Kings/Suns

Bac2Basics · Post #21 » by **Bac2Basics** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:15 pm

The only thing that I think causes the Kings to pause on this trade as nice as it seems to be for them is that I think most Kings fans figure on packaging Artest with KT.

So my question to non-Kings fans is this.

Bibby & KT is an awful lot of salary to take as a package. If the Kings were to trade Artest without connecting KT to him, how do the Kings move Kenny Thomas?

WarFan · Post #22 » by **WarFan** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:16 pm

rpa wrote:I don't think Miami does the above. They just traded a 1st and took on Blount to get Davis. Dumping him now (as solely an expiring contract) doesn't seem to make much sense. They're pretty much taking on longterm salary (Harrington) for no reason. Having Davis AND Harrington may make a difference this year but if they only have 1 of the 2 they're likely going to continue to suck. So if that's the case why take Harrington? They also wouldn't give up Wright in that package (and as a Kings fan I can tell you that I couldn't care less if the Kings got him or not)

I agree that Miami might not like the deal, however it's more about next year than trying to salvage this one. If they let both Williams and Davis expire this year it won't give them more cap space than the MLE and if that's the case they won't have much to trade to acquire a player that will help them much without trading Haslem. I also don't really think that Miami would want to resign either of Williams or Davis. Harrington would be a very good fit for them over the next two years with Shaq, Wade and Haslem. Financially, right now the Heat are about 7 million over the luxury tax, which will end up costing them about 17.5 million this year for a team that is going nowhere anyway. This trade saves them just about all of that money and leaves them with a player that teams well with Shaq who they will be stuck with for the next two years anyway. As for Dorell Wright, if Sacramento doesn't want him, then Miami can send Alonzo Mourning's expiring contract instead.

rpa · Post #23 » by **rpa** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:20 pm

Bac2Basics wrote:The only thing that I think causes the Kings to pause on this trade as nice as it seems to be for them is that I think most Kings fans figure on packaging Artest with KT.

So my question to non-Kings fans is this.

Bibby & KT is an awful lot of salary to take as a package. If the Kings were to trade Artest without connecting KT to him, how do the Kings move Kenny Thomas?

Yeah yeah, you asked for non-Kings fans. But I don't care.

I think you may be able to entice a big market team to take KT in exchange for a year off his deal. For instance, say the Warriors pick we get ends up around 20th. I'd venture a guess that Isiah would be more than willing to take that pick and swap Rose for Kenny.

That is, of course, if the Kings are working for summer 2009 (in which case the extra $8mil from Kenny's deal could be HUGE--thus the trade of the 1st). If the target is 2010 then just keep Kenny and the draft pick.

I wouldn't expect the Kings to be able to get expirings for Bibby & Kenny Thomas. Who the hell has $20mil worth of expiring contracts and trade exceptions?

rpa · Post #24 » by **rpa** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:24 pm

WarFan wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

I agree that Miami might not like the deal, however it's more about next year than trying to salvage this one. If they let both Williams and Davis expire this year it won't give them more cap space than the MLE and if that's the case they won't have much to trade to acquire a player that will help them much without trading Haslem. I also don't really think that Miami would want to resign either of Williams or Davis. Harrington would be a very good fit for them over the next two years with Shaq, Wade and Haslem. Financially, right now the Heat are about 7 million over the luxury tax, which will end up costing them about 17.5 million this year for a team that is going nowhere anyway. This trade saves them just about all of that money and leaves them with a player that teams well with Shaq who they will be stuck with for the next two years anyway. As for Dorell Wright, if Sacramento doesn't want him, then Miami can send Alonzo Mourning's expiring contract instead.

My point was more that if they wanted to trade Davis & Williams they'd want a lot more than a very mediocre Al Harrington (plus a bad contract). If they're trading expiring contracts and a youngster and taking back a bad contract they should be able to get something much better than Harrington.

WarFan · Post #25 » by **WarFan** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:47 pm

rpa wrote:My point was more that if they wanted to trade Davis & Williams they'd want a lot more than a very mediocre Al Harrington (plus a bad contract).

I guess I just don't see who that player would be, especially before the trade deadline. I agree that Harrington isn't a great player, but he's probably slightly above average and he's not too old. Plus he's the kind of 3-point shooter that the Heat are supposedly looking for. I think he's a slight upgrade over Ricky Davis, so I guess if the Heat plan on resigning him this summer they wouldn't like it.

As for Banks, he's owed about $15 million the next 3 years, which is about the same amount of money the Heat would save with this deal this year. Plus, he plays a position they need help at.

For Miami, this trade would fulfill both of Pat Riley's stated goals leading up to the trade deadline: 1) get under the tax, and 2) add shooters.

Assuming that Shaq is back healthy next year (which is reallly all Miami can do with his contract), I think their lineup would be playoff worthy in the East.

Quinn/Banks
Wade/Cook
Harrington/Wright
Haslem
Shaq/Blount

Plus they would have a lottery pick and add a FA or two with the MLE, probably a PG.