Player Movement Thread (Was Free Agency Thread)

[Skates]

So let me get these rumors straight:

The Heat will send Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Toronto for Jermaine O'Neal, unless,

Dallas trades Josh Howard and filler to Miami for Marion, or,

The Lakers trade Lamar Odom and filler to the Raptors for O'Neal.

OK, that was easier than I thought.

Also the Nets looking to make trades, but for whom and for what?

The Knicks looking to move David Lee, to avoid paying him long term and just so that they truly have nobody playing defense or rebounding.

The Bobcats will trade Raymond Felton but only if Nazr Mohammed comes along with him.  Hmmm, no thanks.

[DuckyNinja]

I'd do Sammy for Nazr and Felton in a heartbeat.

[Skates]

I'd do Sammy for Nazr and Felton in a heartbeat.

I am not sure Felton is a long term replacement for Miller.  He is a RFA this summer, so that determination would need to be made quickly.  Otherwise he duplicates what Lou does as an undersized SG and usually shoots a very low %.  Plus I think we need to get some kind of a shotblocker back in this or a related deal.

[Skates]

Jerome James ruptured his achilles and will miss the rest of this season.  Is it me or is this the least newsworthy injury of all time?

[Skates]

What is the story with Sean Williams of the Nets?  Supposedly he is on the block again.  He has not played much this year after starting out pretty strong early last year.  NJ is deep at PF and C, so is it a numbers thing, is he just not very good or have some of his alleged attitude/personal issues from his college resurfaced?  Our only real trade chip for him would be Jason Smith.  Any info would be appreciated and should we have any interest in grabbing another shotblocker just in case we move Sam at some point?

[tk76-]

some of his alleged attitude/personal issues from his college resurfaced? 

From the little I've read, the issues never went away.  I doubt its worth trading for him, as the Sixers are deep at that position.  They need to use assets to get a shooter, and Smith could help them it that area.

I'd actually bring in Carney next year before Williams, but I'm probably crazy.

[Skates]

some of his alleged attitude/personal issues from his college resurfaced? 

From the little I've read, the issues never went away.  I doubt its worth trading for him, as the Sixers are deep at that position.  They need to use assets to get a shooter, and Smith could help them it that area.

I'd actually bring in Carney next year before Williams, but I'm probably crazy.

Prior to last night Carney was on quite a run for Minnesota, hitting three's and everything.  We can't get him back until next year because he is a traded player, but if he could keep the three point shooting going consistently, he might be of interest down the road.  Stefanski has said we need shooters, but athletic ones.

Sean Williams and Marcus Williams have certainly shown why they dropped in the draft.  Hopefully Stefanski learned that lesson in NJ and we keep grabbing high character players.  I know there was some question about the work ethic of Speights, but that is a lot different than being a bad guy (Marcus Williams seems to be both a bad guy and lazy).

[tk76-]

If they have the money under the tax, the probably can sign Carney to the bi-annual exception this summer.  He will be a FA this summer becasue the Griz did not offer him the tender last fall.

[carolina blue]

According to Draft Express:

The biggest curveball here might be Williams? reaction?unilaterally deciding that while down in Colorado, he wants to play small forward. This coming from a guy who has been a center his entire life, has virtually no perimeter skills to speak of, and whom his best assets are his shot-blocking and offensive rebounding skills?which usually entail being as close to the basket as possible. The Nets publicly said ?sure? but that hasn?t been exactly the case in the Showcase. No one will ever question Williams? talent?it?s his intangibles and on and off the court focus that have always been his worst enemy. We discussed these issues at length before the draft in his DraftExpress profile, for a more recent take, see Hoopsworld?s article.

Any way you slice it, though, there is no questioning the fact that Sean Williams is the most naturally talented and physically gifted player at the D-League Showcase. As we all know, though, there is a lot more to being a successful basketball player than just being talented.

In his first game here in Orem, Williams struggled a bit with foul trouble and ended up having just a decent all-around showing considering the level of competition?10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 6 fouls and 2 turnovers on 4-7 shooting in 28 minutes. He spent most of his time within 15 feet of the basket, putting his freakish athleticism on display literally from the opening tip, jumping to the sky like a pogo stick to tap the ball to a teammate. He was able to establish himself as a legit shot-blocking presence and also made an impact on the offensive glass, but also showed pretty vividly why he has been unable to crack New Jersey?s rotation this season thus far.

His on-ball defense was pretty poor?being scored on numerous times by both Charles Gaines and Andre Brown, and committing some very silly fouls. His perimeter skills looked very raw (turning the ball over when trying to do anything advanced with the ball, bricking a mid-range jumper badly) and his entire game appears to be strictly off instincts.

