Who'll want Lafrentz's expiring deal?

[Butter]

One option that KP could pursue at some point is trading Lafrentz's contract for a veteran player. It appears that the NJ Nets are trying to cut payroll for the 2010 Lebron Sweepstakes.

Who are the other teams that would place a lot of value on Lafrentz's expiring deal? As we have discussed in detail the Blazers are in a good position to make a good offer to a rebuilding team in that they could hypothetically offer young talent in addition to Lafrentz's big deal.

So now that the draft has happened, and FA has started, who projects to have the most interest in Lafrentz?

[Zyme]

I think the MVP of this discussion will end with the knicks or nets. Basically anyone who is interested in the LBJ sweepstakes will want to take on this contract and begin to clear cap space.

In the case of the nets, I would think they would want to dump Carter or Harris' contracts. I don't rightly know who we might get directly from them, but a 3-way trade is always an option.

[SinceClyde]

KP wasn't in a rush to trade Raef's expiring because it's win-win either way. I remember him saying unless it's something he couldn't turn down, they'd just let him expire and use the space to sign a FA.

[blazers73]

Agreed that New York and New Jersey are at the top of the list.

Memphis, Denver and possibly Milwaukee might be interested. Just seems Memphis is trying to cut their payroll to the bone, Denver needs some salery reief in a bad way, and Milwaukee might want to start fresh although the acquisition of Jefferson makes it less likely.

[Zyme]

Agreed that New York and New Jersey are at the top of the list.

Memphis, Denver and possibly Milwaukee might be interested. Just seems Memphis is trying to cut their payroll to the bone, Denver needs some salery reief in a bad way, and Milwaukee might want to start fresh although the acquisition of Jefferson makes it less likely.

THe problem I see with Denver is that they are in our division. I think they would already be concerned about the blazers improving, much less dumping a player that would help us.

[Spykes]

It'll be interesting to see which team really struggles in the early part of next season. There always seems to be one team you don't expect that ends up sucking HARD. They're usually a veteran team too.

A team I'll be keeping a close eye on is Dallas. I could really see them being next seasons Heat. They probably won't sink to that level of suck, but I think they could really end up being a bad team next season. I'll particularly be interested in seeing if Dirk ends up getting injured or wore down by his Olympic duties with the German team this summer. It could be a death sentence for that team if he does.

But even if they just end up being a below average team struggling to even get the 8th spot, I think they'd look hard at moving Howard for a expiring contract and some youth. They'll have 21 mil coming off the when Kidd expires next season, but they'll still have 55 mil on the books with all the other guys they have signed. If they moved Howard's 10 mil (which btw, is the only player I think they can move and get a expiring in return for, fat chance getting a expiring for either Terry or Dampier), they'd be in a position to bring back to high caliber FA in the summer of 09 and giving building around Dirk one last shot.

Denver might similarly look to unload salary in 09 thanks to AI's giant expiring contract, which the Nuggets haven't extended yet. Unfortunately for them, the only big contract they could unload for an expiring is Melo and I doubt they're interested in that. They might be able to swindle a team into taking Nene off their hands. KMart is obviously not going anywhere with his albatross of a contract.

The Suns always love saving money. If Steve Nash continues to decline, they could decide to not pick up the final year of his contract, and if that's the plan, they might consider moving some pieces for an expiring contract. Unfortunately, the only 2 players they seem interested in moving are Diaw and Barbosa. I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck with Diaw's contract and Barbosa is pretty pointless for Portland. There could be potential for a 3 way trade here with a team who'd be more interested in Diaw and Barbosa.

The Kings are already looking for a expiring contract, particularly to get out of paying Kenny Thomas any more money than they have to. Apparently he's the price teams have to pay to get Ron Artest for the season. A team would have to be pretty desperate and be on the cusp of a championship to consider this move, especially with how likely it is that he could bolt after the season is done. If there was even the slightest bit of interest in getting Artest from Portland, having to take on Kenny Thomas kills it.

The last team in the West I'd keep a eye on is the Rockets, but I really doubt they make any salary slashing move, even if they have a crappy season. Apparently they, like every other team in the league, have their eyes set on the summer of 2010.

