RealGM

MIN: M. Blount/D. Wilkins/O. Pecherov
-for: E. Okafor/A. Thornton
NOH: E. Okafor/J. Posey/J. Wright
-for: M. Blount/D. Wilkins/M. Camby
LAC: M. Camby/A. Thornton
-for: J. Posey/J. Wright/O. Pecherov

LAC get a more competitive defensive team with Posey and 2 young prospects
NOH save money
MIN get 1 of the best big men rotations in the league (Jefferson-Love-Okafor), with some nice wing prospects in Tucker-Brewer-Ellington-Thornton, with Flynn-Sessions-Rubio @ the guard, this would also open up the case to trade Gomes for future picks and maybe a shorter contract

A thought for Gomes follow up would be: MIN-POR
R. Gomes/future 2nd
-for: T. Outlaw/future 1st

Thoughts?

Doesn't look fair for LAC

Obviously, we would have to do that. I don't want Thornton, though. There is nothing Thornton can do that Gomes can't do.

Not sure why LAC would do that. It is way lopsided.

We'd still have to resign outlaw and give up a first round pick, pass. I would feel like someone punched me in the stomach, but at worst I would consider giving Gomes for expirings (and not even many Wolves fans would do that).

I wouldn't do the Okafor Thornton move because it's pretty much a all your eggs in one basket kind of trade and this one doesn't seem to have a high ceiling. We'd still lack a shooting guard and I think the other problem is I don't think there would be any ball movement. And the fact we'd have 3 power forwards. I would rather wait a few years and rebuild longer than pull the trigger here.

Edit: I didn't even look at LAC, but ya pretty terrible for them.

I don't know how you feel about that (actually I don't know how I feel about that):

Emeka Okafor
David West
James Posey

for

Al Jefferson
Mark Blount (expiring)
Damien Wilkins (expiring)
(Utah 1st?)

Why for NO? They save about 2.5 mil. this season which should help bringing the team under the lux and move long term contracts while getting a stud PF in return.

Why for MN?
Basically a two for one deal. We move Al Jefferson for Okafor who is more of a defensive presence.
West is aquired in order to trade him around draft time for a high pick. NJ for example (if they don't pick #1 or #2)
Posey helps fixing our outside shooting and replaces Wilkins as a veteran (championship experience should help). We say good bye FA's but have a valueable trading piece (in West) that we can flip into a high pick at draft time.

Value for us is probably nice but I don't know if I would want Okafor's big contract

I don't believe Okafor is worth expirings. From what I read, he's failed to progress, his defense has slipped, and his offense was never great to begin with. I think we cando better for our raw cap space if we wait. Its not unfair, just a direction I wouldn't want to go.

I also think LAC can do better.

We can make a legit offer for David West that doesn't require Okafor, because, as I've been saying all along, NOH simply MUST reduce its payroll.

Gomes + Wilkins + OPech + Jawai + $3.72 mil in tax savings ($11.5 million)

for

David West + Armstrong + Diogu + Marks


Since we have no use for West, I was trying to figure out how to send him to CHI. It'd be nice to send the Hornets Tyrus Thomas, but the Bulls are capped up, and their owner never goes over the lux. It's tough for us to match salary if we're not getting the full West contract, and instead Jerome James, but it makes sense to me in a hand-waving sense:

NOH gets financial relief for this year and next
CHI gets an All star PF
MIN spends cap space to get lots of goodies

Wolves pass. Okafor just really isn't as good as he's getting paid. I'd like to think we'd spend that kind of money on a 1st option wing scorer, not a 3rd undersized big.

Wolves pass, Clips pass, Hornets rejoice after making the most lopsided trade of this decade

Okafor is a near perfect fit as our third big man, except that he's paid roughly double what he's worth. He's not worth expirings, even to a team that he fits on.