tracy Mcgrady. Well he is T-Mac in Greece
Vassilis Spanoulis to Dallas for a second round pick - Only if it's that #34 pick they have this year John Lucas III to the Clippers for James Singleton - YES Luther Head to the Lakers for Brian Cook - HELL NO
Singleton for JL3, fine. One scrub for another. #34 pick for V-Span. I'd trade V-Span for dirty bathwater if he refused to play in summer league. How do you say, "Don't let the door hit you" in Greek? Cook for Luther. Hard to decide. All the arguments against Cook apply to Luther. Both players are limited and aren't likely to get much better. I actually think Cook can improve more than Luther. Getting Cook also means Novak will remain buried on the bench but so what if he isn't good enough for the NBA.
no.no.no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we need some sure fire or marquee name iat the PF spot. brian cook? are u fuking kidding me lopez?!? or morey? u pull that **** off then we're gonna say bye bye to teh yao mac era.
and btw, for all those who bash luther.....he's clearly a better player overall and has way more trade value. luther was asked not to shoot and played tentitively under JVG once yao and mac returned. he's more than cook for ***'s sake
the fact that luther is expandable doesn't mean we'll have to be raped in a trade by who? mitch kupchick? u gotta be fuking kiddding me
If we are considering trading V-Span back to Dallas, then I suggest getting Maurice Ager from the Mavs along with the #34. Ager is taller, more athletic and has legitimate 3-point range. We can then use our #26 on Petteri Koponen and the #34 on Nick Fazekas.
