ducks
10-17-2005, 07:20 PM
It's logical: Garnett for Nowitzki
By SAM SMITH
Chicago Tribune
So we package Eddy Curry and Chris Duhon and ...
Oh, yeah. I'm finished with that. But there are more than 400 other NBA players who might benefit from playing elsewhere. And it's my job to find out who they are. These trading suggestions are all in fun, and occasionally they happen.
I usually try to have them make sense for both teams, which I thought was the situation last spring when the new, defense-oriented Dallas Mavericks disappeared again in the playoffs. Lots of great players weren't great defenders, and Charles Barkley will agree. And the only way to get value if you trade a star is to trade for a star.
So I thought it made sense for a megadeal: Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, the offensive star, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett, a David Robinson type in that he's asked to be a great offensive player when he probably should be Bill Russell.
It seems that very small window for Minnesota has closed, with Flip Saunders fired and now coaching in Detroit and Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell gone. The Timberwolves are in Chicago on Monday night to play the Bulls, and it's a young team in transition with one constant - an aging Garnett.
The "kid" has played almost 30,000 minutes in the NBA, which is the twilight for most great players. He's entering his 11th season. And after knee problems slowed him last season - if you can call averaging 22.2 points and a league-best 13.5 rebounds slowed - the team rested Garnett in the first two exhibition games. He is expected to play Monday, but it's hard to see him being on a contender anytime soon in Minnesota.
As a defensive spider, he would be perfect for the style of play coach Avery Johnson is pursuing in retooling the Mavericks. It is a rebuilding of sorts with Steve Nash and Michael Finley, the other two-thirds of Dallas' one-time Big Three, let go for nothing the last two off-seasons. Though owner Mark Cuban always says he'll keep Nowitzki, comments to the Dallas Morning News last week raised questions.
Said Nowitzki: "I learned pretty quick in this league that it's a business. If you don't perform the way they want you to, or sometimes if you do perform but don't fit in with the future of the team, I understand what happens. You might be out of that situation sooner or later.
"I thought (the team would stay together), especially after we came so close in the Western Conference finals. I thought we were going to try a couple more years, but we decided a different route, and here we are now."
And Cuban added: "It's a job. Do people work for General Motors their entire careers? People do what's best for their careers. You have to remember we're in an era of free agency.
"You don't hire anybody in any business with the idea that they're going to leave. You want them to stay, and you hope things work out that way. I have a philosophy that you re-earn your commitment both ways every day."
It still sounds like a deal that makes sense for both teams.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...ts/12920161.htm
By SAM SMITH
Chicago Tribune
So we package Eddy Curry and Chris Duhon and ...
Oh, yeah. I'm finished with that. But there are more than 400 other NBA players who might benefit from playing elsewhere. And it's my job to find out who they are. These trading suggestions are all in fun, and occasionally they happen.
I usually try to have them make sense for both teams, which I thought was the situation last spring when the new, defense-oriented Dallas Mavericks disappeared again in the playoffs. Lots of great players weren't great defenders, and Charles Barkley will agree. And the only way to get value if you trade a star is to trade for a star.
So I thought it made sense for a megadeal: Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, the offensive star, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett, a David Robinson type in that he's asked to be a great offensive player when he probably should be Bill Russell.
It seems that very small window for Minnesota has closed, with Flip Saunders fired and now coaching in Detroit and Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell gone. The Timberwolves are in Chicago on Monday night to play the Bulls, and it's a young team in transition with one constant - an aging Garnett.
The "kid" has played almost 30,000 minutes in the NBA, which is the twilight for most great players. He's entering his 11th season. And after knee problems slowed him last season - if you can call averaging 22.2 points and a league-best 13.5 rebounds slowed - the team rested Garnett in the first two exhibition games. He is expected to play Monday, but it's hard to see him being on a contender anytime soon in Minnesota.
As a defensive spider, he would be perfect for the style of play coach Avery Johnson is pursuing in retooling the Mavericks. It is a rebuilding of sorts with Steve Nash and Michael Finley, the other two-thirds of Dallas' one-time Big Three, let go for nothing the last two off-seasons. Though owner Mark Cuban always says he'll keep Nowitzki, comments to the Dallas Morning News last week raised questions.
Said Nowitzki: "I learned pretty quick in this league that it's a business. If you don't perform the way they want you to, or sometimes if you do perform but don't fit in with the future of the team, I understand what happens. You might be out of that situation sooner or later.
"I thought (the team would stay together), especially after we came so close in the Western Conference finals. I thought we were going to try a couple more years, but we decided a different route, and here we are now."
And Cuban added: "It's a job. Do people work for General Motors their entire careers? People do what's best for their careers. You have to remember we're in an era of free agency.
"You don't hire anybody in any business with the idea that they're going to leave. You want them to stay, and you hope things work out that way. I have a philosophy that you re-earn your commitment both ways every day."
It still sounds like a deal that makes sense for both teams.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/merc...ts/12920161.htm