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Ric Bucher just reported it on ESPNews. Supposed to be a 10-player deal all around between Chicago, Cleveland and Seattle. Cleveland gets Wally, Duhon and Wallace, possibly Delonte West. Chicago gets filler, potentially Ilgauskas. Seattle gets Hughes, filler.

This would be huge for Cleveland. They would become instants Title contenders. Who could stop Lebron from the West? The only team with Artest. Even then, who could stop LeBron?

Hmm. That deal is an interesting one. Makes me wonder though why Seattle would want Hughes. He eats into the cap room a little I think.

I don't know if that pushes Cleveland into being serious contenders but it definately was a good trade for them. Especially if they can keep big Z somehow.

What the hell? Sonics taking on Hughes?

The deal is:

Cavs Get: Delonte West, Wally, Big Ben, Joe Smith
Bulls Get: Gooden, Hughes, Cedric Simmons
Sonics Get: Newble, Marshall, Duhon

Big Z stays, it's Gooden who's heading to Chicago along with Hughes.
Cavs get Joe Smith as well, so their frontcourt depth even improves.

Good move for the Cavs, but I wouldn't call them title contenders yet.

Its not bad for the Cavs, I wonder if Ben and Z would work.

I dont understand Sonics getting rid of West and getting back Duhon.

They're not, it's Simmons heading to the sonics - another athletic bigman, could be what they need if they let him develop.

I get this deal for everyone but the Sonics...

Cleveland needed to shake up their roster some, Hughes was giving them absolutely nothing. Wally gives them a nice outside threat, Wallace and Smith bolster their frontcourt and more than makeup for the loss of Gooden, and they basically get a free look at West.

The Bulls get a bigger SG for if/when they lose Ben Gordon. He actually might make a better backcourt pairing with Hinrich than Gordon did anyway. While Gooden isn't exactly the inside PF they were looking for, he's a better fit than anything they had prior to this deal. And probably the biggest reason for doing this deal, it gets rid of a malcontent and opens up room for the young guys.

Now, back to the Sonics. This is a really puzzling deal. Newble will save them some money this upcoming summer, so I guess that's a positive. West was a more promising prosect than Duhon will ever be, so that seems like a downgrade. When they turn Wally's 12 million 08 expiring contract into Marshall's 5 million 08 expiring contract... Again, I'd consider that a downgrade for a rebuilding team.

Looks like the Sonics auditioned West enough to know he's not what they're looking for...
Duhon is not in the deal. Sonics turn Wally's big expiring contract into Marshall and Griffin. Guess it's saved them some money, dont forget the club is on sale IIRC.

Spykes wrote:Now, back to the Sonics. This is a really puzzling deal. Newble will save them some money this upcoming summer, so I guess that's a positive. West was a more promising prosect than Duhon will ever be, so that seems like a downgrade. When they turn Wally's 12 million 08 expiring contract into Marshall's 5 million 08 expiring contract... Again, I'd consider that a downgrade for a rebuilding team.

Or, to put it another way, they traded All-star Ray Allen for Jeff Green, Newble, Marshall and either Duhon or Adrian Griffin (ESPN is now reporting it's Griffin). That's a pretty crap trade considering all but Green are expendible. I'd say this makes the Randolph trade look even better in comparison, and really, really makes me like KP better than Presti.

mojomarc wrote:Or, to put it another way, they traded All-star Ray Allen for Jeff Green, Newble, Marshall and either Duhon or Adrian Griffin (ESPN is now reporting it's Griffin). That's a pretty crap trade considering all but Green are expendible. I'd say this makes the Randolph trade look even better in comparison, and really, really makes me like KP better than Presti.

Good point. In hindsight, the Allen trade looks pretty awful right now.

Presti has made some wise moves to swindle championship contenders out of their 1st round picks for the next few seasons, but outside of that, his moves have been pretty underwhelming.

I still really don't like that they picked Green right after taking Durant, and now they turned 1 big 08 expiring contract into 2 smaller 08 expiring contracts... I guess to give them more cap flexibility or some sort. I would think that Wally's big expiring would be more valuable than Marshall and Griffin's though.

Wow, you guys need to get over yourselves. Trading Zach turned out to be a good move for us all things considered, but getting the 5th pick in a great, deep draft for Allen? that tops getting Frye and Rudy IMO.

Also, the Sonics will save like 9 million next year thanks to tonight's deal, since Griffin has a TO on his contract this summer.

Telfaire wrote:Wow, you guys need to get over yourselves. Trading Zach turned out to be a good move for us all things considered, but getting the 5th pick in a great, deep draft for Allen? that tops getting Frye and Rudy IMO.

Also, the Sonics will save like 9 million next year thanks to tonight's deal, since Griffin has a TO on his contract this summer.

I think they were both good deals for their teams, but I think the Sonics made a mistake taking Green.

Telfaire wrote:Wow, you guys need to get over yourselves. Trading Zach turned out to be a good move for us all things considered, but getting the 5th pick in a great, deep draft for Allen? that tops getting Frye and Rudy IMO.

Also, the Sonics will save like 9 million next year thanks to tonight's deal, since Griffin has a TO on his contract this summer.

Allen had a TON more value than Zach.

I will say that I didn't realize Griffin had a TO. That wasn't listed on Hoopshype. It's a nice savings for them, but I still think they would have been better off keeping Wally for at least 1 more season to see what kind of value they could have gotten out of his 12-13 mil expiring contract.

You're right, Allen had more value than Zach. I wouldn't call it a TON, since he's getting older and had surgery on both ankles last season.

But the 5th pick has a ton more value than the 23th pick and a dissapointing sophmore. And I think that Green would pan out as a great complementary star for Durant.

Also, I think the Sonics can now get under the cap this summer?

If Griffin does have a TO, then if the Sonics renounce their rights to Robert Swift, they could be at least 10 million under the salary cap this summer (if I'm doing my math right)

That could make Philidelphia and seattle the only 2 teams with any substantial cap-space this off-season.

Maybe Presti was looking at that.

The Cavs did good. I dont think Ben Wallace
is going to push them to a higher level but
its a step in the right direction imo.. .
James still needs tons of help.

well, for the sonics it was a bad trade.

for the bulls, meh, i think they stay the same.

the cavs are the obvious winners here. they loose a scorer in hughes but get a stronger more experienced core.

Wizenheimer wrote:If Griffin does have a TO, then if the Sonics renounce their rights to Robert Swift, they could be at least 10 million under the salary cap this summer (if I'm doing my math right)

That could make Philidelphia and seattle the only 2 teams with any substantial cap-space this off-season.

Maybe Presti was looking at that.

That could make some sense. They might be able to free up a few bucks to make a strong run at someone like Okafor.