Kori Ellis
02-22-2007, 01:36 AM
Forgive me if this is already posted, I just got home from Vegas and haven't read all the threads.
Latest trade buzz headlined by Kidd, Bibby
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
Archive
Much to the delight of Clifford Robinson, I convinced Jason Kidd to talk tonight by calling him Barry Bonds.
I was waiting by Kidd's locker Wednesday night to speak to him prior to what may have been his last game for the New Jersey Nets, but when Kidd emerged from the trainer's room he didn't make eye contact with me or anyone else as he fiddled with his iPod, checked his Blackberry and put on his uniform shorts, right leg first, then left.
Kidd turned and walked away without a word, so I called to him, "Hey, Barry Bonds. Aren't you going to talk?"
I covered Bonds back when I was dabbling in baseball writing, and that's how he acts.
Robinson appreciated the joke, and Kidd apparently did, too, because he came back from the trainer's room two minutes later and relented.
Making it clear that he would not mind at all if a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers goes through, Kidd said the big difference between what's going on now in New Jersey and what happened the last two times he was traded was that he was blindsided when Dallas moved him to Phoenix and when Phoenix moved him to New Jersey. This time, it's no secret the Lakers are trying to get him.
"This is as much attention as I've ever seen for the possibility of a trade, so we'll see what happens," Kidd said. "I've really enjoyed New Jersey, but things change in this league, and they don't change slowly, they happen fast."
Kidd has been saying for the past two weeks that he learned at an early NBA age to always keep a bag packed, and he said Wednesday such a bag should include a toothbrush, deodorant, a suit and a sweatsuit.
But pressed on the issue, he admitted he does not yet have that bag packed -- which might be just as well, since both the Nets and the Lakers did not expect the trade to come to fruition.
The Lakers spent Wednesday shopping around the league, trying to find something the Nets would want. New Jersey had no interest in the package of players Los Angeles was offering -- some combination of Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, Aaron McKie, Jordan Farmar and a No. 1 pick -- if Lamar Odom or Andrew Bynum were not included.
Kidd said he had been told the Lakers were the only team in the mix to acquire him. People familiar with Kidd's thinking said Los Angeles was the only other city where Kidd would be happy playing, and the Nets were being dissuaded from trying to send him elsewhere as a make-good to Kidd for what he had meant to the franchise. Golden State and Sacramento had been mentioned as possible acceptable destinations for Kidd since he grew up in nearby Oakland.
"I don't think [Mike] Bibby is going to end up anywhere close to New Jersey. Maybe somewhere in the Midwest, from what I hear," Kidd said.
In conversations with sources around the league Wednesday, this was the latest I was hearing:
• Kidd's teammate, Vince Carter, also was looking at a possible relocation to Los Angeles, to the Clippers. But for the Nets to make such a trade, they'd have to get back Shaun Livingston -- a player the Clips had refused to part with in earlier talks between the teams -- along with Corey Maggette.
• As Kidd suggested, Cleveland was emerging as the likeliest destination for Bibby. I heard from a very reliable source that the Minnesota Timberwolves were involved in three-team talks with the Kings and Cavs, with Mike James looking like the likeliest replacement at point guard for the Kings. Drew Gooden would headline the package the Cavs would surrender.
There was also talk that a fourth team was trying to get involved, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was Phoenix. I'm told the Suns and Cavaliers have discussed a Marcus Banks-Damon Jones trade as a fallback in the event a Bibby deal fell through. There also was a possibility Banks could go to Sacramento in a four-way Cleveland-Sacramento-Phoenix-Minnesota deal, with the Kings getting one of the two spare No. 1 picks the Suns have at their disposal (their own and Cleveland's). The third No. 1 pick Phoenix owns is a pick owed by Atlanta for the Joe Johnson trade. It is top-three protected in 2007 and unprotected in 2008, and is virtually untouchable.
• The Houston Rockets were discussing at least two moves involving Bonzi Wells, including a trade with Chicago for Michael Sweetney. Another option was believed to be a swap of Wells and a second player to Detroit for Dale Davis and Flip Murray, though Pistons president Joe Dumars was first trying to find a taker for Nazr Mohammed before he committed to a Davis trade.
• Dallas was interested in acquiring P.J. Brown from the Bulls, but Chicago was still waiting to hear whether Jerry West would lower his asking price on Pau Gasol and drop his insistence on receiving Luol Deng in return. Also, the Mavericks were looking to move only Austin Croshere in a trade for Brown, and Chicago does not want Croshere. The only possibility for that trade to happen would be if a third team was willing to take Croshere and give away what the Bulls were looking for -- an effective low-post scorer. Wells proved to be just that in the playoffs for the Kings last season, and the Bulls appeared closer to getting him -- and keeping Brown -- than they were to getting Gasol.
• Another player being shopped was Toronto's Fred Jones, who still stood of a chance of being sent to Portland for Juan Dixon. Philadelphia was another possible destination for Jones, though the 76ers were not willing to give up the one player the Raptors and several other teams coveted: Kyle Korver.
• Under prodding from consultant Larry Brown, the 76ers took a stab at acquiring center Jackie Butler from San Antonio but were rebuffed. Butler and Beno Udrih were the two players the Spurs were listening to offers for.
