Around the League
Rumors that the Blazers are shopping Rasheed Wallace hard just won't die. A controversial interview in today's Oregonian probably won't help his status with the team. Numerous GMs around the league are claiming that, with Bonzi Wells out of the picture in Portland, and the outpouring of goodwill from fans for letting him leave, Blazers GM John Nash wants to seize the moment and see if he can get rid of more of his trash while the getting is good.
Rasheed Wallace
Small Forward
Portland Trail Blazers
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
20 16.4 7.3 2.8 .409 .732
The stumbling block to moving Wallace remains the same. Nash wants back either an expiring contract, a top-notch prospect (or high draft pick) or a legit all-star small forward. While most GMs will concede that Wallace's talent is worth the price (as is the fact that the risk is low since his contract comes off the books this summer), his considerable baggage and the uncertainty about his future are making it a very hard sell.
There are teams out there that are interested (like the 76ers and Celtics) but don't have the assets to work out something with the Blazers. Given the Suns' recent woes, maybe Nash should pick up the phone and see if Suns GM Bryan Colangelo is willing to deal.
As you read above, Colangelo likes his core and has remained pretty strident that he's not prepared to break it up . . . yet. But with Amare Stoudemire out a month, and the rest of the Western Conference already lapping them, how patient is Colangelo willing to be?
I normally like to stay away from blockbuster deals, especially once the season is under way. They cost too much and rarely happen, but I wonder if the Suns and Blazers could work something out. Here's an idea that seems to make sense for both teams.
The Suns could send Shawn Marion, Penny Hardaway, Tom Gugliotta and Cezary Trybanski to the Blazers for Wallace, Dale Davis, Derek Anderson and Qyntel Woods.
What do the Blazers get out of the deal? A young athletic all-star forward who can shoot the 3 and rebound in Marion; a healthy (at least right now) Hardaway to swing between the one and the two; Gugliotta's expiring contract and a young, but very raw big man, Trybanski, to develop in the middle.
What do the Suns get? Wallace, who, when he's focused, is one of the top five small forwards in the league. The Suns desperately need size, and the 6-foot-11 Wallace can deliver from the three, four or five. Davis is the type of blue collar, low-post banger the Suns have needed for a while. Anderson, when he's healthy, is actually a younger, more athletic version of Hardaway because of his ability to play multiple positions on the floor. Woods, when he's not smoking weed, is considered one of the brightest young prospects out there.
What would hold up the deal? Character will be a big issue for the Suns. They traded away Jason Kidd after his domestic abuse charges. Davis and Anderson are fine, but Wallace's and Woods' past abuses with Mary Jane would certainly give Suns CEO Jerry Colangelo pause. While talent-wise, the Suns come out ahead (though losing Marion would be a pretty big blow), there's no guarantee that this group, which has struggled at times in Portland, would give them any more effort than Marion and Hardaway.
Money would be the biggest issue for the Blazers. As it stands now, they're set to get Wallace's $17 million off the cap this summer. Gugliotta will give them $11.6 million in cap relief next year, but Marion's (6 years, $10.9 million in 2003-4) and Hardaway's (3 years, $13.5 million in 2003-04) long-term deals will handcuff them a little financially. Talent-wise, the Blazers take a small hit, but it would probably be worth getting rid of Wallace and Woods. Without Davis to man the middle, a combo of Vladimir Stepania, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Trybanski probably won't be enough to get it done in the paint.
You hard core fans out there will no doubt notice that Marion is a base-year player this year. To save you the trouble of the e-mails, just note that base-year players are very tough to trade, but not impossible. Because there are so many salaries being swapped in this deal, and the CBA gives each team a 15 percent cushion for salaries to match, the Suns would be able to absorb the fact that they can take back only $5.5 million of Marion's $11 million salary this year.
Johnson's firing continues talk of a trend toward the mass destruction of coaches in the league. An unprecedented 11 teams opened the 2003-04 season with a new head coach. Three have already been fired and several more -- Nate McMillan, Byron Scott and to a lesser extent, Don Chaney and Jim O'Brien -- look like they're on the hot seat.
