SPECIAL MIDWEEK EDITION: One Franchise still available
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ilydime-060222
It is often said that Larry Brown, at any given moment in any given season, wants to trade just about every player on his team.
This might be the season that a Larry-coached team actually comes close.
That was certainly the vibe coming from the Knicks as Tuesday bled into Wednesday. With the NBA's annual trading deadline looming Thursday at 3 p.m., and New York mired at 15-37 in Brown's disastrous debut season with his hometown club, Knicks president Isiah Thomas was working feverishly on yet another roster overhaul that would give the famously fickle Brown a whole new crew to work with.
The following is a rundown of where things stand with the Knicks and several other teams entering the final 36 hours of trading season, as gleaned from ESPN.com's various front-office sources.
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You are undoubtedly wondering where Steve Francis winds up. Me?
I'm just as curious to see what happens in the Magic Kingdom if Orlando can't move him before the trade buzzer.
That's because, at this point, it's looking like Knicks-or-Bust for the Artist Formerly Known As Stevie Franchise.
Minnesota, I'm told, is no longer pursuing Francis. Denver appears to be pursuing a variety of trade targets not named Francis, with Baltimore's Carmelo Anthony said to be less than excited by the Nuggets' earlier attempts to bring the former Maryland man to the Rocky Mountains.
That leaves New York as the only known trade partner in circulation for Francis. In what would be an audacious double swoop -- even by Knicks standards -- it appears that Isiah will have an opportunity to package Jamal Crawford, Maurice Taylor and a youngster like Trevor Ariza for Francis . . . and then use Penny Hardaway's expiring contract (along with at least one first-round pick) to acquire Portland's Darius Miles and Theo Ratliff.
Of course, if the Knicks wake up Wednesday morning and realize what everyone else sees when you project Stephon Marbury and Francis playing together -- for Larry Brown, no less -- they could wise up and walk away from that half of their two-part makeover.
And if that happens, Orlando will then have to figure out what to do with the unhappy Francis for the rest of the season, after trying harder to trade him than any team out there has tried to trade any player.
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Sources in Denver say virtually every member of the Nuggets' expansive brain trust -- except for general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, who brought Kenyon Martin there -- is prepared to part with K-Mart. Doesn't guarantee it will happen by Thursday, though. It's difficult to see who besides (surprise!) New York would take on Martin's contract given his season-long struggles to recover from microfracture surgery, which would obviously require the Knicks to abandon one of the two trades above.
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More likely than acquiring Francis or moving Martin, for Denver, is finally completing a long-awaited Earl Watson trade. No player this season has been dangled on the market longer than Watson, and nothing has been finalized yet, but Seattle's interest in Watson remains serious. No surprise, then, that the Watson scenario mentioned most Tuesday had him going to the Sonics for Reggie Evans, Flip Murray and Vitaly Potapenko.
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The Cavaliers can swap Oakland's own Drew Gooden for Warriors guard Derek Fisher, but sources close to the situation insisted Tuesday night that Cleveland continues to lean toward keeping Gooden, who becomes a restricted free agent in July.
The Lakers were never interested in swapping Lamar Odom for Francis and won't consider trading Odom until the summertime, with Phil Jackson averse to major changes at deadline time because of the time it takes to pick up his triangle offense. When the Lakers were chasing Ron Artest, remember, they were hoping to acquire him without giving up Odom.
Chris Paul and J.R. Smith are still serious buds, but they're no longer the Hornets' backcourt of the future. New Orleans/Oklahoma City is dangling Smith this week in hopes of acquiring the front-court depth it lost when its Steven Hunter trade with Philadelphia was annulled.
Milwaukee continues to get calls for every big man on the roster besides untouchable rookie Andrew Bogut. The Bucks, though, remain unlikely to consider parting with Jamaal Magloire, Dan Gadzuric or Joe Smith until the off-season, believing they need all three to make sure they reach the playoffs.
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And perhaps the juiciest nugget, literally and figuratively, comes from my ESPN The Magazine colleague Ric Bucher.
I wrote Friday in our blog from All-Star Weekend that the Sixers, if not actively shopping Allen Iverson, were indeed exploring their Iverson options before the deadline.
Bucher took it a (big) step further on Tuesday night's NBA Coast to Coast on ESPN2 when he reported that the Nuggets tried to acquire Iverson with a package built around Nene and Watson (and presumably including draft picks as well). The Sixers briefly considered it, Buch says, before declining.
Would you trade Nazr for JR Smith and someone else from NO/OKC? Just for speculation.New Orleans/Oklahoma City is dangling Smith this week in hopes of acquiring the front-court depth it lost when its Steven Hunter trade with Philadelphia was annulled.
I'd rather keep the bigman depth for the remainder of this season.
What about Al Harrington? Are there rumors of trading him?
Why would you want a ball hog who can't defend for this team?Would you trade Nazr for JR Smith and someone else from NO/OKC? Just for speculation.
About 27 hours and 12 minutes until all this is a "moo" point.
FRIENDS fans will understand the reference.
Sixers are seriously considering trading AI
I seriously thought that was all just speculation and BS. Oh and AI is worth much more than just Nene+Watson and a bunch of draft picks. But Carmelo and AI on the same team would have been deadly
About 27 hours and 12 minutes until all this is a "moo" point.
FRIENDS fans will understand the reference.
Oh gosh..Joey Jr.
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