az1965
Love Games!
- Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: "If, in fact, we're at the point where Kevin Garnett and his agent are nixing possible trades, then the longtime Timberwolves franchise lynchpin will be gone very soon. There's no turning back. This is like being in a long-term relationship and suddenly having your significant other say he or she would like to be able to see other people. It's never the same after that. A fissure has developed. The Wolves tried to trade, or at least strongly considered trading, Garnett. There's no way to pretend it never happened. The love affair is over."
- TrueHoop reader Andy has a pretty clever trade to propose, now that it appears Garnett is trying to force his way to Phoenix, while the Suns don't want to give up Amare Stoudemire to get him: "How about this three way trade? Phoenix sends James Jones and Shawn Marion to the Lakers. Phoenix also sends the Hawks' first next year, a first this year, and Marcus Banks to the Minnesota. The Wolves send Garnett to Phoenix and Jaric to the Lakers. The Lakers send Vladimir Radmanoic to Phoenix, as well as Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown and a resigned Luke Walton to Minnesota. In the end Phoenix gets Garnett without giving up any starters except Marion, and dumps Banks' contract. LA gets Marion without giving up Odom, giving them a starting five of Farmar, Kobe, Marion, Odom, and Mihm -- with Jaric (a big PG that Jackson will like), James Jones, Cook, and Turiaf coming off the bench. Theoretically a Marion/Odom/Kobe partnership might be enough to entice Kobe into sticking around. Minnesota gets Banks (who wasn't that bad in his time there) and swaps Brown's expiring contract for Jaric's bloated disaster. They really kickstart the rebuilding process with the Hawks' first next year, Walton, and Bynum -- which is potentially three-fifths of a starting line-up for a playoff team in three years or so. Obviously the deal requires Kobe deciding that Marion and Odom would be enough to convince him to stay, and the Timberwolves admitting they need to rebuild, and the Suns being willing to significantly improve the Lakers to get their hands on KG -- but I think all those conditions are possibly, if not likely. Not only do all three teams get something they need: PHX a potential answer to Duncan and resolution to the Amare/Marion issues, MIN gets good value for KG in a rough market, and LAL might get enough to convince Kobe to stay - all three teams get to shuffle around a deadweight contract into a system where they might be slightly more valuable. Jaric shot .375 on 3's last season, plays decent D, and is the kind of big PG Jackson loves to use. Banks wasn't bad in Minnesota, and VladRad would be a great complimentary piece in PHX. (The inclusion of Luke Walton, which can't be factored in to the trade machine, gives it a "false failure." Assume a contract starting at about five million for Walton and it would work. Too much higher than that and the Wolves could just ship Mark Madsen back to the Lakers to balance it out again. Please also note that the Wolves' draft picks don't show up in this scenario either."
- John Hollinger in the New York Sun: "So it's easy to imagine the Bulls winning the bidding for Garnett's services especially now that Boston seems out of the running. Certainly Chicago has the pieces to offer. The Bulls can ante up with the rapidly improving small forward Luol Deng, and sweeten the pot with high-scoring guard Ben Gordon. They'd have to include a signed-and-traded P.J. Brown or Andres Nocioni to get the contracts to match, as well as an end-of-the-bench guy or two (Viktor Khryapa, please pick up the white courtesy phone), but the numbers can work. If Chicago makes the deal for Garnett, that pretty much takes them out of the running for Kobe they just wouldn't have enough assets left. And if Chicago is out of the picture, and Phoenix is beyond consideration, that just leaves one team left on Kobe's list the Knicks."
- Could the Warriors get Garnett? Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News considers what they could offer: "I've gone over the list time and again, and right now Mullin could tell McHale to take his pick from a list of Patrick O'Bryant, Al Harrington, Jason Richardson, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, the No. 18 overall pick, Andris Biedrins/Monta Ellis. If Minnesota wants cap-clearance, Mullin can dangle Zarko Cabarkapa and, if the T-Wolves can wait two years, Adonal Foyle." My interpretation of that situation is: no. The Warriors are not in the running for Garnett.