Latest trade buzz headlined by Kidd, Bibby
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
Archive
Much to the delight of Clifford Robinson, I convinced Jason Kidd to talk tonight by calling him Barry Bonds.
I was waiting by Kidd's locker Wednesday night to speak to him prior to what may have been his last game for the New Jersey Nets, but when Kidd emerged from the trainer's room he didn't make eye contact with me or anyone else as he fiddled with his iPod, checked his Blackberry and put on his uniform shorts, right leg first, then left.
Kidd turned and walked away without a word, so I called to him, "Hey, Barry Bonds. Aren't you going to talk?"
I covered Bonds back when I was dabbling in baseball writing, and that's how he acts.
Robinson appreciated the joke, and Kidd apparently did, too, because he came back from the trainer's room two minutes later and relented.
Making it clear that he would not mind at all if a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers goes through, Kidd said the big difference between what's going on now in New Jersey and what happened the last two times he was traded was that he was blindsided when Dallas moved him to Phoenix and when Phoenix moved him to New Jersey. This time, it's no secret the Lakers are trying to get him.
"This is as much attention as I've ever seen for the possibility of a trade, so we'll see what happens," Kidd said. "I've really enjoyed New Jersey, but things change in this league, and they don't change slowly, they happen fast."
Kidd has been saying for the past two weeks that he learned at an early NBA age to always keep a bag packed, and he said Wednesday such a bag should include a toothbrush, deodorant, a suit and a sweatsuit.
But pressed on the issue, he admitted he does not yet have that bag packed -- which might be just as well, since both the Nets and the Lakers did not expect the trade to come to fruition.
The Lakers spent Wednesday shopping around the league, trying to find something the Nets would want. New Jersey had no interest in the package of players Los Angeles was offering -- some combination of Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, Aaron McKie, Jordan Farmar and a No. 1 pick -- if Lamar Odom or Andrew Bynum were not included.
Kidd said he had been told the Lakers were the only team in the mix to acquire him. People familiar with Kidd's thinking said Los Angeles was the only other city where Kidd would be happy playing, and the Nets were being dissuaded from trying to send him elsewhere as a make-good to Kidd for what he had meant to the franchise. Golden State and Sacramento had been mentioned as possible acceptable destinations for Kidd since he grew up in nearby Oakland.
"I don't think [Mike] Bibby is going to end up anywhere close to New Jersey. Maybe somewhere in the Midwest, from what I hear," Kidd said.
In conversations with sources around the league Wednesday, this was the latest I was hearing:
• Kidd's teammate, Vince Carter, also was looking at a possible relocation to Los Angeles, to the Clippers. But for the Nets to make such a trade, they'd have to get back Shaun Livingston -- a player the Clips had refused to part with in earlier talks between the teams -- along with Corey Maggette.
• As Kidd suggested, Cleveland was emerging as the likeliest destination for Bibby. I heard from a very reliable source that the Minnesota Timberwolves were involved in three-team talks with the Kings and Cavs, with Mike James looking like the likeliest replacement at point guard for the Kings. Drew Gooden would headline the package the Cavs would surrender.
There was also talk that a fourth team was trying to get involved, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was Phoenix. I'm told the Suns and Cavaliers have discussed a Marcus Banks-Damon Jones trade as a fallback in the event a Bibby deal fell through. There also was a possibility Banks could go to Sacramento in a four-way Cleveland-Sacramento-Phoenix-Minnesota deal, with the Kings getting one of the two spare No. 1 picks the Suns have at their disposal (their own and Cleveland's). The third No. 1 pick Phoenix owns is a pick owed by Atlanta for the Joe Johnson trade. It is top-three protected in 2007 and unprotected in 2008, and is virtually untouchable.
• The Houston Rockets were discussing at least two moves involving Bonzi Wells, including a trade with Chicago for Michael Sweetney. Another option was believed to be a swap of Wells and a second player to Detroit for Dale Davis and Flip Murray, though Pistons president Joe Dumars was first trying to find a taker for Nazr Mohammed before he committed to a Davis trade.
• Dallas was interested in acquiring P.J. Brown from the Bulls, but Chicago was still waiting to hear whether Jerry West would lower his asking price on Pau Gasol and drop his insistence on receiving Luol Deng in return. Also, the Mavericks were looking to move only Austin Croshere in a trade for Brown, and Chicago does not want Croshere. The only possibility for that trade to happen would be if a third team was willing to take Croshere and give away what the Bulls were looking for -- an effective low-post scorer. Wells proved to be just that in the playoffs for the Kings last season, and the Bulls appeared closer to getting him -- and keeping Brown -- than they were to getting Gasol.
• Another player being shopped was Toronto's Fred Jones, who still stood of a chance of being sent to Portland for Juan Dixon. Philadelphia was another possible destination for Jones, though the 76ers were not willing to give up the one player the Raptors and several other teams coveted: Kyle Korver.
• Under prodding from consultant Larry Brown, the 76ers took a stab at acquiring center Jackie Butler from San Antonio but were rebuffed. Butler and Beno Udrih were the two players the Spurs were listening to offers for.