As for the East... and it's I don't see a ton of options there for teams that might blow it up. A lot of teams that would love to dump some bad contracts, but not a lot of teams have have much to give back. The other problem with the East is that there are so many teams that already stink. There's not a veteran team that looks primed to rebuild. They're either a veteran team that's really good, or they're already rebuilding and already really bad. I'll just go through a quick rundown:

*Atlanta: Young, still improving, still not really all that good (even though they caught the Celtics off-guard), no real long-term contracts to speak of at this point.

*Charlotte: Kinda the same situation as Atlanta. Young, should be improving, and not a very good team. They aren't really in a desperate need to cut salary. It's hard to say what they'll do, especially with Okafor up in the air. Felton seems to be the only player they're actively looking to move. Don't see why they'd move either Richardson or Wallace without any adequate replacements on the team. Portland would have to add in some young players to replace one or the other, but then the question is, does Portland even want either of those guys? J-Rich isn't a great fit and Wallace is always injured.

*Miami: Already deep into rebuilding mode. They'll have plenty of cap space next summer once Marion is off the books.

*Orlando: They're window just opened up, no reason to go dumping contracts yet.

*Washington: Just spent a TON of money resigning both Jamison and Arenas. While I don't have the exact numbers, I'm fairly certain that even Raef's expiring contract couldn't get them under the salary cap enough to make a run at a FA next summer with everyone else they have signed.

*Chicago: Huge questionmark of a team right now. Another one of the many teams looking to make a splash in the 2010 FA market. They'd love to get rid of Hughes, but probably not to the extent that they'd move valuable pieces to do it. Nocioni could probably be had for an expiring contract, but would the Blazers be willing to take on his contract considering he's really just a glorified rotation player?

*Cleveland: The Cavs would probably love to re-do their foray into the FA market since they botched it up so badly the first time thanks to Larry Hughes. The problem is they don't have anything to offer and they still need to work out extensions for Gibson and West. On top of that, why would Portland want to give up an expiring contract for one of either Ben Wallace or Big Z?

*Detroit: Of any of the good veteran East teams (there aren't many of them), they probably are the most likely to look at a major rebuild if things go sour, but that's probably not saying much. Dumars still wants WAY too much for his players. He's gotta drop his asking price dramatically if he wants to move some of that teams big salary.

*Pacers: Already in the midst of a big rebuild. Portland would have no interest in taking on their 2 worst contracts alone (Dunleavy and Murphy) and Indy won't throw-in the player Portland would want to consider taking on one of those big contracts (Granger).

*Milwukee: Who knows what this team is doing. Under the previous GM, they were building through youth and the draft. Now under the new GM, they're trying to be a contender (and still build through the draft). They also just maxed out Bogut, so who knows?

*Boston: No reason for the NBA champs to cut salary.

*New Jersey: It's well publicized that they have their eye on LeBron as you mentioned Butter. They already reportedly shot down a deal that would give them a expiring contract for Vince Carter. Portland could probably best Cleveland's offer considering we have a better stable of young talent for the Nets to pick through. But the question again is raised, does Portland have any interest in Carter? He's probably the most interesting option for the Blazers, but he's not without his problems.

*New York: HA!

*Philly: They have no need to cut salary right now.

*Toronto: Ditto.

Wow that was a long post.

[Spykes]

Agreed that New York and New Jersey are at the top of the list.

Memphis, Denver and possibly Milwaukee might be interested. Just seems Memphis is trying to cut their payroll to the bone, Denver needs some salery reief in a bad way, and Milwaukee might want to start fresh although the acquisition of Jefferson makes it less likely.

The problem with Memphis is that they've already pretty much stripped their salary bare. They can't really get it much lower than where it's already at. They took on some bad contracts in Jaric and Buckner to get Mayo, but even then, they'll still only have something like 30 mil on the books next summer when they waive Walker.

[SabasRevenge!]

There are many big expiring contracts in '09, but none come with a player whose only value is his contract (except for possibly Marbury, but I'm not looking at the list) except for Raef. He'd be a perfect deadline deal & cut guy for a team wanting space. We've got the rookie contracts (with valuable players attached to them) to make something big work. You never know who will be available!

[Spykes]

There are many big expiring contracts in '09, but none come with a player whose only value is his contract (except for possibly Marbury, but I'm not looking at the list) except for Raef. He'd be a perfect deadline deal & cut guy for a team wanting space. We've got the rookie contracts (with valuable players attached to them) to make something big work. You never know who will be available!

