First of all this is my humble opinion on this matter, so if you disagree please feel free to let me know, however if you feel like you need to flame me, go right ahead. I firmly believe that the Timberwolves are seriously thinking about moving KG. For one they have been first-round and out for the past six years. KG and whoever else isn't cutting it. The second reason is that the size of KG's contract is what is hindering the team from acquiring more talent. When his contract is up I believe an extension or new contract will start at I believe $29 - $31 million dollars per season, that doesn't leave alot to build from. Not to mention the fact that the Timberwolves screwed up and got caught for the under-the-table/wink-wink deal with Joe Smith and lost five first-rounders, however Stern took pity and gave back two of them. Now to actually prying KG away from the Wolves is the difficult part. I believe that a package of the following would have to be the first offer. Eddie Griffin Cuttino Mobley Kenny Thomas Glen Rice Both 1st rounders this year Now I look at this and think to myself this is a pretty steep price to pay. Griffin gives them a potential superstar, Cat gives them a decent shooting guard, Kenny Thomas gives them a hardworker who hustles and does the little things. Glen Rice gives them a veteran who can shoot the rock, and whose contract can make up for the bulk of the matching salaries (and his contract ends the season after next, plus out of all the cap albatrosses his ends first). Both first rounders this year gives the Timberwolves the ability to get two decent players out of a deep draft. Of course the Rockets get Kevin Garnett who paired with Francis would be a dangerous one-two punch, however the trade would leave the Rockets with no picks in this years draft and next years draft (second rounders not withstanding). Garnett would solve our front court woes and give us one of the best young players in the league. Looking at what it would take to acquire Garnett, weighing the pros and cons, I wouldn't be able to pull the trigger. Its just to steep a price to pay. With Garnett's max contract and Steve's max contract, those two contracts would account for most of the salary cap. And unless Les Alexander is going to pull a Paul Allen or Mark Cuban and thumb his nose at the luxury tax, it just isn't going to happen. Although it would be a nice thought to think about Garnett and Francis on the same team.
Remove these players add Garnet and then try to fill out the roster. No way. Maybe if we keep the number 5 pick?
Well maybe you could try to bargain and keep the 15th pick. However, by doing this deal you would put AIS (asses in seats) going into a new arena the next year. Not to mention national television exposure with Garnett and Francis being on the team. Also more Rockets gear (no matter how horrid the jerseys are) would sell. The Rockets despite losing what little depth they have would be a middle of the pack team. This is where Rudy and CD's ability to find a diamond in the rough would need to come in to find role players. Either way its a gamble.
Eddie Cutino Kenny #15 Why not throw in some cheerleaders and the scoreboard. Maybe they could take some of the janitorial staff off our hands.
Hate to break it to you okierock, but thats not going to get it done. You would have to add Rice and/or Moochie to get within 15% of KG's contract. And Minnesota would want the higher lottery pick out of the two the Rockets get.
Realistically, its only a couple of teams that can take Garnetts contract. Not only will they have to match numbers, but you better believe some quality players have to come also. The trade you proposed makes T'Wolves no closer to making it out the playoffs than with him. Here is a couple of thoughts even though this is or maybe the wrong forum. The Bucks: This team if they're serious are the most logical to aquire his services. The Bucks can not only match salaries, but also give up quality players. Allen(10mill) ,Thomas(9mill) and Mason(5mill) for garnett would be good for both teams. T'Wolves get a 26yr old Allen,25yr old Thomas both of whom are all star caliber, plus a brute in Mason. Milw could resign Redd,play Kevin at the 4 along with Robinson and Cassell and they could improve team play. This beats Our proposal hands down. The Heat:The Heat could offer their pick plus Zo for Garnett. Riley hates young players anyway plus the get to rebuild and still make the playoffs and be a force in the weak east. Minn gets maybe a surprise,a pick, and cap space. Zo could give them a audition yr and if he plays well they could resign him for less. If he doesn't play well, you have cap room plus that top ten pick makes it a little easier. Zo could play 4 with nesterovic holding down the center spot. the Nuggets:They could also offer a pick and a high paid player( Howard(20 mill) or McDyess (12mill) and cap filler. Denver could continue to rebuild as always. T'Wolves could get a player for a yr in Howard and or Dice plus a pick, top ten and clear cap space. This is still probably better than ours. The Blazers: With their wealth of talent and high dollar players, they can be invloved in an trade scenerio. They could go a combination of ways to get to the 24 mill of Garnett. They coulf offer talented players with problems and big contracts. They could go for Wallace and Stoudamire which matches exactly, they could go Wallace,Wells and Anderson. They could go cap relief by taking Pippen and Wells or Kemp and Wells to make the numbers match. They could also factor in Dale davis with his 9mill with players to also make it work. Either way, they're both better than ours. The bottom line is as much as we value the Rockets talent base, its nowhere close to what the other teams could offer. The only thing we could really offer to get Garnett is a signed Francis and a bunch of junk players with long contracts. If McHale really wanted to trade garnett, he could get market value and or quality players for him. Its not as hard to move that contract as some might think.Its just a matter if he wants to move him or not.
