RealGM

It is widely being discussed that Joe Smith wants out of OKC and likely will be traded. He is a 13 yr vet, a PF at 6-10 and 225. His salary is $4,795,000 and is at 1 yr. Could we think of trading someone like Carroll for him? It works salary wise. We need a PF to stand in for Ajinca and who can tutor Ajinca some. And it is only a 1 yr contract which frees up some room for us for next yr or 2010 as far as going after FA. And he might be a good person for Ajinca to watch and learn from. God knows May isn't any sort of good influence in training him at PF. Something which would interest the Cats? What you think?

I'd ship them Hammer for Joe Smith. We get a decent PF to fill a major hole and then some cap room in 09.

Well. both Smith and his agent are pushing hard to get out of OKC. If we can do it, great. Because I dont see Carroll getting much PT under LB's system. Clear up cap space and get Ajinca a tutor.

Carrol for Smith would be good for us, but I don't think the scum of the earth over in OKC would be interested. They would probably want May or Hollins or something like that, which I would not be so quick to give up.

What?? I'd gladly give them McMay AND Hollins for Smith. Why do we need May? I doubt he's able to produce anything more than several points and/or rebounds in limited playing time, and he will be gone after this season anyway (the FO can't be so stupid as to sign him to ANOTHER contract). Why do we need Hollins? Our new 5 plays better than he does, so Hollins is just as expendable. Would I prefer we send Carroll? SURE! i doubt they give up that cap space for an average shooter and defender with multiple years remaining on his deal.

Note that I said "not so quick," which means I'm luke-warm on the trade, but not necessarily against. You are basically giving up a couple of young players with decent potential for 60 games of Smith. I am personally very skeptical that Cookie will ever be anything, but he has looked OK the past few games so what do I know. As for Hollins, young 7 foot tall, super athletic players don't grow on trees. Despite his flaws, He is still young, we might miss him next year when Smith is long gone.

Sean May/Ryan Hollins for Joe Smith- I've pretty much given up on the idea of May ever being worth it, so this trade is basically Hollins for Smith. I've got to say, I would do it.

Matt Carroll for Joe Smith- Now if in some crazy situation this could happen, ABSOLUTELY.

I was at last nights game okc @ Charlotte.
Heres what I saw.
May-Finally got minutes and produced PTS/Boards-- But it was against worse team in NBA who by the way stayed with us until 130m of 4th Quarter-- He did not jump much but did fillup the lane and made some decent shots.. Definitely would trade him/ and Hollins who did not even dress.
Because:
Joe Smith looked great and produced pts and boards against us both inside and out

I also after 12-15-08 would trade Carroll to NJ NETS for Williams and Hassell
then
starting lineup:
Aug/Felt
Rich/Brown/Hassell
Wallace/ Dudley/Morrison
Williams/ Smith/ Jones
Okafore/Nazr

I also have some advice for Bob Johnson--Don't advertise 1/2 price tickets and then when a fan gets to the window to buy a ticket be told the promo ended the night before and then be charged a 2.00
processing fee per ticket!! Look arouind Bob--If you had 4000 in attendance last night you were lucky!

BobsBuddy wrote:He did not jump much but did fillup the lane

True, true.

W_HAMILTON wrote:

BobsBuddy wrote:He did not jump much but did fillup the lane

I was shocked to see him dunk!

BobsBuddy wrote:I also have some advice for Bob Johnson--Don't advertise 1/2 price tickets and then when a fan gets to the window to buy a ticket be told the promo ended the night before and then be charged a 2.00
processing fee per ticket!! Look arouind Bob--If you had 4000 in attendance last night you were lucky!

Agreed on the bait and switch, but I didn't think the crowd was that small. Certainly not the 11k reported, but high single digits at least. It was a very quiet crowd, mind you, but more than 4k.

The semi-emergence of shannon brown as a viabable back up 2 guard off the bench makes carroll expendable.

I'd trade him for joe smith in a heart beat just to clear his deal off our books.

Carroll could start in OKC over damien wilkins and with his shooting, would really upgrade their back court. As others have mentioned, Joe Smith could not only contribute meaningful minutes for us but also tutor our young bigs.

However, OKC, like all 28 other teams, would probably be pretty damn reluctant about taking on Carrolls overly long and overly lucrative contract.

Mut123--You're accurate on everything you said except the contract.
A couple days back Somebody posted a comparison of Carroll contract with other 2 guards on other teams and acxtually His is not that bad. And he would fit in well with okc ineup for the future either as starter or specialist nof bench. Also hes young. From okc thunder standpoint I would pull the trigger on trade. He thet get first pick in 2009 draft and pickup the monster powerforward from University of Oklahoma they could move "bigfoot" from 4 to 3 and wow what a front line?