All right, a couple of quick trade ideas:
IDEA #1:
T-Mac
for
Dalembert and Iggy
Word on the street is Houston wants McGrady gone. They have a great young scrappy/hustle team, which has earned itself an 18-13 record in the super-competitive West. And that’s without Yao Ming.
This trade gives Houston a much-needed center to protect the rim, and a go-to guy in Iggy (who does a little of everything, and can score in the clutch). The team improves enough with this trade to go deep in the playoffs. Plus, they would get another year after this with Sammy, which provides insurance for Yao — who’s about as durable as an egg (an expiring contract they could trade next year if Sammy turns out to be superfluous.)
IDEA #2:
Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw, Juwan Howard (all expiring)
for
Dalembert, Speights, and $5M cash
Portland has a seriously good team that could make a real run. But both of their centers are done for the season. Basically, we’d be giving them Dalembert and cash for the expiring contracts of expendable players. But...
They’ll be stuck with Sammy and his $12M pay check NEXT YEAR when Oden and Przybilla are back. That’s why we’d need to give up Speights. It makes the trade worth doing for them.
Yeah, all things being equal, I’d rather keep Iggy (despite his too-big contract). And I’d absolutely hate to give up Speights (young stud who we have on the super-cheap). But either of these trades would put us far enough under the cap that a small additional trade or two would put us in the LeBron/Wade sweepstakes. So you have to do it if you can.
You feeling me, Ed?