Last Thursday, Insider pointed the finger at the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The lethal combination of a hard cap, luxury tax and guaranteed contracts leave GMs with few options when their teams go south.
Since we wrote the piece last week, several GMs have commented to Insider that they believe that NBA commish David Stern is going to push very hard to reduce the number of years a contract can be guaranteed for.
"Right now it's seven and frankly, that's just too long," one GM said. "If a guy is 28 years old and in his prime when he signs it, he's 35 years old and probably way out of his prime when he's making the most money. With a hard cap and the luxury tax, that just kills a team."
The plan, according to several GMs, will be to reduce the number of guaranteed years to five if a team is re-signing its own free agent. If a team is signing another team's free agent, the number would go down to four.
Ideally, teams would love to implement the NFL's system that does away with guaranteed contracts all together. But with the CBA set to expire at the end of next season (the NBA picked up its option to extend the CBA for 2004-05 on Monday), the league knows that insisting on doing away with guarantees altogether would lead to a protracted labor war -- something neither side wants.
----------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, December 11
Updated: December 11
9:14 AM ET
PippenChicago Bulls: Say it isn't so, Scottie. "I've questioned myself whether I can play another year -- or this year," Pippen said in the Chicago Tribune. "I just have to wait and see." Pippen has already missed the team's last three games and a total of eight on the season after his left knee continued to swell following off season surgery. "We're not making the progress that we'd like to think we would be making," trainer Fred Tedeschi said. "We're still having problems with swelling and investigating where we need to go from here."
Los Angeles Lakers: The old Kobe Bryant is back, Or at least he says he will be around late December."Right now, I'm starting to round back into shape," Bryant said in the LA Daily News. "The last practice we had, we kind of got up and down the floor, my legs felt pretty good, just running around, my speed was coming back, my hops were coming back." Bryant has used the Lakers soft schedule to finish rehabilitation on his surgically repaired knee and get his body back into shape after an off season of personal problems. "It's just a little bit of an inconsistency," head coach Phil Jackson said. "I think he knows he's going to come along, and I think he's patient. We want to see him take a better selection of shots, too."
Boston Celtics: Antoine Walker may be gone but he's still haunting the man who traded him away from Boston. "I've always known how fans are," says the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge in the Boston Globe. "And I even anticipated player agents, coaches, and owners to be a little bit that way. Coaches live in the moment through their players. Our owners are new, but they are experienced business people. I know that if you haven't been through this you look at this thing as if you're on a daily roller coaster." Ainge contends that with Walker, the Celtics could go no further despite reaching the conference finals and fans don't realize that. "I thought Jim O'Brien did a masterful job that season," Ainge maintains. "Even with Rodney Rogers and Kenny Anderson, that team severely overachieved. In my mind, that was not a team that was built to be a true contender. It wasn't like you'd say, `All we have to do is keep this team together and we'll be there, year in and year out.' And last year's team also overachieved."
Houston Rockets: Eddie Griffin has a multi-million dollar contract in the NBA, an upcoming trial for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and, now, a judge ordered curfew with random drug testing. "He's doing very well, and he's ready to get this behind him," said his attorney, Derek Hollingsworth, in the Houston Chronicle. "There's always two sides to every story, and we're anxious to get our side out at trial." The prosecution's side stems from an incident involving two women, a fired gun and police. Griffin, who has undergone substance abuse treatment, can be put in jail for two to 20 years if found guilty.
Miami Heat: Caron Butler may be exhausted from playing 37 minutes in his last game after an extended stay on injured reserve, but that doesn't mean he's lost his sense of humor. "I'm so hurt I think I'm done for the season," Butler joked to the Palm Beach Post. And now he's ready to get on the court with his new teammates Dwyane Wade and Lamar Odom. "I was so open at times it shocked me," Butler said. "Last year you were used to having a defender right in front of you, and playing with such great players now you're in a situation where you catch the ball and you're like, 'Whoa.' You've got time to actually think about the shot."
