Minnesota has no bad contracts, and Wes Johnson and Michael Beasley at the 3. Why they would move #2 for batum, when they have two guys at his position is beyond me. Especially when they'd likely get better offers from other teams. Rudy? 21? That doesn't help matters.
minny has crap/crap crap/crap crap/crap love/crap crap/crap unless im missing something....they need to keep that pick and try and get a player who isnt crap
I see two major differences. 1. Dallas is a destination for free agents and players wishing to be traded. 2. The Mavs have a true superstar to build around. While I think LMA is a very, very good player I'm still not 100% certain he's the kind of player you focus your build around. The Mavs also have another advantage in that they haven't had the injuries that have completely devalued their roster; the Blazers assets have mostly been devalued with time, not enhanced.
What major free agents is dallas pulling in? Who has demanded, and then been, traded to Dallas? Who has signed there recently that wasn't already there? Marion the only real one? And he was paid more than he would have gotten elsewhere. What other major player has signed there? They made trades, increasing value on players. Traded for Kidd. Traded for Terry. Butler and Haywood. Chandler. I don't see a single major signing, or player who demanded his way there. Dirk is better than LMA. Definitely. I still think you can build around and win with LMA. Not as good as Dirk, for sure. But he is getting better, and is a top PF in the league. As for the devaluing assets, they traded a worthless contract for Chandler. They traded a young player and picks for their starting PG. They traded a bunch of scrubs for Marion in a S&T. They traded an injured Josh Howard, and junk/expirings for Butler and Haywood. Again, looking at the construction of their team, I don't see huge assets they have used to parlay them into better pieces. They upgrade incremently. Howard to Butler. Dampier to Chandler. With expirings, and small assets. The only deal they gave up "significant" pieces would be the Harris for Kidd deal. And that could be our Batum deal. I see no reason why we can't do the same thing. And I think the wallace deal is/was the beginning. Expirings and late picks for Wallace. Maybe Wallace for someone else? Maybe he stays. Blake and Outlaw for Camby. Then, Camby for....Signing Miller. Then, Miller's unguaranteed deal for.... Etc. I don't see an advantage they used that we have not had at our disposal. They lured nobody with their city or superstar.
dunno if this would work for minnesota let alone if they would deal with us since they think we dealt a bad martell but do this and swap 21 and the 2#? http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=66dp8pj why they do it? -Vet in Miller -Rudy for the Spain and rubio connection why we do it? -we get a PG in ridnour to start -we get a pick -and a back up Center???
Yeah, that's not going to happen. To get value you have to give up value. Miller, outside being an exp. deal, doesn't make sense for MN at all. Rudy's value now is at an all-time low. You maybe could get a second rounder for him. ...Maybe The #21 pick in this years draft is equivalent to a mid-second rounder in most drafts.
One could ask why they (MIN) would draft 2 PG BACK TO BACK (#5 & #6) in the same draft? Wes Johnson was HORRIBLE last year and played more SG than SF if I recall....Martell was a bust for MIN, injured and didn't play very well for them.....Beasley is a talent but also has a history of being a head case and is an RFA next year (same year as Kevin Love), not sure they have him in thier long term plans. Kahn wanted Rudy last year instead of Martell, but Rudy said he wouldn't go...IF Rubio was coming over would he change his mind? I don't know.... I never said there was a high probability, but a package of Batum, Rudy, #21 and change might have a chance to entice MIN... Kahn had a high interest in Batum last year...
Btw, NBAdraft.net (twitter) said Kemba Walker measured a legit 6'1" (w/shoes). He's basically the same size as Mike Conley, Jr.
