With Miami's rumored interest in Rudy and Miller AND their extra cap space (even after signing Wade and Bosh), could the Blazers use this as a way to get Chris Paul in a BIGGER deal? Miami needs to fill the roster around Wade and Bosh, and they are rumored to be interested in Miller and Rudy: IN - Rudy, Okafor, Miller OUT - Chalmers, Beasley ***Okafor to play center next to Bosh with Miller to run the point. New Orleans wants to save ALOT of money and rebuild with young talent: IN - Batum, Bayless, Pryzbilla, Beasley OUT - Paul, Okafor, Posey ***Clears massive contracts off the books and gets really good talent. Portland wants Chris Paul and has rumored interest in Chalmers: IN - Paul, Chalmers, Posey OUT - Batum, Bayless, Pryzbilla, Miller, Rudy ***Chris Paul... with Chalmers as backup PG and Posey to fill in at SF for a year. Seems like it would fill the needs of all three teams (if New Orleans is ready to move Chris Paul).
I think it makes more sense to make the deal with Miami, Miller/Rudy for trade exception, Chalmers, and Beasley. Turn around and trade the trade exception, Joel, Bayless, and maybe Beasley to NOH for Paul. If they won't take Beasley, then we use Batum. Paul/Chalmers Roy/Williams Beasley/Cunningham Aldridge/Beasley/Pendergraph Oden/Camby
Though its not likely they'll trade him, you certainly don't value your life much, because it's possible!
With Shinn looking to sell the team you can bet that NO would rather have TPE's than Beasley. I have to think that this trade, broken down into several smaller trades is the logical thought for Portland's front office currently. It's really the only way that trading Miller for a backup PG, troubled 3/4 and a mid (Toronto's) to late (Miami's) 1st round pick makes any sense...
I will have you know that I have an extensive arsenal of airsoft guns, and I'm not afraid to use them.
You can't combine a trade exception with others players for a larger contract such as Paul. But you could give NOH the salary cap relief in a 3 way trade at the time Andre is shipped to Miami.
I like it! The Blazers give up a lot, but come away with the best player by far. Painful to lose Batum and our best youth in general, but you have to make a move like that. Miami solves a lot of their problems in fleshing out their roster, especially at the critical and hard to find Point Guard and Center positions. Short of getting stars or rising young talent, they would be hard pressed to do better than Miller and Okafor in one swoop. Miami's other option to a deal like this is to try to use their cap space for a 3rd free agent, but with the overpaying going on, and the lack of point guards and centers in free agency, they need to look at trades. New Orleans (assuming they know the inevitable is coming someday and are ready to move now), come away with massive salary savings and a platoon of young talent. New Orleans can either get (more or less) and All-Star for Chris Paul; or a Top 2 Pick for Chris Paul; or they can clear tons of salary and get several interesting pieces. They won't find a deal where they get massive salary (2 big contracts off their books) relief AND a top pick. Your deal is the 3rd way and a way they should strongly consider.
That's the best proposed trade I've seen in a while. It of course entirely depends on New Orleans being willing to take a massive talent hit to clear the books of three of their biggest contracts...but if they were, this gives them a trio of young talent and a lot of salary relief.
Very intriguing idea. Miami needs a decent roster to fill out their crater-sized holes. They get that. New Orleans gets a historic-level salary dump. That's $118 million in projected salary going out, with less than $30 mil coming back (less if you count Przybilla's insurance). If you can swap Beasley for the TPE somehow, that's less than $10 mil coming back! Portland, of course, gets a once-in-a-generation point guard. I can live with that.
This actually isn't that bad of a deal for New Orleans if they want to do a cheap re-build: PG: Collison SG: Bayless/Batum SF: Batum/Beasley PF: West C: Przybilla If Przybilla is healthy and Collison isn't just a flash-in-the-pan, that team might win 45 games. It'd at least be as good as last year's 37 win Hornets team, and at a fraction of the price.
Also, don't forget about Marcus Thornton. They like him almost as much as they like Collison. Factor him in, and they're just one F/C away from a very solid (but young) 8-man rotation.
How do you plan on doing this exactly? A trade exception from Miami would only net you the highest of one players salary you send out. In your case, you mention Miller who has a salary of about $7.7 mil. And that is only if they do not send anything back by just absorbing Milers money under the cap. Chris Paul makes $14.9 mil which is far greater thatn the $7.7 mil TE You can only use a trade exception to acquire a player who is less than or equal to the value of an exception. In this case.. less than or equal to $7.7 mil How do we get Paul? you can not combine a TE with the values of other players to get a higher number. Your better off sending Miller and Joel directly to NO for Paul and add incentives such as Batum and picks and cash
The simple answer is to just make it a single 3-way deal in which Miller/Rudy go to MIA, Beasley/Bayless/Joel go to NOH (+Batum if absolutely necessary), and Paul/Chalmers come to POR.
Could Miami still acquire Okafor in a separate deal? Seems like getting him is an even a bigger priority than Miller. Or it would be if it were me. Wade doesn't need a great PG to win it all *cough* Jason Williams *cough* but he does need a quality center.