Rumors that the Blazers are shopping Rasheed Wallace hard just won't die. A controversial interview in today's Oregonian probably won't help his status with the team. Numerous GMs around the league are claiming that, with Bonzi Wells out of the picture in Portland, and the outpouring of goodwill from fans for letting him leave, Blazers GM John Nash wants to seize the moment and see if he can get rid of more of his trash while the getting is good.
Rasheed Wallace
Small Forward
Portland Trail Blazers
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
20 16.4 7.3 2.8 .409 .732
The stumbling block to moving Wallace remains the same. Nash wants back either an expiring contract, a top-notch prospect (or high draft pick) or a legit all-star small forward. While most GMs will concede that Wallace's talent is worth the price (as is the fact that the risk is low since his contract comes off the books this summer), his considerable baggage and the uncertainty about his future are making it a very hard sell.
There are teams out there that are interested (like the 76ers and Celtics) but don't have the assets to work out something with the Blazers. Given the Suns' recent woes, maybe Nash should pick up the phone and see if Suns GM Bryan Colangelo is willing to deal.
As you read above, Colangelo likes his core and has remained pretty strident that he's not prepared to break it up . . . yet. But with Amare Stoudemire out a month, and the rest of the Western Conference already lapping them, how patient is Colangelo willing to be?
I normally like to stay away from blockbuster deals, especially once the season is under way. They cost too much and rarely happen, but I wonder if the Suns and Blazers could work something out. Here's an idea that seems to make sense for both teams.
The Suns could send Shawn Marion, Penny Hardaway, Tom Gugliotta and Cezary Trybanski to the Blazers for Wallace, Dale Davis, Derek Anderson and Qyntel Woods.
What do the Blazers get out of the deal? A young athletic all-star forward who can shoot the 3 and rebound in Marion; a healthy (at least right now) Hardaway to swing between the one and the two; Gugliotta's expiring contract and a young, but very raw big man, Trybanski, to develop in the middle.
What do the Suns get? Wallace, who, when he's focused, is one of the top five small forwards in the league. The Suns desperately need size, and the 6-foot-11 Wallace can deliver from the three, four or five. Davis is the type of blue collar, low-post banger the Suns have needed for a while. Anderson, when he's healthy, is actually a younger, more athletic version of Hardaway because of his ability to play multiple positions on the floor. Woods, when he's not smoking weed, is considered one of the brightest young prospects out there.
What would hold up the deal? Character will be a big issue for the Suns. They traded away Jason Kidd after his domestic abuse charges. Davis and Anderson are fine, but Wallace's and Woods' past abuses with Mary Jane would certainly give Suns CEO Jerry Colangelo pause. While talent-wise, the Suns come out ahead (though losing Marion would be a pretty big blow), there's no guarantee that this group, which has struggled at times in Portland, would give them any more effort than Marion and Hardaway.
Money would be the biggest issue for the Blazers. As it stands now, they're set to get Wallace's $17 million off the cap this summer. Gugliotta will give them $11.6 million in cap relief next year, but Marion's (6 years, $10.9 million in 2003-4) and Hardaway's (3 years, $13.5 million in 2003-04) long-term deals will handcuff them a little financially. Talent-wise, the Blazers take a small hit, but it would probably be worth getting rid of Wallace and Woods. Without Davis to man the middle, a combo of Vladimir Stepania, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Trybanski probably won't be enough to get it done in the paint.
You hard core fans out there will no doubt notice that Marion is a base-year player this year. To save you the trouble of the e-mails, just note that base-year players are very tough to trade, but not impossible. Because there are so many salaries being swapped in this deal, and the CBA gives each team a 15 percent cushion for salaries to match, the Suns would be able to absorb the fact that they can take back only $5.5 million of Marion's $11 million salary this year.
Johnson's firing continues talk of a trend toward the mass destruction of coaches in the league. An unprecedented 11 teams opened the 2003-04 season with a new head coach. Three have already been fired and several more -- Nate McMillan, Byron Scott and to a lesser extent, Don Chaney and Jim O'Brien -- look like they're on the hot seat.
