Well, how about the Scola trade for us? It certainly looks far more collusive than the trade for Thomas; heck, we sent over Dennis Lindsey to the Spurs, then immediately got our starting power-forward! If you want to put up a conspiracy theory, I'm of the opinion that Chris Wallace is simply a terrible GM, brought in to systematically destroy the team so Michael Heisley can justify selling the team. Transitioning to pipe dream I hope the new owner moves the least relevant team in the NBA to Oklahoma City, forcing the Sonics to stay in Seattle and screwing over Clay Bennett.
Can't one of them move to Las Vegas? Or is the NBA against that now after last year's All-Star weekend?
This is why the Lakers is the Evil Empire. Anyone who speaks good things about the Lakers is the Devil's accomplice.
They have been able to get a better offer but would it have saved them money and if not then would they be a better team if they added another near all-star? No, I don't think so. They are wanting to get away from Pau's contract because they could not and would not win with him. Teams have been known to dump all stars for expiring contracts if it just hasn't worked out the way they hoped. Some people forget or didn't know that trades like this have happened before with oft-injured all stars. I'm not sure where Popovich was when this trade happened. Oh, could it be because now he is threatened. http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/acquire_barondavis_022405.html The Golden State Warriors have acquired two-time All-Star point guard Baron Davis from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for point guard Speedy Claxton and center Dale Davis, it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin. “We're thrilled to be able to acquire a proven All-Star like Baron Davis,” said Mullin. “He ranks among the best point guards in the NBA and we feel that he will be a tremendous addition to our roster – not only with what he brings to the table on his own, but also what he can provide to the continued development of our team.”
How? Kwame Brown was a $9million expiring contract. Bob Sura is gone, and Rafer Alston makes $5mill/yr and isn't expiring. The arguments about "getting better offers" are irrelevant. Memphis' intent behind making the trade was to dump salary. To my knowledge, the only other team with $9million or more worth of expiring contracts was Miami (JWill and Ricky Davis). There's no indication that Miami made an offer and you also have to take into account that if Miami did make an offer, perhaps Memphis viewed Crittenton as more of a sweetener than any young player Miami potentially was offering. So while it reeks of collusion on the surface, if we weigh the motivation from Memphis' perspective, it makes perfect sense. It doesn't matter that other teams could offer better players - Memphis' objective was to dump salary.
Next thing you know, somebody will be creating a conspiracy theory about how Rasheed played one game for the Hawks and wound up on the Pistons. Get over it. Rebuilding by dumping salary is as old as the first CBA.
Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis were actually decent players. They do not compare to Crittenton, Aaron McKie, and Marc Gasol. Those are all unproven players. And most of those superstar for crappier player deals were not questioned as hard by the other GMs as well as the media. That has to say something.
Terrible, terrible counter-argument. Speedy Claxton and Crittenton are the only two players in that list of any relevance - and they are probably of equal value. Davis, McKie, and Marc Gasol are just contracts with names on them. Whether they are unproven players is of complete irrelevance. They weren't traded for as talent. You can legitimately question the ethics of the deal from Memphis' standpoint but that's different from accusations of collusion. I don't think it's ethical as an owner to make a trade like that with no regard for parity. That still doesn't mean there was anyone else out there with $9million in expiring contracts.
Where were you guys when the lakers traded Caron Butler for Kwame? Everyone bashed them at the time for making one of the most lopsided deals in league history. We all knew Kwame was a bust. It was a laugher, yet no one complained about how it ruined competitive balance. We were all just so happy at the incompetence of lakers management. In reality, the lakers turned Butler, Crittenton, Atkins, two first round draft picks, and the draft rights of Marc Gasol into Pau and a 2010 2nd round draft pick. That seems pretty even. People are dumbstruck at how the lakers got so much for Kwame, but never talk about how much it cost to get him in the first place.
