I have not been following it much yet but I heard a few possible trades today.

Rumors of Iverson going to the Celtics and that the Suns are using Shawn Marion as trade bait (for what I don't know). What else is going on?

I read that ESPN article. I think if the Bulls can pull something off to get Garnett or O'Neal they should do it in a heartbeat. With their #2 pick this year they are only going to get more crowded in their rotation. And with the Knicks' #1 again next year (probably top 5) they can afford to make a move for a top player now.


The Shawn Marion thing baffles me. Unless they are certain Diaw can move into that Marion role, and Stoudemire can come back absolutely healthy, I wouldnt trade Marion at all.

The only reason they're considering trading Marion is to make cap space to resign Bell and Diaw, but it'd be completely ludicrous to deal him. I'm as baffled as you, kers2.

I dont see any of these rumors materializing, but thats not unusual. Of course anything can happen if the deal is sweet enough, but in reality most of the trades wont happen.

Marion - No way this goes down. Maron is too important to the Suns. And while we might think Amare is healthy, there's no sure way to tell until he actually gets on the court for an extended period of real NBA games. As long as there's a question about Amare, Marion cant be moved.

KG - I've heard the rumors for a while, but I dont think there's any way they move him. He's only 30 years old, a sure Hall of Fame player, and he's been an iron man and steady producer. You dont trade that type of player. Throw in his salary and there's no chance of getting equal value unless its some wild Iverson for KG trade. There's only about 10 guys or so on his level and none of them are available (well maybe Iverson). The Wolves have been bad cause they didnt have draft picks for while not because of KG. I just dont think Wolves are dumb enough to try this.

Iverson - Once again, I've heard the rumors, but I dont them moving him. He's practically on the same level with KG. The 76ers have a signature star in Iverson. He's the first thing you think of when you think of the 76ers. No way you can trade that. And a trade to the Celtics makes no sense really. Only two players on the Celtics that would be of interest to Phili, Pierce and the prospect Greene. And it wouldnt even change the 76ers that much at all. Considering the Cetics seem to be finally heading in the right direction, I dont see this happening.

O'Neal - I assume we are talking of Jermian here. His injuries lately likely mean that the Pacers will get no where near value for him. Considering he's one of the few pure low post player left in the league and the heart and soul of that team when healthy, I cant see them moving him.

On the draft, I think we will see some deals but you wont see people changing spots unless that spot is currently on the clock. This years draft is wierd. There's no superstars in this draft, but you have alot of good players that are about at the same skill level. There's really no telling who will be available at a particular spot and how many spots a player will fall. This lowers the value of almost every spot (with the exception of the 1st pick of course). Some players could be picked anywhere between 2 and 10. Why move up now when the player you want might not be there, and why move up if the player you want might fall to you? So the Bulls pick (2nd overall) doesnt have as much value as in past years. This draft is totally unpredictable.

The Celtics certainly seem to be in the market for a PG, looking at Telfair from the Blazers also.

Telfair just traded to the celtics for the #7 pick.

opps, that was me.

I think the Blazers might get the better end of the deal here (although I dont know all the details of the trade).

It seems like a slight gamble for the Celtics but I dont think its that risky. I dont think Telfair is bad but he still isnt anything proven. I'm also not sure he's going to greatly improve them at the point and I thought West was making good progress at that spot anyways (I might wrong about West since I havent seen many Celtic games). The Celtics must have an idea that there will be no impact players left at that spot.

I do think its good for the Blazers though. They need to start over.

TJ Ford to the Raptors for Villenueva is an interesting deal.

The rumors of Wallace leaving Detroit should scare the crap out of Joe Dumars. If he leaves the Pistons become another also ran in the east while the Bulls start to challenge for the east conference title. Of the teams in the East, the Bulls gave the Heat argueably their toughest test.

http://sportsline.com/nba/story/9539104

Ben Wallace signs with the Bulls!!!!! WOO

I say see you later Ben! He was a great player, but i think his head got a little big. He wanted a lot of money for a guy who can't score or shoot free throws. Granted he is an incredible defensive player, but $52mill over 4 is way too much.