Last Thursday, Insider pointed the finger at the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The lethal combination of a hard cap, luxury tax and guaranteed contracts leave GMs with few options when their teams go south.
Since we wrote the piece last week, several GMs have commented to Insider that they believe that NBA commish David Stern is going to push very hard to reduce the number of years a contract can be guaranteed for.
"Right now it's seven and frankly, that's just too long," one GM said. "If a guy is 28 years old and in his prime when he signs it, he's 35 years old and probably way out of his prime when he's making the most money. With a hard cap and the luxury tax, that just kills a team."
The plan, according to several GMs, will be to reduce the number of guaranteed years to five if a team is re-signing its own free agent. If a team is signing another team's free agent, the number would go down to four.
Ideally, teams would love to implement the NFL's system that does away with guaranteed contracts all together. But with the CBA set to expire at the end of next season (the NBA picked up its option to extend the CBA for 2004-05 on Monday), the league knows that insisting on doing away with guarantees altogether would lead to a protracted labor war -- something neither side wants.
----------------------------------
Peep Show
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Thursday, December 11
Updated: December 11
9:14 AM ET
PippenChicago Bulls: Say it isn't so, Scottie. "I've questioned myself whether I can play another year -- or this year," Pippen said in the Chicago Tribune. "I just have to wait and see." Pippen has already missed the team's last three games and a total of eight on the season after his left knee continued to swell following off season surgery. "We're not making the progress that we'd like to think we would be making," trainer Fred Tedeschi said. "We're still having problems with swelling and investigating where we need to go from here."
Los Angeles Lakers: The old Kobe Bryant is back, Or at least he says he will be around late December."Right now, I'm starting to round back into shape," Bryant said in the LA Daily News. "The last practice we had, we kind of got up and down the floor, my legs felt pretty good, just running around, my speed was coming back, my hops were coming back." Bryant has used the Lakers soft schedule to finish rehabilitation on his surgically repaired knee and get his body back into shape after an off season of personal problems. "It's just a little bit of an inconsistency," head coach Phil Jackson said. "I think he knows he's going to come along, and I think he's patient. We want to see him take a better selection of shots, too."
Boston Celtics: Antoine Walker may be gone but he's still haunting the man who traded him away from Boston. "I've always known how fans are," says the Celtics' executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge in the Boston Globe. "And I even anticipated player agents, coaches, and owners to be a little bit that way. Coaches live in the moment through their players. Our owners are new, but they are experienced business people. I know that if you haven't been through this you look at this thing as if you're on a daily roller coaster." Ainge contends that with Walker, the Celtics could go no further despite reaching the conference finals and fans don't realize that. "I thought Jim O'Brien did a masterful job that season," Ainge maintains. "Even with Rodney Rogers and Kenny Anderson, that team severely overachieved. In my mind, that was not a team that was built to be a true contender. It wasn't like you'd say, `All we have to do is keep this team together and we'll be there, year in and year out.' And last year's team also overachieved."
Houston Rockets: Eddie Griffin has a multi-million dollar contract in the NBA, an upcoming trial for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and, now, a judge ordered curfew with random drug testing. "He's doing very well, and he's ready to get this behind him," said his attorney, Derek Hollingsworth, in the Houston Chronicle. "There's always two sides to every story, and we're anxious to get our side out at trial." The prosecution's side stems from an incident involving two women, a fired gun and police. Griffin, who has undergone substance abuse treatment, can be put in jail for two to 20 years if found guilty.
Miami Heat: Caron Butler may be exhausted from playing 37 minutes in his last game after an extended stay on injured reserve, but that doesn't mean he's lost his sense of humor. "I'm so hurt I think I'm done for the season," Butler joked to the Palm Beach Post. And now he's ready to get on the court with his new teammates Dwyane Wade and Lamar Odom. "I was so open at times it shocked me," Butler said. "Last year you were used to having a defender right in front of you, and playing with such great players now you're in a situation where you catch the ball and you're like, 'Whoa.' You've got time to actually think about the shot."
