Eh, you know, I'm not big on trade ideas, but I'm bored and the forum needs some new discussion. My view on Jax has been up and down. It seems things have quieted down a bit and he may not be a problem anymore this season. But, the problem of his contract and his play are still there. He plays passionately and he is good at distributing the ball, albeit with a high TO rate, but he tends to kill ball movement because he's "Big Shot Jack." Just read Marc Stein's blog on ESPN saying the current suitors for Jax are Cleveland and Denver. I just don't see anything happening with Cleveland and I don't like the idea of just handing Jax what he was asking for: to be on a championship caliber team, which is exactly what the Cavs are. Plus, the Cavs don't want to do it for various reasons. I took at look at Denver's roster and it seems a lot more plausible that a trade with Denver could happen; they also have a trade exception from the A.I. trade. I'm going to automatically rule out Carmelo Anthony, Chauncy Billups, and Nene, as all of them were key components to their success last year. But, there's one guy there that would be the perfect replacement to Jax, from a clinical point of view Kenyon Martin! Yeah, this guy's a punk, a dirty player, has no outside shot, is a poor rebounder, etc. But he can run the fast break really well, as long as his knees don't buckle on him. I don't know how in love Denver is with Martin, but I think with all things considered, Martin for Jax is pretty equitable. Here's a couple things I did with the trade machine: 1) Jax + Speedy + Wright for Kenyon Martin The annual salaries match-up perfectly and we dump Jack's contract to Denver while giving them one year of back-up PG in Speedy and giving them Wright as an option to develop a PF. For the Warriors, Martin would work well in the up-tempo system and his contract is the same length of time that Nellie is here. I think he'd be best as a back-up PF and occasional starter. I'm not sure if he's a better alternative to Maggette playing the 4, but at least Martin gives the illusion he's a PF, even though he rebounds and defends poor. But, at least we'd get some service out of the PF position with Wright's injury and we don't need to worry about developing him. He's a vet and him and Nellie are perfect for each other. 2) Monta + Jax + Wright for Martin + JR Smith Obviously, this is a lot more far-fetched because we are giving up talent in Monta and the fact that Denver would probably not want to take on so much long-term contract in both him and Jax. But, this would make Denver a formidable contender. Billups and Monta in the backcourt work defensively because Billups, like Baron, can defend bigger guards and defend them well. But, the more I think, the more this is very unlikely because this would mean Melo would have to play the 4 since Jax would have to play 3, unless Monta or Jax are willing to come off the bench. Not sure they're ready for that at this point in their career, especially Monta. Anyway, for the Warriors, this would be good for a lot of reasons (which is why this would never happen) because A) you dump huge salaries B) you now give Curry full reign of the team as PG (even though that now seems to be the case after yesterday's game) and C) we clear up the logjam at 2/3 because I think JR Smith would be fine coming off the bench. We would basically even the talent level at that position because I don't think JR Smith is any better or worse than Morrow or Azubuike. There's my random thoughts on a Friday morning. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
I should mention that #2 is pretty flexible for the Warriors; you can mix and match what players to give Denver for Martin and Smith.
Hope for the economy to do better. If the Warriors can somehow put a miraculous run for the championship which ignites local commerce to bring the nation out of a recession, I think Cohan might be willing to sell. But right now, he's sitting on his precious nest egg for his family.
Problem I see is that Denver is already pretty thin at PF/C. If they trade Martin, that leaves Nene, Birdman, and few scrubs. Since, they are contender, I assume we probably have to give up one of our bigs to make that happen...
Clippers might have some interest in Jackson. I wouldn't want to trade him to a team in our division. But may be worth looking at. Camby is an expiring contract. Jackson, George, Law for Camby and Craig Smith works. Hopefully the Warriors could get something better than this though.
The deal with Cleveland seems plausible. Warriors acquire Big Z and agree to waive him so he can return to the Cavs after 30 days. Frees up a lot of cap space in the future and gets rid of a team cancer.
Hey Shape, yeah I just read about this possibility and posted in a different thread but I think here is more appropriate: ---------- I didn't realize the Warriors could trade Jackson for Z and then just waive Z after 30 days. If this is really what Cleveland wants, why are the Warriors opposed to it? I assume the Warriors would have to eat the rest of Z's salary (about $11M). That's a lot to eat, but look at it this way: essentially they'd be buying out Jackson's contract for a fraction of what an actual buyout would cost. Jackson and his agent would presumably want more than a 90% buyout offer, which would be what...over $30M? So they'd be saving around $20M or more total and getting rid of the Jackson problem immediately. PLUS: Saves about $20M long-term (including Ilgauskas's payout). PLUS: Would have cap room to sign free agents. PLUS: Remove the malignant Jackson so the team can move forward. His presence is already hurting the team and will probably only get worse. PLUS: Opens up a roster spot. PLUS: You don't have to get rid of Biedrins or Turiaf to make it happen. MINUS: Costs you around $11M in the short term. MINUS: You only get Z's services for 30 days. MINUS: You don't get the expiring contract to trade. Would you do it? I'm not sure I've thought it through enough, it's not ideal of course, but I'd have to consider it, under the circumstances.
The Warriors can waive Z right away, but he would have to wait 30 days to clear waivers and re-sign with the Cavs.
Jax is already getting booed off the court. He was ridiculous with cupping his hand to his ear, so he could hear more and louder boos. I can't stand that guy and we already have owner-management-coach we want to dump. As long as we don't take back a worse contract, then I'm for dumping Jackson for peanuts.
I just watched the Cavs vs Toronto game and they look old and horrible. They are either too old or too young. They look like they need a C, PF and SG. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker look terrible. Delonte West has gone bi-polar. Varejao looks like a klutz. They look like a jigsaw puzzle that looked good on the box, but when you look inside the pieces are missing or broken. Second, the NBA analysts are picking Boston in the East and the Lakers or Spurs in the West. No one is picking Cleveland. Does that mean Cleveland will deal with the Warriors? No, but certainly I would not bet on Cleveland this year to reach the Finals. I'd rather place a bet on LeBron leaving.
