sully00 wrote:Celts17Pride wrote:sully00,
1. Do you really believe Miami is going to trade Wade for Rondo, Perkins and R. Allen?
2. Do you really believe Cleveland is going to trade LeBron for Rondo, Perkins and R. Allen?
#1 maybe, #2 No, they would be nuts to trade LeBron anywhere. They likely offer him the best place to win a championship and have no way to replace him once he is gone.
Now Miami is different. They have no state income tax and beautiful weather everyone wants to go there. But if I put Amare or Bosh on the Heat today what place do they finish? That is my problem, Riley is great making something out of nothing but he also knows what he is up against. Can he put together a team that is going to win a championship in the next 3-5 years? Wade is not going to be happy finishing 4th in the East and going out in the second round, he is going to want a team that looks like the Celtics, Lakers, Cavs, and Spurs. If he doesn't get it I think he walks. Now Riley maybe can get it done, but he is going to have spend the 70-90 mil that the Lakers, Celtics, and Cavs do to pull it off.
So he can play it out with Wade, or he can move Wade for Rondo and Perkins and a first rounder. Now he would have two 23 year old championship hardened premier defenders. Beasley, possibly another top 5 pick and Boston's pick and a ton of cap space, that you can use to sign guys as well as use to take on contracts so other teams can go into FA. Build something that costs 55-60 mil out of 23-24 year olds that maybe is an 8th seed now but a championship contender in three years, instead of building something out of 28 years old that probably isn't going to get it done with the window starting to close in 3 years.
This is certainly logical, though i'd hazard to guess that Riley makes a stab at the FA pool himself this offseason - keeping Wade AND signing one of the premier studs is possible for Miami with O'neal's contract expiring and no major contracts on the books - they can be a player to add another star to Wade.
A mid-season trade seems highly unlikely in the case of Wade though - especially if Riley has one more crack at adding a great player to Wade in the offseason. I do believe he'd take a package of 2 young players and picks, though Ray Allen no longer becomes a part of that equation if it happens in the offseason - his deal is done this year.
I don't see Ray S&Ting himself to a rebuilding Miami either - if he could be traded in-season, cut, and then brought back, that's another story - but again, I don't see Wade as the guy that would be available at that time.
Who I could very well see doing that is Atlanta - they've done it twice before and Joe Johnson has already basically said that he is going to test the market and wants to go to a true contender - a clear endightment of his current clubs ability to compete against the elite.
If any "major" move happens, I believe it would be a scenario where Boston trades for Joe Johnson, gets Ray Allen back once waived, (factoring in for the "sit-out" period) and doesn't have to give up much more than Glen Davis, Perkins, Allen, and picks...I don't see Joe Johnson as being worth giving up Rondo for by himself - he is not a franchise carrying player as Wade is and he is old enough now that Boston would be extending the contention window only another 2 years while completely decimating the long-term future of the team.
It's definately take 2 starting caliber players to jar Johnson free, but very likely someone else must come in that package if Rondo was to go as well - someone a few years under 30 to help stagger the aging process of the core and give Ainge time to re-constitute his roster.
Regardless - Boston is all about the "now" for the next 3 seasons of KG's contract - so taking on veterans and spending $$ does not matter as long as the cash is contained within that 3 year mark. Johnson will be in his early 30's at that point and would be looking at either an extremely old supporting cast of a very young one...interesting to say the least...
Bottom line - I doubt anything in-season happens, but it will need to if Ray's deal is going to factor into this equation. You can guarentee that Ainge will be an active participant in all possible scenairos though, so who knows what may shake loose when GM's start getting anxious...
