We all knew this day was coming…
Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 16 of 274)
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Nets and Nuggets have agreed to terms on a deal that would bring Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey/Brooklyn.
The Nets and Nuggets are discussing a deal that would send Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Melvin Ely, Renaldo Balkman and Shelden Williams to the Nets for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh and four first-round draft picks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday night.
The Nuggets are expected to move Murphy and his $12 million expiring contract to a third team and sweeten the deal with one or two of the Nets’ draft picks.
Here’s how the trade looks in the ESPN Trade Machine. (Click the picture to see it at ESPN.)
Keep in mind that in addition to Harris and Favors, the Nuggets would get four first round picks from the Nets. They’re expected to send one or two of those along with Troy Murphy to a third team to get rid of his salary. If they’re successful, they’ll shave $20 million off of this year’s payroll (though most of that money has already been paid to the players).
It will be interesting to see how the Nets come up with four first round picks. They currently own the 6th-worst record in the league, so their own pick could be very valuable, but the Warriors’ 2011 pick that they acquired as part of the Marcus Williams trade is protected through 2013 before it turns into a pair of second round picks.
This looks like the best deal available for the Nuggets, who apparently covet Favors. The only thing that seems to be standing in the way is Anthony agreeing to sign a three-year extension to play for the Nets. If he does, the Knicks will be out of the running. If he doesn’t, then I think the Knicks and Nuggets will get something done before the trade deadline. The Nuggets are truly at Carmelo’s mercy at the moment.
Marc Stein sifts through the latest Carmelo trade buzz for ESPN:
Although details of a formally scheduled meeting have yet to emerge, Denver officials are operating under the assumption that Melo and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov will finally meet face-to-face during All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, according to sources close to the process. The Nuggets encourage that meeting, sources say, because trading with New Jersey has always been more favorable to Denver than dealing with New York and because the Nuggets — who still like New Jersey’s Derrick Favors better than any player who’s been made available to them in the months-long Melo trade saga — know that the Nets remain unwilling to participate in a trade unless Anthony also commits to an extension in New Jersey.
This is the same billionaire who pulled out of the Carmelo trade talks earlier this season because he felt like his team was distracted and was potentially being used to spur negotiations with the Knicks. That may still be the case, but the trade deadline is fast approaching and if Prokhorov can sell Carmelo on the idea of playing in Brooklyn, the Nets and Nuggets may be able to make a deal because the Nuggets want Favors. Keep in mind that Prokhorov’s spokesperson says that nothing has changed with regard to the Nets’ non-pursuit of Anthony.
Meanwhile, Knicks GM Donnie Walsh is dealing with owner James Dolan, who may be more willing to gut the roster to acquire Anthony before the deadline. Carmelo’s meeting with the Nets has to be putting the pressure on Walsh to make a deal, though the Knicks are also expected to meet with Anthony in Los Angeles.
If Prokhorov is smart (and he is), he should bring part owner Jay-Z to help sell the Nets franchise. Who knows, maybe Carmelo will be as impressed by Prokhorov as LeBron was last summer.
In his annual trade value column, Bill Simmons discusses how Andrew Bynum’s first six seasons rank amongst his historical peers.
38. Andrew Bynum
A list of the most memorable centers and power forwards of the past 35 years organized by their first six regular seasons for “games played,” “games missed” and “number of seasons in which they played 90 percent of the games.”Dwight Howard: 489 — 3 — 6
Karl Malone: 489 — 3 — 6
Tim Duncan: 451 — 9 — 5
David Robinson: 475 — 17 — 5
Kevin McHale: 475 — 17 — 5
Charles Barkley: 472 — 20 — 6
Dikembe Mutombo: 471 –21 — 5
Robert Parish: 469 — 23 — 5
Hakeem Olajuwon: 468 — 24 — 5
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 467 — 25 — 5
Dirk Nowitzki: 444 — 48 — 5
Kevin Garnett: 442 — 50 — 5
Patrick Ewing: 438 — 54 — 4
Moses Malone: 428 — 66 — 4
Alonzo Mourning: 409 — 83 — 2
Shaquille O’Neal: 408 — 84 — 2
Yao Ming: 404 — 88 — 3
Ralph Sampson: 395 — 97 — 3
Chris Webber: 329 — 131 — 1
Andrew Bynum: 309 — 169 — 1
Bill Walton: 223 — 269 — 0
Sam Bowie: 207 — 285 — 1
Greg Oden: 82 — 266 — 0What jumps out? First, the durable guys remained durable throughout their careers, with just one exception: McHale, who ruined the second half of his career by bravely (and some would say foolishly) playing on a broken foot in the 1987 playoffs. Second, anyone who missed more than 80 games and couldn’t play in 90 percent of the games in at least four of their first six seasons went on to have injury-plagued careers. (That includes Shaq, who played more than 68 games in a season just six times and missed an average of 18 games per season.) And third, if you can’t stay on the court at your youngest/healthiest/freshest/most energetic, it’s a pretty safe bet that things won’t change as you get older. It’s straight DNA: Some dudes are structurally built for 82-game NBA seasons, others aren’t. So if you make the argument “If Bynum can stay healthy, he’s a franchise center,” just make sure you also mention that we have 35 years of evidence that there’s a tipping point when “If he can stay healthy …” becomes “… he’s not going to stay healthy.” We’re there with Andrew Bynum. He’s not going to stay healthy. If I were the Lakers, I would trade him right now.
(Actually, what am I saying? They should definitely keep him! The guy is built like solid oak!)
I still don’t know why the Lakers are so intent on holding onto Bynum in this scenario unless they are simply convinced that Carmelo wouldn’t fit in with the 2011 Lakers or are going all in, hoping that Bynum’s knees will hold up until the end of June so that Kobe can get his sixth ring.
Bynum doesn’t even finish games, so the Lakers are theoretically passing on a multiple All-NBA forward for a guy who always rides the pine in crunch time. It’s truly ponderous — I don’t care what Jon Barry says.
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