Rubio to Wolves, Time to Strike?

[Marvel]

^No you can't.

edit: Wait, who's SCB? If it's not Love, NM.

I'm reasonably high on Hendo, if you accept him for what he is - an elite defensive wing, hard worker, good culture guy, teammate, plays within himself, then he can definitely be a great assest building towards a contender. I see him as a player who will do the little things that matter/count to win in the playoffs(when we re-establish ourselves) on the defensive end. Since Miami have set the bar in the East, it would be hard to trade Henderson, sacrifice D for offense.

I'm a Flynn guy, but he's not needed here. He'd probably end up becoming aggravated over minutes behind DJ and then all hell breaks loose.

[Battery]

You could have Hendo for SCB.

[iansportsdude7]

You could have Hendo for SCB.

For Beasley? Jeeze, didn't know you guys were that high on Hendo.

[BigSlam]

You could have Hendo for SCB.

For Beasley? Jeeze, didn't know you guys were that high on Hendo.

We'll throw in Battery too.

[Marvel]

I'm high on defense.

[SWedd523]

I'm high on defense.

Beas is high on all sorts of ****

[Battery]

I could see Minny taking Jax for #20. Question is, would the Cats do it? Even in a not so great draft, you can do a lot with #9, #19, #20 and #39.

I've thought about this also.

Kahn has publicly stated that Minny is finally looking to add some impact veterans to their stock of youth in an effort to make a jump next year. Jackson is the type of player that would really help them make that jump. And considering he's dropped 20 lbs and is in the best shape he's been in years, he can probably go back to playing the SG, which is presently the most glaring hole in Minny's line-up.

Having said this, they're still not going to trade the #2 pick for Jackson and our #9; while Jackson can still play and produce 18-20 ppg while playing physical defense, the guy is 32 years old and Minny would be acquiring him with an eye for getting two productive years + veteran leadership to make a playoff push.

I do think they would part with the #20. Minny is presently under the cap for next year and could absorb Jackson's contract outright. However, they're going to be adding the #2 pick plus Rubio to their books, so they'll need to send back some salary to make a deal work.

One deal that may suit both teams could be

Jackson and Carroll
for
#20, Darko, Webster and Tolliver

Why for Minny?
They can now draft Kanter at the 2 to slide in at their starting center (since they have no need for Derrick Williams with Love / Beas / Randolph already at the forwards). They would be:

Rubio / Ridenour / Flynn
Jax /Ellington / Carroll
Beasley / Randolph
Love / Randolph
Kanter / pekovic

They'd have offensive threats at multiple positions (between the 2-3-4 spots you have guys capable of dropping 30 on a given night) plus be solid defensively.

Why for Charlotte?
We unload Jackson's $19.2 million and Carrolls $7.4 million contract balances. Webster and Tolliver are throw ins who come off the books after the season. Even paying Darko, the deal still frees up an additional 8 million for us next offseason. Couple this with Diaw being scheduled to drop off anyway and we could be real players in FA.

Darko finally showed some glimpses of his talent last year. No, he will never live up to being the #2 selection but the guy was a solid center when given the minutes. He was top 5 in the league in blocked shots and at 7'0 275, a physical and imposing defender. When given touches in the post, he produced some huge games including a 23 point, 16 rebound, 5 assist, 6 block outing against the Lakers. His season averages are skewed because he averaged less than 25 mpg due to Minny periodically sliding love and beasley to the 4-5.

Bottom line, he's still only 25 years old and has three years on his deal at a reasonable $5mil per year avg. And he'd be better than any center we could draft or afford to sign. If given 35 mins per night, and touches in the post, he is perfectly capable of providing 13-14ppg, 8-9 rebs and 2 blocks.

NBAdraft.net currently has Marcus Morris, Marshon Brooks and Jordan Hamilton going at the 9,19 and 20 respectively. If we give our second round pick away to anyone willing to take Najara's final 2 million off our hands (or just buy him out along with tolliver and trade our second round pick for a future second) to free up the necessary roster spots,

This would make us.

DJ / Livingston / Temple
Brooks / Temple / Hendo (injured)
Morris / Hamilton / Webster
Tyrus / Diaw / White
Darko / Kwame (resigned) / Diop (injured)

This squad would be respectable next year and possibly good enough to even make a return to the playoffs. With the money coming off the books next offseason, they could then make another run at Paul possibly using DJ/Hendo as bait in a sign and trade.

S-Jax does not make Minny contenders in the West and there is no way he would go there. Minny would be getting the angry Jax. There is no MJ in Minny. S-Jax would be good on a team like the Lakers if they didn't have Artest. The Bulls could use him too.

[Battery]

You could have Hendo for SCB.

For Beasley? Jeeze, didn't know you guys were that high on Hendo.

We'll throw in Battery too.

No thanks, Minny is too cold for me. I'd go to Phoenix if you paid for my flight.

[Battery]

You could have Hendo for SCB.

For Beasley? Jeeze, didn't know you guys were that high on Hendo.

Hendo>>>>>>>Bumsley.

No way MJ trades Hendo for an uncoachable clown who plays no defense. Not happening as long as MJ owns the team.

[MrMorrow]

Charlotte fans know how good a player Gerald Henderson is... not many other teams in the league know how good Hendo is.

[Jaruff]

If we're taking the OKC blueprint, I don't see us trading Henderson. He's our Thabo.

Now, if we were going to do a Hendo for Beasy swap, I'd really love something like this:

Hendo, Diaw, 9th, 19th for SCB, Darko, 2nd.
Flip 2nd and Diop to Cleveland for 4th and 32nd.

Keep trading down or pick a guy we like. OKC likes to grab picks and assets and in Cho's case, I think number of assets will be key. We have three assets coming in (9th, 19th, 39th) but more would be better. We want to be in OKC's situation in a few years where we could deal a DJ White for a veteran role player that could help our playoff run.

[Tupik]

I'm high on defense.

Beas is high on all sorts of ****