With the Jason Kidd trade smoke clearing, I've tried to come up with where the next trade will come from. Over the past week I have read about player-wants and team-needs and have tried to match trades to go with those rumors. While playing with the Trade Machine on ESPN.com, nothing seemed to be a good fit -- the job of an NBA GM is hard.
The first and loudest rumor has involved the Kings Mike Bibby and Ron Artest. Miami is in desperate need of a shake-up if they want to make this season worth playing for (we are reaching a breaking point in the season). If the Heat want to scrap this season after seeing Mourning have to retire due to injury -- they might want to start focusing on building for their run in 2009. Rumors have it that Artest and Bibby could be traded for the expiring contracts of Miami's Ricky Davis and Jason Williams. In order for this trade to go down the Heat would have to send along another player to make trading the two best players on an already weak team away worht while. Compensation of a player like Udonis Haslem would be the only contract and talent level that would make the Kings willing to give away Artest and Bibby.
Potential Trade:
Miami Gets -- Ron Artest and Mike Bibby
Sacramento Gets -- Ricky Davis, Jason Williams and Udonis Haslem
The reason why this won't happen is because Ricky Davis has some restriction on his contract first of all. I'm not sure what it is, let me know if you know. Secondly, the Heat would have a large void to fill at the forward position by giving up Haslem. It would like really nice on paper to see Bibby, Wade, Artest and Shaq on the same starting five -- but what would the rest of the line-up be?
The Kings would probably like to get rid of Artest, and Bibby's contract is big enough where if they could dump it for two contracts that will go off the books this summer -- the Kings could be a major player in what appears to be a very deep free agent pool.
If this trade happens the Heat will rely heavily on Alexander Johnson who has only played nine games this season. They would need Dorrell Wright to play a lot bigger than his 6-8 frame. And Mark Blount, who needs to become relevant with Mourning out, would need to become even more important if Haslem went missing.
Another rumor has the Suns trading away Boris Diaw, while another rumor puts Andre Miller out of Philadelphia.
The Suns would be a good fit for Miller. Phoenix needs a back-up point guard who is better than Marcus Banks if they are going to use Leandro Barbosa at shooting guard. If the Suns were able to trade Diaw and his $9 million contract to the 76ers for Miller's $9 million contract, Phoenix would have great depth which would allow Nash to rest and give them a boost all the way through July.
The 76ers would want Marcus Banks to be thrown into the deal to replace Miller. And because Phoenix doesn't have a deep big man bench and because it works money wise -- Calvin Booth (6'10") would go to the Suns.
Potential Trade:
Phoenix Gets -- Andre Miller and Calvin Booth
Philadelphia Gets -- Boris Diaw and Marcus Banks
This trade won't happen because the 76ers don't really need Diaw as much as the Suns need Miller. Plus, the Suns like Marcus Banks and I don't see them giving him up unless they receive a quality guard like Miller. Diaw has been seen yelling at his team on the bench which means that the Suns are selling him pretty low. There could be some draft picks or cash involved to sugarcoat the trade, otherwise I doubt that this will happen.
The Sixers might still do this trade because apparently they aren't satisfied with Miller's production and the way he runs the offense. Philadelphia has seen great things from Willie Green as well as Kevin Ollie and are confident that Andre Iguodala can handle bringing the ball up the court. With Diaw filling a strong need at big small forward and Miller's buzzkill game out of the way, maybe the 76ers could start progressing.
Another trade that won't happen is anything involving Chicago and Pau Gasol. The Bulls can't trade for Gasol unless they want to give up:
A) Luol Deng,
B) Kirk Hinrich or
C) Both Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas.
With the way Gasol is playing right now, they are better off with what they have.
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