beasknees wrote:That never happens, because it puts the player in a very insecure position. He's not gonna go through the motions of negotiating with a team when there's a chance the Raptors could just say no to the trade and then he's scrambling to make a deal with another team. Players simply don't take those kinds of chances.
What makes you think every team is going to let the player control the process?
Whether a team has cap space or not, it's not going to sit on its butt waiting for phone call.
I'm going to pretend that I'm Mitch Kupchak, and the Lakers just got ousted by the Thunder to everyone's shock and awe. I Want Bosh, too, to shake things up, and I also want Jose Calderon because my backcourt sucks and I need somebody to run the triangle and force the ball into my bigs who enjoy a height advantage with pretty much every team in the West.
Do I sit and wait for Bosh's agent to call me?
Of course not. The day after the Lakers were eliminated, I was on the phone to Bryan Colangelo with an idea that began "What if you can't sign Bosh..."
"Hear me out Bryan, I know you want to sign him, but I want to give you a Plan B we can agree on because on July 1, I want to go to his house in Dallas, with Kobe Bryant, and sell him on playing with the Lakers. Part of our sales pitch is that we can make Toronto come along with this quickly.
"So Bryan, this is what I am thinking. Two separate trades to give you a trade exception. Bosh sign and trade for the max, you get Andrew Bynum. Then Jose Calderon and Marco Belinelli for Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and our 2012 first rounder. You get a bit of cap relief starting in 2011 plus a pick. Luke's deal goes as long as Jose's but ends up saving you $4 million in that final year. I need to put Luke in there because I have to keep using my mid-level exception and while Jerry is very generous with his money, Bosh's salary is more than Andrew's, so it's a big hit.
"If we can agree on this, I'm going to Bosh and tell that we can do a deal with you that leaves Toronto in a better position than just getting a pick and a trade exception, but it also makes us a contender again next season. He won't have to wait 2-3 years for Miami or New York to assemble a supporting cast. With a healthy Kobe, we'll be championship ready.
"He gets to go Hollywood, and you get to send him out West.
"By the way, any interest in Ron Artest? For Hedo? Well, I'll have to get back to you on that one... it may be a while"
