Ferry: Who needs Beno Udrih when I can have Mike Bibby?

[Ocotillo]

Point guard crusade resumes
Mike Bibby target again with Gooden and Jones as potential trade bait
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
The Cavaliers' pursuit of a point guard has heated up again.

According to multiple league executives, the Cavs and Sacramento Kings have restarted talks to bring Mike Bibby to Cleveland. The two teams nearly completed a deal shortly before February's trading deadline and have been in discussions again over the past several days.

A version of the deal was close to happening Thursday, sources said, in a three-way move with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Cavs were believed to be after the rights to Argentine center Luis Scola as well, which the Spurs own. When the talks broke down, the Spurs dealt Scola and reserve forward Jackie Butler to the Houston Rockets.

In exchange, the Spurs received point guard Vassilis Spanoulis and a future second-round pick.

There are expectations the Kings and Cavs will continue to have discussions directly and with other teams.

The Kings, looking to add more scoring to their front line, have been interested in Drew Gooden. According to a source, Damon Jones also might have been included in the potential deal.

Bibby, who has two years and $28 million left on his contract, averaged 17.1 points and 4.7 assists for the Kings last season. He has an opt-out clause after this season, in which he will make $13.5 million.

Without salary-cap room and with the market being a little bare for point guards, the Cavs have actively been pursuing trades to pick up a playmaker to help their offensive issues.

In other Cavs news, there has been no movement in talks with free-agent forward Anderson Varejao.

Varejao's representatives, who left the Las Vegas Summer League without a deal Thursday, and the Cavs are believed to be millions apart. The Cavs have said re-signing Varejao is an offseason priority.

The Cavs summer league team lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 100-76 Thursday to fall to 2-2.

Dwayne Jones led the team with 15 points, Shannon Brown added 13.


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linkie (http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/sports/basketball/nba/cleveland_cavaliers/17490627.htm)

[ShoogarBear]

You highlighted the wrong part.



A version of the deal was close to happening Thursday, sources said, in a three-way move with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Cavs were believed to be after the rights to Argentine center Luis Scola as well, which the Spurs own. When the talks broke down, the Spurs dealt Scola and reserve forward Jackie Butler to the Houston Rockets.

In exchange, the Spurs received point guard Vassilis Spanoulis and a future second-round pick.

[ShoogarBear]

So, the Spurs were going to give Scola to the Cavs for what? A lifetime pass for Holt to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame?

I suspect part of the deal would have been dumping Beno as well.

[Ocotillo]

Yeah but this says it's starting up again but does not say whether the Spurs are in the mix or not.

[BacktoBasics]

I'm to understand Vassilis doesn't even want to be in the NBA. I see zero benefit for thies deal other than saving money. It always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when this team ponders giving up good talent and a long shot upside talent for absolutely nothing.

[justanotherspursfan]

I suspect part of the deal would have been dumping Beno as well.
Probably not, if they were landing Bibby.

They have enough scrub point guards on their team already. Beno would only be useful if they were taking a desperate flyer to try to fill their hole at point.

[Ocotillo]

Beno may have been headed to Sacto in the above scenario.

[ShoogarBear]

This trade was probably nixed by the Spurs FO because they might have actually gotten some salaries back with it.

[Ocotillo]

This trade was probably nixed by the Spurs FO because they might have actually gotten some salaries back with it.

No doubt, with Bibby involved, we're talking more than just an IR salaried guy.

[Darkwaters]

The Cavs don't need just one PG. They could use 2-3 of them. Eric Snow is terrible and really holds their offense back. And Daniel Gibson is NOT a PG. Beno and Bibby wouldn't be a back tandem for them. Especially with Beno being pretty affordable.

[ploto]

The other article said that Butler would have gone to Sac and Scola to Cleveland.

[justanotherspursfan]

The Cavs don't need just one PG. They could use 2-3 of them. Eric Snow is terrible and really holds their offense back. And Daniel Gibson is NOT a PG. Beno and Bibby wouldn't be a back tandem for them. Especially with Beno being pretty affordable.
Yeah, but unless they want to carry 6 points on the roster, I think they need to dump some of the guys they have before they can start thinking about adding even more backups.

[Marcus Bryant]

So, the Spurs were going to give Scola to the Cavs for what? A lifetime pass for Holt to the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame?

I suspect part of the deal would have been dumping Beno as well.

Right. Which would have saved the Spurs $3.4 mil in reduced salary expense next season. Then Houston came along with an offer to save them $4.9 mil in reduced salary expense plus the opportunity to pick up an extra $1.9 mil should Spanissolousss be true to his agent's reported statements and walk away from his contract.

So the Spurs blew up the proposed Bibby 3way deal and sent Butler and Scola to a division rival for double the bang they would have had by dumping Udrih on the Cavs. Or, $3.4 mil was high enough for the Spurs to gift Butler and Scola to a division rival.

[Marcus Bryant]

The other article said that Butler would have gone to Sac and Scola to Cleveland.

If that's the case then the Spurs did the Houston deal because they were offering $1.9 mil more.

:reading

[Supergirl]

It implies that SA is no longer involved in the deal, which is why they dumped Butler and Scola off on Houston's door.

[Marcus Bryant]

If the Spurs are willing to gift Butler and Scola to a division rival for no talent in return I'm sure they'd have no problem wrecking that proposed deal for $3 mil more.