Insider Request: KG on the move? Why a Garnett trade might -- or might not -- happen

[StackAttack]

Apparently McHale's finally listening to trade offers...

[untitled]

KG on the move? Why a Garnett trade might -- or might not -- happen

By Chad Ford
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Insider

Updated: June 18, 2007

Over the weekend, several Eastern Conference general managers told ESPN.com that Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale is finally listening to trade offers for Wolves superstar Kevin Garnett.

Any number of teams would want to get involved in the KG sweepstakes, if indeed bidding has opened.

For a couple of years, the Bulls have seemed to be a natural destination for the former Chicago high school star. Bulls GM John Paxson has stockpiled a lot of young talent that could potentially go to Minnesota in a trade.

But the Wolves might have missed their best chance to make a Chicago deal work. With P.J. Brown entering free agency, two things would have to happen for a KG-to-Chicago trade to be possible: (1) the Bulls would need Brown to agree to a sign-and-trade to make the numbers work, and (2) the Wolves would have to pay Brown upward of $10 million next season. If those two conditions are not met, it's very unlikely the Bulls and Wolves will be able to make a KG deal under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.

If KG's not going to Chicago, where could he go? From what I'm hearing -- and at this point it's just a hot rumor -- the Wolves and Boston Celtics are talking about a Garnett deal.

In this scenario, Boston would send Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and change to Minnesota along with the No. 5 pick in the upcoming draft. In exchange, the Celtics would get Garnett.

While a six-for-one trade would create some awkward roster dilemmas, it could work for Boston in this case because the Celtics would be giving up only one member of their core: Jefferson. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves would get an emerging low-post star, a wing player with a lot of upside, another high draft pick and future cap flexibility.

On Saturday, I spoke with Celtics vice president Danny Ainge about the rumor, but he would not comment on specific trade discussions. He did say the Celtics were talking with a lot of teams at the moment about a number of different trade scenarios, but that none of them were close to happening.

One could argue that the Celtics would be better off trading Paul Pierce and continuing to create a younger team. But if they are committed to keeping Pierce and trying for more immediate success, the Garnett deal would make sense for the Celtics. A combination of Garnett and Pierce would make the Celtics instant contenders in the Eastern Conference.

Even if the Wolves could come to an agreement with the Celtics (or another team) on which players should be involved in a Garnett deal, there are some logistical and risk issues that might kill such a deal.

For Minnesota, Garnett won't be easy to trade to any team.

Garnett is due to be paid $22 million next season, and he could be owed about $3 million more than that because his trade kicker is 15 percent. That makes the mere act of balancing salaries a challenge in any Garnett trade, given the restrictions of the collective bargaining agreement.

On the other hand, to make a trade work under the CBA, Garnett would be allowed to waive part of his trade kicker, if he so chose.

At the same time, acquiring Garnett would come with plenty of risk for the Celtics or any other team.

Garnett can opt out of his contract at the end of next season, meaning that teams may be reluctant to trade a lot of assets for him, given that he could leave next year.

While the Celtics might be willing to offer Garnett a multiyear extension, they would not be allowed to negotiate with Garnett until after both July 1 and the trade. Therefore Boston would run the risk of making a major play for Garnett, only to watch him walk away after one season in Celtic Green.

And if the Celtics are willing to offer Garnett an extension, how many years and millions should they offer? Garnett is already 31 years old.

Furthermore, with Garnett and Pierce eating most of the team's cap room, Boston's financial flexibility to make moves to the supporting cast would be severely limited.

So even if Garnett were available, and even though the trade proposed above would be a good one for Boston on paper, it's not the no-brainer it might appear to be at first glance.

Chad Ford covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insid...had&id=2907610

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Shopping a Big-Ticket item?

