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[Worm Guts]

The only way we are going to trade for Melo is if he agrees to an extension first.

It would be a huge gamble, but the only way the Wolves could become a major player in this years free agent market would be to trade for Melo. There's no way he would agree to an extension right now, but if you pull in a major free agent he might. That's a big gamble, but it's the only way you get to a place where you have Melo-Bosh or something similar.

[jpatrick]

I read the article as meaning he wants as many S&T deals in place with teams so if he can come to terms with the FA, the deal can go thru. The question comes up, why do we need to S&T when we have cap room? The article says so we don't have to pay Al and the FA. Makes sense I guess.

I highly doubt any of these S&Ts that are being agreed to in principle include rights to players we draft this year. Like someone said before even if we have S&T in place, it's really up to the FA whether he comes here or not and we can't even contact them until a week after the draft. Therefore even if we are the best deal for Toronto, that's meaningless unless Bosh agrees to come here.

I just read Bosh's comments about being the man. I still highly doubt he comes here but that'd definitely be our sales pitch. I still think he ends up with the Knicks or Bulls, wherever Lebron doesn't go.

[Worm Guts]

I read the article as meaning he wants as many S&T deals in place with teams so if he can come to terms with the FA, the deal can go thru. The question comes up, why do we need to S&T when we have cap room? The article says so we don't have to pay Al and the FA. Makes sense I guess.
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You need the sign and trade because the players original team can offer an extra year and bigger raises.

The thing I didn't understand was who would be worth trading Al and draft picks for, but would come here if weren't a winner right away. I would think the big benefit of using Al in a sign and trade would be that you'd have most of you're cap space left to use on another big name player.

[moss_is_1]

I read the article as meaning he wants as many S&T deals in place with teams so if he can come to terms with the FA, the deal can go thru. The question comes up, why do we need to S&T when we have cap room? The article says so we don't have to pay Al and the FA. Makes sense I guess.
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You need the sign and trade because the players original team can offer an extra year and bigger raises.

The thing I didn't understand was who would be worth trading Al and draft picks for, but would come here if weren't a winner right away. I would think the big benefit of using Al in a sign and trade would be that you'd have most of you're cap space left to use on another big name player.

We'll end up with Joe Johnson to the max, and trade Al for him...

[SSUBluesman]

There is not much stomach to pay Big Al and a FA with the staff knowing that we still need more pieces (and time) to be a championship caliber team. Rather, we will be sweetening Big Al with current/future draft picks

S+T deals don't return guys like Al, and we're going to be adding to that? Because Taylor doesn't want to pay Al + FA? So we're going to be the Minnesota Marlins always waiting for the "right time" to pay to improve the team? The only semi-rational reason I can see to move Al is because of fit, however doing so in an S+T is Isiah/McFail level dumb.

St. Nick better be right. This better be a bunch of crap to get everyone's hopes up and allow Kahn to shrug when nothing of significance transpires.

While I know Kahn is particularly active looking at deals, especially in regards to the lazy pile of crap that preceded him, this gives me more reason to think this summer is going to be absolutely nuts in terms of player movement, especially in trades.

[TrentTuckerForever]

You guys have the pieces to get Bosh, but its not an ideal situation for a UFA aspiring to join a contender to come to a team that's just been gutted in order to acquire him.

Remember there is a lot of money left on the table if a player leaves in a non-S&T, though. I think it's in the neighborhood of $20 million over 5 years... and if a player signs with his original team he can get the 6th year as well. Even though Bosh is a "major" free agent, signing a deal with Toronto (whether he stays there or not) is almost a given. These guys want to win, sure, but I'd bet that none of them leave that kind of coin on the table.