NBA Trade Deadline in 13 Days
Posted: Wed Feb 6, 2008 12:46 pm
Thursday, February 21st is the Trade Deadline, and we may continue to see more big deals. The question for us is, "Will the Wolves be involved?"
If we had made trades earlier in the season, we'd have had more trading power. We knew early on that we were not going to be a contender, and the fans accepted that situation. While most other teams had play-off goals, we had plenty of potential buyers. However, as the season progressed, buyers became sellers, as they realized that they would also be headed for the lottery. This reduced the number of buyers, and created sellers, giving us less economic leverage. We weren't one of the only games in town.
The value that Kwame's $9 mil expiring contract produced should be good news if we decided to trade Ratliff. I've been against this, but if that's the market, MIN could be a good third team to facilitiate a trade. We'd also need to get back enough expirings to bring back Gomes and/or Telfair and stay under the lux, but if we were willing to take back more salary next year, we should be amply compensated.
However, its easy to see why the wolves hesitated to make any more deals since the day before rosters were finalized. MIN was loaded with several young players, and the front office and coaching staff needed to assess what they had, and who should be a part of the Wolves future. For example, I think its taken Telfair until the last few weeks to demonstrate that he could be a valued member of our team next season. Gomes has shined since becoming a starter.
I think our most disposable (note -- not "least talented") asset is Craig Smith. I think as long as we have big Al, Craig would spend most of his time as a bench player. He could have a bigger role elsewhere, and that may be demonstrated this summer when teams offer him contracts that would be too expensive for us to match.
On the trade boards, there were two more requests for Jaric from fans of other teams (Toronto and Orlando). Of course he has negative value because of the length of his contract, but the uniqueness of his game seems to fit in different locations. Gerald Green gets occasional interest, but since he's an unrestricted free agent, he doesn't hold much trade value. Vets like Walker, Buckner or Doleac almost never get any love in that forum, but I suppose they could help a few contenders. I'd be happy to move any of them if it reduced next year's total salary even a little.
Does anyone see a Wolves trade on the horizon?
If we had made trades earlier in the season, we'd have had more trading power. We knew early on that we were not going to be a contender, and the fans accepted that situation. While most other teams had play-off goals, we had plenty of potential buyers. However, as the season progressed, buyers became sellers, as they realized that they would also be headed for the lottery. This reduced the number of buyers, and created sellers, giving us less economic leverage. We weren't one of the only games in town.
The value that Kwame's $9 mil expiring contract produced should be good news if we decided to trade Ratliff. I've been against this, but if that's the market, MIN could be a good third team to facilitiate a trade. We'd also need to get back enough expirings to bring back Gomes and/or Telfair and stay under the lux, but if we were willing to take back more salary next year, we should be amply compensated.
However, its easy to see why the wolves hesitated to make any more deals since the day before rosters were finalized. MIN was loaded with several young players, and the front office and coaching staff needed to assess what they had, and who should be a part of the Wolves future. For example, I think its taken Telfair until the last few weeks to demonstrate that he could be a valued member of our team next season. Gomes has shined since becoming a starter.
I think our most disposable (note -- not "least talented") asset is Craig Smith. I think as long as we have big Al, Craig would spend most of his time as a bench player. He could have a bigger role elsewhere, and that may be demonstrated this summer when teams offer him contracts that would be too expensive for us to match.
On the trade boards, there were two more requests for Jaric from fans of other teams (Toronto and Orlando). Of course he has negative value because of the length of his contract, but the uniqueness of his game seems to fit in different locations. Gerald Green gets occasional interest, but since he's an unrestricted free agent, he doesn't hold much trade value. Vets like Walker, Buckner or Doleac almost never get any love in that forum, but I suppose they could help a few contenders. I'd be happy to move any of them if it reduced next year's total salary even a little.
Does anyone see a Wolves trade on the horizon?
