This is a good trade for Memphis

[EdSkae]

Here is my problem with both Memphis & Minnesota letting contracts expire to obtain cap space. Yes it puts you in position to sign free agents. But the question is will those free agents want to sign and play with you. I always think the better move is to trade the expiring contract for a player under contract. You also put yourself at a huge disadvantage by letting contracts expire to get under the cap. For instance if a team has 100 million in contracts on it's books and they let some contracts expire to get under the cap. They then can only spend up to the cap plus the mid level and miniumum exceptions on free agents. If you want to win in the NBA you trade contracts before they expire.

[Jammer]

Here is my problem with both Memphis & Minnesota letting contracts expire to obtain cap space. Yes it puts you in position to sign free agents. But the question is will those free agents want to sign and play with you. I always think the better move is to trade the expiring contract for a player under contract. You also put yourself at a huge disadvantage by letting contracts expire to get under the cap. ...

If you want to win in the NBA you trade contracts before they expire.

That's exactly what the Lakers did with Kwame's expiring.

Got something out of nothing.

IF you look at the history of the Grizzlies, I think that it's pretty clear that after 12 seasons, you can unequivocally say that they don't want to win.

That's why this move is so consistent with their strategy.

However, by lowering their payroll, they make the team easier to sell, and stand a better chance of generating a profit. And who knows who they might be able to steal this summer.

[chakdaddy]

Look at their assets:
1). A very good collection of young talent (Gay, Conley, Lowry, Warrick, Crittendon)
2). A high draft pick.
3). Tradable contracts that could be used in a larger deal (Darko, Miller, Cardinal)
4). Cap space.

1. A good SF in Gay. A potentially very good PG in Conley. Two more average but redundant PG prospects. An average SF/PF prospect in Warrick. They had a much better collection of young talent before they traded their best young player in Gasol.

2. A high draft pick...which they already had.

3. Two of the more untradeable contracts in the league in Cardinal and Darko. You'd might as well list Scalabrine as an asset for us.

4. Cap space which they can, if they're lucky, use to sign someone who isn't as good as Gasol. But who will almost surely be more redundant than Gasol.

[chakdaddy]

I guess the plus side is that the Lakers are in the West, unless the chemistry is great they still might not make it out of the west, and the real alternative for Memphis would have been a "significantly better but still a complete ripoff" from Chicago, which would make them a decent contender in the East.

[UGA Hayes]

Everyone is forgetting that this summer Memphis will be in position to offer a multi-year contract starting at ($14 million minus cost of re-signing Navarro) to a restricted free agent, thereby possibly stealing a talent from another team. If you want to see the numbers, refer to my post at the top of page 4 of this thread.

Whether restricted free agent is Calderon, Deng, Gordon, Monta Ellis, Kelenna Azubuike, Igudala or unrestricted free agents like Antwan Jamison or Arenas if he opts out; teams will be wary of Memphis throwing a contract (or two) somebody's way.

And any free agents that Memphis signs this summer, IF ANY, are a direct result of freeing up cap space thru this trade.

This presumes that they renounce their rights to Kwame Brown, who will quite likely sign elsewhere in his free agent negotiation this summer, and waive Aaron McKie at the end of the season.

This is an interesting point. I think there are suppose to be an unusually large number of restricted FA this year from the Dwight Howard draft class. I'm skeptical that all of the teams of those restricted will match huge contract offers.

[Al n' Perk No Layups!]

Look at the actual other deals out there: Cavs offered Gooden and Hughes. The Blazers offered Lafrentz and Outlaw. The Bulls were offering Noah, but didn't have the contracts. Gasol's contract is only getting bigger and his value stagnated from a few years ago, why would any team offer anything more in the future?

The Bulls weren't offering Noah, the Bulls were offering a package built around Thomas and Nocioni and willing to take on Cardinal's deal. Memphis should have taken that deal in my opinion.

Memphis wanted Noah and Thabo. Chicago should've been willing to part with those guys or at worst add one of them to the other deal. Fault lies with both parties on that one.

There were talks with the Bulls about Andres Nocioni, whom the Grizzlies courted last summer, and Tyrus Thomas. Sources say the Grizzlies were angling for a package of young players that included Joakim Noah and Thabo Sefolosha. Though there was no offer, Memphis insiders believed the Bulls eventually would make such a deal because it wouldn't have involved any of their main players and the Bulls also were willing to take on a contract like that of Brian Cardinal.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs ... ?track=rss

[LarryBrdismyDad]

To BrokenLeftyJumper and anyone else who thinks this is a good trade here is a free espn insider article which shows how bad this trade was:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/ ... d=tab1pos1

Chad Ford outined 10 deals in his opinion that were atleast as good if not better then the Gasol-Lakers trade. I don't think many of these deals are very good but my GS idea is in there with a little twist having Barnes and Azubuike in the trade instead of Perovic. The Chicago trade is probably the best deal I have seen yet. Expiring contracts of PJ Brown and Khryrpa for Tyrus Thomas and a 2008 draft pick. Memphis gets back a big time prospect here who one and a half years ago was considered the #1 prospect for the 2006 NBA Draft. That first round pick they would get would probably be in the 14 to 17 range as well.

[BrokenLeftyJumper]

The Chicago trade is probably the best deal I have seen yet.

Yea, that's pointless though. It's already clear this deal wasn't on the table, as the Bulls didn't want to go into tax land.

Also to note, it's easy for someone to come out and think of a better deal for Gasol, that does not mean that offer was actually on the table. Remember most of these deals Ford runs through are pure speculation.

The Clippers deal and the Suns deal would be extremely unlikely, IMO. The Hawks, Heat, Magic, Nets, and Spurs deals are no better than what Memphis actually got.

The GS deal as I've already said is probably a better deal than the one Memphis got. Though not by much. Its debatable whether Brandan Wright and a draft pick is better than Crittendon, Gasol's bro, and two draft picks. Additionally, the deal involves a 6 for 1 player exchange, something I think would be highly unlikely in the middle of a season.

Also I have a very hard time seeing Toronto giving up Barganani and Moon for Gasol.

To BrokenLeftyJumper and anyone else who thinks this is a good trade here is a free espn insider article which shows how bad this trade was:

So Chad Ford has proven the deal for Memphis was bad because he's proposed 10 deals, 5 of which are no better than the deal Memphis got, 3 of which were extremely unlikely, 1 which we know wasn't out there, and 1 deal (the GS deal) that looks only slightly better and involves a 6 for 1 transaction (probably pretty unlikely mid-season)? I don't think so. Additionally, Ford provides no evidence that any of these deals were actually out there.

This proves nothing.

[Banks2Pierce]

Here is a nice little article from a season ticket holder that got an explanation right from Chris Wallace. It takes into account the summer time ball that Pau is playing.

http://3shadesofblue.blogspot.com/2008/02/wallace-explains-pau-trade-to-ticket.html