T'wolves taking steps to assess Garnett's trade value

Posted: Monday June 18, 2007 4:08PM; Updated: Monday June 18, 2007 5:06PM


Kevin Garnett can opt out of his contract and become a free agent after next season.
AP




Are the Minnesota Timberwolves moving closer to trading Kevin Garnett?
Sources from several NBA teams say the Wolves have been making calls to gauge Garnett's trade value throughout the league. The most provocative conversation of which I've heard has been with the Phoenix Suns, who are said to be ambivalent about moving 24-year-old Amaré Stoudemire to Minnesota in a package for Garnett, 31.

A league source understood the talks with Phoenix to be in a preliminary stage, saying, "They're not hot yet.''

It may be that the Wolves are merely assessing Garnett's value amid speculation by rival teams that they've kept him too long. Some league executives feel that Garnett's worth has diminished after absorbing 11 years of mileage while proving unable to carry the Wolves to the playoffs since 2003-04, when they reached the Western Conference finals with KG as league MVP alongside Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell.

Yet Garnett recently is coming off one of his best seasons. After being slowed by a knee problem in 2005-06, the 6-foot-11 Garnett recovered to lead the NBA in its all-around "efficiency'' statistic while averaging 22.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.2 steals.

Garnett enters the upcoming season with leverage: He could opt out of his contract next summer, foregoing his guaranteed salary of $23 million in 2008-09 in order to join a contender as a free agent or by forcing a sign-and-trade.

At the very least, it makes sense for the Timberwolves to find out how much he is worth, given Garnett's contract status. They are obligated to explore all potential options to improve after winning 65 games the past two years. They can couch their Garnett discussions as an evaluation process they undertake every summer.

But Minnesota's queries have more of an edge this year. My understanding is that the calls about Garnett are being made by GM Jim Stack, which enables Minnesota VP Kevin McHale to maintain deniability on possible trades. It allows McHale to honestly say that he hasn't talked to other teams about Garnett.

There is a belief among his NBA colleagues that McHale remained with the Timberwolves this season to make the decision on Garnett's future once and for all. If Garnett is to be moved, then McHale will take the hit for doing it, which would allow McHale's successor (rumored to be assistant GM Fred Hoiberg) to start fresh without being held responsible for dealing the best player in franchise history.

Stack is more than up to the job of assessing Garnett's value. He is one of the league's promising young executives after serving as assistant VP for four years to Jerry Krause during the Bulls' championship era.

If Phoenix were to acquire the 2004 MVP, the Suns would be seeking to win a championship immediately by uniting him with MVP successor Steve Nash, who is 33, and All-Star forward Shawn Marion, 29. Garnett would strengthen Phoenix's team defense while fitting seamlessly with their up-tempo offense.

But the Suns also would be surrendering an opportunity to extend their title run beyond Nash's prime. Stoudemire's youth gives them hope of remaining in contention long after Nash is done playing. The 6-10 Stoudemire recovered from 2005 microfracture knee surgery to average 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds while playing all 82 games for Phoenix. His presence would give Minnesota a chance to rebuild toward contention with a dominant young big man.

The Suns, however, may be asked to consider another trade option for Stoudemire ...
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...tes/index.html

[alby]

22 pts
13 rebounds
4 assists
2 blocks
1 steal

what a waste of a career

[MavsX]

oh man i hope 2007-2008 brings some surprises.

[StackAttack]

Originally Posted by MavsX

oh man i hope 2007-2008 brings some surprises.

You can probably expect several by the 28th...

[rmacomic]

Originally Posted by StackAttack

You can probably expect several by the 28th...

28th of what?

[StackAttack]

Of June. Draft Day.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...tes/index.html

KG for Amare in the works?

[Dr.Zoidberg]

A post of DLord on dallasbasketball.com:

The KG Auction is about to begin. (Seriously)

The KG Auction is about to begin. Almost literally. Seriously.

Back in Feb, after the trading deadline, we noted that things had just changed with Garnett in Minnesota and that he was a virtual certainty to be traded this summer. What happened was that the day after the trade deadline, we saw the following significant item:

By doing nothing at the NBA trading deadline Thursday, the Timberwolves actually might have done a whole lot of something to alter their team. Kevin Garnett, the Wolves' All-Star forward, made it pretty clear after the shootaround Friday morning that he was not happy with the stand-pat approach.

