Revisiting the Carney/Booth for Nothing Deal

[shrink]

The recent Philly interview of Carney brought further insight into this trade:

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/ ... hance.html

When he needed just a little more space, he traded Carney and Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves, ostensibly for a second-round draft choice. He even agreed to continue to pay Booth's salary and about two-thirds of Carney's salary.

1. I guess this explains why Chris Richard is playing in the NBDL. A "Free" Calvin Booth, on a vet min contract, is a lot less appealing to buy out.

2. It also explains Zgoda's quote:

Expect the Wolves to try to trade Calvin Booth’s $1.14 million salary slot for some kind of draft pick.

http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/wol ... n-richard/

Simply by salary matching, this would be $1.14 mil in cash picked up by Philly.

3. I'm tired of people saying that every trade McHale does is bad.

In this deal, we are effectively paying 1/3rd of Carney's salary ($500,000) for a look at Carney and a protected 1st rounder. What team wouldn't do a deal like this? I give credit to MIN for being in the front of the line for this one, as well as negotiating PHI pay for those two guys as well. I wouldn't have had the chutzpah to even ask.

[Worm Guts]

3. I'm tired of people saying that every trade McHale does is bad.

In this deal, we are effectively paying 1/3rd of Carney's salary ($500,000) for a look at Carney and a protected 1st rounder. What team wouldn't do a deal like this? I give credit to MIN for being in the front of the line for this one, as well as negotiating PHI pay for those two guys as well. I wouldn't have had the chutzpah to even ask.

There's nothing bad about this trade, but at this point it's basically inconsequential. Two players that don't play and a late first round pick. It doesn't come near taking McHale off the hook for some the more important decisions he's made that turned out poorly.

[shrink]

BTW, its time to offer these guys to the cheapest owners out there.

My suggestion? Offer Carney + protected 1st to Sarver in PHO for Robin Lopez.

Carney would be worth a look on a running team, particularly with Steve Nash setting him up. He could protect Grant Hill from too many minutes. He played 45 min in a game last week, and only 23 in his last game. Carney saves $1 mil this year, plus future money depending on what he does with Carney (we didn't give him an extension -- said he'd have to "earn it"). They'd lose Lopez, but get back a pick. We could sweeten it further by swapping Booth for Louis Amundsen after Dec. 15th, or use some TPE or consider taking on Goran Dragic on a longer deal. PHO is still over the cap, but closing in on it after giving up two picks and an expiring Kurt Thomas for cap space last year. Anyway, I think Amundsen makes more sense, but if Sarver didn't want to wait on those free contracts, today we could offer that PHI package of ...

Carney + Booth + protected pick for Lopez + Dragic + Singletary

.. and it would save them $800,000 off their roster ($1.6 mil with lux), plus $2.4 mil that Philly pays, for a slick $4 mil in savings, plus the pick.

I don't know -- I know Sarver's greedy, and I am optimistic Carney would help in PHO .. or at least not be $4 mil worse than Lopez 11 mpg behind Shaq and Amare. With PHO starting the season strong, maybe they delay rebuilding a year, until after Nash and Shaq are gone?

[Krapinsky]

That would be extremely dumb of Phoenix. They need Lopez for the playoffs when the hack-a-shaq strategy comes out. Or for when Shaq goes gimp. And as an eventual successor to Shaq in the middle. They wouldn't move him unless they had an adequate front court replacement.

[shrink]

That would be extremely dumb of Phoenix. They need Lopez for the playoffs when the hack-a-shaq strategy comes out. Or for when Shaq goes gimp. And as an eventual successor to Shaq in the middle. They wouldn't move him unless they had an adequate front court replacement.

If they're planning for Shaq to go down, the Suns are done anyway. As much as it pains me to say it, their 8-4 start has everything to with Shaq. And while I'm sure they'd like an eventual successor to all of their players, couldn't Carney be an eventual successor to Grant Hill, with Nash doing the thinking for him? They get Booth in the short term, and address Shaq's successor (not Amare? Diaw back to playing some center?) by getting back a pick for maybe next year. The key though is the finances, which Sarver has certainly demonstrated an affinity towards, even sending off the vet Kurt Thomas last year.

[Krapinsky]

That would be extremely dumb of Phoenix. They need Lopez for the playoffs when the hack-a-shaq strategy comes out. Or for when Shaq goes gimp. And as an eventual successor to Shaq in the middle. They wouldn't move him unless they had an adequate front court replacement.

If they're planning for Shaq to go down, the Suns are done anyway. As much as it pains me to say it, their 8-4 start has everything to with Shaq. And while I'm sure they'd like an eventual successor to all of their players, couldn't Carney be an eventual successor to Grant Hill, with Nash doing the thinking for him? They get Booth in the short term, and address Shaq's successor (not Amare? Diaw back to playing some center?) by getting back a pick for maybe next year. The key though is the finances, which Sarver has certainly demonstrated an affinity towards, even sending off the vet Kurt Thomas last year.

Wishful thinking. I think Carney needs to prove he belongs in the NBA before he becomes the successor to Grant Hill though. The only way I can see this happening is if they really soured on Lopez fast, which I think couldn't be further from the truth.

[4ho5ive]

It was my understanding that Barnes was acquired in the offseason to help spell Hill. Carney would be lucky to turn out to be a Matt Barnes type player.

[casey]

1. I guess this explains why Chris Richard is playing in the NBDL. A "Free" Calvin Booth, on a vet min contract, is a lot less appealing to buy out.

Philly isn't paying for their salaries. They gave us cash in the deal, enough to cover "Booth's salary and about two-thirds of Carney's salary". So it wouldn't have any effect. Richard was cut because he's a bad basketball player.

3. I'm tired of people saying that every trade McHale does is bad.

Who has ever suggested this trade wasn't a good one?

[shrink]

1. I guess this explains why Chris Richard is playing in the NBDL. A "Free" Calvin Booth, on a vet min contract, is a lot less appealing to buy out.

Philly isn't paying for their salaries. They gave us cash in the deal, enough to cover "Booth's salary and about two-thirds of Carney's salary". So it wouldn't have any effect. Richard was cut because he's a bad basketball player.

I think you're right. Do you think its another example of the news getting it wrong, with the phrase "continue to pay" rather than "paid?"

When he needed just a little more space, he traded Carney and Calvin Booth to the Minnesota Timberwolves, ostensibly for a second-round draft choice. He even agreed to continue to pay Booth's salary and about two-thirds of Carney's salary.

[casey]

Yep, it's a prefect example of that.