Actually, the Wizards would
LOVE to get rid of Gilbert's contract, as it's the only one that is tying them down! If they could have voided his contract this past winter, they would have... QUICKLY!! However, it was well known that they'd lose if Gilbert and the players assosiation put up a fight... and if Gilbert won, then he'd be a free-agent AND Washington would still be stuck with his contract... so there was no way they were gonna do it. However... if a team came along and offered almost ANY trade... they'd not only do the trade... but they'd throw in JaVale and/or a 1st round pick on top of that! Gilbert is under contract for 5 more years.
Ironically, I had thought about the possibility of the Cavs grabbing him too. I just thought of it from a different perspective -
My thought are this: The Cavaliers are over the cap for the forseeable future, and will have to build their team through trades,etc. However, all of this is assuming LeBron is re-signed (which I am about 99% sure of). Shaq wants to play a couple more years, but the Cavs may use him much like they used Zydrunas... in a S&T with Washington. The Cavs could send Shaq ,Telfair, and Parker for Gilbert, and Javale... and Washington's 2nd round pick. Washington would then Buy out Shaq, who would return to the Cavs, or go wherever he decided/wanted.
The Line-up would look like this:
Center: Shaq(20)/Andy(15)/JaVale(5) /Kaun
PF: Antawn(30)/Andy(10)/Hickson(15)/Powe(5)
SF: LeBron(38)/Moon(7)/Antawn
SG: Arenas(30)/West(10)/Green(5)
PG: Williams(30)/West(15)/Gibson(5)
The numbers in parenthesis are the minutes the player would be "scheduled" to play at that position. There would obviously be changes, as always throughout the year, according to how someone is playing, how a game is going, injuries,trades,etc.
Intead of JaVale, the Cavaliers may want the Wizards 1st round pick instead... which I believe (I'd be willing to bet, actually) that they'd rather do (assuming it isn't top-2 or 3).
I know a lot of you may think that there is no way Washington would do a trade like this...giving up JaVale AND Gilbert... but you are VERY wrong... while others may be thinking that the Cavs wouldn't do this...again, you'd likely be wrong.
The really nice thing in the above line-up is that there is very good back-ups everywhere. If Arenas's knee gives out and he's injured for his career... we get to take him off the books. If he misses part of the year...say 40 games... the Cavs save 8 million dollars, but still have West to take over, and Green to pick-up the extra flow-minutes. If Shaq goes down... Andy and JaVale watch the Center position, with Kaun getting slop-minutes, while Hickson and Powe pick-up any extras that are needed from the bigs position. LeBron's back-up is Green, and Antawn can slide down if need be, or have moon start with Antawn picking up the extra minutes there.
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I do not think the Cavaliers will trade for Arenas unless they get a "killer" offer. Something like Gilbert, JaVale, AND their 1st rounder in 2010 or 2011.
I DO think that the Cavaliers will move Parker and a couple others this summer in a move to upgrade even more. Green is a very good player (for those of you who have seen him at practice, or those who have seen the little he has got to play this past season. (His PER was 17 BTW). I think the Cavaliers are COMPLETELY set at PF... with two VERY talented young guys in Hickson & Powe, and Antawn will man the position until they are ready.
PF, and SF are taken care of. Center and SG need to be upgraded. Kaun will be coming over this next season, so we'll have a young 7-footer... but the Cavs will want more protection that just him...and Big Z is done, while we may get another season, or so, out of Shaq...playing 20-minutes per. The SG position may be set for the future with Green, but we wont know until after this summer, after we can see him in extended minutes in Nevada. If he Plays well there, then the Cavs may keep Parker, and trade Williams in their deal...moving Boobie into the starting position.
Honestly, there are so many options that the Cavs have, that it is almost ridiculous. So many writers from the national media talk about how the Cavaliers wont be able to do anythin this summer (in free-agency), but they obviously do not pay attention to all of the teams, and go more by a team's projected player salaries, as opposed to what a team may do instead.
For instance... Who's to say that the Cavaliers don't trade for Bosh?
Here's a scenario:
Cavs send: Shaq (S&T), JJ Hickson, Jamison, Mo Williams, 2 first rounders,2 2nd rounders & Cash
(Shaq is signed to a 3yr deal (1yr guarantee) of $8 million. They could buy him out immediately.
Toronto Sends: Bosh, Turkoglu, Calderon
Why: Toronto loses Bosh... but rids thereselves of Turk's 5yr, and Jose's 4yr deals that combine for almost 100 million dollars, and takes a ton of their cap. They get Hickson, who is a very "Wanted" player right now; they pick-up a pg who makes nearly the same as Jose, but is on a shorter contract; they get Jamison, who is a PF/SF combo who makes a little more than Turk, but is more productive, and on a much shorter contract. In-addition, they get 4 picks (two 1st's), and cash. They put themselves on the fast-track rebuild, plus have the team-leader in Jamison and the picks and cash.
C: Varejao/Zydrunas/Kaun
PF:Bosh/Powe/LeBron
SF:Turkoglu/Moon*/Parker*
SG:LeBron/West*/Green
PG:Calderon/Gibson/Telfair*
* Represents over 13 million in expiring contracts for in-season trade possibilities.
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Whether you agree with the above scenarios or not doesn't matter. What matters is that the Cavaliers do have quite a few possibilities for this summer. Beside Shaq in a S&T, there is Jamison, possibly Mo, anderson Varejo, Hickson, Gibson,etc,etc that are all technically available for the right player(s).
Just something to let you maul over while we win this year's ring & plan for the next 5.
