Orlando almost had Amare?

[Joe Mama]

I had heard that Portland was trying to move up to get Amare Stoudemire. I didn't realize that Orlando was trying that hard. Of course weren't the Phoenix Suns also trying to move up to make sure they got him?

Joe

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...r25,0,1207367.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines

Magic Coach Doc Rivers was left pondering what might have been Thursday. Rivers said the Magic were impressed when Stoudemire worked out and met with team officials before last year's draft.

"That was one of the best interviews we've had," Rivers said. "He said, 'Listen, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady will do the scoring. I will be your rebounder, and I will be your best defender. I can do that for you.' He walked out, and we're like, 'God, that's nice to hear. That's the type of attitude we want around here.' . . . He could've ran for president that day.

"From that meeting is when we started trying to make moves [to get Stoudemire in the draft]. . . . People really don't know how close it was. We had a deal done, and a team pulled it off the table literally a second before it was going to happen."

 

[hcsilla]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
I had heard that Portland was trying to move up to get Amare Stoudemire. I didn't realize that Orlando was trying that hard.

Neither me.

I remember that they were satisfied with Amare's workout and some mock drafts projected Amare at #18 for ORL when Stoudemire's value dropped.

I'm very curious which team could be what ORL almost traded for Stoudemire with.

Maybe MEM was ready to deal their pick for Miller. I doubt it but who knows.

 

[slinslin]

Orlando Magic and their newspapers are probably making up all that stuff because it makes them look better in the media.

In 10 years or so when Amare might be unrestricted FA they tell him that they wanted him from day 1.

Honestly I don't believe anything of that.

 

[Charles V]

This was in the paper today.

The league will hold a series of tiebreaking coin tosses Monday to determine draft order. The Suns, with a 44-38 record, finished tied with the Boston Celtics for the 16th spot.

The winner of their toss will get the 16th pick in the first round and the loser will get the 17th.

If you think that's not a big deal, consider this:

A year ago, the Suns flipped a coin with the Miami Heat for the No. 9 pick. The Suns won the toss.

Had that not happened, Miami would have drafted Amare Stoudemire at No. 9, as the Suns did. However, the Heat already had a deal arranged to send Stoudemire to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Stoudemire wound up with the Suns and was named Rookie of the Year.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/0425sunsnb0425.html

 

[elindholm]

How can the author of the article know what Miami would have done? There's no way that the Heat could have said to the Blazers, "If we win the coin flip for #9 and you think you want Stoudemire and we think we don't and he's still on the board at 9, then we'll make this trade." That just doesn't have the ring of truth.

But, whatever. It's about time that the Suns benefitted from a coin flip. :-?

 

[Goldfield]

ahhh, there are tons off ALMOSTS in the draft, Last night Jerry C said he was trying VERY hard to trade up for Kobe Bryant... Hearing that only pisses me off, since we "Allmost" had him

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

The heat would not have traded amare....they were taking Caron no matter what. All riley would talk about is how he hoped he would fall that far. remember the clipps tried to trade wilcox, their 12th pick, and someone else for the 10th pick so that they could send odom and butler to the cavs. for miller.

 

[capologist]

Originally posted by elindholm
How can the author of the article know what Miami would have done? There's no way that the Heat could have said to the Blazers, "If we win the coin flip for #9 and you think you want Stoudemire and we think we don't and he's still on the board at 9, then we'll make this trade." That just doesn't have the ring of truth.

Presumably, the trade talk was post coin-flip. I do recall there were rumors around the time of the draft that Miami and Portland had agreed to a deal that would have sent Amare to Portland if he had still been on the board at #10. Contingent draft deals like that are not uncommon. There were probably some other conditions, too (such as, perhaps, Caron Butler not being on board).

Of course, Portland probably would have sat him on the bench for a few years and then traded him for some washed-up former All-Star.

I still want to get the details on the Clippers/Cavs/Wilcox/Butler fiasco, and how exactly we fit into the whole thing.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

cap...
as i remember this is what happened.

Cleavland selected wagner at number 6. there was a deal on the table for the Clippers to select butler at 8, and trade him and Lamar Odom to the cavs for Andre Miller. That deal had fallen apart, until the last second when Cleavland called LA and wanted to do it. The problem was that LA had just dialed in Wilcox as their pick. After that, Cleavland tried offering Phx Chris Wilcox and someone else (I want to say Dooling, but not sure) for the number 9 pick so they could get Caron. Of course, Phoenix said no way, and drafted Amare. After that, they tried calling Miami, but the Heat wanted Butler themself, so they deal fell apart.


Of course that was one of the 3 possibly deals that were on the table involving miller. Another was both Odom and Miles for Andre Miller. Then of course the actual deal that happened. There was a huge deal about how the Clips and Cavs botched the draft day trade though.

 

[capologist]

Let me get this straight. Cleveland had been offered Lamar Odom and the #8 pick, they hem and haw, they try to accept the offer just a few seconds too late, and they end up with Darius Miles and Harold Jamison?

Man, Cleveland sucks.

I really wanted to attend the draft party, but couldn't because I was ill. From what I heard, there was a lot of commotion right before our pick. The Suns muted the TV to eliminate the distraction while they conducted some frantic negotiations by phone. This commotion was explained after the fact as being the Clippers/Cavs situation.

Now, if there was all that commotion, the conversation must have consisted of more than:<blockquote>"We'll send you Wilcox and Dooling if you pick Butler and send him to Cleveland."
"Ha ha ha." <i>click</i></blockquote>I wonder what else went on during those discussions.

 

[Joe Mama]

What would last year's draft look like if it was conducted today?

1. Yao Ming
2. Amare Stoudemire
3. Nene Hilario
4. Carron Butler
5. Drew Gooden

Joe Mama

 

[hcsilla]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
What would last year's draft look like if it was conducted today?

1. Yao Ming
2. Amare Stoudemire
3. Nene Hilario
4. Carron Butler
5. Drew Gooden

Joe Mama

This would be.

 

[Skratchy_Seal]

Did you guys see those draft videos released on suns.com a bit after last year's draft? If you go to around the 3:30 mark, you can get an idea of what Capologist was talking about.

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