I agree. One of the biggest myths on the Trade and Transaction Board is that talented players on expiring contracts have a ton of value. They really don't. They have less value than someone who's simply a trade-n-forget player like Raef or Kwame. You don't need to worry about resigning guys. And the biggest problem with good players on expiring contracts is how much you have to give up to get them.

[Wizenheimer]

at this stage, I think it would have to be an incredible deal in order for KP to bite. I do believe he's intent on maximizing his cap-space option, and cap-space has a lot more value then an expiring contract when it comes to trades. A little patience may reward portland a lot more then dumping Lafrentz.

as far a teams that might be interested in lafrentz, as spykes said, the landscape migt be different by christmas.

With NJ, I can't see the blazers being interested in any Net but Devin Harris, and it's hard for me to believe they won't want to keep him. The knicks have almost nothing the Blazers would be interested in. Utah owns their 2010 1st round pick already, so trading for their 09 or 11 pick is problematic.

Hinrich is still a possibility, but that would make a crowded blazer backcourt.

at this point, it's looking like it's 'cap space or bust'

[SpyderRyder1]

I think there will not be any major moves with RLEC as it seems to be a buyers market, this coming year. If you look at the books, you find that there are about $150 mill in expirings with Marbury's $20, Wally's 13, and Raefs 12.7, just to name a few off the top of my head.

Teams desperate to shed salary will just shop their players until they find a deal they like and since we do not have a specific need, (at least at this point, come AS break who knows where we will need to upgrade) perhaps for a lockdown SF who can hit the 3, that limits us in who we would want. Add to that we only have Diogu, Sergio, PetKo, possibly Blake, Webster or Pryz with RLEC to trade away, I am not sure that we would be able to offer an attractive package.

The only players I would even want to add would be

in descending order

Prince
Battier
Childress
Marion
Granger (too much O not enough D wants to be a star not a glue guy, yeah I know he is talented)

I would want him to be tthe starter and be able to blend in with the big 3 and whomever is running the PG. Lets hope the Pistons or Rockets crash and burn before the deadline and we can work a RLEC/Webster deal to grab Prince or Battier. If we wanted Marion that bad we could just wait till FA and he will be an UFA and sign him then, maybe for $12-14mill or so.

Like I said I think the question is not who will wants RLEC, but rather who do we want in return in either trade of FA signing.

[Da_James_Gang]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=

Before anyone starts having a heart attack i doubt you guys will consider but i think the magic will since they are in need of a big, and of course the cavs will do this imo....

[Wizenheimer]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3024~862~885~2754~454~2795&teams=5~22~22~19~5~19&te=&cash=

Before anyone starts having a heart attack i doubt you guys will consider but i think the magic will since they are in need of a big, and of course the cavs will do this imo....

no way Portland considers that deal, they won't take on Wallace's contract. And if it was simplified and clevaland was excluded, I'm not sure the Blazers would be willing to do frye/webster for Hedo. Maybe, but I doubt it.

[BigSkyBlazerFan]

With NJ, I can't see the blazers being interested in any Net but Devin Harris, and it's hard for me to believe they won't want to keep him. The knicks have almost nothing the Blazers would be interested in. Utah owns their 2010 1st round pick already, so trading for their 09 or 11 pick is problematic.


at this point, it's looking like it's 'cap space or bust'

Darn, I was thinking about NJ’s first pick would other probable lottery teams part with a pick just for cap space?

[BigSkyBlazerFan]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3024~862~885~2754~454~2795&teams=5~22~22~19~5~19&te=&cash=

Before anyone starts having a heart attack i doubt you guys will consider but i think the magic will since they are in need of a big, and of course the cavs will do this imo....

no way Portland considers that deal, they won't take on Wallace's contract. And if it was simplified and clevaland was excluded, I'm not sure the Blazers would be willing to do frye/webster for Hedo. Maybe, but I doubt it.

I’m with Wiz on this I don’t want Ben Wallace at all, Hedo is a good player but right now I’d say no

[Da_James_Gang]

Yea this idea actually got smashed on the reguler cavs forums which surprised me, they didnt even want to give up ben for that. But yea i knew people wouldnt like it........