Looks like outside of Nash everybody's on the trading block in Phoenix.

Apparently any trade the suns do will have to meet the criteria of lowering salary (or pickup expiring contracts) which means get young talent and draft picks.

Let the Stoudamire sweepstakes begin!

I wonder who is going to make a push to get him.

Copy/Paste from ESPN Rumors...

_____

According to league sources, the Bulls are one of several teams engaged in discussions about Amare Stoudemire.

Any Bulls package would include the expiring $7.1 million contract of Drew Gooden. Two league sources said the Suns also are most intrigued by forward Tyrus Thomas, and his play on the recent trip explains why. -- Chicago Tribune

# Their offer would be centered around Tyrus Thomas, along with the expiring contracts of Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons. Whether the Bulls sweeten the deal by throwing in Thabo Sefolosha, Andres Nocioni, Joakim Noah or draft picks is negotiable.

Don't expect Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich or Ben Gordon to be included in any trade.

Besides the Bulls, the main suitors are believed to be Miami, Detroit, New Jersey and possibly Portland. -- Arlington Heights Daily Herald

# Stoudemire has been the subject of trade rumors linking him with several teams, including the Detroit Pistons.

"It's part of the job," Stoudemire said. "Some years, you have to deal with trade rumors and some years, you don't. It's just part of the trade."

As far as the talk about him and the Pistons, Stoudemire said, "I try not to focus on anything but the game, but I hear all the scenarios. It's nice to see that good teams are interested in you." -- Booth Newspapers

# The Warriors have thrown their hat into the ring for Suns All-Star PF Amare Stoudemire, who is available if the NBA insider scuttle is to be believed. According to a team source, the Warriors have and likely will continue to have talks with the Suns about a deal. -- Contra Costa Times

# Apparently, the talk revved up today and the Warriors were either in direct contact with the Suns or the Warriors' executives were telling other teams that they were.

Either way, the Warriors want in on the Stoudemire discussion, and if they don't get him by the Feb. 19 trade deadline, most NBA sources presume that they will try to get involved with any other available young power forward/center, if they aren't already.

That, the source cautioned, does not mean that the Suns are intrigued and it definitely doesn't mean that the Warriors are a top candidate for Stoudemire, who can opt-out of his contract in the summer of 2010. -- San Jose Mercury News

Here's a good little scenario rumour builder

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/stor...scenario-090207

This would be very interesting...

Potential trades for Shaq

LAKERS: Lamar Odom, Chris Mihm and D.J. Mbenga
• See this trade in the ESPN Trade Machine

Why they'd do it: Yes, the breakup between the Lakers and Shaq was messy. But Phil Jackson has always loved Shaq, and with Andrew Bynum out for a while, L.A. could use someone who could step in and play immediately in the middle. Besides, it would be the best story of the year.

The Suns need cap space, and this deal would save them a whopping $21 million next year after all the expiring contracts in the deal come off the books

Why they wouldn't: The Shaq-Kobe dynamic could capsize the season, especially if their interpersonal drama is re-ignited. Whenever Bynum returns from being injured, there would be a serious logjam in the middle.

And things are going pretty well for the Lakers. Do they need to make this drastic a move?

There would be no downside for the Suns. In fact, I think they'll move Shaq to any team that can give them cap space -- even the Lakers. And yes, this is an admission that, on second thought, that Shaq deal wasn't such a great move.

I don't know why they wouldn't get rid of one of them...they got so many good small players that added a great big would help them so much. I guess it's a buyers market out there.

I don't see Shaq going back to LA, they are playing fine even without Bynum.

More from ESPN rumor central....

____

With the trade deadline less than two weeks away, the rumors are increasing, and several possible deals involve Hornets starting center Tyson Chandler.

However, Hornets GM Jeff Bower declined Sunday to say whom they might be shopping or could have an interest in obtaining before the Feb. 19 trade deadline.

Bower did say he has made a number of phone calls and has received several inquires from general managers.

The latest rumor has Chandler going to the Miami Heat in exchange for power forward Shawn Marion, whose $17.1 million contract expires at the end of this season.

wow, West at C and Marion at PF would be pretty sick...I'm surprised how well NO has done considering Chandler has been sucking big time or hurt this year

Alert me once the trade deadline has passed. It will be easier for me as a Bulls fan to handle having the same roster as we do now.

mmmmmm......wade and stoudamire. I could live with losing Beasley for that.

