I agree...he may be more of an east coast guy...even though he did play for Phoenix at one point. I would think he would go where the money (Paul Allen) is and the chance to win a championship (Portland). We will see. KP may not even have him on is radar.
Don't get me wrong, I hope your right!!! But I remember something like he refused to play for Denver and wanted to go back to Detroit in the AI trade. But maybe that had something to do with past beef with Denver? I would love to take McDyess to backup and teach LMA!
It is out of the question. If you think 4 2nd round picks and just money are going to buy us into early or mid-teens, you're delusional. I've never seen it happen. For a backup 4 and a player with knee problems, it would be foolish to trade integral pieces away. Like I've stated, I'm pretty positive the Nets take him at #11. Most mock drafts have him going there, even Rod Thorn has said that he needs a moose and Blair is the perfect fit for that role. I'm tired of frivolous threads spent on acquiring players, that we have no business discussing, because they're outside the realm of possibility. Mainly it was Rubio but now it's Blair. Before, Blair looked like he could fall to our range and I was optimistic about getting him. With combine workouts and interviews his stock has skyrocketed. I no longer see him as a possibility.
so you're saying that it's impossible to go from having the #4 pick to having both the #2 and #6? That would be frivolous? Or trading the #7 pick for a future (conditional) first and the #31? (See PHX, Luol Deng). That would be frivolous to talk about? Those have both happened in the most recent "weak drafts". Still think it's frivolous? Then I can't help you. Marcus Camby for a 2nd rounder? Sometimes people WAAAY overestimate the intelligence and problem-solving skills of NBA GMs. Sometimes they underestimate it. To say that discussing anything in that realm is frivolous would be, to me, short-sighted.
Marcus Camby was strictly a cap move, it wasn't about the 2nd rounder. Marcus Camby isn't what I call a great player to begin with. In both those moves, we had to give up pieces, not just 2nd rounders and money. We're talking about a backup PF here, not a potential starter. Giving up important pieces for a backup PF, who will only play 10-15 minutes a game, is foolish. Yes I still think it's frivolous.
"strictly a cap move"....that's the entire point of why these trades aren't frivolous! Of COURSE in a normal environment where everyone had an owner like PA, this wouldn't be feasible--but it's not a normal environment like that. You think that times are so great (compared to 2004) now that no one would even possibly consider the #7 for #31 and next year's pick? You don't think KP would be on that like a vulture? MEM, OKC, WAS are all teams in the top 5 shopping their pick. I doubt it's b/c they can't find a good player there, it's that they're using it at leverage to get rid of bad contracts/get into a better financial place. You can't just discount things as "strictly for cap reasons" and then declare discussion frivolous and still make sense. And I'm just talking Top 5 teams. I'm not going into GSW at 7, TOR at 9, Indiana, etc.
I don't believe this whole, "times are tough" so teams are going to make stupid deals. If so why didn't we get anything for Lafrentz? As much as you say people overestimate GM's intelligence, you are in the group that underestimates it. No I don't. When we gave up that next year's pick, we were a bad team. So the other team should expect a pretty high pick next year. Now that we've just made the playoffs, teams aren't going to trade their top ten picks for a pick in the 20's. The Marcus Camby thing is entirely different from my argument. I'm talking about acquiring a high pick for just 2nd rounders and cash isn't going to happen. And I don't think trading pieces away like Outlaw or Bayless is worth moving up in this weak, weak draft; especially for a backup PF.
I wouldn't be so fast to assume that Paul Allen will just throw money at long contracts. He allowed the Rose Garden to go into bankruptcy once before, and that was in flush economic times. And moving up to get DeJuan Blair? Why? I do realize that wasn't necessarily your argument, but I've seen it made in this thread. Trade up into the lottery to get an undersized backup PF with bad knees? I don't get it.
True PapaG, I was just talking about getting high draft picks, not who we should take with them. And for clarification, the #7 for #31 and next year's pick was for the Bulls coming off of their 2003-4 season. PHX was TOTALLY doing it to save cash.