I think him leaving was due to the fact that Flip Saunders opened up the offense and Ben wasn't part of that plan. The question is, why would Ben think he should be an offensive option when you have 4 other starters who are proven scorers.

Good luck in Chicago (it does not make them an instant contender), but if you don't want to be in Detroit...we don't want you (that could be very close to the thoughts of Joe Dumars).

There are other aspects to the game other than scoring, and he excels at quite a few of them. Good luck seeing the Pistons D up anyone on the perimeter without the threat of Wallace there to block shots and grab the boards. The Pistons just became a ghetto version of the Nets (lots of perimeter talent, nothing inside) without Wallace.

You mean the other Wallace isn't also a dominating inside presence?











(I'm not even going to bother with the sw.)

Your point about the gaping hole in Detroit's defense now is solid.

Ben will be missed, but he is in no way worth $15M/year. Our defense obviously will suffer, but having a more offensive-minded center in there can make the offense much more successful, rather than being a man down in a sense on every offensive possession.

Well said!

Last i checked, when they were the best defensive team in the league they were in the finals consistantly and won a title. This year they go more offensive and they get spanked in the conference finals. Defense wins championships, if offense did the Suns would be the champs.

You can say hes not worth 15m a year, and maybe he isn't (to the Pistons anyway). But he was the anchor of that team, and now they are just going to slide futher down the scale in the eastern conference.

Dennis Rodman never exactly filled it up on the offensive end of the court, wanna count the number of rings he has?

Wallace to the Bulls

While I think the Bulls did overpay for Wallace, this is a huge blow to the Pistons. This is a bigger loss for the Pistons than the gain obtained by the Bulls.

With Ben Wallace, the Pistons would have been strong title contenders for the next 2 seasons. Now they will have have to go through the Heat and Shaq without their best interior defender. Eventhough Shaq has slowed down, he's not dead yet, and they'll need bodies to throw at him. It looks like the Pistons are raising the white flag here.

And overpaying Wallace isnt that bad. He will still bring it every night and you know exactly what you're getting. He should be able to still perform a high level for at least 3 (possibly 4) years. Considering how hard it is to win a title, its worth overpaying a guy a little.

Other factors that make this a bad move by the Pistons...

There's only about 4 or 5 centers left in the league and the Pistons just let one of them go. That's never good. There's no way they can replace him with a player of the same caliber. The other teams with good center arent about to trade them.

They just let a young 7-footer in Darko go for practically for peanuts and traded him primarily to free up cap space to keep their starting lineup in tact. That move looks awful now, and it will look 10 times worse if Darko becomes just an average player.

QFT

And Darko already is an average player. The kid just turned 21, and is just starting to see consistent minutes. He can only get better from here. Good job Pistons.

more trade info:

tyson chandler for pj brown and jr smith:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-b...ov=ap&type=lgns

marquis daniels for austin croshere:
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/rss/nba/SIG=...ov=ap&type=lgns

derek fisher to jazz
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=jazz...ov=st&type=lgns

I think the Chandler - Brown/Smith trade will likely be good for both sides.

Wallace is going to eat a lot of minutes and the Bulls would like to get Tyrus some valuable minutes. Brown is going to be 37 years old and should start declining anytime now, but he shouldnt be expected to log the minutes he did in the past. I still think he can be very productive. And the Bulls got a chance to shed Chandlers contract. Smith is more of a wild card. I still dont know if he will pan out.

The Hornets meanwhile get a young big man in return. I dont know if he's worth the contract, but his rebound numbers were good the last few years. If he gets over 30 minutes per game for the Hornets he should average 10 RPG. But he has to be good enough to be on the floor for 30+ minutes which has been the problem.