Don't break anything on me I don't think any of this will work. I think we should keep our picks. I was just replying to the earlier question.
I'm not really rooting for the Admiral. I lost a bet, and my punishment is to have this god-awful signature for the next 27 days.
leebigez - That should be the last word on the subject. Sadly, another Garnett to Houston thread will reappear within 10 days. Minnesota trades: SF Kevin Garnett Minnesota receives: C Kelvin Cato PG Moochie Norris SF Eddie Griffin PF Jason Collier PF Kenny Thomas SF Terence Morris SF Glen Rice TRADE ACCEPTED
I don't know why Minnesota want to trade him though. When they can just set their tone at REBUILD for the year they re-sign KG to half his contract. Till then, they will have 2 picks, and whatever they get from Wally, and Marc Jackson, if in good shape, is a solid starter. Loren Woods may even surprise a few people. What the Wolves should do, is make 2 seperate deals. One for Wally. Then one for Terrell Brandon. If the Knicks miss out on Jay Williams, then I'm sure they wouldn't mind going after Brandon. Coupled with Wally, they might even get Sprewell and one of the PG's, right? Wally Brandon Loren Woods/Nesterovic for Spree Ward (final contract year) Marc Jackson/Woods or Nesterovic Joe Smith/Trent KG/Trent Spree/Peeler Billups/Ward That's better than their last team, and good enough for a re-built team, right? Unless Portland deals with them. Don't Kemp and Pippen come off the cap together at a combined $45M?
i don't want kg for the amount that it will inevitably cost us. the only advantage would be losing rice's contract. let's see what eg is gonna develop into, even if he doesn't become THAT good, i think at the minimum he will be all-star level. combine him with mobley and a really nice pick and that seems like too much.
I've also thought of another thing. GS should be more desperate than ANYONE in the league to get Garnett. Because I think KG is the only player in the NBA that will keep playing at his own high level, while making Jamison the superstar he should be. Jamison would be the 4 on offense, and the 3 on defense, and vice versa for KG. We al saw that Antwan Jamison can score 24ppg on the 4's in the West. Now if they got the #1 pick, this would become interesting. A combination of Chris Mills, #1, and a re-signed Larry Hughes would be an excellent start, don't you think? They need that backcourt help at both positions too. If Minnesota are rebuilding, it wuold be nice tog et 8M off the cap (Mills), while acquiring a player who can potentially become a very very good player in Hughes (right coach needed), and the #1 overall pick. If they're throwing Dampier or Foyle into the deal, they can also pick Ming. They can pick Williams and make it a Williams/Hughes backcourt. GS should be willing to give up everything outside of Jamison and Richardson. EVERYTHING.
NO ONE in their right mind would give up both Cuttino and EG for Garnett, yet alone KT and 2 high first rounders. Ridiculous!!! Granted KG is a SUPERSTAR and is one of the top five young players, but as mentioned before, we would have NO supporting cast. There is no way we would win championships with just Francis and KG, no matter how good that combo is. The only way this trade is done, is if we can somehow keep Mobley OR Griffin (preferrably Griff.), trade KT and possibly a future 1st rounder and one of our first rounders this year. BUT.....we would have to retain a 1st rounder this year because it's such a deep draft and most or all teams will benefit fron a top 10 pick or so. Say we keep EG, trade Cuttino, KT, Mooch, and the #15 for KG; then we draft Woods at #5 to play the 2 guard (realisticallY). Nice Line-up: Francis / Juan Dixon with our 2nd round pick this year(Miami's) Woods / Torres / Brown Garnett / Rice / T-Mo Griffin / Mo-T Cato / Collier
If for salary reasons alone I don't think that will come close to working. Now if you want to make that trade work under the cap, Cat, KT, Rice, Cato and the 15, for KG and Jackson, that works salary wise. I don't think anyone would pull the trigger on that though. Although looking at the contracts of the T-wolves they've got a lot of people comming off the books this year, so they might take a lot of players. The lineup being now 1: Stevie / Norris 2: Torres / #5 pick (those 2 are interchangable) 3: KG / T-mo / #5 pick 4: EG / MoT 5: Jackson / Collier / Somone plz I doubt highly we could pull off a trade like this but the lineup sure is pretty.
