Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (PtXI, Mods close)

[eyriq]

Realistically when your problems lie in your second and third highest paid players there isn't much you can do. They either play up to their contracts or the Magic underachieve and Otis is goneski. Even if Hedo and Nelson can pick it up we still will be left with serious problems on the bench. Maybe a more realistic trade focused on upgrading the bench could be had. If Baby has any value at all I'd move him for Darko, for instance. If they'd throw in Ridnour either in that trade (it would work with just Darko, or both), or just have us absorb Ridnour's contract with the Bass TPE, that would be amazing. Or getting SJax for Davis and Orton, and digging hard in scrub land for a back up center.

[rcklsscognition]

We do have some things working to our advantage. We have the MLE. We have 20MPG available for a PG who wants to come here and play with Jameer, or 38 for someone who replaced Nelson. We have a backup center slot open for a vet.

To me, those are the two easiest things to upgrade. Then we'd be looking at trades from there. Realistically we have Anderson, Redick, J-Rich, Nelson, Q-Rich, Davis, Orton, Picks, Hedo, and Harper/Liggins to offer in that order.

[IGotDaMagicInMe]

Hey, for all of you wanting Gerald Wallace, remember, Otis tried to get him earlier in the season

[Noonskadoodle]

If Dwight is set on leaving I think you go ahead with the Nets trade.

Marshon, Ryno, & Lopez are 3 young solid foundation pieces. When you had the fact that we would have 3 first round picks in this deep draft it would only speed up the rebuiliding process faster. Plus if you guys are not set on Lopez you could flip him for another pick or some solid role players. The guy is a 20 ppg center which are very rare now in the NBA so somebody would prolly overpay for him.

[ADRajX]

If Dwight is set on leaving I think you go ahead with the Nets trade.

Marshon, Ryno, & Lopez are 3 young solid foundation pieces. When you had the fact that we would have 3 first round picks in this deep draft it would only speed up the rebuiliding process faster. Plus if you guys are not set on Lopez you could flip him for another pick or some solid role players. The guy is a 20 ppg center which are very rare now in the NBA so somebody would prolly overpay for him.

I agree with this. The draft picks are huge imo.

[ADRajX]

If Dwight is set on leaving I think you go ahead with the Nets trade.

Marshon, Ryno, & Lopez are 3 young solid foundation pieces. When you had the fact that we would have 3 first round picks in this deep draft it would only speed up the rebuiliding process faster. Plus if you guys are not set on Lopez you could flip him for another pick or some solid role players. The guy is a 20 ppg center which are very rare now in the NBA so somebody would prolly overpay for him.

I agree with this. The draft picks are huge imo, plus I like Marshon Brooks' skill... Lopez is eh, great scoring big man... but nothing else.

But this all hinges on the meeting on March 1st with Dwight and front office... it's going to be a crazy next few weeks folks... buckle in.

[arkknight1988]

gortat+bass for ellis.....oh wait....turk+baby for ellis....

its time to admit that we can't realistically bring dwight the help he needs to compete for a championship. nothing has changed since the start of the season. i still say trade him to NJ at the deadline.

[darthmerrick]

Another thing to add because I keep seeing people including draft picks in trades. Please correct me if the CBA changed this but I remember it as such A team cannot trade away it's 1st round draft pick two years in a row.
Orlando traded it's 1st rounder last year in the Jason Richardson trade. We cannot move our 2012 1st round pick for Ellis or Sessions or whoever. NJ traded their 1st round pick for Deron Williams last year...so we cannot get their 2012 first round pick from them. They do own Houston pick but I believe its lottery protected.

Teams cant trade its own two future first round picks in a row.
Since the nets and magic already traded their first round picks in the 2011 draft and that draft is already finished they can go ahead and trade their own 2012 first round picks.

As long as you wait for the draft to end you can trade 10 first round picks in a row, you just cant create a situation that in a future 2 consecutive drafts your team wont have its own first round pick.

I hope I was clear.

Looking through several sites I found these.
" The NBA rule is that a team cannot trade away their first-round pick in consecutive years (although once you draft a player you can instantly trade him)."

"however, that this rule only requires each team to have a first-round pick, not necessarily their pick. These examples assume that the 2011 NBA Draft has already taken place.

For the purposes of this discussion, let us assume that the New Jersey Nets have no first-round pick in 2011, but have their first-round picks, and no others, in all future years. The Nets may freely trade their 2012 first-round pick, since its 2011 pick is no longer a future pick.
However, they cannot trade away their first-round picks for 2012 and 2013, or in any other consecutive years.
The Nets make a trade after the 2011 draft, picking up another team's first-round pick for 2013. Now, the Nets can trade their own 2012 and 2013 first-round picks, since they still have a 2013 first-round pick."

So given the Nets own Houston's pick in 2012. They can trade their own first rounder. And as JN said once the draft is complete they can trade the pick the next year they just can't blow up the franchise and trade 3 first rounders in a row. Interesting...

This means the Nets do have the best deal on the table for Dwight and it makes it all the sweeter knowing they won't make the playoffs this year.

Marshon Brooks, Kris Humphries, Brook Lopez , 2012 Nets lottery pick, 2012 lottery protected Houston pick for Dwight, Chris Duhon and Hedo Turkoglu.

