Shaq was traded and then signed an extension. If Garnett walks he'll have to find someone with roughly $19 million in cap room to give him the max deal allowable under the CBA.
The main reason is because Garnett can choose to walk after this season like what Shaq did in 96, and it would leave the wolves with nothing. Teams are picking up on that, and hopes to be the team that is known to for trading fillers for Garnett, much like what the Suns did with Barkley back in 92.
Other teams have done similar things, see Wilt to LA, Moses Malone to 6ers, Shaq to Miami, and to lesser extent Elliott back to the Spurs for Curley.
Phoenix should try to pair Amare and Garnett if they can. Garnett will be traded and if Minn gets desperate enough Phoenix can ponce on a good deal.
This is something the spurs never seem to be able to pull off. A steal of a star player. Not saying Phoenix will pull it off but star players have been stolen before for next to nothing in return.
Which team will have $19 million in cap room next summer?
I don't think Garnett is as concerned about maintaining is mid-20 million salary. If he walked, and their happened to be a team 10-to-12 million under the CAP that was competative, then I'm sure Garnett would listen.
Garnett is going to have to face facts and realize he can't have both winning and his money. Maybe for the short term in a place like Phoenix, but longterm, going forward if he isn't traded and opts out, he needs to realize he's made a mountain of money, but hasn't done jack in the playoffs. Sacrafice the prior to make a run to change the latter.
$7 million here, $7 million there. Sooner or later that will add up to real $.
My mistake proves my point. Anyway, Amare's not going anywhere.
Based on what? The altruism of the modern athlete?
Based on his talk of opting out. Maybe it's all talk? Maybe he's not there yet, figuring he can be a latcher on and win a le late in his career? Fact is he's mentioned the opt-out clause. He's used it to work potential trades to contenders. He's mentioned Phoenix as his top choice, a team owned by a man who's constant fear of the luxery tax consumes his every personel move.
If he was more concerned with money than winning, we wouldn't even be discussing him being moved.
My gut tells me KG and Marion is a much better 'court than KG and Amare. With the former you have a really excellent defense, with the latter you lose a lot. Marion is a unique player who contributes in all the little ways. People say that he's overrated, that he's overpaid--I'm not sure that's true. He doesn't score as consistently as Amare of course, but he does so many other things at a Pippen-like level. He gives them so much flexibility and fills up the stat sheet.
Amare is an incredible offensive machine with maturity problems and lack of D. On that team, that is a losing proposition. O is not their problem.
I think Amare is a media superstar. A superior scorer and athlete, but not as good as he looks. Marion is better than he looks.
I also don't think Amare can possibly carry the Suns once Nash is gone. He will be something like Abdur-Rahim, put 30 a night on the worst team in the league. No, the Suns' time is now, while Nash is leading them, and the piece to give up in this trade would be Amare. Their offense would end up being just as good, since everyone on their team can shoot after all, and their D would have a chance of taking another step (let's not pretend their D did not improve last year).
I think that's more posturing on his part than anything. He'd have to take a substantial paycut to walk. From Minnesota's perspective, you get one more season of Garnett and if he walks (unlikely) then you blow it up and you just freed up $20 mil in cap room. Not pleasant, but I haven't exactly seen a stellar offer thusfar. The Wolves can string this out until someone comes correct with a better offer. If not, then next season they can opt for a sign and trade deal and get something back for the rebuilding process.
Minnesota has all the cards, The Lakers what Garnett as much as Phoenix does and they have the ability to make it happen just as much as Phoenix does. The big difference between the two is Stoudimire who is the Sun's ace-in-the-hole. He can trump anything anyone else can offer. The fact is Garnett is not being vocal about wanting out of Minnesota, that means he can probably stay and then work out a sign and trade next season.
The other card Minnesota has is that they can offer Garnett a contract worth around 300 million, he is exempt from the rules given to other players in the CBA. Garnett knows if he ever leaves Minnie outside of a sign and trade he loses that money. He needs to leave via trade or S&T to keep that money, or at lease the option of getting that money.
When it is all said and done it is Minnie that holds the cards not Garnett and not Phoenix.
[EDIT] Another thing to keep in mind is that it is not always a bad thing to let someone walk with no compensation. If Minnie were to do that it would put them almost instantly in the free agent market with about 20 million to spend. That is probably more valuable than any player outside of Stoudimire anyone can offer.
So don't think it is a bad decision to not take another teams worthless crap for Garnett, losing his contract is like losing ones mortgage payment.
Last edited by Vito Corleone; 06-27-2007 at 02:51 PM.
The only way Minnesota holds any cards is if Garnett doesn't opt out of his contract. He says he will... we'll have to see. I don't see how a team potentially one year away from losing him for nothing has the upper hand in negotiations. Especially when they don't even know what the they want. Picks... NO! Amare... NO! Picks and prospects... NO! Picks, cap space... Maybe!
What the ...
They may not have the upper hand, but the deals that most Suns fans seem to be comfortable with are still deals that Minne can get at the trading deadline next year.
Unless he's willing to give up half of what he could get he's not walking. Plus right now the most the TWolves will get back is one top 10 pick. They'll wait until they find a deal that's right for them.
But at that point, won't KG be an unrestricted FA?
Sure, he'll be unrestricted with teams able to offer him half of what he could get in a sign and trade.
Yes, but will Minn offer him that much when his contract is up?
Free agency means nothing at this point, the teams that have money to offer him a max deal when he becomes a FA are teams that will not win with or without him. Everyone knows this except Suns fan. Do you Suns fans think he would sign with you for the mid-level exemption? Garnett must be moved through trade or sign and trade. Now explain again what the motivation is for the Twolves to make a deal for your crap? The longer they wait the better the deals will get, marion is a guy that would be around for exactly the same amount of time as Garnett, so why make the trade? They can still get the picks by moving him next season for picks and expiring contracts next year.
For Phoenix to make it happen they need to bring something more to the table than what they have right now.
Someone else might, which is why a sign and trade is much more preferable for Garnett than walking.
Because Dirk has had what, 6 shots, at taking that team to the championship and hasn't gotten it done. It's irrelevant whether he guarded Baron Davis, he was schooled by Stephen Jackson and a bunch of smart double teams. Do you see that happening to Timmy? No, he finds a way to win even when his game is shut down.
Now if Dirk had won in 2006 as he should have (up 2-0 and 15pts in the 3rd of game 3), you'd plug away with him until the end of his career, but he strikes me as another Karl Malone - great during the regular season, but lacking the killer instinct to get it done when it matters.
I'd swap Dirk for KG or Amare, get a better PG, and give it another shot.
Don't forget Andrew Lang.
Exactly, I think the same thing is happening this year, surely no-one is dumb enough to repeat that sort of stupidity??? Uh, no, sorry, this is the NBA isn't it?
Way to repeat my post #6 on page 1!
Come on man, I think I brought a _little_ to the table!Way to repeat my post #6 on page 1!
Yeah, fair enough, you went into more detail...Come on man, I think I brought a _little_ to the table!
It's nice to know that someone else out there sees Amare for what he is.
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