At this level that can definitely work?and he made some extremely intriguing plays to back that up (some nice turnaround jumpers in the post, getting his hands on all kinds of loose balls), but the poor body language he displayed and the questionable IQ often negated some of those plays. Williams often looked like he was in his own world?not warming up with his teammates for example?and generally didn?t do a great deal to show that he is ?worth the hassle? considering his off-court issues.

[Skates]

According to Draft Express:

The biggest curveball here might be Williams? reaction?unilaterally deciding that while down in Colorado, he wants to play small forward. This coming from a guy who has been a center his entire life, has virtually no perimeter skills to speak of, and whom his best assets are his shot-blocking and offensive rebounding skills?which usually entail being as close to the basket as possible. The Nets publicly said ?sure? but that hasn?t been exactly the case in the Showcase. No one will ever question Williams? talent?it?s his intangibles and on and off the court focus that have always been his worst enemy. We discussed these issues at length before the draft in his DraftExpress profile, for a more recent take, see Hoopsworld?s article.

Any way you slice it, though, there is no questioning the fact that Sean Williams is the most naturally talented and physically gifted player at the D-League Showcase. As we all know, though, there is a lot more to being a successful basketball player than just being talented.

In his first game here in Orem, Williams struggled a bit with foul trouble and ended up having just a decent all-around showing considering the level of competition?10 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 6 fouls and 2 turnovers on 4-7 shooting in 28 minutes. He spent most of his time within 15 feet of the basket, putting his freakish athleticism on display literally from the opening tip, jumping to the sky like a pogo stick to tap the ball to a teammate. He was able to establish himself as a legit shot-blocking presence and also made an impact on the offensive glass, but also showed pretty vividly why he has been unable to crack New Jersey?s rotation this season thus far.

His on-ball defense was pretty poor?being scored on numerous times by both Charles Gaines and Andre Brown, and committing some very silly fouls. His perimeter skills looked very raw (turning the ball over when trying to do anything advanced with the ball, bricking a mid-range jumper badly) and his entire game appears to be strictly off instincts.

At this level that can definitely work?and he made some extremely intriguing plays to back that up (some nice turnaround jumpers in the post, getting his hands on all kinds of loose balls), but the poor body language he displayed and the questionable IQ often negated some of those plays. Williams often looked like he was in his own world?not warming up with his teammates for example?and generally didn?t do a great deal to show that he is ?worth the hassle? considering his off-court issues.

Thanks for the info, and no thanks to picking up a shotblocker seemingly more brain dead than our own Sammy by a long ways.

[Skates]

Pretty well rumored recently, but it looks like Larry Hughes to NJ for Simmons/Ager is close.  Good, I did not want his toxic attitude around our young guys here, nor his usual shooting percentage.

[DuckyNinja]

I'm reading Thorpe's chat, and he mentioned trading for a backup PG or PF.  I naturally went to the Trade Machine, and there's a lot of ways to get Reggie Evans there, and Evans' contract length really isn't bad for them because they're not going to be under the cap for a long time anyway.  I wonder if Eddie has contacted them at all.

[Skates]

I'm reading Thorpe's chat, and he mentioned trading for a backup PG or PF.  I naturally went to the Trade Machine, and there's a lot of ways to get Reggie Evans there, and Evans' contract length really isn't bad for them because they're not going to be under the cap for a long time anyway.  I wonder if Eddie has contacted them at all.

Of whom do you speak?

[DuckyNinja]

LOL! My bad >_>

He was answering a question about the Magic.

[Skates]

Thanks, that would make sense, the Magic have lacked muscle off the bench for a while now. Problem is that I don't see that they have anything in Reggie's price range that I particularly want.  A salary dump is possible, but even teams that are over the cap are careful about taking on extra future salary due to the luxury cap and the economy in general.  They are known to over value Reddick, which is quite the opposite of my opinion of him.  With Jason Smith out for the year and Brand having two injuries to come back from now, I doubt management moves Reggie without getting some kind of a replacement big back.  Reggie also seems to play a nice, limited role these days, plus I think he is good for Speights as a hustle role model and ass kicker when needed.  With the team winning I doubt we see a straight salary dump of Reggie.  He likely only moves as part of a bigger deal.

If I did deal with the Magic, is it even worth while to try and get Vazquez any more?  Since they drafted him he has seemingly made no real attempt to move over here from Europe and keeps signing contracts over there.