[rcklsscognition]

Another thing to add because I keep seeing people including draft picks in trades. Please correct me if the CBA changed this but I remember it as such A team cannot trade away it's 1st round draft pick two years in a row.
Orlando traded it's 1st rounder last year in the Jason Richardson trade. We cannot move our 2012 1st round pick for Ellis or Sessions or whoever. NJ traded their 1st round pick for Deron Williams last year...so we cannot get their 2012 first round pick from them. They do own Houston pick but I believe its lottery protected.

Teams cant trade its own two future first round picks in a row.
Since the nets and magic already traded their first round picks in the 2011 draft and that draft is already finished they can go ahead and trade their own 2012 first round picks.

As long as you wait for the draft to end you can trade 10 first round picks in a row, you just cant create a situation that in a future 2 consecutive drafts your team wont have its own first round pick.

I hope I was clear.

Looking through several sites I found these.
" The NBA rule is that a team cannot trade away their first-round pick in consecutive years (although once you draft a player you can instantly trade him)."

"however, that this rule only requires each team to have a first-round pick, not necessarily their pick. These examples assume that the 2011 NBA Draft has already taken place.

For the purposes of this discussion, let us assume that the New Jersey Nets have no first-round pick in 2011, but have their first-round picks, and no others, in all future years. The Nets may freely trade their 2012 first-round pick, since its 2011 pick is no longer a future pick.
However, they cannot trade away their first-round picks for 2012 and 2013, or in any other consecutive years.
The Nets make a trade after the 2011 draft, picking up another team's first-round pick for 2013. Now, the Nets can trade their own 2012 and 2013 first-round picks, since they still have a 2013 first-round pick."

So given the Nets own Houston's pick in 2012. They can trade their own first rounder. And as JN said once the draft is complete they can trade the pick the next year they just can't blow up the franchise and trade 3 first rounders in a row. Interesting...

Here's the link to all teams' trade picks from now till 2016:

http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

[jezzer45]

If it came down to it would you try to do a three way and pawn lopez off on a team like minny or gsw and get younger with d williams or maybe go get monta or another established star. assuming magic get a big somehow.

[rcklsscognition]

If it came down to it would you try to do a three way and pawn lopez off on a team like minny or gsw and get younger with d williams or maybe go get monta or another established star. assuming magic get a big somehow.

Well, we need a center. I think it would depend on how much money Lopez is going to get in the summer. Not sure I'd trade him right away because his contract isn't worth much right now, sort of the same as Ryan. We might be better off resigning Ryno and Lopez to decent contracts then trading them 6 months later, sort of like we did with Gortat. You might get more value in a trade that way. Or trade Lopez immediately and go for a draft pick in exchange?

[rcklsscognition]

What the Warriors might want for Ellis:

And if you want a sense for Ellis’ market value right now, and probably leading into the March 15 trade deadline, it’s fitting to look back to last June. That’s when the GSW front office had talks with Minnesota (among a handful 0f other teams), centered around Ellis. According to multiple league sources, the two teams had a loose outline of a proposal–neither team had agreed to anything, but this was the basic heart of the talks: * Minnesota was willing to talk about a package involving F Michael Beasley and C Nikola Pekovic in return for Ellis. The sources say the Warriors didn’t flat out say no to Minnesota, but wanted more. The GSWs apparently asked to expand the deal to include the Timberwolves’ No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, which was 2nd overall and turned out to be Derrick Williams. At that point, according to the sources, the two sides got stuck negotiating what the GSWs would do then to sweeten it beyond Ellis.

-San Jose Mercury-News

Where does that put us? Who do we have equal to that? Looks like J-Rich, Ryan, and a 1st perhaps would be similar, but Warriors want a center, which is why this deal needs to involve Kaman in NOH, but we've discussed that already to death. A lot depends on the other offers out there for Ellis, of which I don't think there'd be a ton.

[Nyce_1]

**** Otis for not having the foresight to see this coming. Gotat was the perfect insurance.

[jjtreyball]

Not being a homer and thinking minny is offering too much but man they need to keep pekovic he's a real solid center..I just think monta would mess things up there and take too many shots

[rcklsscognition]

Not being a homer and thinking minny is offering too much but man they need to keep pekovic he's a real solid center..I just think monta would mess things up there and take too many shots

Well, that was last June they offered it, so I'm not sure they are still.

[jjtreyball]

Not being a homer and thinking minny is offering too much but man they need to keep pekovic he's a real solid center..I just think monta would mess things up there and take too many shots

Well, that was last June they offered it, so I'm not sure they are still.

Oh really? That's great news for us haha

[rcklsscognition]

Not being a homer and thinking minny is offering too much but man they need to keep pekovic he's a real solid center..I just think monta would mess things up there and take too many shots

Well, that was last June they offered it, so I'm not sure they are still.

Oh really? That's great news for us haha

Yes, that was the last trade GSW were close to with Monta. I just posted it as a reference for a deal that was within reach of getting Ellis so we could get an idea of what we might need to trade for him.

[PeePee la Fritz]

Ya I am not buying it. I do not see Minnesota willing to give up that much for a backcourt of Rubio and Ellis.

[The Real Dalic]

I wonder if J-Rich, Ryno, and, Orton would be enough for them? they would get 2 bigs, and, a guy they could either start next to Curry, or, bring him off the bench behind Klay Thompson.

[jjtreyball]

Ya I am not buying it. I do not see Minnesota willing to give up that much for a backcourt of Rubio and Ellis.

I agree monta needs to play PG somewhere if you wanna win with him...minny needs a defensive SG that hits the three