Yesterday I had thought up a trade idea to swoop in and grab the #5 from Washington. The gist of it was we'd send Outlaw's non-guaranteed contract, Sergio (big Spanish following in Washington) and the #24 for Brendan Haywood and the #5 pick. My thought was that once they cut Outlaw, rid themselves of Haywood's contract, and take a flyer on a Euro, they'd end up saving around $14M next year ($7M in salary and $7M in luxury tax). I then saw this blurb from Hoopsworld -> http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?STORY_ID=12908 It does indeed appear that Washington may want out of the lottery. I doubt Williams drops down in our range, but you never know. Very interesting.
I think I have been wanting to keep Outlaw now that I think about it. He is pretty good off the bench.
I think it would take something pretty ridiculous to get #5. You'd have to be talking about something like... Blazers send: Travis Outlaw Steve Blake Rudy Fernandez Wizards send: Etan Thomas Oleksiy Pecherov #5 pick
In other years drafts, maybe, but this years? The draft this year isn't "all that". I don't think it will take much to move up if the Blazers want to. I just dont' see any reason this year to do that.
Hmm. Well Thomas can't be moved as a draft day deal because of pending FA status. Haywood played 6 games last season. Are you sure he is relied on or in the short-term plans?
If indeed Dallas is the team, Portland could better their offer by taking away more salary (after all, we're under the cap) and offering a higher pick in trade. What higher pick? Well, Milwaukee is not wedded to their pick either. (And if the Knicks really like Sergio, would they give us the #8 for him?) But I'd only want the #5 if we were going to offer it to Memphis as part of a package for the #2. Put these things together and you get this suggestion from a while back.
The problem I see with dealing with the Mavs is that Washington won't get immediate cap relief. Even Howard doesn't expire until after next season. I guess it depends how dire things are for them. They could certainly get more talent from other places.
Ny isn't giving the # 8 for Sergio. That's terrible. We can't take back salary until after the draft, because as of the draft, we are still over the cap. But we don;t have a player as good as Howard to offer to Washington. Why woudl they take a little bit extra cap relief, and say, Outlaw, over Howard?
