Sane Trade Scenario That Still Probably Won’t Happen!


Okie dokie, since all we can do right now is speculate on what deals will go down, I believe I will join all the trade scenarios and throw one out myself. Not to mention it’s one that would make sense for several sides! Hard to find one of those nowadays…

Move number 1: Trade Peja for Al Jefferson straight up. Minny really wants to get rid of this guy, and have even begged, yes, begged Dallas to swap Erick Dampier for AJ. Reports say that Dallas refuses this deal because Dampier could be a trade chip to pry CP3 away from the Hornets (PAHAHAHAHAA! Oh Dallas, you jokesters you.) But I digress. The move would free up a ton cap space for the Wolves next season so they can start Darko, sign more mediocre point guards and small forwards to big deals, and supply the Hornets with yet another All-Star with an excellent game in the low post and some mid-range game. Jefferson is coming off of an injury (which actually occurred at a Hornets game, hmm…), but would certainly be a very nice fixture for several years down in the paint. Not to mention he still has room to improve since he’s only 25 years old.

Before you start screaming about cap space and luxury tax next offseason, I will introduce you to trade numero dos (number two).

Move number 2: Trade Emeka Okafor and the Hilton Armstrong trade exception to the Knicks for Wilson Chandler and Eddy Curry. Oh yes, I went there. This would actually be a pretty good move financially AND address some holes on ze roster. The Knicks have a plastic spoon and a Ziploc bag filled with dirt as their front court, not to mention they’re ready to dump old Eddy and find a new home for the young and slightly troublesome Chandler. Chandler could almost instantly step in to start at SF or SG and give us a nice upgrade at either position. Curry could be another big body that plays sparingly, but he’s mainly just an expiring contract ($11.1 million off the books next year, Chandler is also in the final year with $2.1 million).

Sooooo, after all this swapping and trading going down we actually end up looking pretty nice. Less money and time committed to the center position for a better, younger player, and regaining expiring contracts who actually address needs! Please, please no applaud, it does get better however. After all this shuffling, we can then dump Julian and Songaila allowing us a little more room for a free agent signing! And that’s where move number 3 comes into action.

Action Move number 3: Sign Ronnie Brewer to the FULL MLE. 5 years, $34 million (which is what he would get in other places, but we have CP3 woop woop!) is a nice deal for him. He would instantly be a starter and we are all pretty familiar with his situation and what not, so no need to elaborate.

Time for a mock lineup!

PG: CP3, DC, Luther Head

SG: Ronnie Brewer, Marcus Thornton, Luther Head

SF: Wilson Chandler, Quincy Pondexter, James Posey

PF: David West, Craig Brackins, (Ike Diogu?)

C: Al Jefferson, Aaron Gray, Eddy Curry

It’s actually a pretty nice looking deal here. We have a solid mix of veteran players and young players, great defending wings (which makes it a whooooole lot easier for big men to play defense), offensive threats literally at every position, and very nice potential.

Now before I go several of you are going to say “Well with Jefferson and West in the middle, good big men will eat that defense alive.” I don’t see that as the case. Coach Williams is preaching defense, and should have a new and effective scheme in place for this season, not forgetting the newly acquired wing players that are not liabilities on defense. It’s not like the defensive drop off is really that big from Okafor (who hardly played when defense really mattered) to Jefferson. If worst comes to worst, then Aaron Gray and Eddy Curry can just use their size as defense if the other two aren’t getting it done.

This is just my little idea, so feel free to eat it alive or kiss it’s diamond-encrusted Air Jordans, and sorry it’s so long.

P.S. Here’s the link to the trades on ESPN Trade Machine: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2asy7b7


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