Tyson Chandler? I suppose that is not the worst trade ever for the Heat. If he has a huge contract then I dont like it that much.

you've lost your freaking mind if you think thats even a one in a million chance.

the team that really needs to go for Amare is Detriot. send AI. makes perfect sense to me.

stuckey
rip
prince
amare
doesnt matter.

One time please

how about Portland?

how's a starting line-up with Roy, Amare, and Aldridge? they could trade any of Oden, Outlaw, Fernandez.

maybe it's the fantasy team but I'm becoming a fan of the Blazers just because they have Roy. that kid can play!

speaking of fantasy teams...I beat you last week

Wow.. Umm... Hmmm.....

Oden Outlaw + Fernandez for Amare + Barbosa (or some stiff to play swing), Lafrentz + Sergio for Richard Jefferson....

Bayless, Blake
Roy, Barbosa (or said stiff)
Jefferson, Webster
Aldridge, Frye
Amare, Przybilla.

Interesting.. But I don't see it happening... Phoenix is only trading Amare to Portland if it gets Lafrentz's contract back in the deal.. Some combo of Frye/Outlaw/Fernandez/Oden would be a dream scenario for a *real* team, but remember PHX were the idiots who sold us Fernandez (and later James Jones and Sergio) for $3 mil a pop... free and clear.. They do silly things in Phoenix, historically giving up the world to free up space to get under that evil, evil, salary cap!

For the Blazers, giving up on Oden would be a PR nightmare... Outlaw is Roy's best friend on the planet.. And for Oden personally, getting the rug pulled out from under him would probably destroy him mentally. Plus Oden doesn't fit into PHXs system.. They'd probably need him for more than the 15 minutes he could stay on the court a night

It's far more likely that Portland moves the Lafrentz contract + change for Richard Jefferson, or works out something for Luol Deng (Pritchard has some man-crush on him).

I'd love to see Amare in Portland, but I don't see it happening, no matter how much we could technically "give" PHX for it.

I have not seen an Amare scenario that makes more sense than him going to the Heat.

They are not getting even 75 cents on the dollar for him at this point. So, getting Marion's contract back and getting a young player as talented as Beasley is as good as Phoenix is going to do.

If you are Miami, it is a no brainer obviously. You have two young superstars whose games fit together fine. And you still have Chalmers and Haslem to fill the 1 and the 4 and Cook as the designated shooter for the 3. Piece together a mediocre bench and you contend with that team for years.

Portland wouldn’t trade Oden for Amare straight up, much less Oden+. Do you think Portland drafted Oden for his offense? He’s there for rebounding and defense first and foremost and if he gets more than 15 points, that’s a bonus. So they’re not trading a difference-maker on defense for possibly the worst defender in the league, just because they obtain a big-time scorer.

If he goes I say he comes to Detroit. Or at least he would like to given his interview the other day. Odd interview from a player in trade rumors.

Here is my trade proposal for him

Kings Send:

5 Bobby Brown
8 Quincy Douby
32 Francisco Garcia
20 Donte Greene
31 Spencer Hawes
24 Bobby Jackson
23 Kevin Martin
52 Brad Miller C
33 Mikki Moore
15 John Salmons
9 Kenny Thomas F
34 Jason Thompson
19 Beno Udrih G
22 Shelden Williams

Phoenix Sends:

Amare Stoudemire + 12 guys they recruit at a local phoenix playground.

Oden doesn't stay on the floor long enough to make a difference on either end.


Regardless, you are right as rain: Portland makes the least sense of all for Amare since they already have Aldridge/Oden/Pryzbilla. We're just one of the few teams with the combo of expiring deals + young cheap talent to make such a deal work. I really expect to see Portland take a run at Jefferson and/or Deng. Portland needs scoring and/or defense from the 3.



No way you get rid of Thomas's contract that easily! <ducks>

pacers 1 time for barbosa

One time.

Honestly, I expect you guys to be right there in the Amare sweepstakes. Lord knows you need Amare more than Portland does. You guys have gone through a revolving door house of horrors in terms of inside presence since Elton Brand left. Dunno offhand how much cap relief you guys got available for trade, though.

if cleveland wants to keep lebron they need to get amare now imo

Gooden comes off the books at the end of the year, and Thomas is still cheap.

Paxson hasn't pulled the trigger on trading one of his draft picks in 5 years though, so I doubt this year will be different.

Joke post I'd hope

lebron is leaving unless they do something, they wont win the title with their current roster

The addition of Mo Williams made them a legit title contender.

Yeah, Chicago has made an ugly habit on sitting on his hands with 31515135 trade assets for 5 years now. I'd be pretty frustrated in your shoes. There is seriuosly 0 downside in at least making a serious play at Amare.

