Of those 3, Blake seems to me to be the least likely to be available, without having to give up Battier. Felton would be real nice. How about we try to get Tom Thibodeau of Boston to help us do a 3 way trade? He said some really good things about Hayes & seems to think very highly of him. If he could convince the front office that they need Hayes, perhaps we could do this trade. Head/Brooks/Powe to Charlotte. Hayes to Boston. Felton/Pruitt to Houston. Everyone knows what Powe did in the playoffs (including Boston) & with that fresh on their minds, a head/Brooks/Powe package might get it done. If we throw in the Memphis 2nd round pick & have Morey sprinkle a little of his magical pixie dust on the deal, it might get done. After all, would anyone have believed we could get Artest without giving up Battier? As for Tinsley, I'm not overly concerned with his poor shooting skills. I say that because i believe that we need a pass first, shoot second PG for this new team. Our PG is going to need to have good vision & be able to keep feeding the "Big 3" steadily, while occasionally popping off a shot or two. I believe Tinsley can do that. However, in rethinking it, I now believe that we won't have to trade for him. We can just wait until Indiana releases him & sign him for the minimum.
I wouldn't be surprised if Boston wanted to add Hayes but not at the cost of Powe. Bird has said he won't cut Tinsley. They want something for him. I can understand why people are surprised that we didn't have to give up Battier for Artest,but I'm not one of them because they are a rebuilding team. Felton will be retained by the Bobcats at least for a while if not longer IMO. I totally agree with you that getting Blake is going to be the hardest thing of them all and will cost us Battier which isn't worth it.
That trade makes little sense to me. So they accept a widely perceived player downgrade (Powe vs. Hayes) all because one of their assistant coaches loves the way Chuck plays? Felton is probably a realistic option, though. He's a restricted FA next summer and you know Charlotte doesn't want to pay him. Charlotte is quietly collecting a handful of horrific, albatross contracts. Basically they're spending a lot of money to be mediocre -- never a good thing. Felton would be a shaky fit with his inconsistent jumper but he's one of those Deron Williams/Baron Davis type "power guards" that are bulky yet athletic and can attack the basket. Instead of settling for jumpers they use their athleticism and strength to come right at you. I'd be interested, it just depends on the asking price.
When did he say this? The last I heard was they were going to buy him out if they couldn't find a taker for him. With 3 years & ~$21.0 million left on his contract, it's going to be real difficult finding someone to give anything but bad contracts in exchange.
I don't have a link,but he said he was against the idea of cutting or buying him out. I think you might be able to find it from the Hoopshype and/or the Insidehoops archives.
