There's a report in Fox Sports Ohio about discussions concerning Anthony Parker: I'm somewhat lukewarm on acquiring Parker. It would be nice to have another veteran shooting guard should Brewer or Korver get injured. That being said, I would think that the first target would be a backup point guard.
Hey, no harm in asking. They'll settle for a second round pick and the "opportunity" to draft someone like Asik, when all is said and done. I don't think Houston will settle for that for Lee.
One of the bigger problems I see with trading for Parker is that I don't see what we can trade for him. He makes something like $2.8M a year, so we have to actually trade players for him. I wouldn't even trade JJ for him though, because at the very minimum, JJ is filler and possible for an actually beneficial trade down the road. Parker is 35 and on an expiring deal. It's an open question as to whether he can actually even stay in front of anyone at this point. Nor would it make sense to trade Bogans or Kurt Thomas for him. I've heard some folks suggest something like trading KT and then pre-arranging a buyout whereupon he comes back to us. But would that be worth it for the Cavs to pay Thomas some amount to not play a minute for them? Just to get a measly second round pick? Would it be worth it to lose our backup big for a month? What happens if someone gets knicked during that time? To me, adding a 35 year old perimeter player who very well likely wouldn't play at all isn't worth that.
I agree Mike that these deals are relatively tough. This isn't just a small transaction but also setting course for how business should will be run now that the Bulls are a contender. (I was going to say maybe-contender, but the Bulls are a contender right? They could win it, especially if a couple of injury-prone teams are injury prone.) If Brewer goes down the Bulls chances at advancing past the second round take a nose dive, and Parker would insulate against that. But those second round picks can be surprisingly valuable, if you actually make the pick. And as Denny continually mentions, and I think he's right, the Heat will only get better. The Bulls are going to need some options for acquiring additional talent. I think I'm an advocate of the "if he doesn't start in front of Bogans it's not worth making a move" crowd. There's little point in giving up second round pick lottery tickets if you aren't really improving your team, and you know that you may NEED an influx of talent to continue growing at some point.
There's another update from the Ohio Beacon Journal: Reading between the lines . . . Cleveland may be able to save money by just letting Parker's contact expire, and then not re-signing him. If the cap is dropping with the new CBA, and the Cavs are in cost-saving mode, it may not make sense to take back J.J., even if the Bulls toss in a second rounder as a sweetener.