Even Marion (if he could be convinced to stay) would be a solid upgrade on both ends at the (smallish) PF slot.

i would disagree, imo the lakers and celtics are clearly better than the cavs, and SA and ORL are just a little bit worse than cleveland. idk i just dont see cleveland being for real

So your putting them in the top 5 teams in the league and writing them off?

yes, because boston and LA are clearly the better teams

^^^^^^^^^

Even if you accepted this as 100% truth, you need to realize the NBA champion more often than not ends up being the "healthiest" good team.

Boston's big 3 aren't spring chickens (KG's logged a lot of mileage on the odometer for his age), and LA's already lost Bynum.. And jesus, look at poor Orlando's luck this month with injuries.

The only real downside to Cleveland is Mike Brown, imo. And Lebron's presence overcomes that. Trust me, no team looks foreward to playing 7 games against Kobe or Lebron in the postseason.

yea, you are right on the injury front i never put that into consideration

From ESPN...

Wow.. wtf is San Antonio offering that the bucks want/need?

lol who knows,

udoka, and finley? which doesnt fit either catagory of want or need for the bucks

I dont think the Spurs have the pieces without a third team to land Jefferson.

I dont think he fits well there anyways. He does not shoot from the outside well enough, imo.

Probably not, but lord knows San Antonio could use someone besides Parker to drive and create, which Jefferson definitely *can* do. Parker would be a lot fresher come playoff time if he wasn't so hamstrung manufactoring offense for his outside shooters.

Latest word in the grapevine is the Bucks want Lafrentz's contract and Batum for Jefferson. If that's all, then consider it a done deal.

What? Did Chris Wallace take over in Milwaukee and I didn't hear about it?

No, Herb Kohl is still a tightwad. They need relief in a hurry, and Lafrentz's contract is not only expiring, but 80% of it is paid fully by insurance. So instead of having to pay $5 mil to lafrentz, the bucks (or whatever team gets him) only has to pay roughly $1 mil, and shave $12 mil off their payroll at year end. That's why it's a better deal than WallyWorld or Marbury or whomever else is expiring atm.

Speaking of which, the Knicks got the *biggest* expiring contract in Marbury.. I find it hard to believe they haven't been receiving some mad phone calls the way Portland has.

The thing is that the Knicks don't want to take any other contracts on that will use up cap space in 2010. They have the Lebron dream to keep alive.

Heard rumors over lunch of a deal that would send Shaq to Cleveland.

looks like that deal is dead. Knicks were big players today on a small scale.

Love the Wilcox trade for them.

Yeah, two factors probably won out today: 1. ) Lebron + co. in 2010... and 2. ) No one was as desperate as they appeared.

Pretty dull day, after all the hoopla. I like what Chicago did. They went from no inside presence to a stable of servicable bigs. As a Raptor fan, you have to be pretty happy to have Marion instead of Jermaine O'Neal and his contract. Now the question remains: will the Raps be able to resign Marion? And if not, who are they going to be able to lure north of the border in the offseason?



Yeah, further proof the conspiracy angle has no merit: David Stern would have ordered payoffs and assassainations for the chance to put Kobe and the Lakers vs. Shaq and Lebron in the finals. Man that gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, and I have no love for either LA *or* Cleveland.

wow, could you imagine if Shaq DID go to the Cavs and made the finals vs. Lakers...what a dream storyline! Cleveland's looking better each day. Delonte should be coming back soon, Garnett is now a ? and Orlando got Alston to replace Nelson (that could be insta-death for chemistry)

Chemisty has is just an added bonus: Rafer Alston simply isn't very good. He's a C+ point guard and a F- shooter from the outside. Of course, with all the shooters Orlando has, he won't need to shoot much, but that's one less gun (Jameer was definitely quality) and a big downswing in pure scoring and shooting from the PG spot.

The Celtics will be fine. The Cavs will be fine (how they didn't do anything with Wally's contract astounds me, though.. that's a bad sign for 2010).

Should be fun to watch the top of the East battle.. I get a first-hand peek at the Hawks this week, hopefully Portland can hold homecourt.

c'mon...Rafer's at least a D+ shooter

These are Rafer's career 3pt shooting stats (and remember he spent his prime on the playground):

906-2546 (35.6%)

That's a C+ at least. He really is a decent three point threat. He just does not improve as he moves closer in. I think his lifetime FG% is only 38.5%.

Wow I don't agree with you at all about Rafer.

Agree with last two comments. Rafer is an NBA quality PG with an avg to above avg PG 3pt shooting range.