"We made no moves. Typical," Garnett said in a raspy voice, apparently fighting a cold. Asked if he had been hoping for a trade to boost the team's playoff chances, Garnett responded: "We're trying to get better, right? It is what it is."

A couple of minutes later, after some comments about Phoenix, he offered a glimpse at how "not happy" he really was. "Thank God for opt-outs," Garnett said as he wrapped up the brief interview. The 7-foot franchise player has an opt-out clause in his contract after the 2007-08 season, before the final year of his current contract.

Until that point, over the years KG had been adamant in his consistent stance that he was happy in Minny - even to the point of scolding reporters for speculating otherwise. But on that day, he changed his tune for the first time, and given his ability to opt out in the summer of 2008 and the difficulty in trading his over-$20M contract during the season, we felt the Wolves would have no choice but to make a move this summer.

Since the season ended, it's about what we expected. There has been a weird yo-yoing from the Wolves front office, one day saying KG is going nowhere, and then admitting 2-3 days later that they haven't decided for sure. Then again a week or two later we hear how they want to build around him, then again whispers of theoretical moves instead.

Now the whole situation is about to become very public. Almost like an auction.

We saw the first inkling of it with the note (discovered by shawxx on realgm) that someone with apparent credible background is saying a deal between Phoenix and Minnesota is almost done.

That makes no sense, and yet it makes perfect sense.

That "leak" is not actually of an about-to-be-announced trade, but rather a veiled invite to submit offers. Why do we know that? Because, with a talent as coveted as KG, the Twolves can get incredible offers everywhere and have their pick. That's not a trade done in secret, but rather one that's almost announced by loudspeaker, to lure competitive bids from others.

"We're about to make a trade with Phoenix, but we haven't done it yet," whispers Minnesota. Whoosh, they suddenly have phone calls from 29 teams wanting to bid for KG and see if they can beat whatever deal is supposedly in the works.

Now we see the next hint. Si.com reports the following: sportsillustrated.cnn.com...ref=si_nba

Sources from several NBA teams say the Wolves have been making calls to gauge Garnett's trade value throughout the league. The most provocative conversation of which I've heard has been with the Phoenix Suns, who are said to be ambivalent about moving 24-year-old Amaré Stoudemire to Minnesota in a package for Garnett, 31.

A league source understood the talks with Phoenix to be in a preliminary stage, saying, "They're not hot yet.''

It may be that the Wolves are merely assessing Garnett's value amid speculation by rival teams that they've kept him too long.
-------------
But Minnesota's queries have more of an edge this year. My understanding is that the calls about Garnett are being made by GM Jim Stack, which enables Minnesota VP Kevin McHale to maintain deniability on possible trades. It allows McHale to honestly say that he hasn't talked to other teams about Garnett.

There is a belief among his NBA colleagues that McHale remained with the Timberwolves this season to make the decision on Garnett's future once and for all. If Garnett is to be moved, then McHale will take the hit for doing it, which would allow McHale's successor (rumored to be assistant GM Fred Hoiberg) to start fresh without being held responsible for dealing the best player in franchise history.

Yes, they now say there really isn't a SERIOUS deal with Phx. But they have now openly acknowledge they have progressed to the "general talking" stage. They are making calls.

The next step will be more-or-less a full-fledged auction, in which they will be open to offers. It will be a public secret, and you'll hear speculation everywhere. They'll get the best deal they can - and it will likely be a really good one, no discounts whatsoever - and then they'll pull the trigger, perhaps right before the draft, but more likely in mid-July after giving time for things to heat up to full boil, so they can then restock in free agency as needed.

Would the Mavs bid? The offer they considered in Feb of Jho plus 2 expiring contracts (Stack and Croshere) is still possible, but we doubt that will be enough to win the bidding. It's worth a shot, though. Beyond that, it becomes essentially a "blow it up" move, one we dont see the Mavs making.

Let the bidding begin. It should be fun to watch.

http://p073.ezboard.com/The-KG-Aucti...ID=31835.topic